Return of a Man Named PAMB and its Quotes

Katrina S. Forest

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Okay, this just makes me sad:

I was just wondering if anyone has received any royalty checks yet? I dont want to know how much or anything thats not my business but I was just wondering when I would maybe get one. And if anyone has any tips on marketing I would appreciate it.

How is it not the author's business how much money he/she is owed?
 

Gillhoughly

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No you're not. I used to watch the show, but they clearly faked something in an episode, so I dumped them. I mean, the stuff is faked, but they needn't have been so bleedin' obvious about it!

The fake was supposed to be a ghost grabbing the back of a guy's coat. You can see it being pulled down.

But he kept his hands in his pockets the whole time he was yanked backward. Rang false with me. Someone yanks on a collar, your hands go up to deal with it, especially when you're in a situation where you are on your guard.

I'm sure some twine threaded from collar to pocket and a couple safety pins served to help him yank his own jacket collar down.

Lame. Like PA.

We now return to regularly scheduled wankage.

These guys were WAY better with ghosts!
Ghostbusters-team.jpg

 

Kweei

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No you're not. I used to watch the show, but they clearly faked something in an episode, so I dumped them. I mean, the stuff is faked, but they needn't have been so bleedin' obvious about it!

The fake was supposed to be a ghost grabbing the back of a guy's coat. You can see it being pulled down.

But he kept his hands in his pockets the whole time he was yanked backward. Rang false with me. Someone yanks on a collar, your hands go up to deal with it, especially when you're in a situation where you are on your guard.

I'm sure some twine threaded from collar to pocket and a couple safety pins served to help him yank his own jacket collar down.

Lame. Like PA.

We now return to regularly scheduled wankage.

These guys were WAY better with ghosts!
Ghostbusters-team.jpg


Hee! Ghostbusters!

Ahem. Not to totally derail the conversation, but is there anywhere you can read up on all the stuff TAPS has faked? I used to watch it ages ago and enjoyed it - even knowing it was just reality TV - and I quit once things became more and more elaborate.

Okay. *goes back to reading the quotes*
 

kaitie

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The one in particular she's talking about was a live Halloween special, and I'm pretty sure if you Google it you'll find a lot on it because it was pretty controversial at the time. The thing that sucks is I'd be willing to put money on the fact that the opening seasons weren't faked at all, but then they started all the sudden finding more, or the stuff they did find was a little more difficult to see. There was just a change in tone that had me saying someone decided they'd better start finding more. Which sucked because they'd had a couple of awesome finds, and I actually liked that a lot of episodes came up empty.
 

James D. Macdonald

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I believe PA is switching to hard covers because they can't compete with greedy money up front competitors.

Yeah, they can't compete with those greedy publishers who pay their authors money* up front.

(Book for book, PA is more expensive than any of the other vanities.)

---------------
*And not a measly one dollar, either.
 

M.R.J. Le Blanc

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Think of how fun it would be as a tv show though. Seriously, I'd LOVE to see an investigative report on PA.
 

circlexranch

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Not sure if I saw this comment archived. The board bleach has to come out soon!

The irony here actually hurts . . .

I am confident Amazon will change the wording to indicate hard cover.
PA has been for me a game changer. I have never ever encountered a more generous group of people. The problem is that most publishers are in it just for $$$. PA can't compete against PODs that have a war chest from desperate authors.
 

Gillhoughly

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The problem is that most publishers are in it just for $$$.

I've never had a problem with that. I'm writing to make money, yanno.

Unless you're talking about vanity presses, then yes, they will try to get money out of writers. It's what they do.

Um--how many emails have you gotten from PA this month trying to get you to buy your own books??

PA can't compete against PODs that have a war chest from desperate authors.

PA is POD. There, consider the memo delivered.

Desperate authors? Who do you think made so many of them desperate?

PA certainly can't compete against commercial publishers who are crazy enough to get books into stores where people can see and buy them. Gosh, what ARE they thinking? Giving writers big advances, selling their books, that's just cruel!

Yes, it IS hard to get commercially published. You get a rejection and it hurts, but you put on your big girl pants, your game face, and turn yourself into a BETTER writer.

And if that doesn't work and you still want to just be printed, then turn yourself into a SMARTER writer and take your book to a better place than PA. We'll be glad to help you.
 

James D. Macdonald

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I like to say that there are two sources of money in publishing. (Actually, there are three, but ... well, I'll get into that in a bit.)

The main sources for publishers are the readers, and the writers.

In commercial publishing, the money comes from the readers. In vanity publishing, the money comes from the writers.

With PA, the money comes from the writers. That's why I can say confidently that PA is a vanity press.

(The third source is patronage. Grants from arts councils and such. They're playing a different game in a different arena. Once upon a time, patronage was a major source of funding for publishing and for writers. Now ... not so much. But if Bill Gates wants to support me while I write books, in return for my dedicating the books to him ... I'm in the phone book.)
 

Marian Perera

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Wonder if anyone will respond to this newbie's first post.

I am new to the author message board, but i have a question. My book just came out and they said it would be officially releases on august 1, 2010, but my question is, is what online places are our books sold through so i can tell everyone where to look for them at? If anyone can help me with this, that would be amazing

Maybe they'll advise her to contact Author Support.
 

Marian Perera

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Ebooks are down, print books are up

An author whose ebook was previously priced at $29 says,

Patience pays. The e-book price has now returned to $9.

"It's okay now. He bought me flowers and promised never to do it again."

Then one of PA's cheerleaders asked,

I noticed that my 2 books are $29.99 now and $27.99 now. I do wonder when /if they will return to the prices they were or if this the price of the hard covers?I also noticed the lowest pirce I found for one of my books was at Overstock.com for $14.95 and it was paperback versions of my books and the site did not have a cover image of my book. Have any of you found your books on overstock.com?

I can't imagine what it's like living with this kind of uncertainty regarding something as basic as the price of your book.
 

Marian Perera

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Someone at PA enjoys keeping authors on edge.

Did everyone see today's e-mail from PA? It's an "advance alert" for us to be on the lookout for a special announcement later today or tomorrow morning.

PA...what are you doing to us? We're all going to have ulcers...or at least short fingernails.

And lighter wallets.
 

CatSlave

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PA, are you starting to get a clue that your authors are wising up to your lame tricks?

I don't see anyone jumping for joy over there.
The only jumping I see are the rats off a sinking ship.