The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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XThe NavigatorX

re:

It looks like we should make a place for Mr. Tyler Morgan.

Dee-

What's the story behind the scheduled chat? Are they already anticipating some sort of backlash to the article? Is that something they always do?
 

DaveKuzminski

HB

I get the feeling that HB hasn't quite managed to obtain a handle on Economics 101. Otherwise, he'd know that you can't make a profit or gain more readers if you spend more than you take in.
 

underthecity

Re: HB

The very fact that he actually says "WAAA WAAA" to try to intimidate his fellow authors to join him--regardless of the $75 cost and travel expenses--says a lot just by itself.

And gee whillakers, there might be another guitar giveaway.

utc
 

HapiSofi

Re: Miranda's writing

D James first quoted Whachawant, then commented:<blockquote><hr><blockquote>"but there are alternative graphic formats. Like hanging posters from ceiling, or if the book store is in a mall, attach a poster to the sliding glass doors."</blockquote>That's all co-op space that publishers are willing to pay for.<hr></blockquote>Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah. D James is right and then some. No amount of self-promotion is going to score display space in a bookstore. It's like asking an outdoor advertising company to let you put up your own sign on one of their billboards. Bookstore counter displays, endcaps, shelf risers, preferential placement, lease-line display dumps with die-cut special risers -- all of those are paid for by the publishers. It ain't cheap.

People don't readily perceive that as advertising, which is one of the ways vanity publishers get away with telling fibs about how publishers only advertise their biggest books. That's only true if you're talking about print and TV ads, which are expensive and ineffectual. Co-op advertising is much commoner, much more effective, and gets applied to a much wider range of books.
 

Whachawant

Re: Here's a good one...

.......As you know H.B., at our last signing, very few sales were made, and some to each other, and not the public.

---This author has spoken the truth, without realizing it...---
 

FM St George

Re: What PA says about bookstore sales

this would probably be the Ohio Debacle.

I opted out of that one when I realised that PublishAmerica had no intention of supplying the books they had promised, even with HB's bellowing.

:rolleyes

maybe he just needs to get out of the house for a bit of free time...
 

literary lola

Re: HB

"I get the feeling that HB hasn't quite managed to obtain a handle on Economics 101."

I particularly like the bit one author said about how few books were sold last time, and at that, they were sold to each other. Ouch.

Seems a ripe time to call out The Dynamic Sextuplates and make their intervention nab for HB before too many jump on his Ship of Dwindling Checkbooks. I'll call the AP and Washington Post to document the whole thing.

I can see the headline and article now:

PA GALA BOOKSIGNING SET UP
In an exhausting eight hour booksigning that HB Marcus promised recored sales, the three attending authors only yielded five sales, two of which were sales among the authors. It was rumored that there may have been a sixth sale, but it turned out to be a vagrant who was looking for toilet paper. Taking a look at the exorbitant price of the book, he mumbled something about tree leaves being preferable.

Booksigning organizer, HB Marcus was asked about the poor turnout. Wiping the spittle from his quivering lip, he insisted that people from a group called Absolute Write were responsible for brainwashing the entire Ohio population. His remarks became quite profane when the names of Dave, James, Victoria, Jenna, Dee, Rebecca, Ed were uttered. This reporter actually witnessed fire shooting from Mr. Marcus's eyes. Small children ran in fear.

Mr. Marcus was finally hauled off in a Tourette's-induced frenzy, bound in a straight-jacket by a group dressed in designer black outfits. A mention of a Fig Newton supply was overheard by one in the black-clad group.

As a final sad note, all of Mr. Marcus's books were stolen by the vagrant who insisted the bindings would make lovely table doilies.
 

Sher2

Re: HB

Mr. Marcus was finally hauled off in a Tourette's-induced frenzy, bound in a straight-jacket by a group dressed in designer black outfits. A mention of a Fig Newton supply was overheard by one in the black-clad group.

And it was a leather straight-jacket, don't you know -- the very height of fashion. It was a little shrunken from all the drool and spittle, but it got the job done.

As a final sad note, all of Mr. Marcus's books were stolen by the vagrant who insisted the bindings would make lovely table doilies.

I've found lots of handy-dandy other uses for them, too -- kindling, anonymous notes, doggie chew toys, door stops, pooper-scoopers. If I could come up with that many uses, just think what Martha Stewart could do.
 

XThe NavigatorX

Re: What PA says about bookstore sales

I reread the first posts on this thread to reacquaint myself with what had happened before. There's two major differences this time. The first is they're not relying on PA to deliver the books. They have to bring them all in themselves. The second difference is that the first signing was at the mall, outside of a Waldenbooks. This one is going to be in the conference room of a Holiday Inn.
 

FM St George

Re: WRONG WRONG WRONG

which, of course, is gonna SUCK.

who the heck is going to come into a Holiday Inn to see a bunch of authors sitting around a conference room???

maybe if they were offering a seminar or some sort of event, but the only audience they're going to have are hotel guests who ain't gonna be interesting in HB chasing them down the hall clasping a copy of his book to his chest and yelling that he wants to educate them on the finer points of PublishAmerica...

I know that HB plays this "advertisement" game - he'll go to the local businesses and put their names on flyers, etc. to try and generate some interest, but they'd be better off standing outside the local mall handing out flyers!

... be cheaper too.
 

DaveKuzminski

Re: What PA says about bookstore sales

Well, according to Miranda Prathers most book sales don't occur in bookstores. PA must have insider information that Holiday Inns are responsible for huge sales of books. ;)
 

bikrpreacher

BeckEaston

Here is another of my gripes about PA
The order delivery time. We ordered a POD book that a friend of one of my sons wrote from amazon, got it in about a week. This author then published the next in the series with PA. We ordered that book and it took PA almost a whole month to deliver it.
More...my two author copies were very different from each other in color, I was hoping that the one's I ordered, (yes, I did order fifty), would be lighter, but they were very dark, and they have some little kind of sticky stuff and balls on the covers, they are removable, but they feel rough unless you clean them, I don't know, maybe they put them into the box right off the press? They do stick together. The cover curled up, so if you leave one sitting out you have to keep turning it so to keep it looking nice...ugh

Here is a new one, the editing. I am proofing my book and found a question mark after a chapter title, where there should be no question mark, it's a statement. The chapter starts out with the word "how" so of course the spell/grammar checker put a question mark there. If they really read it they would know it's not a question, so they do the checking with out even reading the sentence.
"Chapter Seven How you look through the eyes of God."
give me a break!
 

Ed Williams 3

I cannot imagine....

...how anyone could possibly think that a booksigning in a Holiday Inn Conference room could amount to anything. It defies all logic. I know that PA is responsible for putting out a lot of terribly misleading information, but in this case the responsiblity for this upcoming debacle lies with a few current PA authors.

Geez, and one more thing - $75 a pop for the privilege? I've signed books in probably two hundred plus bookstores over the past six years and have never paid one thin dime to do so. Better yet, I was invited by the bookstores to do so.

PA authors, take a cold, hard look at just who's organizing this thing and their track record(s). It should tell you all that you need to know.
 

FM St George

Re: I cannot imagine....

exactly, Ed.

$75 bucks for a table in the conference room?

and NO guaranteed audience?

not to mention that most authors will buy at least one night in the hotel and then there's the little problem of having to purchase their own books AGAIN... and just travelling there is going to cost mucho dinero...

hmm... royalty time is just around the corner - think that PublishAmerica put HB up to this to generate some sales? I mean, if they order NOW they might get their books by the time this debacle goes off...

:rollin
 

bikrpreacher

Re: PA

Ed Wiliams 3 - Amen to that!

adding this
I am editing my second book, and it's really good...kicking myself.
People are emailing me about the article coming out, I guess all of Pa will be looking, I really hope that this article will be a good one that will tell the truth. There are also a lot of them that will be on the chat, so this ought to be interesting. Let us hope that it will be a good 'chat' and not an arguement.
 

HapiSofi

a micro-creeb

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Mr. Marcus was finally hauled off in a Tourette's-induced frenzy...<hr></blockquote>I've known some likeable and talented Tourette's cases. It's a very particular neurological disorder. The term shouldn't be used to indicate undifferentiated dementia, any more than "narcolepsy" should be used to mean "death by boredom," or "schizophrenia" used when what's clearly meant is Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).

Judging from the action as described, I'd say that Marcus was hauled off in a state of apoplexy.
 

Sher2

Re: BeckEaston

We ordered that book and it took PA almost a whole month to deliver it.

I have one person in LA and one in TX who ordered my book in NOVEMBER and still haven't gotten it. It arrived within days when ordered from Amazon, and within a couple of weeks from PA to everywhere from MS to CA. There seems to be no rhyme or reason whatsoever to it.
 

Sher2

Re: I cannot imagine....

$75 bucks for a table in the conference room?

and NO guaranteed audience?

not to mention that most authors will buy at least one night in the hotel and then there's the little problem of having to purchase their own books AGAIN... and just travelling there is going to cost mucho dinero...

Some of the people signing on with this dog and pony show are well aware of the late lamented OH debacle, too, FM. What on earth are they thinking?!
 

Joyce Harvell

Re: Here's a good one...

Bad editing, over authors "good" editing. High high prices for books. PA books are much higher than any book John Grisham ever put out. Not telling how many books are being sold. Author has no way of knowing if royalty check is right.
Where did they find their editors, elementary school? Getting pretty ticked off at PA about right now. >:

Joyce
 

Sher2

Re: Here's a good one...

Where did they find their editors, elementary school? Getting pretty ticked off at PA about right now.

Hi, Joyce. I gather that PA is holding a book of yours hostage? Sincere commiserations.
 

Ed Williams 3

Hi Joyce, it's a.......

...pleasure to see you here, hope you will come back often.

:D
 

Joyce Harvell

Re: Returns

Thanks, just letting off a little steam. Waiting for Feb to see if my royalty check is right. :rollin

I might can go buy a house if it is.:lol

On that big royalty they give that is.


I'll be back.

Joyce
 

literary lola

Re: a micro-creeb

"Judging from the action as described, I'd say that Marcus was hauled off in a state of apoplexy."

I, too, have known a sufferer of Tourette's, and am aware of its pecularities. No insult was implied. I was going for the the fact that HB often exhibits an inability to control his numerous vulgar outbursts. Besides, it was a pathetic stab at humor, not a scientific disseration.
 
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