NEPAT Overflow

Dawno, you can read Certainty Guy's posts at http://www.s13.invisionfree.com/200authors

Bringing this over from NEPAT:

ResearchGuy said:

Can you cite reputable survey evidence for you assertions about what "most people" and "the general public" believe about POD? Or are these your off-the-top-of-your-head generalizations?

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No, Ken, I was winging it, based on conversations I've had and overheard. My impression is that people who know enough about publishing to know what POD and self-publishing are tend to think self-published POD books are generally bad enough not to bother searching through for possible gems. This is not a scientific study or a reputable poll, of course, and does not warrant my earlier phrasing, I agree.

Thank you for your kind directions Aconite. I feel a bit silly for not realizing what NEPAT was. Although I'm not sure I would have found this thread without your help. 'Course I don't really have anything to add at the moment. I'm still too stunned. Didn't know I was saying anything controversial. That'll teach me.

rekirts, I don't think you said anything very controversial. I think you just hit someone's sore spot. We've all got our Things, y'know? (Mine involves sitting on my hands while I yell at the monitor, "Argh! Argh! Read the backthread, why don't you?!" Sometimes I forget the sitting-on-hands part, and then...er. Well. Anyway. We all have our Things.)

Heh, yah, I've done a lot of figurative tongue biting on various forums. If I had a record of all the things I deleted or didn't type before pressing the reply button, I'd probably shock myself.

Lulu lets you make toilet paper from your rejection letters

Can Atlanta Nights fail to follow?

I was thinking the other day that a lot of the appeal PA offers is emotional. Think of the great "community feeling" they all have on the PAMB - as far as I know, real publishers don't have any thing of this sort. I hardly know any other writer with my publisher: I met one lady at a party, and that's it! I wouldn't think of hob-nobbing with other authors of my publisher, simply because we share a publisher. I have several writer friends, but it just so happens that we all have different publishers.
PA-lers have a distinctive PA feeling. On the message boards I saw a post of someone wondering if they should all send their books to celebrities. There is a fuzzy, touchy-feely "we" atmosphere there, a think-alike solidarity.
I think that the PAMB is an extremely strong marketing tool for just this reason. It generates a feeling of belonging in readers, people who perhaps are lonely and struggling with private issues, people with low self-esteem. There, they see al these authors getting all euphoric; a huge balloon labelled "success" drifts in over the horizon, their spirits lift: I can make it too! I can be a part of that! I want to belong got the club! They are all so happy together! Let me in!
The "New authors arrival" thread has a particularly rose-tinted edge to it. "Here we are! We're in the door! Give us a hug! We're part of you now!" "Oh, welcome, welcome to the family! Hugs and kisses, isn't it a great feeling!"
Nothing wrong with all of this, of course; but I do feel that PA manipulates this human need for belonging in order to make money. Of course, lots of other companies do that. All those dating agencies, for example. But here, the banner of fame and fortune goes before...

CaoPaux said:

*dies laughing*

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Oh no! I killed CaoPaux! Now who will update the Index? Oh, woe is we!

I'm gonna lose rep points for this. I just know it.

Aconite said:

Can Atlanta Nights fail to follow?

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Just in time for Christmas gifts...
I've gotta have some AN TP...

Errrr, except for $90+, I could probably get someone a DVD player or better...

Aruna: Love-bombing like that is a very common cult-initiation activity.

PA similar to something in Foucault's Pendulum?

Someone sent me an email saying that PA's behaviour is similar to something described in Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco).

I'm ashamed to say that I do not remember this, even though I read the book many years ago. And I do not have the book to hand. Can anyone enlighten me?

Yes. The main characters in Foucault's Pendulum work, essentially, for a small-time Italian verison of PA. Only the fictional scam publisher focuses on books about crackpot conspiracy theories and mysticism and such.

I could probably find something useful to quote, given time. But it's been awhile since my last reread so I don't entirely remember where in the book the various plot elements are.

This just in: A PublishAmerica author may not have won the Nobel Prize, but one just did win the Ig Nobel Prize! It was for his prosthetic dog testicles rather than his book, though, and the Ig Nobel Prize in Literature went to the multitude of Nigerian Scam Letter Writers.

I wonder if PA will feature this in their Up in the Lights section?

MadScientistMatt said:

This just in: A PublishAmerica author may not have won the Nobel Prize, but one just did win the Ig Nobel Prize! It was for his prosthetic dog testicles rather than his book, though, and the Ig Nobel Prize in Literature went to the multitude of Nigerian Scam Letter Writers.

I wonder if PA will feature this in their Up in the Lights section?

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At last, a product that might prove useful to PA's executives since they don't have any. Otherwise, they wouldn't be afraid to enter a courtroom.

MadScientistMatt said:

It was for his prosthetic dog testicles

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*pause*
You have to wonder if it ever occurs to the people who buy these what purchase of said product says about how secure they are in their own masculinity.

Aconite said:

*pause*
You have to wonder if it ever occurs to the people who buy these what purchase of said product says about how secure they are in their own masculinity.

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Especially since one of the articles I've read about them say that many owners try to talk vets into getting implants one size larger than original. I guess they're more comfortable making a request like that than doing a Derek Smalls impression and walking through airport security with foil wrapped cucumbers in their trousers.

MadScientistMatt said:

Especially since one of the articles I've read about them say that many owners try to talk vets into getting implants one size larger than original.

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*falls out of chair laughing, hitting head on desk on way down*

There's a blog called "PODdy Mouth" where the blogger reviews POD books. She's mentioned PA a number of times and has done so again in a recent post. It's worth a look Be warned though, there's a picture of L@rry C1opp3r in it so it's not for the weak stomached amongst us.

Dawno said:

there's a picture of L@rry C1opp3r in it so it's not for the weak stomached amongst us.

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