The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

ChristineR

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The creativity of these people never fails to amaze me. Talk about clever ways to get people to buy 19 copies of their own books...and of course, you've got the fact that PA can "negotiate" a higher price.

In case anyone is lurking, a fair price for author copies would be about 1.5 cents per page plus a dollar for the cover...you can double that for books sold in the online store, and quadruple it for bricks and mortar stores. Don't forget to add the shipping and handling, though. Many PA books should be "free" if you don't count the shipping.
 

Marian Perera

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19 books is a pretty tough pill to swallow. I think my book would be worth $11.95 to 13.95 but getting people to order 19 copies in two days seems impossible.

Whoever cooked up the latest batch of warm, steaming .... at PA is hoping the authors will order the 19 or more copies.

"If you'd prefer a different price, talk to us."

On the 1-900 number, or by the Author Support email to which which no one responds?

"We will react to all reasonable suggestions."

Interesting choice of words - "react" rather than "respond". Makes me imagine an emotional or knee-jerk reaction to any lowering of price beyond a dollar or two.

Also, many authors find the current shipping charges too high. Is there any way to ensure that PA will not jack up shipping charges even further to compensate for the lowering of the retail price?

"we will send an announcement to your most favorite readers"

To tell them what? That the book they bought for $30 is now $28?
 

tlblack

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I don't think there is a "new" low for PA. It's always been about $$$$$$ and how much PA can pocket of their author's money.
 

BenPanced

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We will react to all reasonable suggestions.
"Cut the crap and stop talking nonsense. We know that the market wouldn't be able to bear a 150-page book of poetry selling for a lousy $9.95. What are you? Stipid?"

Problem is, the 19 people who would buy a book with the lower price have already paid full cover.
 

CatSlave

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Just send an announcement to my least favorite readers.

Sheesh!

I always thought PA was hardly a couple steps above illiterate, but the latest sales
pitches sound like they were written by a fifth grader.
Actually, a fifth grader could probably do a better job of it.
 

Eirin

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Dear Author:

Want us to change your book's retail price?

...snip-snippety-snip...

We will react to all reasonable suggestions. We will accept it, or refuse it, or negotiate with you.
I suspect there is a cut-off here. PA will only agree to set a lower price on books from authors who've already bought a certain number, or authors who've been with them so long that they must be presumed to be sucked dry. And since PA will never agree to take a loss on a title, the new, "low" price will still be advantageous to PA, with a built in minimum purchase of 19 books.*
Or else it's about trading in a possible higher profit for the almost certain sale of at least 19 copies. How many books does PA have to sell back to their authors in order to recoup these days? They can't have much of an overhead, not when they've cut even what passed for editing back in the day.
It's all about topping off the last wagon of the gravy train.

*I do wonder about the number though. Why 19? Does it have to do with prices at LSI?
 

Eirin

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Sounds like a sleazy way to get the authors to put out money in order to make the price permanent.

Sleazy is the word for it, all right. There's just no chance of a PA book selling 19 copies in two days, other than to the author. The 48 hour limit ensures that LSI will receive a bulk order, rather than the dribbling sales of ones and twos that would have been more usual for retail (of a PA book). This is entirely in keeping with what we know of PA's business model: produce cheap - sell in bulk to the author. The retail angle is just to grease the tracks.

I really do hope that most will see how utterly, utterly unprofessional an offer like this is, but I'm afraid that desperation, and an insufficient understanding of the nature and number of obstacles PA has put in the way of sales, will drive quite a few to reach for their credit cards.

Exorbitant pricing isn't the only issue for a PA title. It's grave, in that it's immediately visible to a potential buyer, but the lack of visibility and distribution makes it unlikely that this hypothetical customer will ever see the book, much less the price, in the first place.
And that's not even touching on lack of editorial screening as well as poor production values.

PA authors will do better to concentrate on writing a new, better book. And then another, even better, one.
 

ChristineR

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Lightning Source will charge you 90 cents plus 1.3 cents per page to print a book. Shipping is nominal. PA costs are less than that, although it's harder to gauge as the Lightning Source prices must include labor and incidentals, as well as their own profit. However, using that as a guide, you can see that a 200 page book costs PA about $3.50--less than their shipping cost.

They could easily drop their prices to a reasonable sounding $6 and still make money off of the shipping costs.
 

ResearchGuy

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If PA's already published it, you can't take it anywhere else. First rights are gone.
But if another publisher views the book as a profitable venture AND if the author has gotten his/her rights back (PA contract cancelled in writing), then the book is not dead. All publishers care about is whether the book can reasonably be expected to be profitable (and, of course, fits into the publisher's subject areas).

Not easy, but not impossible IF the book has legitimate potential and the author can make that case. (I would jump at the chance to publish a new edition of one PA book by a writer friend of mine. His contract has a couple more years to run, though. He learned a little too late about the downside of PA, having been taken in by their line years ago.)

--Ken
 

James D. Macdonald

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Books get reprinted all the time, and not necessarily by the original publisher. Heck, I've done that myself.

Meanwhile: Why is everyone assuming that these 19-book runs will be printed by LSI?

What I'm seeing here is PA trying to keep that fancy Xerox machine they bought fully employed. It costs them money every minute it exists, but if it isn't actively printing books it isn't bringing in any money. They have to keep it turning. And the reports we're getting: faded print; poor trim; wet pages; etc. sounds far more like what you'd get with a bunch of half-trained temps running a POD machine and trying to figure out on their own how to work it rather than what you'd get from Lightning Source.
 

circlexranch

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OMG!

And now, they've got all those 'authors' who keep saying 'if only my book were cheaper' right where they want them . . . PA is doing a double-dog-dare . . .

If 100 say 'make my book $9.99' and they either order the 19 copies or get their mom to do it for them, that's 1900 books, sold for $19000 plus about $6000 in shipping in less than 24 hours . . . all for one lousy mass email . . .

The mind boggles. Hey Uncle Jim and Gil, email your publishers right now and tell them you want to set the prices for your books! Show em who is boss!
 

Cyia

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That's assuming they accept $9.99 as a serious offer. They may respond to it, but that doesn't mean they'll accept it.

Maybe a couple of the authors who are ready to do some book signings can take advantage of the deal and turn a profit for themselves, but other than that, it's iffy. If the books get knocked to $9.99 and sell, then it sort of blows their claims that $29.99 is what the market can bear.
 

Eirin

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Meanwhile: Why is everyone assuming that these 19-book runs will be printed by LSI?

What I'm seeing here is PA trying to keep that fancy Xerox machine they bought fully employed. It costs them money every minute it exists, but if it isn't actively printing books it isn't bringing in any money. They have to keep it turning. And the reports we're getting: faded print; poor trim; wet pages; etc. sounds far more like what you'd get with a bunch of half-trained temps running a POD machine and trying to figure out on their own how to work it rather than what you'd get from Lightning Source.

Of course. I had forgotten they print in-house now. Have anyone here actually seen one of these home-xeroxed books? I gather they don't compare favorably with...well, any other kind of book, really.
 

ChristineR

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I'm not assuming that the book runs will be printed by LSI, just using those numbers as a benchmark for how much an unedited POD book with no author royalty should cost. PA costs are less, but there are tons of other issues, like whether or not they have someone to run the machine anyhow. Lulu is more, but Lulu is providing actual service, so that's another factor. Createspace is in between, but provides a lower level of service, and you sell your books on Amazon with a full Amazon markup.

So I consider going straight to LSI as being the closest to getting your book printed by PA, at least if the author is buying his own books and not getting any commission. So prices should be about the same as LSI prices. Quality is another issue--really PA should be nonexistent just because of the quality issues, but that's another day's story.
 

Scribhneoir

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That's assuming they accept $9.99 as a serious offer. They may respond to it, but that doesn't mean they'll accept it.

I'd be surprised if they'd accept anything less than their previous favorite pricing level of $19.95. What do you want to bet anyone asking for something as reasonable as $9.99 gets a smackdown?
 

CatSlave

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If PA can sell 19 books for 9.99 plus S&H, rather than zero books for 19.95, they are ahead of the game.

WAY ahead, and laughing all the way to the bank.

9.99 plus S&H brings them back to the original price of around 14.95, where they started out before jacking all the prices up.
 
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CatSlave

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Yes, $4.00 per book according to their latest scam. I mean ads.

PA, feel free to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.

And it costs them what, $2 or $3 max to print the book?
Do the math, all y'all.

http://www.publishamerica.com/orderinginfo.htm

Here are the shipping charges from the PA website.

In part:
#
Our books are non-returnable.
All sales are final.
Please allow 2 to 6 weeks from ordering to delivery on all orders placed without rush specifications.

Domestic Shipping Charges are as follows:
$3.99 per book.
#
International Shipping Charges are as follows:
*Canada $8.00 first copy, add $5.00 each additional copy
*Other International $12.00 first copy, add 9.00 each additional copy
 
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CatSlave

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Here's a little goodie from the PA website...

...if you want to order you own book:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Attention Authors: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]You must call or mail in your order if you wish to receive your discount. If you choose to mail in your order, please calculate your total based on the retail price and not the special price, as stated in your contract. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Orders placed in the online store will not be given the discount. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The system automatically charges your credit card and the process cannot be undone once you click the submit button and obtain an order number.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To place your Author order, you may call (301) 695-1707.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
 

DaveKuzminski

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...if you want to order you own book:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Attention Authors: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]You must call or mail in your order if you wish to receive your discount. If you choose to mail in your order, please calculate your total based on the retail price and not the special price, as stated in your contract. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Orders placed in the online store will not be given the discount. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The system automatically charges your credit card and the process cannot be undone once you click the submit button and obtain an order number.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To place your Author order, you may call (301) 695-1707.[/FONT]


"Process can't be undone?" Hmmm, I seem to recall there's a Federal law that gives the right to cancel orders within a specified period. Looks to me like the FTC might be interested in that.