PAMB and its quotes

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TwentyFour

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A lot of authors from PAMB are talking about this Pop My Book thing, I have never googled a book and found any PopCurrent listing about it. I think it's a waste of their time. Amazon will tell you exactly what a book is about and if you want to read it then, go for it.
 

Sassenach

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The OP is the same guy who claimed to be in a restaurant and ran into 9 people who had copies of his book.
 

CatSlave

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from the PAMB

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=19964&start=30&sid=a4766bdd3dab2e0b23f0fd5b8fe6daea

PA once told me that the "magic number" of 500 was only ONE of the criteria they look for. If the author purchased all 500 books, rather than having many bookstores sell, schools or libraries stock them, etc, across the nation or internationally - this will effect their decision as well. They look for an effective marketing plan with proven results. They look for books that have a wide audience. Books and authors that stand the test of time, past the "honeymoon period" (the first year after the book release date), will have a better chance of receiving backing from PA.

However, they never did explain exactly what they offer in this special program, so I can't help you out there. But you are right in so far as the number - 500. I have never heard from any author on this forum since 2004 (when I joined the forum) that has been a part of this program.

Perhaps a PA staff person would respond and let us know more...

Buy 500 books yourself and it's guaranteed they'll gladly *print* your second book.
No problem.
 

Rolling Thunder

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I saw that one earlier and the 'backing from PA' caught my eye. What backing?
 

Marian Perera

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zizban

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PA has been nothing but Great! I think people come into the PA family expecting to just write the book! That is all you're supposed to do according to the contract but if you want it to be a success you have to get out there a WORK! You can't be shy about it either. You need to tell EVERYONE! I would not have sold 97 books if I would not have been out there telling everyone! Thanks to the Author discount I now have books for booksignings! Wow, I Love PA!

97 books! Be still my beating heart!
 

triceretops

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We know the magic number is not 73. It just might be, as unc has stated before, 75 copies that ding the magic bell.

Years ago the discount was 50% for 50 books. I think it is now 40% and they have to buy 65 books. The library registration has also jumped from $30 to $45. Feel free to correct me.

PA just keeps getting more expensive as time goes on, aside from the library reg, who set those standards

Tri
 

ResearchGuy

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. . . The library registration has also jumped from $30 to $45. Feel free to correct me.
. . .
Registration of copyright is now $45 (plus two copies of the book). But that fee is set by the Copyright Office (or maybe by law), not PA.

No real publisher expects its authors to register their own copyrights. In fact, real publishers are required to deposit two copies of each book they publish with the Library of Congress, which can be done via the copyright registration process (if I recall correctly -- www.copyright.gov for details). Some real publishers have shirked that responsibility (I believe Harlequin was in a flap about it a few years ago), but it is still the law. By its own contract terms PA shouts that it is an imposter.

--Ken
 

brianm

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I can’t help myself. I had to post this off PAMB. It is from the thread entitled, “Are We Shooting Ourselves in the Foot?”

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=20259

The statistics that I quoted from were taken from "How to Upset a Goliath Book Biz" by Willem Meiners. This book is offered on the front page of PublishAmerica website. Just so you know, Mr. Meiners is CEO of publishamerica so he would be considered a very liable souce. That book is excellent and will provide you with a lot of information about the book industy.

Bit of a Freudian slip?

We already know Willem is liable for everything this scamming company does, but I never knew he was a liable drunk.

Okay, I know the word was spelled wrong, but I found it amusing.:D
 
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TwentyFour

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I can’t help myself. I had to post this off PAMB. It is from the thread entitled, “Are We Shooting Ourselves in the Foot?”

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=20259



Bit of a Freudian slip?

We already know Willem is liable for everything this scamming company does, but I never knew he was a liable drunk.

Okay, I know the word was spelled wrong, but I found it amusing.:D
Actually liable can mean both "likely, prone, or apt" or "responsible".
 

Sheryl Nantus

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I can’t help myself. I had to post this off PAMB. It is from the thread entitled, “Are We Shooting Ourselves in the Foot?”

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=20259



Bit of a Freudian slip?

We already know Willem is liable for everything this scamming company does, but I never knew he was a liable drunk.

Okay, I know the word was spelled wrong, but I found it amusing.:D


isn't this sort of like quoting the mugger who just took your wallet and told you it was a way of "stabilizing the economy?"

:D
 

James D. Macdonald

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That's a sad thread.

The guy with major sour grapes about getting shelved in bookstores says:

"Maybe you have not examined what the cost are involved in putting your book in a bookstore. The bookstore receives a standard discount on your book of around 40%. So if your book retails for $17.95 the bookstore then purchase the book for $10.77. Your oryalty is 8% of the selling price which is the price that PA sells your book for.

8% of 10.77 is a whopping .87cents. You spent more than that in gas alone, not to mention having to purchase and pay for the flyers that they require and then supply them with bookmarks so they can give them to the customers. You would have to sell hundreds of copies just to turn a nice profit from your endeavors.

Okay, yeah. I don't make flyers, far less supply them to bookstores, nor do I make bookmarks. Neither should you. And let's see: $0.87, times three copies sold per bookstore (assuming they order 5 copies each and you get a 60% sell-through), times 8,000 bookstores (about half the bookstores in the US) comes to: $20,880. Will that buy you a tank of gas, my friend?

It may be true that 75% of books are sold outside of bookstores. Planning to break into the book clubs? Good luck with that. Is the Texas State School System going to buy your books? No? How about libraries? Planning on a lot of library sales? Are you going to get your books on the wire-rack spinners down at the bus station? Listen to me: Meiner's book is full of self-serving nonsense. Among commercial books (that is to say, books like yours), around two-thirds (60%) are sold in bookstores. Only about 10% are sold on-line (and among those sold on-line, 95% of the titles are the same ones that are stocked in bookstores -- your book on-line will be fighting it out with the other titles that aren't stocked in bookstores, for 5% of 10%, that is, for 0.5% of the sales).

Sure, you could refuse to buy books from any store that refuses to stock your books. What that'll work out to is that you won't be able to buy books from bookstores. Is that what you want? (It's called "cutting off your nose to spite your face.")
 

spike

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PAMB said:
You need to be seen in the store often, leave your stuff often, etc. I received a call after I had been turned down previously to participate in their local author's night. Then I was told to bring my own books, they would sell them and take 20% of the profit. Yet, they ordered books for the other authors who were not either self-published or PA. I was invited..............that's a step in.

Topic was booksignings. Emphasis mine. http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=20347

You have to wonder if these people ever ask why? Why wouldn't the bookstore order for everyone except PA and self published? Doesn't this tell them something about their "publisher"? That other publishers provide support, in the forms of a reasonable discount and return policy, that PA doesn't.
 

e.dashwood

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Have you ever wondered why it is that well known entertainment industry personalities and politicians seem to get large advances for writing a book? Let’s face it; most entertainment personalities can’t complete a complete sentence unless it is written on a queue-card. But, they do have money and can buy a little fame by bribing any publisher that is willing to make a fast dollar. And, they sell to all those fans that get great joy telling their friends, “I have Brittany’s book.”

With politicians, it is all about dodging the campaign finance laws. Politicians are prohibited by federal campaign finance laws from receiving more than $2000.00 from a single contributor. But, let’s say some big money dude like G.S. wants to donate millions of dollars to Candidate H’s political slush fund. So, he and candidate H get together and work out a plan to funnel a nice lump of money to H’s campaign treasure chest. That allows G.S. to get off the hook for making an illegal campaign contribution.

Candidate H agrees to write a book, or have one ghost written about her/him, but the anticipated sales of the book won’t provide nearly the kind of money the candidate desires. The candidate needs a publisher that will provide a large advance in “anticipation” of future sales and which won’t have to be paid back if the book sales don’t meet desired goals. So G.S. goes to a book publisher and makes a deal. He, being the wonderful philanthropist that he is, writes a check to the publisher for twelve million dollars, which they agree will be used to pay H an advance on her/his book. There is nothing wrong with financing a book business deal. The publisher is now assured it won’t lose on the deal. The publisher then writes a ten million dollar advance check to H, money that is now free from the restraints of federal campaign finance laws.

G.S. now owns a politician, H is happy with her/his political donation (oops, read that “book advance”), and the book publisher just made two million on the deal..


And it was LBJ on the grassy knoll.

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=20461
 

zizban

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First of all I want any responses to be civil. I am posting this after dealing with many different elements while selling and promoting my books. My detrmination is that the book business is rapidly transforming itself into one that does not control its own destiny.

I dont see that. More worrisome is the bottom line the big companies that own Random House, et al, are concerned with that is squeezing the entire industry.

I dare say that it is becoming an offshoot business of other mediums. Notables in other fields view books as a quick revenue generator from their fan bases and publishers do as well. Non book specialist retailers use books as loss leaders to draw people in to shop for other goods.

Some view it as revenue generators; the Star Trek books are a good example but for most houses their books are their revnue, period. Non book specialists dont use books as a loss leader, they use them to cimpliment other things in their store; a store that caters to Hummel figures, for instance, will carry books about Hummels.

Most of these are self inflicted wounds by the traditionalists in this business who are failing to capitalize on a hidden gold mine to make themselves relevant again. Who are the traditionalists: Big retail book chains, large newspapers and the publishers themselves.

"traditionalists" as in people who want to sell good quality books people will buy. And what is this hidden gold mine? POD vanity presses? hardly.

Major newspapers won't review POD/Self Published authors and at the same time book review editors lament their budgets shrinking or the book review sections going away altogether. Most book review sections I see now are a collection of reviews from outside reviewers or review services. The book editor does nothing more that decide which third party reviews will be printed. What's their value if they only place stock reviews.

"review services" never heard of those. My paper syndicates reviews from the New York Times and has a part time reviewing books by local authors (from small, local presses, never a PA book). My paper doesn't have "a book editor" but has a lifestyle editor.

A real value would be to come up with undiscovered gems from self published/POD authors that you can't find in every grocery store or discount chain. Why that is not a weekly mission baffles me. It would pump some life into the busines and make those sectons relevant again. What happened to a reviewer presenting the next new big talent to the world.

PA doesn't promote their books at all; their is no way even the NYTimes reviewer will know about your book unless you send him a copy. "Pump life"; last time I checked book review sections in any paper I've read are alive and kicking.

The big retailers should feel required to offer a forum for POD/self published authors as they continue to drive out independent bookstores. When an idependent closes, the open arms they had for new authors is replaced by the often closed door of the major corporate chain. The independent store and authors needed each other, the big chains are almost just the retail arm of the publishers and their policies almost directly reflect that defacto status.

"Feel required"? Why? Because they wont stock your PA book? No independent bookstore I know will stock a PA book, even from a local author. The big chains and the publishers are in a symbiotic relationship, they do need each other but are hardly "just the retail arm of the publishers"

The publishers stall technological advancement. The recording industry fought the digital music wave until it left without them. Now artists marvel at how much they make off of ring tone downloads. Ebooks should be big by now but the fear of a loss of control and how to keep the revenue going into the same pockets hold it back.

Apples to oranges. There is nothing wrong with the technology, many small presses use POD. The problem comes to scale; printing one book on a POD machine costs the same as printing 5,000. With an offset press it is the opposite, that's why it is still used. It's cheaper, faster, better. Digital music is an entirely different model with different rules than book publishing.

eBooks aren't big for a couple of reasons; first of all, there just isn't any device out there that makes reading an eBook anything like reading a paperback. Second, people still prefer a book they can hold in their hands, smell the pages, etc. eBooks have a place and someday might be a larger portion of the book business but it isn't there, yet.

eBooks can be controlled via DRM, so there is no loss of control. Most eBook publishers don't bother with DRM because it inhibits growth in the very field they are trying to grow. My publisher is an eBook place and it offers a variety of formats, with no DRM, even down to html pages.

I think something has to give, with all of the PA authors, self published and POD books out there it is like a dam holding back a mighty river. How all of this writing and publishing activity goes on almost in the shadows of the public is mind boggling. The general public does not care how the book is produced. Not one person buying my books at signings have asked, "Is it POD?" they buy because they like the story.

That's the key: IF they can find your book on a shelf they may like the story and buy the book. But they can't find the book! Thats your mighty dam: no publicity, shoddy discounts.

The question becomes how do we lift the veil off of this fractured segment of the publishing business and expose it to the reading public. We are all swinging our individual hammer, but what will it take to have this part of the business "break through"?

The veil has been lifted and its not a pretty sight. Tell PA to take notes from Tor books. That will make a breakthrough and make 10,999 happy PA authors unhappy as their books are rejected.
 

CatSlave

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from the same thread

It’s about money folks. It is not about publishing quality literature or enhancing the reading pleasure of literate people.

You probably already noted that this discussion is among the established and revered PAvidian upper eschelon. No wonder the newbies are blinded by the light. Unbelievable.
 
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