The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Sarashay

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I'm guessing they took pictures of every single book on display so all those poor authors could see it and think OMG THAT'S MY BOOK UP THERE *SQUEE!*

And, wow, does that display booth look saaaaad compared to the commercial publishers.
 

Don Davidson

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I'm guessing they took pictures of every single book on display so all those poor authors could see it and think OMG THAT'S MY BOOK UP THERE *SQUEE!*

And, wow, does that display booth look saaaaad compared to the commercial publishers.

As usual, the authors will get a heavy dose of reality when the next royalty statement arrives and they realize that PA didn't actually sell any of their books at the book fair.
 

NewKidOldKid

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Wow, what a pathetic little booth. I'd be so embarrassed if my publisher set up a booth like that and my book was on display. S&S had tables and chairs in their booth - much more inviting!

Can anybody post a photo here or link to a photo somewhere else? I don't have Facebook.
 

Alphabeter

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Sure those books sold---to the author(s).

But such sales do not count toward royalties. Else PA would actually have to pay
 

Ol' Fashioned Girl

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Notice how many books have different books 'behind' them? It was but the work of a moment, I'm sure, to shuffle the titles and take another picture to show the kids back home their books on display at the big book fair.
 

tlblack

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That, and the books lying on the shelves look warped like they were printed off a laser printer. Between that and those curling covers, PA made every effort to put on a shameful display of low quality books. Did you also notice that most of the books they took are about the thickness of a pencil?
 

B.L. Robinson

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PVish

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Wonder what's going on with PA's website. The "New Releases" page hasn't been up-dated since Sept. 5 and even the "Testimonials" page hasn't been updated since Sept. 8.
 

Gillhoughly

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They're still unpacking from the book fair along with trying to convince themselves they're a publisher after seeing how the real ones operate.

As dvbone, an ex-employee, once posted, and it always stuck in my head:

Everyone at PA realizes within their first day of work there that PublishAmerica is just a fast food printing joint, not a publisher. You put your heart and soul into your novel. PA puts nothing into it. Jump dump it into a PDF form and sent it to the press. Then it's onto the next one. And the next one, Hundreds per month.
 

Marian Perera

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Great, now there's an anonymous commenter on Elizabeth Darker's blog saying that people who choose PA are "lazy at best and stupid at worst". It's tough enough getting out of PA's clutches without also being under the impression that experienced writers hold you in contempt for that mistake. :(
 

PVish

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They're still unpacking from the book fair along with trying to convince themselves they're a publisher after seeing how the real ones operate.

But didn't they donate all those books to a school or something? And they certainly didn't take a lot of decorative stuff for their booth. What's to unpack?
 

Arkie

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I don't think PA went to the Frankfurt fair to sell books. I think the fair participation was a cover for a paid vacation for certain employees at PA authors' expense and a tax write-off for a faux-promotional business expense.
 

AlexPiper

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Great, now there's an anonymous commenter on Elizabeth Darker's blog saying that people who choose PA are "lazy at best and stupid at worst". It's tough enough getting out of PA's clutches without also being under the impression that experienced writers hold you in contempt for that mistake. :(

There's contempt enough to go around as regards PA. But 100% of that contempt should be for those behind PA, not for those who have let their dreams lead them into the clutches of the scam artists in question.
 

Don Davidson

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I don't think PA went to the Frankfurt fair to sell books. I think the fair participation was a cover for a paid vacation for certain employees at PA authors' expense and a tax write-off for a faux-promotional business expense.

You may be right, but I think PA also went because it encourages the fantasy among PA authors and potential PA authors that PA is a real publisher. Some might even be deluded into thinking that PA is actually helping them promote and sell their books this way.

PA is slick. They are very good at promoting the naive author's delusion that PA can help make him/her rich and famous, whether it's by sending books to Oprah or attending a German book fair.
 

James D. Macdonald

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There's contempt enough to go around as regards PA. But 100% of that contempt should be for those behind PA, not for those who have let their dreams lead them into the clutches of the scam artists in question.

No one is so street-smart and cynical that the right pitch on the right day won't take them.

Newbie writers are easy. Just tell them "I love your book!" and they'll give you the shirts off their backs, the keys to their cars, and the contents of their bank accounts.

PA has put years into perfecting their pitch, and their founder was a professional psychologist before he became a vanity publisher.
 

scully931

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No one is so street-smart and cynical that the right pitch on the right day won't take them.

That is an excellent point!

I have become very cynical and wary of pretty much anything anyone ever tries to tell me. Still, last year, I came within about two seconds of falling for a phone scam involving what I thought was Verizon. And I'm the type who checks and double checks every stupid story people send me through email, on FB, etc. D'oh! :e2smack:
 

PVish

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The page of PA best-sellers is interesting:

The #1 fiction book (published in 2008) isn't available from PA and is only available from resellers on amazon.com. The #2 fiction best-seller (published 2009; 22 pages for $24.95) has no amazon ranking at all.

The #1 non-fiction best-seller (published a few months ago) has no ranking at Amazon and is listed as temporarily out of stock. The #2 best-selling non-fiction book (published a few months ago; 78 pages, $24.95) has no cover on Amazon and no ranking, but is listed as in-stock for $19.95.

So, if some of the best-sellers don't even have Amazon rankings, how are they best-sellers? Oh, right—best-selling to their authors. . . .

Edited to add: One of their best-selling fiction authors commented a couple of times on this site. If the best-sellers ain't happy, what does that say for PA?
 
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merrihiatt

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Reading the comments on that site was heartbreaking. Got my "mad on" all over again.

Please, please, please, if you are considering signing a contract with PA, Google "PublishAmerica scam" and read the stories of people who wanted to believe PA was a legitimate publisher and chose to ignore the warnings only to become another unhappy statistic lying in PA's wake. Don't make the same mistake I did. It is not worth it. I wouldn't wish a PA experience on anyone.
 

Marie Pacha

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PA has a court case this week in Frederick. The library lady filed the suit last year.
 

DreamWeaver

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PA has a court case this week in Frederick. The library lady filed the suit last year.
If this link works, you can see the notices and motions to dismiss and deposings and quashings of expert witnesses have really been flying:
http://casesearch.courts.state.md.u...il.jis?caseId=10C09003264&loc=67&detailLoc=CC

I was amazed when I searched Maryland's court cases for Frederick. There's a whole long list of cases involving Publish America.
http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquirySearch.jis To be fair, some of them are not really about PA, but are for garnishing various employees' wages. But there are more cases than I've heard about.
 
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