The New Never-Ending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT)

[Queen of Swords]

Originally Posted by roncouch

There are some decent auto spell checkers are there not? Why couldn't PA extend their authors the courtesy of running the stuff through it?

Two reasons: firstly, they don't have the time, given how few staff have to put out how many books, and secondly, why should they do this when most authors aren't likely to notice the errors or point them out?

Sending out another batch of emails offering an author discount is more likely to pay the bills than showing authors the courtesy of running a spell check. After all, most authors will buy their books whether or not the books are riddled with errors.

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Because that would involve PA actually caring beyond the money. And we know they don't care about anything else.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by Queen of Swords

Two reasons: firstly, they don't have the time, given how few staff have to put out how many books, and secondly, why should they do this when most authors aren't likely to notice the errors or point them out?

Sending out another batch of emails offering an author discount is more likely to pay the bills than showing authors the courtesy of running a spell check. After all, most authors will buy their books whether or not the books are riddled with errors.

I think you have hit the nail on the head--they don't edit competently because they don't have to. Authors will buy their own books with or without the errors. If PA was marketing books to the general public, they would have to clean up their act, or their reputation for shoddiness would cost them sales. But authors will buy the books anyway and either (1) do not notice the errors, or (2) blame themselves for not catching the errors before sending the book to PA.

[gothicangel]

"Does the use of the digital on-demand printing technology make a publisher a POD house? No, it does not. Of course not. According to www.acronymfinder.com, there are 57 different meanings for POD, from Post Office Department to Point Of Departure to Proof Of Delivery. In our world, POD is vanity publishing, and PublishAmerica is no vanity publisher, by any stretch of the imagination."

Ignoring all the rambling vaguries . . .

Since when is POD vanity publishing? Is Macmillan, Random House and Penguin vanity publishers - because I know for a fact that they use POD!

Another thing, they claim to be boycotting Amazon. Surely Amazon were only placing those new rules on POD houses?

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

POD as I understand it can refer commonly either to a business model or a technology. Many publishing houses use POD technology; vanity presses use a POD business model. It's the ones who use the POD business model that you want to avoid. I'm curious, where exactly is that quote found that you referenced here? I tried giving a quick lookaround for it, but couldn't find it. Could you link the exact page for me?

[CaoPaux]

http://www.publishamerica.com/facts/index.htm

FACT #9: Does the use of the digital on-demand printing technology make a publisher a POD house? No, it does not. Of course not. According to www.acronymfinder.com, there are 57 different meanings for POD, from Post Office Department to Point Of Departure to Proof Of Delivery. In our world, POD is vanity publishing, and PublishAmerica is no vanity publisher, by any stretch of the imagination.

[roncouch]

Dear Author,

Here it is: PublishAmerica's one-week-only Christmas Sale offer!

PublishAmerica authors receive a 50 percent discount on all orders. Shipping is FREE for all orders of 25 copies or more.

Phone orders only, at 301 695 1707, between 9am - 5pm EST. Sorry, hardcovers are excluded, but full-color books are included! Free shipping within USA only. Special sales code: Santa. Offer expires this Friday, December 12.

Thank you!
PublishAmerica Author Support Team

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Originally Posted by CaoPaux

http://www.publishamerica.com/facts/index.htm

That explains everything.

Regardless of whether they're vanity (which I haven't seen anything around here to convince me they're not) or not, they're sleazy and that's enough to keep me from ever considering them.

[tlblack]

Better pick up that phone quick and be sure to have every credit card in your wallet available when you order that 100 plus copies of your own books.

Before you know it, you'll be getting daily offers. Sheesh! Come on PA, you know these people don't want boxes of books in their garages that nobody will buy at your over inflated prices. You can instead come out of the closet and admit that you are a vanity press. You'd still be selling books.

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Originally Posted by tlblack

You can instead come out of the closet and admit that you are a vanity press. You'd still be selling books.

Know what's sad? Is that it's true.

[Afinerosesheis]

Originally Posted by roncouch

Dear Author,

Here it is: PublishAmerica's one-week-only Christmas Sale offer!

PublishAmerica authors receive a 50 percent discount on all orders. Shipping is FREE for all orders of 25 copies or more.

Phone orders only, at 301 695 1707, between 9am - 5pm EST. Sorry, hardcovers are excluded, but full-color books are included! Free shipping within USA only. Special sales code: Santa. Offer expires this Friday, December 12.

Thank you!
PublishAmerica Author Support Team

I also got this e-mail. I have been thinking of writing them to ask them to stop sending them, but I hesitate. First, I don't know if it will do any good. I don't want to get a tone letter from them because it will really pee me off, and last I simply do not want any further contact with them. But I am really sick of getting them. What do you guys advise?

[triceretops]

I'll bet that they'll extend it due to a fabulous response. Any takers?

Tri

[Afinerosesheis]

Originally Posted by triceretops

I'll bet that they'll extend it due to a fabulous response. Any takers?

Tri

They extend their little sales every dam week! =(

[Queen of Swords]

But I am really sick of getting them. What do you guys advise?

Spam folder/block email address.

[PVish]

Originally Posted by Afinerosesheis

I also got this e-mail. I have been thinking of writing them to ask them to stop sending them, but I hesitate. First, I don't know if it will do any good. I don't want to get a tone letter from them because it will really pee me off, and last I simply do not want any further contact with them. But I am really sick of getting them. What do you guys advise?

Does your e-mail allow you to bounce messages? Mine does, so the message is returned to the sender as if it was never received by the inttended recipient. If yours can bounce, then bounce it.

Can you hit reply and just send and empty message back? (Maybe several times.)

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by Afinerosesheis

I also got this e-mail. I have been thinking of writing them to ask them to stop sending them, but I hesitate. First, I don't know if it will do any good. I don't want to get a tone letter from them because it will really pee me off, and last I simply do not want any further contact with them. But I am really sick of getting them. What do you guys advise?

I had to email PA several times telling them to stop, but they did finally stop sending me the solicitation emails. I haven't gotten any since early September.

As for PA being a vanity press: a vanity press' primary customers are their authors; PA's primary customers are their authors; a vanity press does no promotion or marketing of their books, since they depend on their authors to sell books (to the extent they get sold), and the same is true of PA. If it waddles like a vanity press and quacks like a vanity press . . . it must be a vanity press.

[merrihiatt]

I had thought about asking PA not to send me the offers any more, too, but now it's almost like a game -- how many solicitations can I receive from PA in a week? How about in a month? It just confirms and adds to the long list of reasons why I believe PA is a printer rather than a publisher.

[Afinerosesheis]

You can receive as many as three a week (average is one), and seven a month (average is four.) I've been saving them for months now to satisfy my curiosity. But it is now satisfied and I wish I'd never see another again.

Tell me more about the bounce thing. I don't think I have it. I use outlook express. Maybe I'll check my DSL settings. Thanks.

[PVish]

Originally Posted by Afinerosesheis

Tell me more about the bounce thing. I don't think I have it. I use outlook express. Maybe I'll check my DSL settings. Thanks.

I use Apple Mail. Under the message pull-down is an option called "Bounce." Clicking it bounces the original e-mail back to its sender. Makes the sender think the e-mail addy isn't valid.

I don't know if other mail clients offer that option, but you might check into it. If even half the people who receive offers from PA could send those offers back. . . .

I suppose PA's New Year's Day offer ("Resolve to buy books to sell to new customers!"), Ground Hog's Day offer ("Bring your book out of hiding!"), and Valentine's Day ("Sell your books to the ones you love!") offers are already in the works.

[DaveKuzminski]

Create a special webpage and display all the emails PA sends you with sales offers under the heading, "Only vanity publishers seek to sell to their authors."

[roncouch]

I simply look, post to AW for laughs, and then delete.

[Old Hack]

Originally Posted by roncouch

Dear Author,

Here it is: PublishAmerica's one-week-only Christmas Sale offer!

PublishAmerica authors receive a 50 percent discount on all orders. Shipping is FREE for all orders of 25 copies or more.

Phone orders only, at 301 695 1707, between 9am - 5pm EST. Sorry, hardcovers are excluded, but full-color books are included! Free shipping within USA only. Special sales code: Santa. Offer expires this Friday, December 12.

Thank you!
PublishAmerica Author Support Team

Oh, look. I blogged about offers like this a couple of weeks ago:

You don't see Random House sending letters like this to the writers they publish. That's because Random House is a commercial, mainstream publisher which sells its books to readers, and not to the people who wrote them.

Special author promotions like this are a sure sign that you're dealing with a vanity publisher, and not with a mainstream publisher.

If you get a letter like this from your publisher, take a moment to consider that few self-published or vanity-published books ever sell as many as 100 copies before you take advantage of their offer. Because if you don't, you're likely to end up with some very expensive boxes stacked up in your hallway for the next couple of years.

Now, how did I know that this would happen? Easy. I've been watching this board for a couple of years now and have seen it happen every time Christmas (and Easter, and the summer holidays, and any and every other public holiday) comes around.

[Afinerosesheis]

I get a lot more solicitations now than before. When I first signed, almost three years ago, I only got one every few months. Just shows how much more greedy they've become lately.

BTW Thanks all for the tips.

[smsarber]

Greedy and desperate.

[Don Davidson]

Originally Posted by DaveKuzminski

Create a special webpage and display all the emails PA sends you with sales offers under the heading, "Only vanity publishers seek to sell to their authors."

That is essentially what I have done on "The Truth About PublishAmerica" page on my web site--at least, until PA stopped sending them to me. But the solicitations I did receive are still posted. (Links below)