Re: A quote from Larry
Joyce Harvell said:<blockquote><hr>Now, I have listened to both sides of this. I have done much research myself. Now if PA authors aren't bothering you "other" writers, why not leave them the heck alone?<hr></blockquote>Okay, here's the straight dope. Forget what you've heard at PA.
First, not all of us are "other writers." Second, this discussion isn't about taking personal revenge. It's about collecting, cross-referencing, and analyzing information about PA, and helping writers who are thinking of signing with PA, or have already been scammed by them and are trying to recover from it.<blockquote><hr>Have you ever been in a situation where you don't have the money to hire an agent?<hr></blockquote>As others have observed, if you think you have to pay your agent, you already don't know what's going on.<blockquote><hr>Have you ever been a "little person?"<hr></blockquote>Haven't we all? One of the things scammers do is tell you that you're little and helpless and have no hope. They're trying to get you to deliver yourself into their hands.<blockquote><hr>Well, if you haven't then you don't know what these PA people are going through.<hr></blockquote>We know very well what they're going through. Many of us have gone through it, and come out on the other side. Others of us have watched one generation after another of PA authors going through the same cycle: gratitude, hope, and joy before their book is published, followed by increasing confusion, disillusionment, and despair, once their book has come out and they discover how thoroughly PA has misled them.
Arguably, this forum understands what PA authors are going through better than many of the authors do.<blockquote><hr>Some of them are just what I just said. Some of them can't afford an agent although they have written a really good book. Why not try to help them instead of bash them.<hr></blockquote>We're not bashing them. We're trying to help them. We wish them well. What we're bashing is PublishAmerica -- for good reason.<blockquote><hr>PA has offered to publish their book.<hr></blockquote>Yes. That's what PA does. It's no kindness. PublishAmerica is a vanity press. They're just cleverer about it than most.
Read this article. It'll explain how the scam works.
I know they told you they were a "traditional publisher." They lied. Nobody in the real publishing industry would ever call PA's operation "traditional."<blockquote><hr>Some of the books are much better than others.<hr></blockquote>That's only to be expected. PA will screw the good ones over right along with the bad. They don't care one way or the other.<blockquote><hr>Same as your so called "traditional Publishers."<hr></blockquote>No. Nothing like it. The only reason they get away with saying that is that there's no legal definition of "traditional publisher." And why should there be? The real publishing industry doesn't use the term. They call what they do "publishing."<blockquote><hr>Maybe PA isn't doing for their authors what your publisher did for you,<hr></blockquote>No "maybe" about it. PA's done next to nothing for their authors. To be specific, they've done as little as they could possibly get away with while continuing to give the appearance of being a real publishing house.<blockquote><hr>but you have to understand that they are taking a big chance in publishing some of these books.<hr></blockquote>
Absolutely not! "Taking a chance" is precisely what they haven't done. Have you read that article yet? PA's done minimal text formatting (not "editing") and cheapjack production, and spent nothing on promoting or distributing its books. Then it's set the books' cover prices so high that the average number of copies PA
knows will be bought by the authors (and the authors' friends and relations) will yield them a healthy profit on the deal.
There's no risk in it. That's why PA can offer publishing contracts to books like
Atlanta Nights. They didn't pay any more attention to your book before offering you a contract than they did to
Atlanta Nights.
I'm truly sorry, but: They don't believe in you. They don't believe in your book. They've done you no kindness. And they absolutely, positively
have not taken any chances on your behalf. In fact, what their pricing structure amounts to is
betting against your book. (Do read that article.)<blockquote><hr>Most of PA authors have no agent. They are just getting started. Just having a book published is good enough for some of them.<hr></blockquote>That's what they think until the book comes out. Then they discover they can't get bookstore placement, or reviews, or sales. Nobody reads their book. They're crushed.<blockquote><hr>If they have a best seller then that's great.<hr></blockquote>They won't, and PA knows it. PublishAmerica hasn't even bothered to make the kind of arrangements you need to already have in place if one of your books really starts selling. It's another way they've bet against you.<blockquote><hr>Maybe other publishers will look at them if their book sells well.<hr></blockquote>If a book is capable of doing that, in spite of the tremendous handicaps PA imposes, chances are it could have sold to another publisher in the first place. Meanwhile, PA is dead mean about granting reversions. If your book were to start selling, PA's crippled production and distribution system would keep it from going anywhere, and their contract would keep your book pinned down for the duration of its seven-year term.<blockquote><hr>I have about come to the conclusion that you are just eating sour grapes.<hr></blockquote>Nope. There's not a soul here who envies you, though we do feel considerable sympathy for you and your predicament.<blockquote><hr>You are hoping that PA will fall on it's backside and go under so there won't be as many authors out there. You want all the glory. You are scared of PA books getting somewhere.<hr></blockquote>Nope again. We've heard authors sing this song before. It's like listening to someone insisting that they
can too! spot the winning card in Three-Card Monte, and we're just jealous of how much money they're going to win.
Not gonna happen. Nobody but the dealer and the shills ever make money at Three-Card Monte, and no PA books or authors ever get anywhere. Any profit and success accrue solely to the company.<blockquote><hr>And Ed Williams you are the worst with your so-called post on your website, putting down PA. You have a number of names of PA books listed, making fun at the names, while your book is called, Sex, Dead Dogs, and Me. That to me my friend is the pot calling the kettle black.<hr></blockquote>Ed's kind, helpful, funny, and a good writer. He'd be proud to be named PA's number-one enemy. He isn't, of course; but he does the best he can.
You're in a bad situation at PublishAmerica. You can't make it better by yelling at us. You can realize what's going on now, or you can do it later, when nothing turns out the way you'd hoped it would, and PA sneers at you for signing their deliberately deceptive contract.
I'm not exaggerating, by the way; that's what they'll do if you complain. The letters they send are nastier than you'd believe if you hadn't seen them. The idea is to leave you feeling so crushed that you stop making a fuss.<blockquote><hr>Now I've said my piece and I am going.<hr></blockquote>You don't have to do that. Honest.
