Return of a Man Named PAMB and its Quotes
- Thread starter James D. Macdonald
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There's also this tiny, one-liner buried in the spam blocks:
What do they mean by "pick", I wonder.
Still no pick from the Frankfurt book fair?
What do they mean by "pick", I wonder.
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I think they mean pics. There's been a writer asking for pictures from the Frankfurt Book Fair on their (PA's) FB wall.
There seem to be non forthcoming. They did post some scary pictures of what seems like a Halloween party, though!
ETA: Looks like most of the Halloween shots were taken down... feh. Should have screen-capped them.
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On the order page for Firefighter Jeff, I see this little factoid:
Where your books aren't available. Nor are they available at the other places people buy books--supermarkets, drugstores, big box retailers like Target and Walmart.
Sometimes when people order PA books on Amazon, they receive them, but even that doesn't seem to be reliable.
So tell us again how that datapoint, even if accurate, is remotely relevant to what PA does?
PublishAmerica's silly copywriter said:
Where your books aren't available. Nor are they available at the other places people buy books--supermarkets, drugstores, big box retailers like Target and Walmart.
Sometimes when people order PA books on Amazon, they receive them, but even that doesn't seem to be reliable.
So tell us again how that datapoint, even if accurate, is remotely relevant to what PA does?
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Ah, let's define a "real bookstore" shall we? These folks aside (and wonderful folks they are), how do you define a "real" bookstore?
Do you know how many books are sold at campus bookstores? A lot. And they ain't cheap. I pay the bills every semester. Sure, Barnes and Noble runs some college bookstores, but the vast majority of those books are textbooks. Maybe they're not "real" bookstores because the general public doesn't shop at them.
And how about all those books you see lining the shelves when you go visit your doctor or attorney in their office? Hey, they were published. They have an ISBN, but chances are those specialized books weren't bought at the local indie bookstore, much less a big box store. So no "real" bookstore purchases there.
Is Walmart a real bookstore? How about your local grocery or drug store? The greeting card store in your neighborhood that carries a small stock of inspirational books? Nope, but a lot of books are sold through those outlets. They may not be "real" bookstores, but they sell books.
So yeah, aside from the link, how do you define a "real" bookstore?
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I wonder, then, why B&N refuses to stock PA books, and requires the people who special-order them to pay in advance?
B&N boss? Which one? I wonder if Leonard or Stephen Riggio know they are being quoted like this. Or perhapds it's William Lynch or Mitchell Klipper.
Or maybe PA are full of shit.
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Also depends on what you mean by "all" books. When the State of Texas buys schoolbooks, they don't take a basket down to Books-A-Million. When the Army buys training manuals, they don't get them from Barnes & Noble.
But almost all of the books that PA authors think of as books -- the novels, the memoirs, the how-to books ... are sold in "real bookstores."
PA is trying to answer the questions, "Hey, guys, why aren't my books on the shelf anywhere? Why can't I get 'em on the shelf even by begging and pleading? Why aren't any PA books in any stores anywhere?"
When PA could boast that Vortex of Revelation (how's the movie coming?) was "stocked in a whopping 42 bookstores," you know that they aren't in the book business. Forty-two is a risible number. A derisory number. Stocked in forty-two bookstores is failure.
I wonder if they're talking about PubWest last weekend. The keynote speech was delivered by Len Riggio, B&N CEO.
Unless he was addressing PA in a sarcastic tone, I sincerly doubt this was said to them.
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I'm thinking the speech was written by an underling who had to say something neutral and didn't do any research. You can probably substitute the name of any POD house for PA and say about the same thing.
I was at a conference a couple years ago and wound up at the table with a few of the people who run St. Martins. I happened to mention PA by name to them.
They had to ask what that was. I explained it was a POD in Maryland that claimed all the big houses were trembling in terror at its aggressive "new" business trope of not charging money to publish a book.
Then as the blank stares got to be too much for me, I had to explain "It's not MY idea! It's theirs!"
They decided to be amused.
It's hard to tremble in terror when you don't know a threat even exists and even harder when you see it and laugh.
Are the big five worried about PA? Well, if they have to look it up on Wiki, I'd say no.
I was at a conference a couple years ago and wound up at the table with a few of the people who run St. Martins. I happened to mention PA by name to them.
They had to ask what that was. I explained it was a POD in Maryland that claimed all the big houses were trembling in terror at its aggressive "new" business trope of not charging money to publish a book.
Then as the blank stares got to be too much for me, I had to explain "It's not MY idea! It's theirs!"
They decided to be amused.
It's hard to tremble in terror when you don't know a threat even exists and even harder when you see it and laugh.
Are the big five worried about PA? Well, if they have to look it up on Wiki, I'd say no.
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My cousin works at one of those campus B&N's, and it was designed so the public WOULD shop there. She's the clothing manager, selling alumni wear and stuff like that. But they sell PLENTY of fiction, children's books, cookbooks, and other stuff you find in a bookstore.
Not all of them are like that, though.
The campus B&N stores I've visited sold some commercial books, but mostly textbooks. And of course, alumni wear. Glad to know there are some that have a broader selection.
There's a HUGE 2-story B&N close to one of the colleges here. It sells everything you can imagine.
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If it was Len Riggio's keynote speech, what he said was that the technical quality of e-pubs for the Nook is better than it was a year ago, and smaller publishers are doing 'em quite well.
Given all the problems with PA's e-book program, I don't think he was talking about them.
If it was indeed PubWest that PA is talking about, and someone from PA was in the audience (taking a break from their Las Vegas vacation), I somehow doubt that Riggio made eye contact with them at that moment. Or, indeed, would have been able to pick them out of a lineup later.
Given all the problems with PA's e-book program, I don't think he was talking about them.
If it was indeed PubWest that PA is talking about, and someone from PA was in the audience (taking a break from their Las Vegas vacation), I somehow doubt that Riggio made eye contact with them at that moment. Or, indeed, would have been able to pick them out of a lineup later.
This makes me ill:
Advances and royalties aren't a roulette wheel or a crap shoot or anything else that requires you to be "person number X" or "One of the X next people to take our offer!"
It being a royalty paid on the 10th of the month is slightly better, but I'm not sure which scenario is the actual one (Considering this poster says her book is already published, and she's trying to get an advance after the fact, I'm not sure she knows, either). I don't want to poke fun at this author, but this post illustrates a major issue with some of those who go with pA. If you don't know the difference between an email address and a URL, you've likely no idea how to research publishers effectively on-line.
Advances and royalties aren't a roulette wheel or a crap shoot or anything else that requires you to be "person number X" or "One of the X next people to take our offer!"
It being a royalty paid on the 10th of the month is slightly better, but I'm not sure which scenario is the actual one (Considering this poster says her book is already published, and she's trying to get an advance after the fact, I'm not sure she knows, either). I don't want to poke fun at this author, but this post illustrates a major issue with some of those who go with pA. If you don't know the difference between an email address and a URL, you've likely no idea how to research publishers effectively on-line.
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I don't think that poster understood PA's offer.
And I think that PA's desperation is showing. What happened to those hundreds of new manuscripts every day, of which most are rejected, eh, PA?
And I think that PA's desperation is showing. What happened to those hundreds of new manuscripts every day, of which most are rejected, eh, PA?
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Agreed The explosion of sites like Lulu, Createspace, and Smashwords have to be playing hob with PA's bottom line.
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I'm certain that EVERY MS they get today will be the "10th" one. Every one of them will get "the chance it deserves" acceptance spew.
I have a grim mental picture that the 10th book is a how-to manual for child molesters...
...and a grimmer one that Miranda will OK it.
I have a grim mental picture that the 10th book is a how-to manual for child molesters...
...and a grimmer one that Miranda will OK it.
From the $250 "advance" thread (which PA confirmed was only going to be awarded to the 10th responder after their offer...)
2 things with this one" 1, she's right $250 isn't much for an advance, and any book a publisher "takes a chance on" should be given more. 2, this is another illustration of how much PA authors don't understand the industry terms/standards. An advance IS NOT a signing bonus. It's exactly what it sounds like - an advance, against royalties to come. It's money the author earns, not a bonus check.
2 books; 10 copies sold. The value of "getting your book out there."
2 things with this one" 1, she's right $250 isn't much for an advance, and any book a publisher "takes a chance on" should be given more. 2, this is another illustration of how much PA authors don't understand the industry terms/standards. An advance IS NOT a signing bonus. It's exactly what it sounds like - an advance, against royalties to come. It's money the author earns, not a bonus check.
2 books; 10 copies sold. The value of "getting your book out there."