The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread

[BenPanced]

And don't forget: your 7 years automatically renews unless PA hears otherwise.

[Terie]

Originally Posted by megoblocks

But if you are buying long, you aren't interested in what a year or two or even five+ will net you.

We aren't talking about individuals investing here; we're talking about a company that's retaining clients' funds until they aggregate to a certain amount. That is...the money doesn't belong to the company and could (theoretically) need to be sent to its owner at any time. You can't invest that sort of money long. Any company that invested its clients' money into the stock market would be foolish, and I doubt that even PA would make a mistake like that and risk making a loss.

As a matter of fact, I think (though don't know for sure) that if the company retaining the funds invests them into an interest-bearing account, they must render the earned interest to the owner, too, when the funds are finally paid out. So PA would have no (ahem) interest in putting the funds into any sort of account that would tie the money up, risk loss, or anthing else other than hoping never to have to pay it to its owner.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by Yellow Rose

PA won’t leave me alone either with their constant emails wanting me to buy my own books. And I still have 5 years to go!!!

I could not convince PA to cancel my contract, but I did at least finally convince them to stop sending the solicitation emails. I just had to keep asking until they stopped. And it probably didn't hurt that I told them (repeatedly) that I would never buy copies of my own book, and have never in fact done so. It may also have helped that I posted all of their solicitation emails on my web site as they came in. Watching them accumulate, and become ever more frequent, was actually kind of entertaining while it lasted--a way of striking back at the Evil Empire.

[CatSlave]

PA owns an attorney, full-time, to do their dirty deeds.
Whatever they are, I suppose they're legal, sorry to say.

And to the Legal Eagle I say: get a life.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by DaveKuzminski

Let's hope they don't try to unilaterally change every PA author's contract to reflect the minimum payment clause.

Let them try it. If they withheld royalties without a contractual provision that allows them to do so, it would constitute breach of contract. That would presumably allow me to get out of the deal, assuming I could scrape together the money for a trip to Frederick for the arbitration. But I dream....

[megoblocks]

Originally Posted by Terie

We aren't talking about individuals investing here; we're talking about a company that's retaining clients' funds until they aggregate to a certain amount. That is...the money doesn't belong to the company and could (theoretically) need to be sent to its owner at any time. You can't invest that sort of money long. Any company that invested its clients' money into the stock market would be foolish, and I doubt that even PA would make a mistake like that and risk making a loss.

As a matter of fact, I think (though don't know for sure) that if the company retaining the funds invests them into an interest-bearing account, they must render the earned interest to the owner, too, when the funds are finally paid out. So PA would have no (ahem) interest in putting the funds into any sort of account that would tie the money up, risk loss, or anthing else other than hoping never to have to pay it to its owner.

Oh I know. My original point was that by keeping royalties and investing them long term, you are talking hundreds of thousands of extra dollars gained.

[megoblocks]

Originally Posted by CatSlave

PA owns an attorney, full-time, to do their dirty deeds.
Whatever they are, I suppose they're legal, sorry to say.

And to the Legal Eagle I say: get a life.

Not necessarily. Plenty of corporations do illegal things because some guy figured out that even with penalties, its cheaper to break the law. Case and point, big companies dumping waste because the max fine per offense is far, far less than clean up costs.

[CatSlave]

Originally Posted by megoblocks

Not necessarily. Plenty of corporations do illegal things because some guy figured out that even with penalties, its cheaper to break the law. Case and point, big companies dumping waste because the max fine per offense is far, far less than clean up costs.

Bingo.
Maybe that's how the LE earns his keep.

Too bad he gets so soiled in the process.

[darkprincealain]

Originally Posted by Don Davidson

Let them try it. If they withheld royalties without a contractual provision that allows them to do so, it would constitute breach of contract. That would presumably allow me to get out of the deal, assuming I could scrape together the money for a trip to Frederick for the arbitration. But I dream....

I think Dave meant that clause might be in all future contracts... they could be heading in that direction.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by darkprincealain

I think Dave meant that clause might be in all future contracts... they could be heading in that direction.

Oh, I would be very surprised if PA wasn't heading in that direction. I expect them to put that clause in every new contract. They never were customer-friendly (i.e., author-friendly), but they are constantly becoming less and less so, with the 900 number, the higher prices, and now this. It makes me wonder how they keep finding pigeons to scam. But I guess there's one born every minute.

[Sarashay]

The way they're squeezing their authors for more money (a 900-line for crying out loud!) hints to me that the wheels may not be coming off the wagon just yet, but they are getting a little bit wobbly.

As long as there are people who are more enamored with being writers than with writing, then PA will have loads of fresh victims to suckle upon. Then again, the International Library of Poetry finally went down after years of diminishing returns so we can hope that the same fate awaits PA.

[James D. Macdonald]

PA's attitude is that nothing's too good for their authors.

[Christine N.]

And nothing is what they get.

[BenPanced]

Magenta: I ask for nothing, Master.
Frank N. Furter: And you shall receive it. In abudance.

[wanda45451964]

guess we couldnt do a class action suit against them? Didnt that 900 number come in effect over the summer, hummmmmmmm says alot doesn't it a 800 number is free why couldnt they have chosen one of them.

[tlblack]

Originally Posted by wanda4545

guess we couldnt do a class action suit against them? Didnt that 900 number come in effect over the summer, hummmmmmmm says alot doesn't it a 800 number is free why couldnt they have chosen one of them.

Because if PA can make a buck off of anything, even a phone line, they will.
800 numbers do not cost you or me to dial, but they have a rate per minute that the company pays to their phone company to have that 800 line, plus your regular monthly gibberish that all phone companies charge. (line charges, taxes and more taxes, etc.)

As for a class action suit, the damages to PA authors isn't enough (even though it may seem that way to the authors) for an attorney to be interested. Most class action suits are filed for millions of dollars, so that many people benefit, including the attorney. IANAL but that would be my understanding of class action suits.

[wanda45451964]

isnt that awful/ we are all just stuck with PA.I am not calling them at all. A floral designer. Thats awesome. I seen that on your myspace. i would love to do something like that. How do you get started? you can write that answer on the private.

[tlblack]

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by tlblack

As for a class action suit, the damages to PA authors isn't enough (even though it may seem that way to the authors) for an attorney to be interested. Most class action suits are filed for millions of dollars, so that many people benefit, including the attorney. IANAL but that would be my understanding of class action suits.

I am a lawyer, although I don't do class action suits. But I can tell you what I know. The idea behind a class action suit is that no one member of the class has enough money at stake to justify a lawsuit, but the group as a whole does, so the attorney brings a lawsuit on behalf of all members of the class. The attorney has to have an actual member of the class as a client, and he has to get the court's permission to then expand the lawsuit into a class action. If the court grants permission, then the attorney represents all class members except those that specifically opt out, which few do.

There are two ways to finance a class action suit--(1) get class members to pony up money in advance, or (2) the attorney can get paid on the back side when he wins the lawsuit, either from the losing defendant or from the judgment awarded. Some laws promote class action lawsuits by expressing requiring payment of attorney's fees by the defendant if the plaintiff wins on behalf of the class. Otherwise, the awarding of attorney's fees is within the court's discretion--which means it's very iffy.

No attorney is going to bring a class action lawsuit without a pretty good likelihood that he will get paid. If he doesn't get paid by the class members up front, then he probably needs all of the following: (1) a lawsuit that has a strong likelihood of winning, (2) a law that makes it likely that the court will order the defendant to pay him attorney's fees if he wins, and (3) a defendant with reasonably deep pockets. I'm not sure a class action against PA can qualify on either (2) or (3), and even (1) may not be a sure bet.

Most of the class action suits I've seen are stockholder suits against the management of a company that cheats them. I suspect the law favors the awarding of attorney's fees to the winning plaintiff's attorney in such cases, or they would not be so common.

[bhall87]

Got another fabulous email from PA's Author Support.

Dear Author:
Look here: www.publishamerica.com/personal. We can make your book look like this. Dedicated to someone special, for only $9.95, on the front cover! Remember, the holiday season is only weeks away! Offer expires this weekend.

Personalized books make unique and unforgettable gifts. You can
dedicate them to your husband or wife, your children, parents, or friends,
anyone you choose. Could be even your boss, your favorite bank teller,
or Oprah!

Once we print their name on your book's front cover, together with yours, you have their attention. They will show it to others, guaranteed.

You can now order your personalized holiday gift books, dedicated to friends and family, for only $9.95 each. On top of that, we're giving you a 50 pct discount on the books (all retail prices drastically reduced last week)! And shipping is absolutely FREE.

Place your order as follows:

--Go to our online bookstore, search for your book, select quantity (minimum 5 copies), use this coupon: Personal50.
--In the shipping scrolldown, select "United States - Free Shipping, Cover Charge: $9.95". There's also a hardcover option.
--In the Ordering Instructions Box, let us know who you want us to dedicate the books to (e.g. "Merry Christmas, Joe", or "Dedicated to [first name] [last name]", or "For my Daughter"), max. ten words.

Sorry, fullcolor books are excluded. US orders only; for Canada orders call 301 695 1707 during EST business days, hours. To guarantee timely delivery before the holiday season: offer valid through the weekend, expires Sunday Oct. 18.

Thank you.
PublishAmerica Author Support

Well that's really nifty but I've already dedicated my book to someone...on the dedication page!!

[Cyia]

*head/desk*

That is all.

[tlblack]

Thank you Don for that informative post.

[wanda45451964]

yes thank you Don for telling us that. I havent gotten that email yet from them about the above. i have already dedicated my book also on the dedication page.

[ResearchGuy]

Originally Posted by bhall87

Got another fabulous email from PA's Author Support.

Is it conceivable for those people to come up with any more preposterous gimmicks? I mean, really . ..

--Ken

[bhall87]

I want to know who really does think of these gimmicks. An underpaid "marketing" department? Larry? Miranda? Maybe they just send an email to all of the employees and offer immunity from being fired to the one that comes up with the next swindle.