Moving Forward After the PA Faux pas

I think you need to get your rights back for the first book. Why would a publisher want book 2 and 3 when the foundation of the series lies in book 1? Its like picking up LOTR at the Twin Towers. The readers are going to be lost about the world and characters...

I have a bad habit of not buying or reading books in a series of out order. So if I can't get a hold of the first one, even in a used book store, I am not going to purchase the follow ups. I know, I lose out on some good series, but its my thing...

The best route to get your manuscript back from PA is to inform them that you will no longer be buying or promoting your book anymore. Keep it polite and professional and ask to have your rights returned.

Once this happens, you can then shop the trilogy around, but series are hard sells.

martim said:

I have a couple of breach of contract events that I will be reviewing with the attorney. Of course, the outcome is no guarantee. There is consistency in the suggestion to stop transacting with PA (which I have) but that sounds like a hit-miss option from some of the other posts. Have many authors utilized the judicial system to deal with PA? If so, what has been the success there?

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Is your attorney an expert in publishing law? You mentioned contract law, but please ask your attorney some pointed questions about his or her experience in publishing law. A publishing contract is not a standard consumer or business contract.

Also check your contract to see what redress you may have. Some PA contracts specify arbitration, and some specify a MD court. You're bound by what's in the contract.

One version of the PA contract is analyzed in this thread. You might check that contract (and the analysis) against your own contract. It might be of some help to you.

Forget the trilogy. It's dead.

Write another, completely different, book.

One of the key points in your contract is going to be the repeated use of the phrase 'at PublishAmerica's discretion'. That makes is nearly impossible for them to breach the contract: almost every point says, in essence, that they don't have to do it.

Bear in mind that any expense you incur will most likely end up being nothing more than money out of your pocket. Your best bet is to just keep asking in a bored tone for your rights back. Anything else jingles their bell, and they'll take joy in denying your request. If you take a dry, boring tone (not on a lawyer's letterhead), you just might get lucky; it's been known to happen.

And, as Uncle Jim said, write another book. It's fine to carry on with your series for personal satisfaction; no writing is ever wasted time, as you learn from everything you write. But if your ultimate goal is to get a real publishing contract from a real publisher, you need to write something else.

martim said:

Regarding turning book 2 into the first of the series - Great idea!...but the series is a historical fiction and would be difficult to start midway through the timeline. It's worth thinking about a little more however. Maybe that's my pitch to the new agent/publisher?

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I'm pretty sure the best advice is to write something new, but if you just can't let go of this story, remember it's not at all unheard of for an historical series to come out with a prequel. Consider thinking of the PA book as a prequel that you may be able to sell in the future. Then consider revising your current book two to make it a stand-alone start, to maximize your chances of selling it. It doesn't have to start at the very beginning, and it doesn't have to tie up all the loose ends. It just has to intrigue the reader, pull them into the story, and have a satisfying "temporary" ending.

Finally...

thothguard51 said:

The best route to get your manuscript back from PA is to inform them that you will no longer be buying or promoting your book anymore. Keep it polite and professional and ask to have your rights returned.

Once this happens, you can then shop the trilogy around, but series are hard sells.

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something I am an expert on.

Rewrite the second book to stand alone. Retitle it to some name not associated with the first book.

Make the third book the second book.

Write a third book that completes the series.


The first hurdle you will have to jump with any publisher is to have a viable book. The new first book must be marketable, polished to a brilliant shine, and so engrossing that agents and publishers will drool over it.

The second hurdle is the ugly elephant sitting in the corner. They are going to google you and there will be the PA book. When they ask, confess, admit it was a mistake, and move on.

A good book trumps all.

My trilogy was about a character set that I created to run for many books. I had a repeat clause with PA and lost two books. I wrote the third with abandoning the first two in mind.

I later got my rights back and my publisher agreed to release them as an anthology.

It is possible to save the trilogy, but it far more work than just letting it go and write a new, better book that will WOW the publishing world.

If I had to do it over again, I would have just taken my loss on the first book, sent PA a crapfest James Frey type biography, and moved on to better things.

Why the trilogy is dead:

1) Rights to the first book are held by another publisher. No publisher will touch books 2 and 3 while this is true.

2) Even if you do get the rights back to the first book, it'll be a reprint, with a sales history in the Unmitigated Disaster range.

Best is to move on. Later, when you're selling and have fans, after the first book has reverted to you (seven years down the road), you can consider re-writing it. Discuss that option with your editor and your agent when the time comes.

James D. Macdonald said:

Best is to move on. Later, when you're selling and have fans, after the first book has reverted to you (seven years down the road), you can consider re-writing it. Discuss that option with your editor and your agent when the time comes.

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QFT.

I know it's painful, but you just need to move on.