Publish America - The best thing to EVER happen to unknown authors

[bstevens]

I cannot believe the comments on here because I have had the most wonderful experience with PA inspite of all the negative crap on here. I knew about it before I signed and that is why I made sure to:

Edit my manuscript 3 times before submitting. I knew that a young, new company would not have the resources or finances to devote time to an UNKNOWN with no proven track record of sales. Especially when they didn't ask me for ONE CENT up front.

I knew that they would expect me to take responsibility for most of the promotion. Ask any well known author and they will tell you that promotion is mainly up to them. The publishers don't give much assistance.

I also knew that POD meant that my books will not be on a bookshelf. The fact that Amazon and other major PODs would sell for me online (an unknown author) just blew me away with gratitude.

If you have faith in your product you should invest some money in your own work(promotion, books, etc.). Just spend what you can afford. Realistically an unknown cannot expect to make huge amounts of money writing.

I think that anyone who has NOT SPENT A DIME and got their book published should be overflowing with gratitude to PA. Your contract did not stipulate that you had to buy some of your own products. Not only that they were good enough to give you 2 copies free!

My God people if NO MONEY has exchanged hands their is no scam!

Traditional publishers are upset with PA. A company like PA has a major effect on the volume of manuscripts they receive. They like to have everyone's good work sent to them to glance at and discard and send out a rejection letter. I am sure PA has beat them out of more than a few good manuscripts.

If I could I would kiss the hands of everyone at PA for rescuing poor unknown authors from the hellish rejection cycles of traditional publishers and the vanity publishers who ask you for thousands of dollars UP FRONT!!!

[bstevens]

Publish America - The best thing to EVER happen to unknown authors
I cannot believe the comments on here because I have had the most wonderful experience with PA inspite of all the negative crap on here. I knew about it before I signed and that is why I made sure to:

Edit my manuscript 3 times before submitting. I knew that a young, new company would not have the resources or finances to devote time to an UNKNOWN with no proven track record of sales. Especially when they didn't ask me for ONE CENT up front.

I knew that they would expect me to take responsibility for most of the promotion. Ask any well known author and they will tell you that promotion is mainly up to them. The publishers don't give much assistance.

I also knew that POD meant that my books will not be on a bookshelf. The fact that Amazon and other major PODs would sell for me online (an unknown author) just blew me away with gratitude.

If you have faith in your product you should invest some money in your own work(promotion, books, etc.). Just spend what you can afford. Realistically an unknown cannot expect to make huge amounts of money writing.

I think that anyone who has NOT SPENT A DIME and got their book published should be overflowing with gratitude to PA. Your contract did not stipulate that you had to buy some of your own products. Not only that they were good enough to give you 2 copies free!

My God people if NO MONEY has exchanged hands their is no scam!

Traditional publishers are upset with PA. A company like PA has a major effect on the volume of manuscripts they receive. They like to have everyone's good work sent to them to glance at and discard and send out a rejection letter. I am sure PA has beat them out of more than a few good manuscripts.

If I could I would kiss the hands of everyone at PA for rescuing poor unknown authors from the hellish rejection cycles of traditional publishers and the vanity publishers who ask you for thousands of dollars UP FRONT!!!

[SC Harrison]

Good luck. You're going to need it.

By the way...how long has your book been out?

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by SC Harrison

Good luck. You're going to need it.

By the way...how long has your book been out?

The official release will be January 15 but, already my friends who bought my book said they arrived beautifully packaged and within 5 days. PA just got their own printing press. They were contracting out before.

The book's cover is beautiful and the books are very nicely bound. I have my son selling for me in chicago. We got 55% off so we expect to make $10/copy at least.

I am doing my own promotion to a targeted list of bookclubs.

www.barbarastevensbooks.com

[James D. Macdonald]

Originally Posted by bstevens

The official release will be January 15 but, already my friends who bought my book said they arrived beautifully packaged and within 5 days. PA just got their own printing press. They were contracting out before.

Not to whip this dead equine too much more, but PA's printing press (a fancy photocopier from Océ North America) won't be installed until February or March of this year.

PA imagines that they can print books more cheaply than Lightning Source can? Dream on, Larry. Reality has some surprises for you, too.

Or ... is the reason they got this POD machine so that no one will ever be able to find out how many copies of what book they printed on what date? An excuse in a box.

Authors, if your royalty statements have been science fiction up to this point, prepare for them to become fantasy.

[Sean D. Schaffer]

Originally Posted by bstevens

The official release will be January 15 ... Snipped.

I've sung this same exact tune, and right now I feel for you. I know you probably do not want my sympathy, but having been through the entire PublishAmerica debacle for myself (signed in 2003, contract terminated in 2006, total 8 sales in a year-and-a-half according to the royalty statements I received) I can tell you you're in for some serious problems.

I say this not to mock you, because I used to be just like you are where PA is concerned. But rather I say this to warn you: most PA authors I've known have been very happy with the results of their endeavors with PublishAmerica, until they received their first royalty check, or until they realized they were not getting the wondrous attention they thought they were getting.

Please understand, this is by no means an attack on you. I've seen first-hand every trick they've played on authors, and I can say with certainty you will be treated no differently than any of us were treated. Sooner or later, you'll ask an honest question or make an honest suggestion, and the company that has your book will do everything it can to intimidate you into submission. That's not an attack; that's a fact of how PublishAmerica treats its authors.

I hope you do well, but I also know from experience your best with PA will not even be a drop in the bucket compared to what you could do if you do get published with a legitimate house. I hope your hard work pays off, but at the same time, the best thing to do now is write another, better book, and see if a better company will publish it for you. The success you achieve with even a tiny company will almost certainly be greater than anyone could ever do with PublishAmerica.

Good luck to you.

[CatSlave]

Originally Posted by bstevens

Publish America - The best thing to EVER happen to unknown authors
I cannot believe the comments on here because I have had the most wonderful experience with PA inspite of all the negative crap on here.

Oh, my. Somebody drank the Kool-Aid.

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by CatSlave

Oh, my. Somebody drank the Kool-Aid.

I figure that even if they don't sell a single book for me and they continue to give me a good discount, I'll make a good part time income.

Some tips I received from another PA writer below:
1. Book sells through Amazon and you get standard royalties. Let’s say 10%. – $2
2. You buy the book and save 30%, therefore you earn $6.
3. You put the book in stores on consignment at 50% and you get 15%, still better than the basic royalty, an earning of $3.
4. You convince a store to purchase books on your behalf and you pay them a 5% fee for being the buyer. They get a 40% discount. You give them their 5%, get your 10% royalties and sell your books for an additional 35%, making 45% on the cover price. We’re up to $9.
5. You could put that book on consignment at 50/50 and split the 35% discount with Joe blow (which is 17.5%). Add the original 10% that you keep, and you’re still up to 27.5%.

The worst percentage you are going to get on your book is the royalty cheque you’ll receive.

The question isn’t who gets what for nothing; the question is how will you increase the amount paid to you on every sale?

I wanted to post a little bit about my own experience with consignment. Currently in the last 2 weeks I have gotten my book into 5 bookstores this way. These are all local bookstores.

[CatSlave]

Originally Posted by bstevens

I figure that even if they don't sell a single book for me and they continue to give me a good discount, I'll make a good part time income.

All sarcastic remarks aside (which are aimed at the PA business practices, not you personally), I admire your persistence and positive attitude.

I wish you well with your book, and hope you spend some time considering the different points of view you will encounter in this forum. You're in the company of a lot of writing pros, and they will not steer you wrong. You might not like what you hear, but in time you may see things a bit differently.

Best wishes to you.

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by CatSlave

All sarcastic remarks aside (which are aimed at the PA business practices, not you personally), I admire your persistence and positive attitude.

I wish you well with your book, and hope you spend some time considering the different points of view you will encounter in this forum. You're in the company of a lot of writing pros, and they will not steer you wrong. You might not like what you hear, but in time you may see things a bit differently.

Best wishes to you.

Yes, I hear you but believe me after I read all of this stuff BEFORE I signed my contract I agonized over the decision night and day. So far I'm quite happy with everything - order fulfillment, etc.

Unknown authors must remember that they are the competition to these professional writers and taking money out of their pockets, just like all the reality shows with regular people are taking jobs from professional actors. I love this new era of the common man being given a chance.

[Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by bstevens

1. Book sells through Amazon and you get standard royalties. Let’s say 10%. – $2
2. You buy the book and save 30%, therefore you earn $6.
3. You put the book in stores on consignment at 50% and you get 15%, still better than the basic royalty, an earning of $3.
4. You convince a store to purchase books on your behalf and you pay them a 5% fee for being the buyer. They get a 40% discount. You give them their 5%, get your 10% royalties and sell your books for an additional 35%, making 45% on the cover price. We’re up to $9.
5. You could put that book on consignment at 50/50 and split the 35% discount with Joe blow (which is 17.5%). Add the original 10% that you keep, and you’re still up to 27.5%.

Thats really cool.

The extent of my involvement with that process is going to the bank and cashing checks.

And I'm about as unknown as they come.

Glad its working out for you, all the same.

[LeslieB]

Oh. Oh dear.

You don't really think that when pro writers talk about contributing to the promotion of their book, they are talking about selling books out of their car trunks? Or pestering their local bookstores to carry their book? Or having to buy their own books for book signings? Do you?

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by LeslieB

Oh. Oh dear.

You don't really think that when pro writers talk about contributing to the promotion of their book, they are talking about selling books out of their car trunks? Or pestering their local bookstores to carry their book? Or having to buy their own books for book signings? Do you?

No, but MANY MANY professional writers started out with vanity publishers and had to shell out thousands of dollars to get their books printed and then had to sell so many out of cars, bookfairs, etc., before the REAL traditional publishers would give them the time of day. PA is giving you the opportunity to prove yourself without YOU SHELLING out a cent.

They are a Godsend to good writers who are willing to work.

[LeslieB]

Originally Posted by bstevens

No, but MANY MANY professional writers started out with vanity publishers and had to shell out thousands of dollars to get their books printed and then had to sell so many out of cars, bookfairs, etc., before the REAL traditional publishers would give them the time of day. PA is giving you the opportunity to prove yourself without YOU SHELLING out a cent.

They are a Godsend to good writers who are willing to work.

No, they didn't. And no, PA isn't.

I am really and truly sorry that you didn't discover this board before going with PA. Because then you would have encountered many writers who found good agents, who then found them good publishers, and who never went anywhere near a vanity publisher. You would also have read the accounts of other PA writers who struggled to get the legal rights to their books back after realizing that PA was nothing like what they were promised. And you would have learned a great deal about the way the publishing industry actually works.

I wish you all the best, in any case.

[Popeyesays]

Originally Posted by bstevens

No, but MANY MANY professional writers started out with vanity publishers and had to shell out thousands of dollars to get their books printed and then had to sell so many out of cars, bookfairs, etc., before the REAL traditional publishers would give them the time of day. PA is giving you the opportunity to prove yourself without YOU SHELLING out a cent.

They are a Godsend to good writers who are willing to work.

This is what PA says, but they're wrong. No modern big-time author buys his own books or does his own promotion. No 'Middle-List author does either, sure they might sign books and such, but they don't oay for those books out of their own pocket. For every one book you sell on Amazon you might sell a hundred or even a thousand if it was sold generally in chain and indie book stores. No small press requires you to pay anything up front. Royalties are 8-10% on cover price, not net. The average book at PA sells about 75 copies, the preponderance to the author himself.

I don't think you have done anything wrong, friend, but next July or so, why not give us a report on your sales?

Regards,
Scott

[CatSlave]

Originally Posted by bstevens

Publish America - The best thing to EVER happen to unknown authors
...Especially when they didn't ask me for ONE CENT up front.

...I think that anyone who has NOT SPENT A DIME and got their book published should be overflowing with gratitude to PA.

...My God people if NO MONEY has exchanged hands their is no scam!

...I ordered for my son 100 copies he's going to sell in chicago...

The minute YOU bought your first book, money DID change hands. That's how they get you -- not up front, like an honest vanity publisher, but after you've signed on and become your own captive buying audience. You've been blinded by what you think is the light at the end of a tunnel, when it's really the train of disaster headed your way. I hope they serve you better than they did the other PA authors here, but I doubt it. Again, I wish you all the best.

[imagoodgurl4]

benbradley: You're right, I didn't read the synopsis before that earlier post, I only read the sample. I read it from the link you posted and you're right, it still doesn't change my opinion. I even found a few errors in her synopsis that, to me, are a huge turnoff. If you can't right a decent synopsis, what makes me think your story will be any better?

I poked around the rest of the website (I really should be writing too, lol) and I noticed how she uses third person when describing herself on her author's page. Since she did state she has free websites, I think it's safe to assume she manages them herself, which, in my opinion, appears ammatuerish. I once had a substitute teacher in elementary school that referred to herself in the third person....highly annoying.

She also stated she has a college degree and she is therefore a professional and does not need editing services. Again, when I checked her website, it says it's in business. How does that have anything to do with writing? I'm going to be receiving my Bachelor of Science this year in Architecture and that doesn' t mean I'm anymore an expert on writing just because I've gone to college, nor does it make me an expert architect.

I read the reviews, but if her book isn't due out yet, as I believe she stated in an earlier post, either on this thread or another one, how did she get reviews? Not only that, but how are all 5 positve? I mean, not everyone is going to like your work, no matter how good it is. And yes, the last two were most definitely posted by the same people, which makes me think it's not necessarily other posters, but perhaps a couple people who work for PA. Very fishy.

Sorry for the long post, but I just have no tolerance for ignorant people like bstevens.

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by imagoodgurl4

benbradley: You're right, I didn't read the synopsis before that earlier post, I only read the sample. I read it from the link you posted and you're right, it still doesn't change my opinion. I even found a few errors in her synopsis that, to me, are a huge turnoff. If you can't right a decent synopsis, what makes me think your story will be any better?

I poked around the rest of the website (I really should be writing too, lol) and I noticed how she uses third person when describing herself on her author's page. Since she did state she has free websites, I think it's safe to assume she manages them herself, which, in my opinion, appears ammatuerish. I once had a substitute teacher in elementary school that referred to herself in the third person....highly annoying.

She also stated she has a college degree and she is therefore a professional and does not need editing services. Again, when I checked her website, it says it's in business. How does that have anything to do with writing? I'm going to be receiving my Bachelor of Science this year in Architecture and that doesn' t mean I'm anymore an expert on writing just because I've gone to college, nor does it make me an expert architect.

I read the reviews, but if her book isn't due out yet, as I believe she stated in an earlier post, either on this thread or another one, how did she get reviews? Not only that, but how are all 5 positve? I mean, not everyone is going to like your work, no matter how good it is. And yes, the last two were most definitely posted by the same people, which makes me think it's not necessarily other posters, but perhaps a couple people who work for PA. Very fishy.

Sorry for the long post, but I just have no tolerance for ignorant people like bstevens.

I'm not wasting up my professional writing skills on this crappy board. What errors did you find in my synopsis? You're no English major. You're stupid. PA won't accept your work A**hole.

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by bstevens

I'm not wasting up my professional writing skills on this crappy board. What errors did you find in my synopsis? You're no English major. You're stupid. PA won't accept your work A**hole.

Oh wow.

I was feeling a little sorry for you; I'm not now. Not even a little.

You're in a wonderful position, here, to learn from some amazing people, people like James Macdonald, who's a top notch writer, a very well respected author, and a fine teacher.

Don't blow it.

[Chickadee]

Originally Posted by imagoodgurl4

She also stated she has a college degree and she is therefore a professional and does not need editing services. Again, when I checked her website, it says it's in business. How does that have anything to do with writing? I'm going to be receiving my Bachelor of Science this year in Architecture and that doesn' t mean I'm anymore an expert on writing just because I've gone to college, nor does it make me an expert architect.

I do have a relevant degree in English and even I know that my papers that were written well enough to earn As and Bs at my university doesn't mean that I am an expert in the English language.

Originally Posted by bstevens

I'm not wasting up my professional writing skills on this crappy board. What errors did you find in my synopsis? You're no English major.

Ms. Stevens, I am an English major and if you'll pardon me for saying so, the other posters are quite correct: there are plenty of grammar errors you missed during your edits.

[Tina]

Originally Posted by bstevens

Publish America - The best thing to EVER happen to unknown authors

Traditional publishers are upset with PA. A company like PA has a major effect on the volume of manuscripts they receive. They like to have everyone's good work sent to them to glance at and discard and send out a rejection letter. I am sure PA has beat them out of more than a few good manuscripts.

If I could I would kiss the hands of everyone at PA for rescuing poor unknown authors from the hellish rejection cycles of traditional publishers and the vanity publishers who ask you for thousands of dollars UP FRONT!!!

Traditional publishers are not upset with PA, because they barely know it exists. PA certainly doesn't impact their business in any way. If the bigshots send out rejection letters, it is because most don't accept unsolicited manuscripts any more. They are NOT looking for any more over the transom manuscripts than they are already deluged with. Do some reading and research.

Literary agents and writers' guilds and unions DO know PA exists. They all know PA is not a legit writing credit because PA prints everything they can within their daily quota. They do not consider you to be published and I agree with this decision 100%.

If you believe PA is selective because they "reject" 80% of what they receive, an acceptance of 20% alone would be unprecedented. Most publishers accept about one tenth of one percent. Does that make them elitist snobs? On the rare occassion yes, but most are anxious to find a new fabulous voice with amazing writing talent. Does that describe most PA authors? Not from what I've seen and read.

If you think I'm a snob by believing this, allow me to tell you about a short story I had published in a prestigious Canadian lit journal last April. I worked, worked and re-worked that story for a year and a half. That's right, 4400 words that I revised for 18 months. I wanted to make sure the product I put was as outstanding as I was capable of creating. Did other journals reject it? Sure. But eventually one of those "elitist" magazines, who didn't know me from Adam, published my story, because they believed in the quality. It sure wasn't easy, but it was worth it.

No legit publisher should ever ask you for money up front. But if you're happy with PA (and it seems that you did have a good understanding of their business practices before you signed) that's good. Those that believed PA was a genuine commercial publisher are the ones who are not happy, and rightly so.

[tlblack]

You can stand on your podium and shout all night, but it won't change any opinion that I have about PA as any kind of legitimate publisher. Perhaps you didn't expect enough from your own writing and were willing to settle for what you could. Maybe you didn't go to school for two years to take writing courses and find an agent you thought would represent you legitimately either: or work two jobs as a single parent to see that your child had a college education with little or no help from his father. Sure, you don't pay PA a cent, you just get taken for every penny you have in order to purchase copies of your own work and then stand on street corners and sell what you can. Doesn't matter, because once you try and send your work to another publisher and put on your letter that you have a book with PA, they will most likely toss it in the trash without ever giving it a moments consideration. Call a few publishers and ask them their feelings on PA. While your at it, ask them what types of promotions they do with their authors as opposed to PA. Ask book stores why they will not put PA books on their shelves. Then buzz over to http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pealn.htm, click on book publishers, scroll down to PA and read the many many posts there, including a letter from Barnes and Noble to one author.

I don't know about everyone here as far as their own personal experience with PA, but I know mine and I know for a fact that I am much better off without PA. I didn't know about PA's policies when I signed their really inane contract. That one is on me. I wouldn't, however, recommend PA to my worst enemy based on my experience with them.

There are over 75 different threads here about PA. Why, I ask you, would we all focus on just one publisher if there wasn't something completely wrong about them? If you have had a good experience with PA, then I commend you. If all you expected of your work was to just see it in book form and sell what you could when you could afford to buy more copies of it, I again, commend you. Just please, don't try and convince me, knowing absolutely nothing about my personal writing goals, or anticipations, that my book having been published with PA was ever a good idea. You'd be barking up the wrong tree.

My apologies if this offends anyone, but that post just struck a nerve. A still very touchy one.

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by tlblack

You can stand on your podium and shout all night, but it won't change any opinion that I have about PA as any kind of legitimate publisher. Perhaps you didn't expect enough from your own writing and were willing to settle for what you could. Maybe you didn't go to school for two years to take writing courses and find an agent you thought would represent you legitimately either: or work two jobs as a single parent to see that your child had a college education with little or no help from his father. Sure, you don't pay PA a cent, you just get taken for every penny you have in order to purchase copies of your own work and then stand on street corners and sell what you can. Doesn't matter, because once you try and send your work to another publisher and put on your letter that you have a book with PA, they will most likely toss it in the trash without ever giving it a moments consideration. Call a few publishers and ask them their feelings on PA. While your at it, ask them what types of promotions they do with their authors as opposed to PA. Ask book stores why they will not put PA books on their shelves. Then buzz over to http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pealn.htm, click on book publishers, scroll down to PA and read the many many posts there, including a letter from Barnes and Noble to one author.

I don't know about everyone here as far as their own personal experience with PA, but I know mine and I know for a fact that I am much better off without PA. I didn't know about PA's policies when I signed their really inane contract. That one is on me. I wouldn't, however, recommend PA to my worst enemy based on my experience with them.

There are over 75 different threads here about PA. Why, I ask you, would we all focus on just one publisher if there wasn't something completely wrong about them? If you have had a good experience with PA, then I commend you. If all you expected of your work was to just see it in book form and sell what you could when you could afford to buy more copies of it, I again, commend you. Just please, don't try and convince me, knowing absolutely nothing about my personal writing goals, or anticipations, that my book having been published with PA was ever a good idea. You'd be barking up the wrong tree.

My apologies if this offends anyone, but that post just struck a nerve. A still very touchy one.

I went through all this negative crap when I tried to get some good advice the last time I moved about moving companies. What I found out is that any idiot can say any idiotic thing on this internet and not be held accountable.

There is no doubt that some people have had problems BUT I have to look at the expectations of the people. I didn't go in and think that I would get so much for so little. No one knows me. PA doesn't know if I will buy or sell a single copy and they worked for me and TRUSTED me. I love them for that.

You also have to look at the other options of an UNKNOWN UNPROVEN author. No traditional publisher will trust you UNTIL YOU PROVE YOU HAVE AN AUDIENCE. PA is giving you the opportunity to prove yourself.

[MMo]

Originally Posted by bstevens

You also have to look at the other options of an UNKNOWN UNPROVEN author. No traditional publisher will trust you UNTIL YOU PROVE YOU HAVE AN AUDIENCE. PA is giving you the opportunity to prove yourself.

That is just not true. I sold my first manuscript over the transom to a well-known house. True, it was just a mass market paperback release, but it went on to sell 80,000 copies U.S. retail and was released in many languages and countries, twice in Japan, the second time fourteen years after the first time.

I used that contract to get an agent some folks on this board salivate over the prospect of getting. I met him at a writers conference where I was introduced to him by another client of his. I met the senior editor of a branch of the house that had published me. All of this would have done no good had I not had another book ready to go.

What publicity did I do? Well, the library in my hometown hosted an autographing for me and gave me the key to the city; a large grocery store ordered in two hundred copies and hosted an autographing for me; a local discount store didn't hold an autographing but ordered in two hundred copies of my second book and a hundred of my first and put in special shelving for the couple of weeks it took to move them. Other than that, I just wrote and went to the conferences I already attended.

I went on to write, and sell to major publishers, a total of sixteen books before life intervened and I stopped writing.

Now I copy edit for a well-known house. That publisher does publish new authors; I know, I've worked with their manuscripts. That publisher pays each of them an advance against royalties. It pays an in-house editor to work with the manuscript; it pays me several hundred dollars to copy edit the work, it pays a cover artist, a typesetter, a proofreader to make sure the changes get into the corrected copy, a second proofreader to do a cold pass for layout and obvious errors that may have slipped past the rest of us, a printer. It has a distributer that sees that the books get into book stores, on-line venues, and magazine racks. It pays royalties promptly and accurately. Now tell me, who gives whom the better chance.

Oh, yes. Of the books I wrote, I could purchase copies for my own self, but not for resale, at a fifty percent discount, and when I purchased on that discount, I did not have to pay postage on the shipment. Please check your costs for getting your books to you. Last I heard it was so much for the first book and an additional cost for each additional book, way beyond what normal shipping would be, provided that an author had to pay for the shipping.

So, please enjoy the honeymoon with PA, but please watch your words. You're really going to hate the taste of them as you eat them after the first royalty statement.

Mo

[bstevens]

Originally Posted by MMo

That is just not true. I sold my first manuscript over the transom to a well-known house. True, it was just a mass market paperback release, but it went on to sell 80,000 copies U.S. retail and was released in many languages and countries, twice in Japan, the second time fourteen years after the first time.

I used that contract to get an agent some folks on this board salivate over the prospect of getting. I met him at a writers conference where I was introduced to him by another client of his. I met the senior editor of a branch of the house that had published me. All of this would have done no good had I not had another book ready to go.

What publicity did I do? Well, the library in my hometown hosted an autographing for me and gave me the key to the city; a large grocery store ordered in two hundred copies and hosted an autographing for me; a local discount store didn't hold an autographing but ordered in two hundred copies of my second book and a hundred of my first and put in special shelving for the couple of weeks it took to move them. Other than that, I just wrote and went to the conferences I already attended.

I went on to write, and sell to major publishers, a total of sixteen books before life intervened and I stopped writing.

Now I copy edit for a well-known house. That publisher does publish new authors; I know, I've worked with their manuscripts. That publisher pays each of them an advance against royalties. It pays an in-house editor to work with the manuscript; it pays me several hundred dollars to copy edit the work, it pays a cover artist, a typesetter, a proofreader to make sure the changes get into the corrected copy, a second proofreader to do a cold pass for layout and obvious errors that may have slipped past the rest of us, a printer. It has a distributer that sees that the books get into book stores, on-line venues, and magazine racks. It pays royalties promptly and accurately. Now tell me, who gives whom the better chance.

Oh, yes. Of the books I wrote, I could purchase copies for my own self, but not for resale, at a fifty percent discount, and when I purchased on that discount, I did not have to pay postage on the shipment. Please check your costs for getting your books to you. Last I heard it was so much for the first book and an additional cost for each additional book, way beyond what normal shipping would be, provided that an author had to pay for the shipping.

So, please enjoy the honeymoon with PA, but please watch your words. You're really going to hate the taste of them as you eat them after the first royalty statement.

Mo

WHY DON'T YOU TELL US WHO this wonderful publisher is???? Why do you withhold its name???? Believe me I checked most all of them out and PA was the best one I came up with. ANXIOUSLY AWAITING YOUR IMPARTIAL REPLY. Let's not forget they're YOUR bread and butter.