The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Don Davidson

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What is a vanity press?

By definition, a vanity press is deceptive. If it is not deceptive, it is something else. The whole point of a vanity press is to exploit the author's vanity (and gullibility).

OK, you are using a different definition of "vanity press" than I was thinking of. To me, a vanity press is simply one whose target customer is the author rather than the general public. To succeed, a vanity press (my definition) must either charge the author for printing up front, which is the honest way to do it, or get the author to pay through the back door, which is how PA does it. PA is deceptive because they don't tell you any of this--indeed, they mislead and even outright lie about it--until after you are locked into a seven-year contract, which they then refuse to cancel.

Lulu would qualify as a "vanity press" by my definition, although I do not consider them to be deceptive, because my understanding is that they are honest and upfront about their business model.
 

ResearchGuy

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OK, you are using a different definition of "vanity press" than I was thinking of. To me, a vanity press is simply one whose target customer is the author rather than the general public. . . . .
That is of course true of vanity presses. The author, not readers, is their target.

Subsidy presses that engage in above-board transactions, in which the author understands the nature of the transaction, fall into a different category in my mind. Granted, the distinction can be fuzzy and reasonable people can use the term differently.

I'm just wary of (or perhaps annoyed by) those who extend the term "vanity publisher" to encompass not only non-deceptive subsidy presses (Aventine, for example), but also genuine self-publishers (a Karl Palachuk or Alton Pryor, for example), for whom publishing is simply a business and what they publish includes (primarily or entirely) what they have written. After all, do you refer to a cook who opens his or her own restaurant as a "vanity chef"? No. He or she is a business person whose business is a restaurant. Do you refer to an artist who opens a gallery to showcase and sell his or her paintings as a "vanity artist"? I hope not.

--Ken
 

ResearchGuy

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. . . Lulu would qualify as a "vanity press" by my definition. . . .
Lulu also sells straight printing services (as intermediary between author and the actual printer, typically Lightning Source). And it sells a whole range of subsidy publishing services. It is sui generis.

But sure, some people who are simply vain, if not delusional, use their services, just as they might use the services of an iUniverse or a Trafford, with unrealistic expectations.

--Ken
 

kullervo

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My definition of all self-publishing/vanity-publishing is who makes the decision to publish a book? Is there an independent editorial judgment being exercised by the publisher, or is the writer saying "I'm ready!" Basically, if your work is not being judged and you cannot be rejected due to the quality of your writing, you're vanity publishing. Period.

As to your comparisons, a "vanity chef" who opened a restaurant and served whatever he or she felt was good enough might succeed. But if they think salmon with an Oreo crust is good enough, well then they're going to lose a lot of money and go out of business. Same with the weekend watercolorist who opens a gallery with only his or her own opinion as to the greatness of their art. There's a good chance he or she will go out of business, too.

There are certainly cases where vanity publishing is a good idea. I will just never accept that it is a good idea in mainstream fiction.
 

Gillhoughly

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There are certainly cases where vanity publishing is a good idea. I will just never accept that it is a good idea in mainstream fiction.

Indeed.

The ripoff in this thread is the fact that PA presents itself as not being a vanity publisher. They're pretty shrill about it, hoping the inexperienced won't twig to things until after the contract is signed.

But hey, check out that "Testimonials" link on the PA website.

You don't find those with legit, advance-paying publishers who will get your books into stores, but vanity sites ALWAYS have "testimonials."

Dear PA lurkers, that is called a CLUE.


They sell a product. You are their only customer for it.

So, how many times has PA urged you to buy your own book this month? Not the books of other PA writers, but YOUR book.

Oh, looky there, another CLUE!
 

James D. Macdonald

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I too distinguish between self publishing and vanity publishing.

In self-publishing the author pays all expenses and reaps all the benefits, if any.

In vanity publishing the author pays all the expenses and only gets a small percentage of the benefits, if any.
 

LexiCan

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Okay, here's the email about the e-book offer. Pretty thin. Again, I think the key word is "available"....

Dear Author:

PublishAmerica proudly announces: your book as an e-book!

Saw the launching of Apple's iPad this week? PublishAmerica is going to make thousands of its titles available for the iPad e-book reader.

"How do they do that?" Stay tuned!

Do you want your book available as an e-book? Let us know by returning this message today to [email protected]. Simply say Yes in the subject line, and you'll be among the first to receive more details as early as next week.

Thank you,

PublishAmerica Author Support Team

 

Gillhoughly

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Yes, please DO stay tuned to find out how much it will cost the writers to make their books "available" in an e-format.

I'm betting some kind of fee from the author will be involved.

PA must love this. No printing/mailing costs, no labor to box them, they rake in cash from downloads, and since their bookkeeping is an industry joke, PA can "forget" to record sales, so no money to the deeply puzzled writers. PA won't need to interact with writers as much, since you can't hold a signing for an e-book.

Oh, yeah--the price of a super-duper, but-my-book-is-different PA e-title is going to be higher than other e-books because "it's what the market will bear." (It's what the writers will pay.)

Whee, more fuel for the Hellocopter, more shafting up the backside for the writers.

Dear PA Lurkers, e-book sales account for a tiny fraction of all book sales.

Using royalty statements, I figured out that about .0335% of my total book sales were for e-books.

What would .0335% of YOUR book sales be?
 

Sparhawk

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Wow... a timely topic for me to return on. I just recieved my royalty check from my publisher. My book, HYBRID, which has been out for 2 years has done incredibly well as an e-book... I've made FIFTY times more in e-book royalties than I made with my hardcover PA novel.

My publisher made this happen at NO cost to me! <<Sniff>> I smell another Pavidian scam coming... lock up the silverware.

A big hello to all my friends at AW... I've been away too long and am glad to be back.
 

LexiCan

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Hey Sparhawk! Glad to see you back!
 

Terie

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At least there's no way to have e-books "on hand" in bulk.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. Authors ought not to be able to be cajoled into buying loads of copies (though I daresay PA just might try, knowing that a certain percentage of folks aren't that tech savvy).
 

Christine N.

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I do all right in ebook too.

But the publishers make them available in many formats and in many, many places. And the book has to be formatted differently for EACH platform - Sony, Mobipocket, .pdf, HTML, B&N, Kindle, maybe whatever Books on Board uses. Some of the companies do the formatting, but others...don't.

So is PA going to reformat all those files for all those vendors? Or is this an iBookstore only type of deal. This could end up being more work than printing books is.
 

CatSlave

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Judging from the remarks I've read on other forums, I get the impression
that PA is asking their authors to "give" PA the rights to offer their book electronically.

In other words, no royalties to the author.

Am I missing something here?
 

CaoPaux

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And then there's the little matter of needing a new ISBN for the ebook (and, technically, a separate ISBN for each file format). As y'all may recall, PA had ebooks originally, but dropped them over ISBN issues.
 

Don Davidson

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Non-renewal of PA contract

Oh. Dear. This cannot end well for PA authors.

Does anything ever end well for PA authors?

And speaking of ending, I have mentioned before the provision in paragraph 1 of my contract that automatically renews the contract for 7 more long years unless I opt out in writing at least 3 months before the expiration of the first 7 years. I thought I had so opted out when I sent my notice to PA via email and received an email response from PA acknowledging receipt and stating that my contract will terminate in 2014. But now I'm not so sure, so I'm sending another notice.

Paragraph 29 of the contract states that notices required by the contract must be delivered or mailed--email notice is only mentioned as satisfactory for notices not required by the contract. It would be just like those folks to try to rope me in for 7 more years because I didn't use the proper medium to send the notice. So I am sending it again, this time via U.S. mail.

Those of you who have sent your non-renewal notices might want to take a second look at your contract if you sent that notice via email instead of U.S. mail.