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Each individual who has been charged for undelivered merchandise (by PA or any other mail-order seller) can report the matter to the FTC. It does not require a group action. That IS (if a reader purchase, not contracted-author purchase) unambiguously a consumer issue, and consumer agencies do get involved. The right one for undelivered mail-order merchandise is the Federal Trade Commission. It is interstate commerce, a federal issue.. . . If they pay for books and never get them. . . . people they know have ordered books and did not receive them. If they all got together with copies of receipts from the people they knew and then went to the state's attorney general.. . . .
The Better Business Bureau is useless when it comes to publishers/agents/anything literary.
The BBB considers the relationship between authors and PA as one of business-to-business, not customer-to-business.
Therefore, they will not take action.
Dead end. Try something else.
Additionally, some vendors have reneged on their payment obligations. Therefore some authors may find excluded from their royalty statement sales that they had expected to find included, e.g. sales from bookstore events that they attended, or other bookstore related sales. PublishAmerica has initiated court proceedings to recover these payments. PublishAmerica will account for the missing sales after the missing payments are received.
Dang. The Alzheimer's must be kicking in.I'm afraid you are confusing the BBB with the Maryland Attorney General's Consumer Protection office. ...
Additionally, some vendors have reneged on their payment obligations. Therefore some authors may find excluded from their royalty statement sales that they had expected to find included, e.g. sales from bookstore events that they attended, or other bookstore related sales. PublishAmerica has initiated court proceedings to recover these payments. PublishAmerica will account for the missing sales after the missing payments are received.
Additionally, some vendors have reneged on their payment obligations. Therefore some authors may find excluded from their royalty statement sales that they had expected to find included, e.g. sales from bookstore events that they attended, or other bookstore related sales. PublishAmerica has initiated court proceedings to recover these payments. PublishAmerica will account for the missing sales after the missing payments are received.
My rights were returned to me two years ago. I got my royalty statements. They were sent at 10:51 pm.
Note two lines in particular:
PA will account for those sales after payments are received.
PublishAmerica will account for the missing sales after the missing payments are received.
What are they proposing will happen if they lose their lawsuit? Especially since a counterclaim has been filed!
Probably not, but it does seem an uncharacteristic misstep to sue someone who most likely has deeper pockets than themselves and is probably in a better position to weather long and expensive court proceedings. And a jury trial? IANAL, but if it came down to evidence of comparative accuracy of bookkeeping, PA could be in deep doo-doo.Oops, looks like PA may have screwed themselves over in this one. Might this be the end of the line for them?
What Is Sales Price: this is the net amount that PublishAmerica received for your book; your royalty is based on this amount, as per Par. 3 of your contract.
What Happened To Books Sold Last Month: all books bought directly from PublishAmerica are included in this statement; books sold through vendors, incl. Amazon, may not yet be included. PA pays royalties on sales proceeds that it has received. Vendors, however, have up to 90 days or longer to pay PA. Thus, PA may not have received payments yet for books sold by some retailers and online vendors. PA will include royalties for those sales on the next royalty statement. Additionally, some vendors have reneged on their payment obligations. PA will account for those sales after payments are received.
What Are My Royalty Cut-off Dates: January 31 and July 31; we forward our semi-annual statements at the end of February and August.
Where Are The Royalties On Copies Of My Own Book That I Bought: authors are not paid royalties on books that they purchase themselves, per your contract, unless we ran a special promotion that indicated otherwise.
Who Do I Contact For Questions About My Statement: email your query to [email protected]; we will make every attempt to fully answer your question within seven business days.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
In this statement, PublishAmerica has accounted for all sales proceeds of your book which it has received during the last royalty period (August 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010). This includes all sales made directly by PublishAmerica during that period because PublishAmerica is paid for those sales up front. Some sales made by retailers and online vendors are not included on this statement. Vendors often have up to 90 days or longer to pay for copies of PublishAmerica's books. To the extent PublishAmerica has not received payments for books sold by retailers and online vendors during the last royalty period, those sales are not accounted for on the enclosed statement. PublishAmerica will include royalties for those sales on the next royalty statement after the proceeds are received.
Additionally, some vendors have reneged on their payment obligations. Therefore some authors may find excluded from their royalty statement sales that they had expected to find included, e.g. sales from bookstore events that they attended, or other bookstore related sales. PublishAmerica has initiated court proceedings to recover these payments. PublishAmerica will account for the missing sales after the missing payments are received.
I'll get in early with my prediction: they settle out of court for an undisclosed amount, and the recent disclaimer stays in effect.