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The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread
- Thread starter James D. Macdonald
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And the minute the lawyer asks the aggrieved writer: "You were willing to sell your book for one dollar; why should you be upset when your royalty check was one dollar?" Case closed.
L
L
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I think the answer comes in how the author was bilked and from how the consumer is. If they pay for books and never get them. I think Kaitie is along the right lines. All the authors say 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.
Actually thinking federally, wouldn't it violate the Rico Act because of mail and wire fraud across several states (and possibly countries) ? The PA site offers books that are allegedly for sale for the consumer to see. The consumer pays online for the product (book) which they often don't often get. The author gets the royalty statements online, or in the mail but they don't reflect the amount of books really sold (if PA ships them or not, they were paid for.). Just trying to think outside the box.
Actually thinking federally, wouldn't it violate the Rico Act because of mail and wire fraud across several states (and possibly countries) ? The PA site offers books that are allegedly for sale for the consumer to see. The consumer pays online for the product (book) which they often don't often get. The author gets the royalty statements online, or in the mail but they don't reflect the amount of books really sold (if PA ships them or not, they were paid for.). Just trying to think outside the box.
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Yanno, the postal service might be interested in sellers who fail to deliver on their orders.
I sort of recall getting snarky with an order that never arrived and complaining to the post office about it--but that was a good 20+ years ago for me so my memory is quite misted over. It came under the category of mail fraud.
If PA uses UPS, maybe the same deal goes for them too.
Of course PA has to keep the money to be fraudsters in that sense.
If they give refunds instead of books, I'd say the poor writers came out ahead on the deal.
I sort of recall getting snarky with an order that never arrived and complaining to the post office about it--but that was a good 20+ years ago for me so my memory is quite misted over. It came under the category of mail fraud.
If PA uses UPS, maybe the same deal goes for them too.
Of course PA has to keep the money to be fraudsters in that sense.
If they give refunds instead of books, I'd say the poor writers came out ahead on the deal.
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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.
--Ken
The BBB
The BBB is a private organization, not the government. In the context of disputes, they act as a kind of mediator (not an arbitrator) to try to help reputable businesses settle reasonable disputes with their customers. They have no power to force a settlement against an unscrupulous business like PA. And PA has demonstrated that they don't care about their customers or their reputation--just money.
The BBB is a private organization, not the government. In the context of disputes, they act as a kind of mediator (not an arbitrator) to try to help reputable businesses settle reasonable disputes with their customers. They have no power to force a settlement against an unscrupulous business like PA. And PA has demonstrated that they don't care about their customers or their reputation--just money.
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.
Therefore, they will not take action.
Dead end. Try something else.
BBB vs. Maryland Attorney General
I'm afraid you are confusing the BBB with the Maryland Attorney General's Consumer Protection office. The Maryland Attorney General will not get involved because they do not consider this to be a "consumer" issue, but a business-to-business problem. Therefore, they lack jurisdiction, since they are only authorized to take action on "consumer" issues.
The BBB has no such limitation. I wrote to them about PA and they gladly forwarded it on to PA for a response. But after several exchanges without a resolution, the BBB closed the case because they lack the power to do anything else. (All of this is posted on the PA page of my web site.) The most the BBB can do is to kick a business out of the BBB and give that business a bad BBB rating. They have done both to PA, and PA doesn't care.
I'm afraid you are confusing the BBB with the Maryland Attorney General's Consumer Protection office. The Maryland Attorney General will not get involved because they do not consider this to be a "consumer" issue, but a business-to-business problem. Therefore, they lack jurisdiction, since they are only authorized to take action on "consumer" issues.
The BBB has no such limitation. I wrote to them about PA and they gladly forwarded it on to PA for a response. But after several exchanges without a resolution, the BBB closed the case because they lack the power to do anything else. (All of this is posted on the PA page of my web site.) The most the BBB can do is to kick a business out of the BBB and give that business a bad BBB rating. They have done both to PA, and PA doesn't care.
After being out from under PA's contract for over three years, I just received a zero dollar royalty statement in my inbox. It was for the trade cover of my book so I'm interested to see if one pops in for the hardback too.
ETA: This statement appears at the bottom of the statement email.
ETA: This statement appears at the bottom of the statement email.
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Missing royalties: The Untold Story
Could this be related to the Lightning Source trouble PA is involved in?
Could this be related to the Lightning Source trouble PA is involved in?
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Teresa, my e-mail royalty statement arrived today and had the same wording. Very interesting. Copies sold since the last royalty period = 0. The joys of being a PA author just get better and better!
I had a second one in my inbox this morning, but it's also for the paperback and not the hardback.
Hi there!
Here's your royalty check!
Now, you might notice that you're not actually getting payed for the books that have been sold.
If you have a problem with this go f*** yourself. It's not our fault.
Best wishes, PA
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Right. How convenient. "It's not that we don't want to pay you, it's that we're being victims of a scam and can't."
A big team of attorneys cost money you know. Have to have some excuse to cover their backsides for royalties not being paid.
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!
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!
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Just started reading, but PA is saying they expected to see signs of wear & tear on returns? That's just wrong. Many commercial publisher returns have never been taken off the shelf by a customer (that's why they're being returned--duh) and are in absolutely pristine condition. Customer returns to the store must also be in resalable condition--i.e., look brand new. If a customer tries to return a book to our store that is beaten up and has normal reading wear & tear, we can't accept it unless it is defective in some way (pages falling out by themselves, wrong pages, upside down pages...you get the drift).
I've packed many boxes of hardcover and trade paperback returns, and 95% of them look brand new. A few have yellowing as they've sat on the shelves too long, and a few have rubs along the cover edges. But not many.
Back to reading now...
ETA: Since vanity pub book signings seem to average 4 or 5 sales, but the stores generally order in significantly more copies than that, I can well imagine that the returns under PA's 'returnable' policy were a whopping percentage of bookstore orders.
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Oops, looks like PA may have screwed themselves over in this one. Might this be the end of the line for them?
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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.
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I'll get in early with my prediction: they settle out of court for an undisclosed amount, and the recent disclaimer stays in effect.
The "jury demand" is ironic coming from a company that makes sure arbitration is the only option available to its own customers.
Ditto on the complaint of the $2.00 shipping fee per book they say LSI charged them to ship them the returns.
Sounds like the guy who left knew when to get out of the boat.
Ditto on the complaint of the $2.00 shipping fee per book they say LSI charged them to ship them the returns.
Sounds like the guy who left knew when to get out of the boat.