The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Arkie

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This is all they want any author to do. Buy 50 books and then they're done with you; however, in most case, I believe the discount is considerably less than 60%. Seems I recall my discount was only 40%, but that was back in 2004.
 

TheTinCat

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Any information regarding whether or not this is the only way out of this mess would be awesome....

I believe other people have gotten out of their contracts simply by continuing to write polite, formal letters asking for a release, stating that they will not purchase any more books and are unable to promote.

But then again, others ask and ask and ask and never get anything but a "no".
 

Gillhoughly

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"If your request was granted, PublishAmerica would be denied, prematurely, any hope of recovering its expenses.

Since the only provable expense is my one-dollar advance check, I will be more than happy to return it to you.

I will not be buying any copies, sparing you the expense of printing them.

Please send written confirmation on the termination of my contract to the address below.

Thank you,


_____________________
 

Howard

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The offer given by PA has been "respectfully declined".
 

narcolepticgi

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No confusion!

Barnes & Noble does not participate in this program, and has told PublishAmerica that on more than one occasion.

I don't see where there can be any confusion about their reply. They do not want unsolicited books from PA...period, free or not!

However, they did say:

Do you plan to republish A Narcoleptic In The United States Army without using PublishAmerica? The tenor of your letter would lead me to think that is the case. If so, let us know, and we can certainly work with you to make it available to our customers.

If :hooray:I get my rights back and republish then they will work with the new publisher to get my book listed and possibly in their stores.

Evidently the dependability of getting books delivered that they order, whether through LSI or Baker and Taylor is keeping them from embarassment by simply removing the PA books from their available listings on their computers until the problems at PA are resolved.:Hug2:

...tried to send an e-mail to Amanda and Larry...

Thanks for pointing out the mistake, I don't feel bad though because they have yet to spell my name correctly, seems they want me to change it to D i l l o n ...ain't gonna' happen Bubba!


 

Don Davidson

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The offer given by PA has been "respectfully declined".

Yes, I declined their offer as well, whereupon they sent me a very amusing email that began: "As for your contract, it will remain in effect then, as per your wish and our preference" (emphasis added), thus completely ignoring the fact that I had previously requested to terminate the contract. I just wasn't willing to pay $300 for the privilege, especially after they had defrauded me into it. Then they added, "Separately, we will expect your prompt apology for making false statements about PublishAmerica." They didn't get the apology either.
 

Sepisllib

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After repeated requests for information on getting out of contract, the fine people at PA said "If your request was granted, PublishAmerica would be denied,
prematurely, any hope of recovering its expenses. This is why we would
prefer to finish production of your book, keeping the contract in
place until its expiration date.

Therefore, if you were to persist on wishing to relinquish your status
as a published author, we can only grant your request upon a purchase
of 50 copies of your book, by either you or a third party, at a deep
60 pct discount, which will help to offset some of our losses. Please
let us know if you want to proceed with termination on these terms. If
not, we will both understand and applaud your decision. As said, we
prefer to keep the book under contract."....Any information regarding whether or not this is the only way out of this mess would be awesome....

Yes - in fact your letter is a carbon copy of mine. I requested, formally by a certified letter, that I be released from my contracts also. PA stated they wished to recover their expenses by purchase of 50 books.

I replied last week, another certified letter, that the surely have recovered their expenses as I can verify the purchase of "at least" over 150 books.

I am just going to be sending a constant stream of certified letters to the effect that I shall not ever again purchase one of my own books and that all friends and relatives have received my recommendation to refrain from purchase ---- which should not be a real problem as my books are no longer in print anyway.

Wonder how many months our "dance" will continue, however I am prepared to dance for a very long time.

God Bless

Bill
 

CatSlave

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Didn't Uncle Jim once estimate how much it actually costs PA to produce a book, including labor and materials?

That figure was what, under $200 total?
 

CatSlave

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... - in fact your letter is a carbon copy of mine.

Bill
All the letters are carbon copies, or more accurately, cut-and-paste copies.

PA employees are supplied with a list of stock answers by management.
When a query letter comes in, or a complaint, the employee has to use those stock answers as directed by Miranda and/or Larry.

No correspondence is written by the employee, and ALL complaint correspondence MUST be bcc'd to Miranda when it is sent.
Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.
Attempting to sneak a warning letter to a potential client is impossible.
 

Gillhoughly

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Dear PA Lurkers,

They use stock answers, YOU use stock replies.

If all outgoing has to pass through them, then at some point in the "crack the contract" process, so does the incoming.

There have to be so many "I want out" letters that they can't remember them all. (Only the ones who engage in argument.)

Keeping one's responses businesslike, simple, and repetitious is best. If you're boring, you have a better chance to get free.

Otherwise, you're just entertainment for sadists.
 

xXFireSpiritXx

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And just FYI, there is no real COST to make up for. They don't use "printing plates", everything is digital. That is what truly gets my panties in a twist is when people find errors in their proofs and they say it is impossible to change without reworking production schedules and redoing the printing plates. WTF x10.

The fact is PA believes if they throw in enough "publishing" jargon in their form letters the author will clearly become confused/flustered/anxiety-stricken and either shell out the cash or apologize profusely.
 

JulieB

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And just FYI, there is no real COST to make up for. They don't use "printing plates", everything is digital. That is what truly gets my panties in a twist is when people find errors in their proofs and they say it is impossible to change without reworking production schedules and redoing the printing plates. WTF x10.

The fact is PA believes if they throw in enough "publishing" jargon in their form letters the author will clearly become confused/flustered/anxiety-stricken and either shell out the cash or apologize profusely.

FWIW, there are costs, not physical ones associated with plates and the like. I'd expect costs for an all-digital operation to be lower, but not zero.
 

xXFireSpiritXx

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My mistake. I understand there are some...but not enough to warrant the purchase of 50 books.
 

CatSlave

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My mistake. I understand there are some...but not enough to warrant the purchase of 50 books.
Absolutely.
The costs are mostly for labor, like 15 minutes to review the submission, 15 more minutes to print out a contract and prepare a letter,
an hour to run the spellcheck, another couple of hours to format the manuscript using PageMaker and so on.

PublishAmerica wallows in profits when you buy your own books.
Helicopter fuel is expensive.
 

Gillhoughly

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typically how much does PA charge for a book?

30-50% more than similar-sized ones you find in bookstores.

They claim "it's what the market will bear."

The market being the writer, who generally caves and buys a copy, then is pressured to keep buying.


I have a 384-page trade paperback that retails at $14.99 that can ship within 24 hours.

A 20-second online search turned up a 344-page PA title in the same genre retailing for $29.95 -- $14.95 MORE than mine--an increase of almost 100%.

(Unless you use a member's discount, then it's only $26.95 -- 90% more than mine.)

Amazon showed PA books ship within 2-3 weeks. B&N claims 2-3 days.

And some who ordered books from PA last November are still waiting.


For that low, low price of only $14.99, MY book was professionally edited, got professional art on the cover, professional interior design, was proofed out the wazoo for typos, review copies were automatically sent out, and it's in bookstores across the US & Canada, there is an audio edition, it can be downloaded into a number of eReaders, and foreign language editions are out in Europe and (I think!) Japan.

I didn't have to do any of that myself or ask for progress reports, get nasty mails from my editor, or ask why my book's listed as out-of-print, or ask why it's late, etc.

But, hey, lurkers--PA will give your book the chance it deserves (to make THEM money)!

.
 
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ResearchGuy

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30-50% more than similar-sized ones you find in bookstores.... .
If not 100 percent more (double a typical book price). But who the heck knows, since every day they play a new game with the price in order to hook the author into buying more copies, and they post different prices in different places.

--Ken
 

Marian Perera

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The latest offer (posted on the PA Facebook page) :

Dear Author:
Email your readers, tell your fans, call your friends! This weekend only.
All books at PublishAmerica are priced down to $5.99.

"Hi readers, fans and friends! The book you bought for $24.95? Now it's just six dollars!"

No coupons, no minimum purchase volumes. Just $5.99 for any book, in any quantity.

How much is the shipping? How long will the copies take to arrive?

Want some copies of your own book on hand? This is your day! Check it out at www.publishamerica.net. Hardcovers and fullcolor books excluded.... See More
Happy Easter!
PublishAmerica Author Support Team

:rolleyes:
 

merrihiatt

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PA must really be hurting for money, if they're pricing books this low. Or else they're jacking up the shipping cost to compensate. Of course, if they don't actually ship the books for, say, three months or even four months (or ever!), I guess that's money in their pocket.
 

xXFireSpiritXx

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I honestly am beginning to think PA is running on fumes and using these deals just to keep themselves up and running. The three to four month delay of shipping allows them to try to crank in more manuscripts and more customers to purchase their own books.

Something is seriously amiss. I wish I could go work for them undercover then do an expose.