The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

The whole thing is beyond absurd.

Not to mention the fact that many of the authors seem to have limited incomes (the sampling that post on the PAMB, anyway), but those who don't would have to come up with a boatload of cash to take advantage of a trip to London. Who has that much extra money?

Since the tickets are only good at JFK Airport in New York, that means the "winner" and second party must fly (or drive) there first. For two round-trip tickets to NY, that could be around $500 right there. At least. They have to have passports. And once they get to England, they need lodging. Last time I checked, the American dollar was worth two English pounds, so they can expect to pay twice what they're used to. A few days in a hotel in England could potentially cost $1,000 or more. Then there's ground transportation, sight-seeing, food, not to mention the time off from work to do all this.

They're looking at possibly having to spend at least $2,000 more if they win this "lottery!"

Who does PA think is going to do this?

Regarding Vegas, there's most of the same financial hits there as well, only gambling, too. And shows.

Do they really think anyone's going to enter this lottery? I've never heard of any publisher pulling this kind of scam before.

Just a note on the exchange rate
Live rates at 2010.01.16 01:33:30 UTC
1.00 USD = 0.614817 GBP
United States Dollars United Kingdom Pounds
1 USD = 0.614817 GBP 1 GBP = 1.62650 USD
From xe.com

But neverthelss, the 'lucky' winners would still be out of a lot of money.

I work at a regional newspaper. A local writer recently contacted me with a description of the book he had just published.

I have been trying to give notice (token notice in most cases) to all local publications, including self-publications, so I wrote him back that we would not review the book, but we might mention it. (I had a strong suspicion it was not from a traditional publishing house.) He replied that the book was "'NOT' self-published" (his caps and quotes) but was published by Publish America.

I did not reply and try to set him straight, since I know technically he is correct: Publish America is not self-publishing. Plus, the last thing my paper needs is a lawsuit from PA. I have no idea what to say to authors who maintain that PA is a real, selective publisher and makes their books worthy of notice, except that I don't want to review this particular book. (Legitimate enough, since there are many local books we don't review for various reasons.)

I feel for these people and wish I could steer them to this thread, but maybe they have to figure it out by themselves. In this case, though, the author claimed to be working with a college "writing tutor," which makes me wonder ... what kind of writing tutor recommends using PA?

I just hope people keep spreading the word.

Fuchsia Groan said:

I work at a regional newspaper. ...
I did not reply and try to set him straight, ...

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I would guess as a reporter you are not in a position to suggest policy, but, if you could recommend policy suggestions to your employer, it would be cool if you could advise that the newspaper establish a public policy regarding notices (and/or reviews) and explicitly state that the paper will not cover reports about books from PublishAmerica.

Covering a PA book in any way is pretty much exposing the poor writer as a victim who has been scammed by a predatory company. We're all in on the sad joke, except the poor schmuck who got sucked in. The author/victim has no idea that he's been scammed, and the newspaper ought not be complicit in maintaining the delusion of "traditional" publication.

Fushia Groan--have you read the last few posts about PA's trip to the UK, trip to Vegas "contest"?

Maybe you can use some reporter-fu to figure out if requiring people to buy books before they're entered in a drawing is legal.

It's been pointed out that most contests have a "no purchase necessary" option. Maybe that doesn't work for a private drawing, but still, this is a very stinky operation.

Is it a Federal thing since this will likely cross state lines if any of their writers is foolish enough to fall for this latest tom-foolery.

Of course no one here on AW has any confidence that there will EVER be winners.

But it would be a most cool thing if they got busted pulling a fast one.

What does a trip to London or Vegas have to do with book publishing? PublishAmerica keeps lowering the bar. It's heinous.

Yes, they're dealing with the Feds now and this operation PA is running falls into the lottery laws and the odds are that PA has probably run seriously afoul of those.

By the way, what is a hotel going to do with a donated PA book? Put it on a pillow to counteract the complimentary mint?

DaveKuzminski said:

By the way, what is a hotel going to do with a donated PA book? Put it on a pillow to counteract the complimentary mint?

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I don't think that PA realizes how much money the Gideons spend to place Bibles in every hotel room in the country. Or perhaps PA does realize this, and expects to snag a share of the loot when it charges its authors/victims to undertake the massive endeavor of trying to compete with the Gideons.

On second thought... PA is trying to compete with the Bible itself.

Lord have mercy.

bhall87 said:

Let the head pounding begin.....

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Please forward a copy of that email to the FTC for them to investigate.

Not to mention, the Maryland lottery commission might be interested. *grin* They'd want to cut down on the competition.

Is there a chance that they're actually going to award the tickets to somebody? Why would they?

I noticed this line in their last graf:

PublishAmerica is not a travel agent and shall carry no responsibilities or liabilities of any kind whatsoever related to and/or resulting from the drawing of the free tickets, and shall draw the free tickets at its sole discretion.

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I'm not a lawyer, so I'll let someone who knows more about these things pick it apart. I may be reading more (or less) into it than I think.

I doubt if that disclaimer will work in this case.

Ah:

PublishAmerica . . . shall draw the free tickets at its sole discretion.

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I see. They are not proposing to draw (randomly select) winning entries, but rather to draw (sketch, doodle) "free tickets." Heck, my grandkids can draw tickets in that sense.

--Ken

Did their lawyer take a week off or something? I can't imagine he would've allowed this to go through if he were around.

We are too busy servicing our 40,000 authors

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Who wants to run over to the PA bookstore and add up titles listed? I bet it's a lot less than 40k. Maybe 22k or 23k?

I don't know about Md's gaming laws. Here in NJ, even to run a simple weekly Bingo game for a fire co., you need a gaming license.

If the laws in Md. are simliar, a required purchase for entry in a contest, without a way to enter without purchasing, is straight up gambling and MAY require a gaming license. It's a lottery, essentially. And RIDICULOUS.

But, again, I don't know the laws for gaming in Md.

PublishAmerica is not a travel agent and shall carry no responsibilities or liabilities of any kind whatsoever related to and/or resulting from the drawing of the free tickets, and shall draw the free tickets at its sole discretion.

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IANAL, either, but that sounds like their usual "maybe we will, but probably not" nonsense, unless it's something most contests have.

ResearchGuy said:

Ah:



I see. They are not proposing to draw (randomly select) winning entries, but rather to draw (sketch, doodle) "free tickets."

--Ken

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Gotta love the English language. They might as well be "drawing" the tickets like drapes.

BenPanced said:

IANAL, either, but that sounds like their usual "maybe we will, but probably not" nonsense, unless it's something most contests have.

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If that "sole discretion" language is meant to say that PA may or may not actually award the tickets, then I think we would definitely be getting into the area of wire fraud, a federal crime. (But unless someone complains, they are unlikely to get caught.)

Is someone seriously acting on this? Because it seems like PA slipped, and the largest predator could be severely damaged. Of course, I have absolutely no experience with the law.

"At its sole discretion" seems to be another of PA's catch-all phrases, like
"will resonate with an audience" and "from sea to shining sea" and "fits like a glove."

James D. Macdonald said:

Wild Willie has to do something with some Frequent Flyer miles?

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I didn't think he got frequent flyer miles with that fancy helicopter of his.