Return of a Man Named PAMB and its Quotes

That'll be in the cornfield pretty soon

Cyia said:

This is from the same guy who was asking where he could go to find ammo to use when people told him PA's books and services were sub-par:

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=31183&sid=8196dbd8f8bf7b490291d07cd9197f3a

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Resounds with irony, no?

--Ken

PVish said:

This won't last. After someone mentions contacting author support, the original poster replies...

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The reply is,

When in that situation, I resend the e-mail each day until I get a response. Either that or ask InfoCentre to assist - they've been good to me.

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Are there automated programs or bots out there which can just automatically send messages until Author Support replies?

When in that situation, I resend the e-mail each day until I get a response. Either that or ask InfoCentre to assist - they've been good to me.

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Am I the only one who thinks this would do more harm than good? I would think the only thing this would accomplish is PA's email service seeing you as a spammer, and filtering your emails out of their inbox and into the spam or trash folder. I wonder how many employees they have to answer emails. I would think with...what is it now, 40,000 authors? they would need a pretty big staff just to answer all those emails in any sort of timely manner. I don't honestly see PA paying that many employees to just to handle emails.

The really unfortunate thing here is that PA does not care about any of this poor authors problems. They can delete his PAMB post and totally ignore any of his correspondence...what is he going to do, sue? They have hundreds of new author fish to fry.

POOF! To the cornfield!

Thanks for grabbing that quote, with my schedule, the InfoMonster gets to the messages before I can read them!

A new author says,

I've been receiving emails from what appear to be auto-generated messages from Publish America. My book's release date for stores was November 14th, 2009. However, my mom was in Barnes and Noble on the 14th and they said they would not be offering the book in stores. That was in Jonesboro, Arkansas and I live in Orange County, California. My question is - does Publish America put the books in any stores without our own purchasing copies? For instance, they keep sending me emails saying that they will "donate as many copies" as I determine - all depending on how many books I purchase at a discounted rate. Well, I recently got laid off from my job and can't afford to be my own marketing department. Does this mean that the book will never see a shelf in bookstores?? Someone with experience, please advise!!

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Someone with experience... I don't think that will be Anti-Bookstore Guy, given that his spiel is about how bookstores are the worst places to sell books and yet PA is offering to donate entire boxes of books to stores.

It is so sad. New author after new author appear on the PAMB and post their confusion about why their books are not showing up in book stores.

I also anticipated, from the moment I saw the "donate books to stores" offer, that this would cause more confusion. PA books will never be placed in on book store shelves, regardless of author purchase. A box of "donated books" that show up as a random shipment at the local B&N will be tossed into the nearest dumpster.

PA is a master of duplicity. Their contracts and their web site all contain verbiage designed to feed the belief that your book will be welcomed by book stores and marketed like the latest release of any debut author. Sadly this is not the case and new hearts are broken every day.

Just curious, has anyone read PA's FAQ page lately? Though possibly confusing for new (naive?) authors, they do pretty much admit that PA books won't show up on bookstore shelves. They even put it on the author to become more or less a local celebrity so that bookstore managers will consider stocking their books

They also say:

All successful marketing begins at home.

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If only PA followed their own advice.

24 hours and no response to the newbie's question about PA putting books on shelves. Not even a 'promote, promote, promote . . .' pep talk.

24 hours and no response to the newbie's question about PA putting books on shelves. Not even a 'promote, promote, promote . . .' pep talk.

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Probably because they, who also believe their books would be in store or are still in denial that they are the ONLY target of PA sales, are going, "what does he mean...what is he talking about...I don't understand..."

Aye, there's... several rubs:

I do understand about your books I have been waiting for my book to be finished as well. It is in work they say. They want me to buy books that I have never seen.

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http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=31123

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=31201

I am a new author with publish america and my book is set to release on December 13th, 2009 and i was wondering how long it took before some of you found your book to be available online or in stores and which stores were your books found?

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From her Twitter link: (bolding mine)

My first book, a paranormal romance entitled, [removed] is available at publishamerica.com and in stores Dec 13th.

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*face/palm*

Dear PA Lurkers,

My question is - does Publish America put the books in any stores without our own purchasing copies?

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No, they do not.

Oh, look--a TEENY grain of truth in appropriately fine print) from the PA website!

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Now, a word of caution is in order. Bookstore availability is not necessarily the same as bookstore shelf display.

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[/FONT]

Can't say they didn't warn you. I'm sure Miranda will take unholy joy in pointing that out to you before demanding you apologize for interrupting her work day.

Does this mean that the book will never see a shelf in bookstores?? Someone with experience, please advise!!

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The book will never see a shelf in any bookstore unless you buy and put it there.

How many invitations have you have from them this month to buy your own book? One a week? More?

You know how many invitations my publishers have sent me in the last 20 years inviting me to buy my own books?

NONE. Exactly zero.

They're too busy getting them into stores.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

For a book to be stocked by a bookstore, someone high in the hierarchy must decide to order it. Typically, it's not the store manager who makes such decisions, unless he runs an independent store. Larger chains such as Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and Borders have "buyers" who select which titles are to be stocked.

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[/FONT]

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However, those stores have policies in place concerning self-published and POD books and print mills like PA. Since your title with PA is a POD item, your book will not be in any store unless you trot it in yourself and beg the local manager for shelf space.

It may be up on the store website or on Amazon, but it will never be in a store.

That's the big difference between "available" and "shelved".

Thus endeth the lesson in PA marketing strategy.

Are you angry yet? You should be.

.

From the same thread kullervo quoted from:

I was told that it takes 7 to 10 days for a book to show up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com from the official release date.

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What is PA's definition of a release date anyway? What's the point of having one if the book isn't released and available to buy on that date?

I remember back in the day, PA never told me my release date. I had to ask when it was. It always made me think of the Simpsons episode where Marge gets published and she asks her agent if her publisher will let her know when the book comes out, and her agent replies, "Well, they should, yes."

What is PA's definition of a release date anyway?

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Good question. The "official" release date for my PA book was March 2002, posted at some online sites as May 2002, yet inside the book it says 2001.

tlblack said:

Good question. The "official" release date for my PA book was March 2002, posted at some online sites as May 2002, yet inside the book it says 2001.

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Yeah, the "official release date" really has no meaning. My book was on the PA site a couple weeks before the official release date, and every other bookstore seemed to have a different release date listed. I even emailed Amazon to correct my date, so that it would at least match my promotional materials.

Isn't it nice how PA not only makes their authors do all their own promotion/marketing, but is also a hindrance in the process? How hard is it to give a consistent release date to online bookstores, and post the book in their own online bookstore on the same date?

The importance of a book's release date ONLY matters to REAL publishers.

If they tell a store a book is to be released on a specific date, be assured copies of that title are shipped in a timely manner and sitting in the back room until the date arrives.

Reviews, announcements in store newsletters, being listed for pre-order on Amazon and B&N, are all part of the normal marketing process for books. If publishers don't meet their own schedules it cuts into their book sales and lowers profits for all.

Unless the book is with PA.

Knowing that the book won't be in stores, there is no need to adhere to a strict release schedule. Early, late, or exactly on time, PA knows the only customer who matters will be the writer--who is probably going to be the only customer, period. They're counting that all will be forgiven once the writer has a "book in hand."

If PA gets the book out within a month or two of the promised target date, that's fine with the Stooges. Any writer who purchased copies for a signing scheduled on the release day---well, too bad. PA has that money, so why hurry?

PA lurkers have only to check quotes in this thread to find others who had to cancel signings because the books never arrived or because no one in author support could be bothered to pick up the phone or reply to e-mails.

Dear PA Lurkers--pro publishing is not like that.

Go to the 808 section of your library and read up about it, no need to take my word for it or the word of your fellow PA victims. That nagging voice in the back of your head that's saying, "There's something wrong about this" is the one you need to heed.

This thread has been moved

Okay so I ordered my books back in early September as soon as I got the press release. It was not officially released until 10/31. I still have not rec'd my books. I am getting extremely frustrated as are other people who have ordered books. I have called PA on numerous occasions. Anyone else have this problem??

(BTW, I did not have this problem with my 1st book).

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Moved to the private forums... wonder if this author will be told to send daily emails to Author Support.

James D. Macdonald said:

. . . it's already up on Amazon for preorder.)

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And doubtless darn good.

--Ken

This is part of a response posted for the thread that disappeared (bolding mine).

Will I go back to PublishAmerica with book number three and four? I guess that's the real test. So far there is nothing to persuade me that I shouldn't go back. I would have liked my book to be assigned to an editor - it wasn't - but next time I will request that in the contract. Or I'll get it professionally edited for typos, spelling, and other grammar issues. On my website I say PublishAmerica is a great family to be adopted into, and so far nothing has dissuaded me from that.

E-mail me via my website if you need to chat to somebody who has been through the mill (and going through it again) - maybe I can offer some encouragement. Just put "PA Author" in the subject line so I don't inadvertently throw it away as spam.

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He has no idea how right he is...author mill
And good luck getting assigned an "editor", there are no editors at PA.

PublishAmerica is a great family to be adopted into

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What? Like the Borgias?

The family dinners are to die for.