The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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NancyMehl

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Nevermind...

NancyMehl said:
Oh, and being incredibly sharp with 'puter things, I just accidentally found some kind of "reputation" thing associated with my AW account. There were several nice comments posted from some of you. Sorry I never responded. I didn't know they were there! Duh! Now I can fiddle around all day until I find out how to use this feature, or someone can just take pity on me and explain it.

It's your choice. :cry: (Please don't be moved by my tears....)

Nevermind. Just found it. Oh boy, a new toy! Just what I need!

Nancy
 

realitychuck

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My true story.

When I volunteered to bash, I got the following e-mail:

As this is an important piece of email regarding your request, please read it completely from start to finish.

I am happy to inform you that Absolute Write has decided to give your bashing the chance it deserves. An email will follow this one with the sample contract attached for your review.
Once I signed the contract, they gave me $1. Oh Frabjous Day! I am now a published basher.

But I just got my royalty statement. I diligently bashed PA for months, and it's only $1.87! I know I did more bashing then that, but every time I contact AW customer support, they say, "Don't take that tone with us."

I'm not sure what to do next. :eek:
 

Kevin Yarbrough

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Diana, Diana, Diana. If you would have said grape juice.....You have oils and a feather though right?

Just think of the scandal!! HB would turn around and say that Lynn is paying me to say bad things about PA then. After all we were all in your room at the convention, drinking and I became a so called "basher" after that....you fill in the rest.
 

Patricia

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Kevin Yarbrough said:
Get real HB. If we bashers are being paid to say bad things about your beloved publisher then you are being paid by PA to say good things about them.

I've often wondered if HB was employed by PA, and in fact some one on the board did accuse him at one time of being so and ask if he was the info center because of, and I quote them, "the rude admonishment."
 

Kevin Yarbrough

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realitychuck said:
When I volunteered to bash, I got the following e-mail:

Once I signed the contract, they gave me $1. Oh Frabjous Day! I am now a published basher. [/font][/font]

But I just got my royalty statement. I diligently bashed PA for months, and it's only $1.87! I know I did more bashing then that, but every time I contact AW customer support, they say, "Don't take that tone with us."

I'm not sure what to do next. :eek:
What you do is send in a fake "bash" and when they accept it go on the other boards and tell what you did. They will then send the cops to your house and claim fraud and deception and that according to your contract you must now pay back the advance and any royalties earned for breeching your contract.

Just don't let the cop fool you, there is no case.
 

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underthecity said:
For Gjmort and the other new authors joining us, I mentioned thise a couple pages ago, but it bears repeating in case you missed it: authors typically don't openly discuss their royalties. That's akin to openly discussing how much you make at your full-time job. And what's worse is that the royalties the PA authors are discussing over there and over here are disturbingly LOW, as in under $10. That is NOT TYPICAL of NORMAL publishers.

Normal royalties will be in the upper $1000s range, at the very least. And the figures are not open for discussion on public message boards.

underthecity


Some of you might find these links interesting--lurking PAers in particular may want to take note regarding royalties and advances. Compare your numbers with these, my friends....

Discussion of Advances with handy comparative scale- http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/002860.html


$0 to $1,000: A Shitty Deal. Because that's what it is, my friends. Possibly the only thing worse than a shitty deal is no deal at all. Possibly.


$3,000 to $5,000: A Contemptible Deal. The deal you get when your publisher has well and truly got your number, and it is low.


$5,000 to $10,000: A "Meh" Deal. It's not great, you know. But you can pay some bills. Get a few of these, and a tolerant spouse with a regular income, and you can tell your day job to piss off. This year, anyway.


$10,000 to $20,000: A Not Bad Deal. Note that "not bad" here should be said with a slight appreciative rise of the eyebrows and a small approving nod -- this is the level at which the money begins to look not embarrassing both to writers and non-writers. A couple of these, and you'll definitely be punting the day job (I did, anyway).


$20,000 to $100,000: A "Shut Up!" Deal. This needs to be said in the same enviously admiring vocal tone as a teenage girl might use to her girlfriend who is showing off the delicious new pumps she got at Robinsons-May for 30% off, or the vocal tone (same idea, lower register) Jim Kelly used when one of our number admitted to having at least a couple of deals in this range. With this kind of money, you don't even need a supportive spouse to avoid the Enforced Top Ramen Diet (although, you know. Having one doesn't hurt). But it's not so much that the other writers actively begin to hate you.


$100,000 and above: "I'm Getting the Next Round." Because if you're at this level, you can buy and sell all the other writers at the table. Get 'em a friggin' beer, for God's sake (ironically, this is the only level not thought up at the bar, but in the cold hard light of the next morning, by Shara Zoll).


Discussion on earning out:
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003405.html

And a semipublic discussion of royalties and advances among published science fiction authors.

http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/archives/001423.html


Dear PA authors-who-may-lurk:

Please note that these companies are paying advances in the thousands of dollars. Whatever else that may be, it's at least a 1000 times more than what PA is offering you with the one dollar token advance. If you feel that PA is taking a chance on you, consider that these other publishers are taking 1000 times that chance on their authors. They also bear the brunt of promotion costs. Who do you think is actually taking a chance?

Look at it this way: PA is the guy who talks big at the dinner table and then skibbles back to sneak back to snag the huge tip he dropped to impress his girlfriend. PA says they are taking a chance--but their money is not where their mouth is.
 

Jaws

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victoriastrauss said:
Oh...my...God. American Book Publishing. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. … It makes PA look like a bed of roses. No lie.

I think that Victoria is being a bit too generous to ABP. ABP used to be known as ForbesPublish.com. Gee, does that name mean anything? Let's see… perhaps the real Forbes objected? That makes one wonder: Where did Cheryl Nunn get the idea for that name? Was it, perhaps, from her past career as a CFP? The one that ended badly and hasn't resumed (look under California, Suspensions—and it is indeed the same person, and has never been lifted). Would it surprise you to learn that the suspension involved allegations of failure to act in a client's best interest so as to earn greater management fees?
 

Sher2

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WhisperingBard said:
Just have another brownie, Chuck. :roll:
The baggie needs replenishing. The brownies are losing their potency. Christine, better start mixing up several more batches. I think we're gonna need 'em. :tongue
 

victoriastrauss

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Kevin Yarbrough said:
Dave, maybe we could get the SFWA to pay us?
Kevin, I know you're joking, but I just want to say for the record that not only are Ann and I volunteers, we don't even ask SFWA to reimburse the cost of the PO box where Writer Beware snail mail goes, or to pay for the reams of paper, vats of ink, and box after box of file folders required to maintain our huge scam database. It's all done on our dime, as a donation to the Cause.

SFWA does pay for our domain name. But that's it.

- Victoria
 

Sassenach

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Victoria:

How about adding a PayPal link to the Writer Beware site. People you've helped probably want to say thanks with a few bucks. Make it easy for them.
 

T42

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Get ready to pull the plug but I'm saying it anyway

I may get banned from AW but I’m not one to sit quietly back and not ask questions. If that were the case I would still be posting on the PA threads.

I hear you all talking about the PA lurkers and yet I knew nothing about this thread. After giving PA a piece of my mind I was searching the web to find any negative information about PA that I could. If I had not been looking I wouldn’t have known about you all. Not to mention I actually went to another sight that someone had posted AW in there conversation.

So, unless someone has these peoples email addresses and are letting them know, they may not even be that much aware of this place. I don’t really think that HB or PA is going to give them a link to it.

As for being a support place that is great but I also would like to know what we are doing about it. I came here for answers. I put up a letter that asked for letters, signatures and help to fight PA and ended up taking it down within the first half hour because I got so much grief for it. (The only person that offered help or a letter was Chris)
We can spend all day talking about what they are saying in the PA threads or how a book publishing company should be but I want to know what we are doing about PA. I have sent out many letters to different places and I feel like I am doing this by myself. I guess I just want to know if this is just a soft place to fall for support and to vent or is it a place to get solutions?
 

Kevin Yarbrough

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I know you know that I know that you know that I was joking, but I do want to take the time to compliment you on the job you guys are doing. You do it for free, and the only reward you get is seeing scams go down and keeping new authors from them. I applaud you. I just do it to be a pain in the ***, plus to try and keep new authors from PA's clutches. I would never want to be paid, not even if they said they would.

Again, thank you Victoria and ACE:Hug2: I hope that you two's new books do well.
 

Kevin Yarbrough

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Memory, there are, more than not, things going on behind the scenes. Things don't always get mentioned in the forum because PA reads this and will then be aware of what action is going to take place. This is a place to vent, but action does come from here. Remember Atlanta Nights?
 

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As you read this, remember that I'm smiling. Don't you see that there are people from here posting on the PA message board?
Haven't you been reading James and Ed K. as they bring fact after fact.
Don't you know that all of the bad press Publishamerica is getting is because of a lot of people on this board here?
You've emailed who you know, so have I and you and I are not the only ones.
Don't be naive in thinking that the other authors don't know where we are, they do.
I can tell you that I send links all the time to people who are interested, they know.
Why do you think when HB says something about "bashers" no one comes on and asks, "who are the bashers and where can I find them HB?" They know.
Maybe everyone doesn't want to be on a hundred different lists, maybe the reason no one responded was because I was so suspicious of you when you first came here.
Everyone is doing something, Have you read any of Ed Williams articles?
Have you been to Jonathon Michaels web site? I can't think of where you looked on other message boards with out hearing about publishamerica. Come on now...

Chris
 

Uncarved

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Before I was banned I lurked here. It was when I still didn't know who to believe. I lurked here and posted there still trying to believe them. So yea, some people come here and lurk while still being on the PA boards too. I'm sure they can see who comes here and who doesn't, I know I can at my boards..
 

underthecity

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Actually, someone IS doing something

Memory said

As for being a support place that is great but I also would like to know what we are doing about it. I came here for answers. I put up a letter that asked for letters, signatures and help to fight PA and ended up taking it down within the first half hour because I got so much grief for it.
We can spend all day talking about what they are saying in the PA threads or how a book publishing company should be but I want to know what we are doing about PA. I have sent out many letters to different places and I feel like I am doing this by myself. I guess I just want to know if this is just a soft place to fall for support and to vent or is it a place to get solutions?

AC Crispin IS doing something about it, and has popped in periodically reminding people here to contact her for more information. Please do so, as you are definitely NOT alone!

I don't have her email handy, but her posts are here on this thread, maybe a few pages back.

underthecity
 

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We can spend all day talking about what they are saying in the PA threads or how a book publishing company should be but I want to know what we are doing about PA. I have sent out many letters to different places and I feel like I am doing this by myself. I guess I just want to know if this is just a soft place to fall for support and to vent or is it a place to get solutions?
T42, have you read this entire thread? Have you read the other PA threads on this board? Many people are doing lots, and have put out various calls for info as well as supplied info on what needs to be done. If nothing else, I suggest emailing Writer Beware for an update on their projects and lists of what you can do to help.
 

T42

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Thanks for responding Kevin. (My husband’s name) I just get frustrated because as you said, I don’t see behind the scenes. I’m a doer and I get frustrated thinking that nothing is happening to these twits. I am impatient too…. I want to see them go down today! As I also said before, I don’t care if they know what I am doing. I want them to know that I am angry as hell and I will do everything in my power to see that they are shut down. I want them to know that they have made an enemy that is not going to take there bulls*** and that enemy is me!
 

Patricia

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T42 said:
I hear you all talking about the PA lurkers and yet I knew nothing about this thread. After giving PA a piece of my mind I was searching the web to find any negative information about PA that I could. If I had not been looking I wouldn’t have known about you all. Not to mention I actually went to another sight that someone had posted AW in there conversation.

Memory, I googled my name and got AW connected with PA. I lurked for a long time before coming out and even wrote Ann C. to get the "project" letter in order to help before actually joining this forum. I undestand what you are saying, but I can tell you this group has done far and above anyone that I know of to counter PA. I read a lot of this forum's old post to get a perspective of what they are about and believe me -- they know of what they speak.
 
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T42

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Thank you all for letting me know what is going on. I have felt like I'm in the dark. I did not know about any of these other webs and no I could not find my way around on the blasted board. I'm lucky to get back here:)
 

DaveKuzminski

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T42, one of the biggest priorities we have is to get the word out that we are working both to warn writers about PA and to help them when we can. The good news is that this site and this topic do both.

The site gives all writers information about how the industry operates. At the same time, this topic calls to PA writers offering them a soft place to land while they recuperate and choose for themselves just how to proceed knowing that they can ask questions here without being banned.
 

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Mercy, who hit me in the melon?

For the record, I'm crippled with hangover
I don't care much for PA or anything in a snifter
I'd take a glass of juice if I could keep it down
Or a manuscript depicting a drunken *** clown

H to the B, he sits when he pees
No offense to the ladies, I'd like to see you squirt
But I'm insane, there's pain in my brain
Jeezis Mary, I need to get back to work!
 
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