The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Gillhoughly

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I noticed somewhere that the court date between LSI and PA is scheduled for September--of 2011.

Is PA going to continue dishing out the crap excuse "We can't pay royalties, we have a lawsuit" until then and after?

Of course they will, for as long as they can get away with it.

But I would hope that PA writers would check their contracts and see if there is anything in it that says PA is allowed to do that.

To quote from a 2002 contract I found:

"The Publisher shall pay to the Author the following royalties: A royalty upon the regular edition sold in the United States and elsewhere of: 8 percent of the sales price thereof on the first 2,000 copies sold; 10 percent on the next 8,000 copies sold; 12.5 percent on all copies sold in excess of 10,000 ."

And...

"12. The Publisher agrees to render and forward to the Author, in the months of February and August next succeeding the date of publication of the said literary work, and thereafter semi-annual statements of account for so long as copies of the work subject to royalty are sold. With respect to copies sold, the statement shall indicate the price of each copy sold. The statement shall indicate both the total royalties payable to Author on sales during the accounting period and the breakdown indicating the royalties attributable to specific kinds of sales. Author may, upon giving sufficientnotice of no less than seven days, examine Publisher’s records and accounts to the extent that such records and accounts are relevant to the publication of the said literary work, which shall be done at Author’s expense."

It has nothing to suggest that the publisher may withhold royalties for ANY REASON.

Read it through, PA lurkers.

READ IT THROUGH, MIRANDA.

As you are so fond of telling your customers--READ THE CONTRACT.


The writers have held up their end of the contract--now it's your turn.

If you Stooges know what's good for you--and I can trust you are interested in covering your lame arses 24/7, you won't continue the farce that you can't pay royalties until the lawsuit is settled.

PA writers--don't settle for excuses. Demand your royalties. The law is on your side. For once, that crap contract can work in your favor.
 

Marie Pacha

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I learned during my arbitration (thank you PA) that statute of limitations applies to breach of contract issues.

If the lawsuit/appeals on the LSI case drags on and on, and PA authors don't take action on royalties that are not paid they stand a chance of losing them. I'm not an attorney, but this explains it better:

http://www.hughesnassociates.com/articles/TH/MAC/time.htm
 

B.L. Robinson

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Here's an interesting note... I went on to the PA website and pulled up my book (159 days left in the contract and counting down!) and when I pulled up the information on it, off on the right hand side of the page under the pricing, is a plug for another PA children's book. Even the page containing a books description is fair game for their shameless plugging!

On a lighter note, I received the email from PA touting their predominant female staff, and my mischievous side could not resist sending them a reply (ladies, its all in fun, ok?) stating that "NOW I finally knew why all my email requesting my rights be returned were ignored, thanks so much for clearing it up for me... "
 

Anon76

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Read it through, PA lurkers.

READ IT THROUGH, MIRANDA.

As you are so fond of telling your customers--READ THE CONTRACT.

Okay, my brain sparked at this portion of the post. We need to develop a "Miranda rights/warning" for PA lurkers.

You have the right to...if you give up these rights...blada blada blada.

If I wasn't so dog gone tired from work, I'd start the ball rolling.
 

kaitie

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Someone explain something to me. I don't remember the details of the LS lawsuit very well, but I know it involved the whole getting books returned and being charged for them, right? What is PA looking to get in return?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to fit the info that was speculated on by the person doing the PA articles. She suspected that the books being returned were the donation books being sent out. Does this mean that PA would be losing on books it didn't technically get paid for in the first place? Or might they be able to make money off them if they win the suit?

I'm just trying to sort out if this changes things somehow.
 

M.R.J. Le Blanc

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I'm fuzzy on the details, but my honest belief is that PA is suing LSI hoping they'll just settle out of court to make the whole mess go away. What they didn't realize was that LSI was gonna bite back and meet them claim for claim in court. This is more like a game of chicken in my eyes; it'll last until someone blinks. I think PA is more likely to fold and run than LSI saying 'we've had enough, let's settle'
 

PVish

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Here's an interesting note... I went on to the PA website and pulled up my book (159 days left in the contract and counting down!) and when I pulled up the information on it, off on the right hand side of the page under the pricing, is a plug for another PA children's book. Even the page containing a books description is fair game for their shameless plugging!

Somehow the ad for that cute little kiddies' book doesn't seem to fit on the page with this new release.
 

Don Davidson

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Is this the thread containing Sinthyia Darkness' articles?

She has a new post. http://sinthyiadarkness.blogspot.com/

It's sad that PA is apparently still able to intimidate some into suppressing the truth. The Examiner apparently removed Darkness' articles after receiving PA's Cease and Desist letter. (I checked and the articles are gone, although they are on Darkness' blog site now.) As suggested in Darkness' blog, I emailed the Examiner and told them Darkness' article is pretty accurate factually, and referred them to the PA page of my web site for further documentation.
 

circlexranch

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Kaitie and MRJ, hang on for a little while longer and I will have links and explanations for all the docs in the lawsuit. There are about 50 of them and it's taking longer than I anticipated to pull it together (pesky jobs!)
 

CatSlave

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So, did the children's book author succumb to the "Buy seven copies and we will display your book for three days" or is this some other scam?
I'm so confused!

The Demon book certainly looks like it's "one for the shelf."


Maybe it should be titled Accidental Pedophile.
 
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Wrider

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So, did the children's book author succumb to the "Buy seven copies and we will display your book for three days" or is this some other scam?

Looks like an author bought into it. And, just like the old ads in the backs of books, PA doesn't care what genre is advertised where. (My novel wound up with an ad in the back of it for a book that was very inappropriate for my audience. I tore out that page of those copies.)
 

Rambling

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PA claims to be a business like any other, which led to an amusing thought experiment – what would PA be like in a different business?

If PA were a sandwich bar:

FEED AMERICA offers you this unique offer -

FA will give you sandwiches for life absolutely FREE! That's right - we won't charge you a single cent.

By accepting this offer, you agree not to purchase sandwiches from any other venue. A sandwich is defined as one or more pieces of bread with such toppings as deemed appropriate by FA.


Want extra lettuce with your sandwiches? This weekend, FA is offering one lettuce leaf per sandwich for half price - just $2.99. Buy 9 or more, and we will provide an extra leaf absolutely FREE. That's right, TWO lettuce leaves per sandwich.

Limited time only, $2.49 per leaf washing and handling fee.


No matter which sandwich bar you go to, only celebrities get toppings automatically. Most of the haters complain about not having a tasty sandwich when they didn't make the slightest effort to add their own! These people seem to expect a tuna salad or a BLT handed to them on a plate! The sad truth is that in today's economy, even five star restaurants expect you to bring in your own mayonnaise.


Why was I kicked out yesterday for asking when there would be more butter? I'm thankful to FA for giving me this free sandwich, but I can’t eat it without butter, and there hasn't been ANY for almost a week now.

Many people prefer a sandwich without butter. Try it!
 

Katrina S. Forest

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FA will give you sandwiches for life absolutely FREE! That's right - we won't charge you a single cent.

I'm not sure if this is funny, sad, or both, but upon glancing over the thread, I thought this was an actual offer that PA was sending out.
 

merrihiatt

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I was perusing the PA online bookstore, trying to see if I could find the $49 rights return page (I did find the $99 rights return page by typing in reverting rights, but did not find the $49 page), and I found this page: http://www.publishamerica.net/product92922.html

This was probably one of PA's "special offers" at one point, but it appears that you have to pay $19.95, as well as order copies of your book, to receive promotion of your soon-to-be released book at the bottom of PA's e-mails. They are targeting the author before they've even seen a copy of their book (most likely before they've even seen page proofs).

Product Description
To alert people on your soon to be released work, we will advertise your book in such messages, in our signature line, several days in a row. That's many tens of thousands of exposures to consumers of books, and it includes hundreds of media outlets.

Use this 50 pct discount coupon: AdvertiseNew. Minimum order volume is 9 copies, which will guarantee that your book's advertising line will appear in PublishAmerica's external email as described above during two full days, and reach tens of thousands of consumers and professionals, including booksellers, agents, writers, and news reporters.

For orders of 15 or more copies use this 50 pct discount coupon, AdvertiseNew4, and score 4 days of advertising.

For orders of 21 or more copies please use this 50 pct discount coupon AdvertiseNew7, stretch your advertising to a full week, and catch someone else's eyes more than 200,000 times!

In the Ordering Instructions box be sure to mention the title of your upcoming book!