Return of a Man Named PAMB and its Quotes

The latest from 'outrage' before it gets cornfielded . . . (bolding mine)

Exactly. That's my point. PA should be doing marketing for our books to the booksellers and offering t h e m the 45% discounts so they can put our books on their shelves. I don't need my book on my own shelf. Like many of you, I can't afford to be my own customer.

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A publisher offering discounts to bookstores? Heard of this I have . . .

Dang it . . . QoS types faster than I do. Shouldn't have stopped to bold . . .

:out::

Infomonster must be on vacation - that thread's still there.

It's been deleted now.

I've been in contact with the author who started it, and she has a pretty good grasp of what PA says and what's the truth.

So have I. She's actually a lovely woman, I invited her to come here. I hope she'll take up the offer.

All the "Random House" threads seem to be gone.

As predicted.

-Ann C. Crispin

Drat! I miss all the good posts from the PAMB. So glad they are documented here.

On the upside, it's good to see more people are getting frustrated (and asking questions and getting frustrated quicker) than they used to. Makes me wonder how well the next 'great deal' is going to go over.

^ Good point!

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

Makes me wonder how well the next 'great deal' is going to go over.

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I just wonder what the next deal is. PA offering to send books to Random House is like some kind of literary Twilight Zone.

True, but people are losing faith that PA sends books to Oprah, the eBook thing seems to be dead on all counts which has also peeved people off, the Tom Hanks offer didn't go down any better it seems, and the Random House burst into flames. They could put the Pope or the Dalai Lama in the next offer, I don't think PA authors are going to be any more receptive. It really does seem like more people are clueing in, and they doing it faster.

Miranda, Larry, Will, I daresay you're losing your touch

They'll never beat out Typhoid Mary at this rate.

Maybe the next PA "deal" will be to send books to Bill Gates so they can be incorporated in the next version of Windows? Or putting them into a time capsule so people a hundred years from now can read them? Or possibly shooting them into space on the off-chance that someone in another galaxy can read English? Or corking them in bottles and throwing them in the ocean so they can wash onto another continent?

PVish said:

Maybe the next PA "deal" will be to send books to Bill Gates so they can be incorporated in the next version of Windows? Or putting them into a time capsule so people a hundred years from now can read them? Or possibly shooting them into space on the off-chance that someone in another galaxy can read English? Or corking them in bottles and throwing them in the ocean so they can wash onto another continent?

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New keyboard please.

They probably would put that under their marketing plan, or expect the authors to do it, charge them for the bottles at $100 a pop. PVish ... you know, your ideas could make a whole thread in itself.

"Is anyone listening?"

I sent Brandon in the book signings dept a list of area stores that might be open to holding a book signing for me. I had asked for assistance and in response to his request, sent this list in. I was told to be patient as everyone wants a signing and that it usually takes five to six weeks. That was Nov. 23, 2009. I have heard nothing. I've sent four or five emails that go unanswered. I tried to account for the holiday season and the massive blizzard that could have impeded progress.

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Don't forget that PA also moved offices. And changed wholesalers. And this is royalty month. And... and... and...

But couldn't someone at least answer an email? I'm still trying to be patient, because I know that Brandon is probably over worked

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That part, I completely agree with.

and is doing me a huge favor by assisting in this area.

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Why a huge favor? Isn't Brandon paid? Is he contacting bookstores in his free time or his lunch hour?

But it benefits PA as well if I sell books.

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No, PA is benefited when you buy books. What you do with them after that is irrelevant. You could turn them all to compost and PA wouldn't care.

Once you recognize PA's business model, the shoddy and dismissive treatment makes sense.

Please could someone help? I just need some kind of status update, please. Booksignings dept?? Brandon??? InfoCenter??? Is anyone listening???

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This post made me think of what happened to me a few days ago. I'd received an electronic ARC to go over, so I got up at three a.m. to start reading (I'm a night owl). Half an hour later, I spotted a correction I wanted to make, and emailed my editor about it.

I got her reply at four a.m.

No writer should have to plead with someone, anyone, at their publisher to respond and help them.

PVish said:

Maybe the next PA "deal" will be to send books to Bill Gates so they can be incorporated in the next version of Windows? Or putting them into a time capsule so people a hundred years from now can read them? Or possibly shooting them into space on the off-chance that someone in another galaxy can read English? Or corking them in bottles and throwing them in the ocean so they can wash onto another continent?

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Heh. Even the most ridiculous schemes an honest mind can come up with don't even come close to the depraved lunacy that spills out of PA in all sincerity every day.

I mean really, which is more stupid in the real world:

Put your book in a time capsule, so people in the future might read it!

or

Pay us, your publisher, a bunch of money for books and we'll submit a copy of your first-rights-burned, unedited, still-under-contract manuscript to another publisher! A better one! Tomorrow you could be out of the literary cesspit that is us!

The first suggestion, while certainly pointless, is kinda cute.

The second one is so crazy it might have given me cancer.

PVish, you're just not insane enough to pitch ideas to PA

Gillhoughly said:

It doesn't cost them much to have a listing for online ordering the same as they do for used book dealers. The profit margin is tiny, though. The big catch is no one but the writer and his/her personal circle knows the book exists, so there's no danger of there being an accidental bestseller. Add in that the book is terribly overpriced and no one's going to want it.

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I meant online. I knew that part already.

They blamed the missing books from B&N on the change from Ingrams, but what about books missing from PA?

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=31902

Why is the picture of my book no longer posted under Historical Fiction, was on page 18 not there now, If it has been recategoried where will I find it. Three people have asked and I have no answer.

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She will find it here:
http://www.publishamerica.net/adventure.html

and here:
http://www.publishamerica.net/historical_fiction.html

Send your book to Random House? What, because doing it yourself would be strange and pathetic, but having your craptastic pseudo-publisher do it is what, strange and pathetic but less embarrassing? Good thing PA isn't actually sending any of these special deals.

Oh, and folks? Anything that gets sent to a celebrity ends up in a sorting office in one of the large office buildings on Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly Hills and the Miracle Mile. NOTHING actually reaches the celebrity. Want to get a book to them? Get it on a bookstore shelf or get it to their agent. And no, the agent won't accept unsolicited material.

Next time, if you want your book to go to Random House, how about getting an agent?

kullervo said:

Next time, if you want your book to go to Random House, how about getting an agent?

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While we're on that thought, get an agent who doesn't require money from you. You saw how well that worked with your 'publisher', after all. And the only real agents are the ones you don't pay for.

It amazes me that anyone would believe that a publisher would offer a book to another publisher. Especially with all the noise they make about being a "small" publisher that's making the big boys nervous.

Put it through the filter... does not compute.

(And it's good to see, that from the response yesterday, most of the PAMB posters realized this.)

Good grief. Every time you think maybe people are cluing in...

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=31911

PA made an offer to me to send two of my books to Tom Hanks for review and if he likes it, who knows......Movie? Funny thing is, I found him on twitter, (he's really a great guy), but anyway, I left him a message and asked him to review my book. A couple of days later PA sent the email about it.......by chance....????

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