The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

Status
Not open for further replies.

Sonetka

Libel?

Those threads are spooky... there's definitely a story in there somewhere, though possibly not the one the author originally meant to tell.

One of the posters comments that they can't possibly sue for libel, but in my highly inexpert opinion, some of the accusations she's making in her book sound pretty serious; black magic practice and so forth. I mean, whether you believe in that stuff or not, very few people want to be associated in print as practicing it. Wouldn't at least some of it be grounds for libel? Something she and PA should have looked into before publishing the book, I'd say.
 

emeraldcite

autobiography

I think the problem is in the fact that she is pawning it as an autobiography, as non-fiction.

Now, if she was marketing it as a fictional autobiography, which in my opinion would make it infinitely more interesting although it is only the mere idea of a premise, she probably would have less of a problem.

her family may have a case, if they could prove that they were somehow injured by the publication of the book. however, since they overestimated the distribution and money involved with a PA book, she may not have much to worry about.

it seems her family thinks she received some kind of half-million dollar advance, or some other equally ludicrous amount. she may not be far off on her appraisal of her family in that title, but in her presentation she may find some legal difficulties.

overall, i would rate the reviews a solid 4 out of 5 stars. they are exquisitely entertaining. almost made me want to buy the book...but as a matter of principle, i won't.
 

HapiSofi

Re: autobiography

Emeraldcite, maybe I've misjudged them from the brief samples available at the PA site, but I think her family sounds atrocious, the kind of characters you couldn't make up if you tried. If she's any kind of storyteller, they're furnishing her with rich material for at least a short story or article, maybe an entire comic novel, about what happened with her family when she published her first book.

Besides, if they're really as white-trashy as all that, I can't imagine they'll bring a successful civil suit for defamation or whatever. What lawyer is going to take on a long, tedious civil case on a contingency basis when the targets of the suit are an author of modest means, and a book published by PA? I believe the relevant legal doctrine here is (I know I'm going to misspell this) ex rapibus non sanguinem: from turnips, no blood.
 

sfsassenach

Tales from the Dark Side...

of crazy relatives who can't spell, and don't know the difference between slander and libel [or fiction].
 

Ed Williams 3

Another sad PA board quote...

I have only approached BAM so far. I just recieved my books that I ordered and I've only gotten thus far as of now. I thought BAM was the best Southern Regional Chain. Others like Barnes and Noble, looks more like a wish. I just know that Barnes and Noble will be more snobbish and say no. I will attempt them, expecting a no and hoping for a yes. If we can't get our books in the easiest store of all,(BAM) it seems worthless to try. I know that I need to visit Independent book stores. I'm sure I'll have better luck. If anything, I bought 250 of my books. I've only got to sell 250 more. I know I've sold several already. I don't know the #'s of course, but I'm pretty well known is several cities in Alabama. I've already had my press release in 5 different major cities newspapers. I've spent more time on promotion than I have visiting book stores. That's my mistake. If BAM won't shelve it and there is a big demand for my book, I bet BAM might change their minds huh? We'll see.

....you don't know whether to feel sad for these people or wonder what in the hell they are thinking...
 

James D Macdonald

Re: Another sad PA board quote...

....you don't know whether to feel sad for these people or wonder what in the hell they are thinking...

Feel sad for them. They believed PA's explicit and implicit promises.
 

Ed Williams 3

Ah, how patriotic of PA....

Subject: Beginning of the end


Message:
On the horizon appears to be the beginning of the end with PA and myself. Despite the high respect I have for the company and the wonderful job they are doing for authors, I received an email from them yesterday deeming myself unpublishable because I am living in Spain.

Ironically, I have been here in Spain awhile and have published a book with them under this situation. That book has been met with some success. "Torn" was the #1 seller for PA from December 5, 2003 through January 8, 2004 on Amazon. It currently sits at #69 on the sales chart there for PA. It also sits at #12 on Barnes & Noble and has been in the #1 position various times.

Despite this track record, the handicap of living overseas, serving the country through a military base, has now dampen my future with this noble company. Unfortunate, but the cruel reality of business. I am unable to attend book signings and other promotional events to further increase sales.

So, as this regrettable turn of events unfolds, I want it to be clear that I harbor no hard feelings for PA. On the contrary, I wish them continued success and understand that they must hold the interest of the company above that of the authors. It is the logical approach of any company that wishes to be successful. However, by doing such, I now have to focus on other avenues for publication. It is a path I had preferred to avoid but now am forced to travel.

I only hope that PA permits this post to stand because I want it to be understood that I respect their decision, although hold my opinion in silence on whether I am in agreement or not. Still, I do not want anyone to be misled into thinking that I am upset with PA because I am not.

Sincerely,

Frederick A. Babb
www.frederickbabb.com
 

djclawson

Re: Ah, how patriotic of PA....

I was wondering something. How much does a PA author make per book sale? And how many books would a PA author have to sell to recoup their loses from the set-up fee?

In other words, how many of them even make back their initial investment?
 

FM St George

Re: Ah, how patriotic of PA....

depends on what you consider to be the "startup" investment...

I make 8%, more or less, on my book that sells for $12.95 on Amazon.com and $9.95 off the PA site - $1.03 and $0.80 respectively. Problem is, if someone from a bookstore decides to do me a favor and purchase them at the special discount for business, then they're buying them at $7.77 and *I* get only 8% of THAT... being $0.62 per book then...

needless to say, the "big" money is in trying to resell books out of the back of your car after making an investment of a few hundred dollars, since PA gives lousy discounts to authors to start with. No one's getting rich at those royalties, even if they convince traditional bookstores to purchase them; and every royalty payment period there's a lot of disgruntled peeps who discover the horrible truth about their royalties.

now, how much did I invest? Not much, really - I didn't take them up on their initial "buy now!" offer and lose a few hundred on my book to start with; I purchased a domain site and converted it later into my own website for all my writing. I purchased a few books for a book fair, but I think it's pretty well nothing compared to the PA authors who hire publicists and the like to sell books that are usually unsellable...

in other words, PA may not get you in the front door with a bill for services rendered, but they'll get you in the back by making you buy your own copies to try and make a decent dollar...

as usual, jmo - ymmv...
 

djclawson

Re: Ah, how patriotic of PA....

So, essentially, you need to sell more than 300 books to recoup your initial investment.
 

emeraldcite

Re: Ah, how patriotic of PA....

and only a handful have sold anywhere near that...
 

FM St George

Re: Ah, how patriotic of PA....

I still don't understand what you consider to be the "initial investment"... sounds like you're confusing PA with the other POD's that require money upfront.

with PublishAmerica there's no money upfront other than the $30 you send in for a copyright, putting you technically $29 in the hole from the start - after that, you spend as much as you'd like, and PA encourages you to spend a LOT by offering author discounts and so forth... in fact, I'm pretty sure that even the best PA author is coming out in the red every which way since there's practically no way to earn a profit with the above scenario...

as I said before - at least with other POD's they get the money upfront and you feel that you're at least a customer paying for a product - with PA they sneak it in the back way with you being so "thankful" that you "made the cut" that you'll put up with incompetence and bad everything and then pay them for copies that you won't be able to resell...
 

writerangel

Re: OMG...

Oh, mercy!!! :eek

Isn't it unethical to post excerpts from author submissions like this without the express written or verbal permission of the writer? ... And SHE'S MAKING FUN OF THEM for goodness sakes!!! :(

How unethical!!!
 

emeraldcite

Re: OMG...

i'm glad she did, although it is unethical. but it's nice to see the interworkings of PA and refreshing to know that they don't accept everything...
 

FM St George

Re: OMG...

... and also they seem to be letting anyone and their dog "edit" the manuscripts that come in....

sheesh....
 

James D Macdonald

Re: OMG...

I hope that no one goes there from here to flame the poor young lady. That would be a pity; whatever one may think of the company she works for she's doing her best, and it would close a fascinating window.
 

sfsassenach

Wonder what some of the loyal troops

would make of her utter contempt for the PA writers.

<sigh> I'm sure they'd spin it to prove that PA doesn't accept everything and that they're the creme de la creme.
 

FM St George

Re: Wonder what some of the loyal troops

I'm not flaming the woman, but what she's doing is, at the least, unethical.

If I saw MY work being reposted and mocked in a public area I'd be ripping mad... they may not be good writers, but she should be respecting their privacy and not reposting it or commenting on it publically... send them the requisite rejection notice, but this is just mean and nasty. The writers deserve better than that, no matter what quality their work.

it's unprofessional and immature, to say the least... and she should know better.

'nuff said.
 

FM St George

Re: If she "knew any better"

what's sadder is over at another board where I posted this info I've been ripped a new one for doing it... somehow it's not really her fault and this is the equivalent of cheap gossip and we ALL do it, so what's our business in looking at this woman's site?

and, after all, it's always a PA author out to slime PA so it can't possibly be true...

I swear, sometimes I do want to pull the plug on this computer...
throwputer.gif
[hehehe - BW01]

*grumble*
 

FM St George

Re: FM, they're hopeless.

whups...

think the site's gone... well, obviously SOMEONE over at PA has a shred of decency...

:p
 
Status
Not open for further replies.