Stop PublishAmerica

Stonecold2338 · Feb 26, 2012

Let me make this clear, I am not asking anyone for help, I am telling you what I am doing to stop PA. If you want to make a commit feel free to do so.
I have 13 blogs and I have people from all over the world come and read the truth about PA every day. I publish on twitter everyday and I will start like this.
PublishAmerica when are u crooks going to give me the info about last yrs Oprah Scam ?
They can't sue me for asking them something !
I have been doing this for 16 months.
It all started when Raymond pissed me off because I ask to be released from my contract.
If everyone did what I am doing I think PA would shutdown a lot faster.
after I started doing this I noticed PA started going down-hill.

Bufty · Feb 26, 2012

Sorry about your issue, but they have been 'going down-hill' for years now.

They'll only shut down when impatient folk start researching instead of first signing up and paying them and then researching or finding out the hard way, and sadly there's no obvious way to keep the flood gates shut.

All we can do is try and stem the flow a little.

Good luck.

Stonecold2338 said:
Let me make this clear, I am not asking anyone for help, I am telling you what I am doing to stop PA. If you want to make a commit feel free to do so.
I have 13 blogs and I have people from all over the world come and read the truth about PA every day. I publish on twitter everyday and I will start like this.
PublishAmerica when are u crooks going to give me the info about last yrs Oprah Scam ?
They can't sue me for asking them something !
I have been doing this for 16 months.
It all started when Raymond pissed me off because I ask to be released from my contract.
If everyone did what I am doing I think PA would shutdown a lot faster.
after I started doing this I noticed PA started going down-hill.

Marian Perera · Feb 26, 2012

Stonecold2338 said:
after I started doing this I noticed PA started going down-hill.

Maybe you need to start 13 more blogs, then, to speed up their demise?

Stonecold2338 · Feb 26, 2012

I'm not saying I started PA going down-hill, I am saying I noticed after I started my posting. True it will only stop when new authors stop signing with them even after they know about PA !

dpaterso · Feb 26, 2012

Stonecold2338 said:
They can't sue me for asking them something !

No but they can sue if you call them crooks.

Speaking personally, I would not post such an accusation on any public media, but that's just me.

I hope you've also used the last 16 months to write more books.

-Derek

Jersey Chick · Feb 26, 2012

Just be aware, PA DOES monitor this board and they are NOT above siccing their attorney on people. Take a scroll through the older PA threads...

You might want to watch just how you phrase things in public.

Sheryl Nantus · Feb 26, 2012

I think you need to switch to decaf.

Stonecold2338 · Feb 26, 2012

dpaterso said:
No but they can sue if you call them crooks.

Speaking personally, I would not post such an accusation on any public media, but that's just me.

I hope you've also used the last 16 months to write more books.

-Derek

Yes, I am writing a e-book called Jake and Jo and promoting it on my blog Proffitt Books and to check it out you search "e-book Jake and Jo"
It has a little bit about my book on the blog.

Stonecold2338 · Feb 26, 2012

Maybe I would be better off if I just forgot about PA and spent more time writing my book. I could use all those blogs to promote my book. What do you think ?

thothguard51 · Feb 26, 2012

Stonecold2338 said:
Maybe I would be better off if I just forgot about PA and spent more time writing my book. I could use all those blogs to promote my book. What do you think ?

Finally, the light bulb moment...

Pyekett · Feb 26, 2012

I think it's better to have one really, really good and polished blog than thirteen, to each of which you either dedicate 1/13th the time or make copies of one another.

If you want people to be interested in what you do, give them one main portal in any medium you are using. Keeps the attention from being scattered, keeps people who only subscribe to one from missing out on others, and keeps you from looking mentally unstable.

And yes, write the book.

Added: This from the guy working on a second blog. It's for a different purpose, though. I'll think about that and see if I need to take my own advice.

Cyia · Feb 26, 2012

Stonecold2338 said:
Let me make this clear, I am not asking anyone for help, I am telling you what I am doing to stop PA. If you want to make a commit feel free to do so. It's "comment", and no one needs your permission. Starting a thread doesn't grant ownership of it.

I have 13 blogs and I have people from all over the world come and read the truth about PA every day. I publish on twitter everyday and I will start like this.

13 blogs are fine... if anyone reads them. Also make sure your information is accurate. I notice none of these blogs are linked in your sigline, so...

PublishAmerica when are u crooks going to give me the info about last yrs Oprah Scam ?
They can't sue me for asking them something !

Of course they can - especially if you phrase it like you have above. You've more than implied illegal activity, which is an actionable offense. (INAL)

I have been doing this for 16 months.

And these threads have been active for years.

It all started when Raymond pissed me off because I ask to be released from my contract.

No business is obligated to release you from a legally binding contract, unless they break it, and even then you have to prove it. (Chances are, the contract wasn't broken, as most don't actually promise to do anything PA doesn't do.)

If everyone did what I am doing I think PA would shutdown a lot faster.
after I started doing this I noticed PA started going down-hill.

Sorry. Try again. Many have started blogs, campaigns, written to officials, tried lawyers, made websites, gone to facebook, Twitter, maybe even Myspace when it wasn't a ghost town. PA isn't doing anything illegal, so they can keep doing it so long as people sign the contracts. If anything stops the kind of presses that expect authors to buy their own books, it'll be Amazon's KDP arm.

Stonecold2338 said:
Maybe I would be better off if I just forgot about PA and spent more time writing my book. I could use all those blogs to promote my book. What do you think ?

Ding...ding... ding. We have a winner.

Though, I'm not sure why you think you need so many blogs. One central location with all of your effort focused on it will likely serve you better. (Again, I point out the lack of link in your sigline...)

James D. Macdonald · Feb 26, 2012

Write a new, different, better book. Sell it to a legitimate press. Repeat.

In seven years (or ten if you signed one of the new even worse contracts), you'll get your book back with no effort on your part.

Want to hurt PA? Don't send them a dime. And leave them in your dust. All of the principals at PA are failed writers. In my opinion that's what makes them want to hurt writers so badly--they're taking their revenge on people who might actually succeed where they failed.

jaksen · Feb 26, 2012

And behave with dignity, act professionally, and hold yourself to a high standard.

And spend your time and your creative energies writing that next book.

stormie · Feb 26, 2012

After reading your previous thread (now closed) and this thread, and reading the blurb about your book that was pubbed by PA, I have a suggestion.

Before you start writing that second book, polish your writing. Stick around AW and really read the threads about writing. Get to 50 posts and post a small portion of your work on the Share Your Work boards.

People will take you more seriously when your grammar and spelling are up to par, and they'll buy your next book if the writing is good (and of course, enticing).

priceless1 · Feb 26, 2012

The only way to grind PA's gears is if their thousands of "happy authors" stopped buying their own books. They'd be out of business in a couple months.

HapiSofi · Feb 26, 2012

Stonecold2338 said:
Let me make this clear, I am not asking anyone for help, I am telling you what I am doing to stop PA.

What you are doing is not going to take down PA. It's not even going to bruise them a little.

Writer Beware is the most famous and reputable site on the internet for information about bad agents, bad publishers, and scams aimed at authors. Here's their Thumbs-Down List of Publishers. PA has been on it since day one.

Here are the complaints about PA at Ripoff Report, which is a major consumer complaint site. Some of those complaints have been there for years.

Write your blogs if it makes you happy.

In the meantime, if you don't need help, why are you here? I'm not saying you're not welcome. I'm just curious.

James D. Macdonald · Feb 26, 2012

Stonecold2338 said:
I have 13 blogs and I have people from all over the world come and read the truth about PA every day.

There were a lot more than thirteen blogs identifying PA as vanity press with a lousy contract, no practical ability to sell books, abusive practices, etc etc etc long before you sold your book to them. Just type "PublishAmerica" into Google and the truth about them comes out right on the first page of results--anything that isn't on PA's own website is unflattering.

Why didn't those blogs and web pages stop you?

What would have stopped you from selling your book to them?

Stonecold2338 · Feb 28, 2012

Someone else found PA for me because I was not on the internet at that time. I didn't even know the law would let publishers scam people and not do anything about it.

Bufty · Feb 28, 2012

Sorry. But having 13 blogs isn't going to stop anyone else following in your footsteps, is it?

Stonecold2338 said:
Someone else found PA for me because I was not on the internet at that time. I didn't even know the law would let publishers scam people and not do anything about it.

Stonecold2338 · Feb 28, 2012

I am sure that my 13 blogs and publishing on twitter has not hurt PA any at all, does that make some of you feel any better ??

James D. Macdonald · Feb 28, 2012

No, it makes some of us feel sad that you're wasting your time and your energy.

Miranda, on the other hand, is getting off on it.

quicklime · Feb 28, 2012

James D. Macdonald said:
No, it makes some of us feel sad that you're wasting your time and your energy.

Miranda, on the other hand, is getting off on it.

this.

there is "fighting the good fight" and then there is "playing King Canute and ordering back the sea." What you are doing isn't stopping them, but it is stopping you. 13 blogs is a time sink, and yes, PA is a horrible place, but done is done--spend your time getting new books written, and sold with reputable publishers.

Stonecold2338 · Feb 28, 2012

Miranda knows where she can stick Jake's Justice, because the book I am writing is a better book than Jake's Justice and it will not have all the mistakes in it like Jake's Justice. Oh, I didn't make all those mistakes !

James D. Macdonald · Feb 28, 2012

One blog? Go to town! Thirteen blogs? That seems a little OCD to me.

But yes, writing a new, different, better book and selling it to a legitimate publisher is the best way to have revenge on PA. Do something that Willie, Larry, and Miranda haven't been able to accomplish.

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