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Hay House Publishing / Balboa Press

DreamWeaver

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Very slick looking site. Well, self-help companies have a reputation for, in many cases, being put-your-money-in-my-pocket companies. This certainly helps reinforce that unsavory aspect of the self-help industry.
 

brainstorm77

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The site looks just like the one they have with HQ.
 

jkababy

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Hay House Call for Entries? (merged into Hay House thread in BR&BC)

Hi there and I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong place. But someone forwarded me this link this morning:

http://news.yahoo.com/balboa-press-sponsors-first-ever-hay-house-visions-232612386.html

I know Hay House is reputable but when I googled Balboa Press I got more scams/warnings than anything else. Should this 'opportunity' be avoided like the plague?

Does anyone have any experience with Balboa? (and if they're so loser why would Hay House hold hands with them?)

Thanks in advance!
 

MickRooney

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So what about this:
http://news.yahoo.com/balboa-press-sponsors-first-ever-hay-house-visions-232612386.html
Hay House has a sterling reputation and Balboa's is crap. What's the catch here?

I had a short conversation with a couple of people from Hay House on their stand at LBF 2012 about Balboa and it was like they didn't want to talk or acknowledge it even existed. When they saw the press badge I was wearing, I was fobbed off on two separate occasions that I should come back when someone 'more senior' was there.

If a publisher embraces a paid service imprint, then either you acknowledge it, or at least make your staff aware that it exists and isn't a 'side' revenue stream existing outside the company.
 

victoriastrauss

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So what about this:
http://news.yahoo.com/balboa-press-sponsors-first-ever-hay-house-visions-232612386.html
Hay House has a sterling reputation and Balboa's is crap. What's the catch here?

Dollars to donuts everyone who enters this contest will be solicited to buy services from Balboa. Fee-based publishers or publishing services often use contests to draw in paying customers.

Edited to add: From the contest rules: "The 30 Round Two finalists will receive: 20 percent discount off any Balboa Press publishing package."

And from the Terms and Conditions: "By entering this contest, entrants opt into the use of their registration information in accordance with the Balboa Press and Hay House Privacy Policy and consent to receiving correspondence via telephone and/or email by Balboa Press and Hay House."

- Victoria
 
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victoriastrauss

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If a publisher embraces a paid service imprint, then either you acknowledge it, or at least make your staff aware that it exists and isn't a 'side' revenue stream existing outside the company.

Amen. It's really interesting that they aren't doing this.

- Victoria
 

ellisshuman

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If your book won one of the top 3 awards = wouldn't that be excellent as it's seen coming from Hay House?

If you lose, you can just keep saying "no" to their attempts to get your to fork over money.

Is the fact that it costs money to work with Balboa reason enough not to enter the contest?
 

Quickbread

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I have direct experience with Balboa Press through a client of mine who wanted to publish a book with them. They took my client's money but never produced his book. I called them several times on his behalf and got nowhere. The point person for his account kept changing, and no one would return calls. Given his treatment, I believe all those people to be fictional anyway.

Before that, his book was with Author Solutions through another imprint, and they never gave him royalty checks even though he knew people (his clients) were buying his book.

In the end, I believe he finally got his money back, but Balboa is a total scam, is Author Solutions in disguise but won't admit it when confronted, and my perception of Hay House is permanently tarnished because of the connection. I hate to say that perception extends to Louise Hay and other Hay House authors, too. It's a real shame that they're engaging in this kind of business at all.
 

DreamWeaver

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Edited to add: From the contest rules: "The 30 Round Two finalists will receive: 20 percent discount off any Balboa Press publishing package."
Gee, that's big of them. Suppose that means they'll only take them 80 percent of the way to the cleaners?
 

sharonsharon

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i have very bad feelings about hayhouse now. I have no respect for them. I attended the writers workshop and no new info was given - very basic stuff. it is very desperate people there who want to win the contest. truthfully i actually went to use it as a deadline for my book proposal and it worked. I finished it and now am sending to agents. i once emailed balboa and now they call me every month to try to get me to sign with them. Hay house is reaching out to desperate people who want to be the next spiritual teacher- something is rotten not just at balboa and hayhouse, but with the whole "spirituality" business. Hay house gets richer and people get scammed
 

aliceshortcake

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Hay house is reaching out to desperate people who want to be the next spiritual teacher- something is rotten not just at balboa and hayhouse, but with the whole "spirituality" business. Hay house gets richer and people get scammed

Well, let's face it - Hay House's number one cash cow, the unspeakably vile Sylvia Browne, isn't going to live for ever.
 

gingerwoman

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I have direct experience with Balboa Press through a client of mine who wanted to publish a book with them. They took my client's money but never produced his book. I called them several times on his behalf and got nowhere. The point person for his account kept changing, and no one would return calls. Given his treatment, I believe all those people to be fictional anyway.

Before that, his book was with Author Solutions through another imprint, and they never gave him royalty checks even though he knew people (his clients) were buying his book.

In the end, I believe he finally got his money back, but Balboa is a total scam, is Author Solutions in disguise but won't admit it when confronted, and my perception of Hay House is permanently tarnished because of the connection. I hate to say that perception extends to Louise Hay and other Hay House authors, too. It's a real shame that they're engaging in this kind of business at all.
Here's an article that mentions Balboa Press.
http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/the-author-exploitation-business/
The constant changing of the point person appears to be part of what these places do.
 
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PVish

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A post on Facebook today:
. . . I am an 18-year old author (just released my first book last week!). My book is titled "[redacted]" and is made up of a collection of inspirational stories with tips on how to improve your daily mood, attitude, and perception of others. Even better, some of the profits are going to the Acumen fund, a charity combatting global poverty. It would mean a lot to me if any of you could support my cause by reviewing/buying a copy...promotion for only $3. I'll return the favor for reviews and purchases :)
A quick check to his Amazon link revealed the book is published by Balboa Press. Given the subject matter of the book, I wonder how an 18-year-old can know so much about psychological matters. Oh, yeah—it's a vanity press. . . .

ETA: I did a "look inside the book" and noticed that he really needed to cite a source for a study which he mentioned. "A recent study by the researchers at the University of Edinburg" doesn't quite do it.
 
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eternalised

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Also a little astonished as to how an 18-year-old can spend $999 dollars or more on self-publishing. It may be the dream, but when I was 18, I was totally cheap, saving everything I could for college, a car, etc.

I wouldn't be against self-publishing service companies if they didn't ask such ridiculous prices, or pretended like "all publishing should be paid for". They don't even offer editing for their authors, and cover art looks rather basic. Definitely not worth the cost.
 

aliceshortcake

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ETA: I did a "look inside the book" and noticed that he really needed to cite a source for a study which he mentioned. "A recent study by the researchers at the University of Edinburg" doesn't quite do it.

Edinburg? Hah! Unless researchers at the Universities of Oxfod and Cambrig are involved I'm just not interested.
 

PVish

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I noticed another instance in the "search inside the book" where his reference to another study (again, no documentation or cited source) looked like a rewording of a blog post about the same study. (Yeah, I did a bit of Googling.) An editor at a reputable press would likely have caught such things.

Now, if someone whose material was used in this book wanted to sue, who is liable—the young author, Balboa, or Hay House?
 

Calla Lily

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Sigh[sup]TM[/sup]. A co-worker just stopped by to say that her friend had just published her recovery memoir. Great, I said. Self-published? Nope. Balboa. Cover price? $21.95 for a 300-page pbk. Friend's brother won the lottery and paid all the fees. Sigh[sup]TM[/sup].
 

gingerwoman

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Also a little astonished as to how an 18-year-old can spend $999 dollars or more on self-publishing. It may be the dream, but when I was 18, I was totally cheap, saving everything I could for college, a car, etc.

I wouldn't be against self-publishing service companies if they didn't ask such ridiculous prices, or pretended like "all publishing should be paid for". They don't even offer editing for their authors, and cover art looks rather basic. Definitely not worth the cost.
This blog suggests there is a lot more to it than that.
http://blog.emilysuess.com/author-solutions-inc-employee-cries-scam/
 
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