The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

More on the bashers

I don't know why I continue to peruse the PA boards, since some of what I read makes me grit my teeth.

Came across this one today: <a href="http://www.publishamerica.com/cgi-bin/pamessageboard/data/lounge/7546.htm" target="_new">Questions for all</a>

This is another thread commenting on the bashers, and also poses the statment
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>And please don't delete my post this time. Every time I ask a legit question that may make others think or ask the same things, I get deleted. We should be able to ask questions here even if the answer turns out to be something negative.<hr></blockquote>

But here's some great advice to all those trying to get their rights back:

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I think bashers, if they are actually PA authors, should return their dollar plus the money PA invested in them and be free to submit their work to someone else if they think they can do better. <hr></blockquote>

There ya go! Simple as that.

utc

Re: On a more personal level...

I think bashers, if they are actually PA authors, should return their dollar plus the money PA invested in them and be free to submit their work to someone else if they think they can do better.

Click to expand...

Yeah...why didn't we think of that!! Too funny.

On another note, they aren't talking about us, we're not bashers. I don't know who the bashers are, but it's not us.
Where did that term 'basher' come from anyway, I'm not a basher, I'm a publishamerica-truth-teller, it's why I got banned, I said, "let's be honest"
:lol

I keep waiting to be talked about, but nope, they are not talking about me. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Chris

PS found the quote icon...movin on up again...

Re: More on the bashers

That is funny. I did return my dollar. I wanted nothing to do with them.

Anne

Lightning Source and sales reports

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but...

I was poking aroung the Lightning Source site today and found the following in the Publisher FAQ section (this is obviously for books ordered by someone other than the publisher):

“How does a publisher get paid?

For each book sold, either as an "on demand" title or as an ebook, publishers receive payments as well as detailed sales reports monthly. These reports can be sent electronically or as a hard copy – whichever you prefer…”

So if Lightning Source gives PA monthly sales reports, why can't PA give the same to authors?

Re: More on the bashers

Oops did not mean to post twice.

Re: Emails

(We will call this gossip)...because if we could count by publishamerica how many books were sold every month for twelve months, then they'd have to pay us royalties on all of those books.
edited to add an e

More on the bashers

bikr said

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>they aren't talking about us, we're not bashers. I don't know who the bashers are, but it's not us. Where did that term 'basher' come from anyway, I'm not a basher, I'm a publishamerica-truth-teller, it's why I got banned, I said, "let's be honest."<hr></blockquote>

You know, I have no idea who these "bashers" are! It seems to me that the PA advocates collectively refer to any opposition as "bashing," no matter what the opposition is.

Is "bashing" really "telling the truth?" I guess so, but the PA advocates (I don't really like the term Pavidians) do not see the truth until they get their royalty checks and start asking questions, like, "Where are my royalties?"

Nobody around here bashes any PA authors (except HB, since he invites it). The PA authors often refer to "basher sites." Anyone know what these are? Links?

utc

Re: Lightning Source and sales reports

I called PA before my last royalty payment. I hadn't received anything and wanted to know if I was going to get one or not. I first asked if the person could tell me how many of my books had sold and was told there was no way for her to know. I kid you not. That threw me a bit. If you are the main way for an author to be in contact, you would imagine that you would have SOME information available to give.

I always wondered how I could trust someone who would not provide me with information. I think they should have to show some breakdowns.

Can anyone with a traditional house tell me how they do your royalty checks? Do they show some sort of breakdown or anything? How does one know if they are short besides just knowing family and friends purchases?

I'm not saying I've been cheated in any way, only that I have no way of knowing either way.

Royalty statement

Here's a fairly typical statement:

/business.thomasnelson.co...tement.jsp

On royalty statements....

....there is typically a break out of copies sold, copies returned, and the prices those books were sold at. Then the sheet will show the computations utlized to calculate the royalty amounts - at least that's what mine shows. You can check the quoted royalty percentages in your contract against the numbers and have a pretty good idea as to whether or not the publisher has calculated the figures correctly (and since the statements are generated utilizing modern computer technology, they typically are).

The best thing about my royalty statements is that they're very easy to understand. They give me confidence that my publisher is telling the truth, and that they want me to understand how the amounts were arrived at. Compare that against PA telling you that they don't even know how many books you're sold...

Re: More on the bashers

One PA author claims that his books are distributed all over Europe, and most of them are at all the major European book stores.

Now...wait a minute. I didn't know PA distributed books all over Europe, especially to the major book stores. Is this true?
Aren't European books carrying a higher retail price than American books? If so, I wonder how much PA European books cost? It's frightening to contemplate this. How would this author find that information, about the exact European stores where his books reside?

Tri

Re: Straight to the PA desk - good.

Zaz, I'm a thread-killer too. I once sent a message maybe four lines long to a mailing list that had been running a howling multi-threaded flamewar. The whole list instantly fell silent, and stayed that way for the better part of a week.

Here's a major laugh....

...if you type "H B Marcus" into Google, guess what comes up first? Not his website or PA's - the first thing up is:

"The Neverending Publish America Thread!"

How incredibly (and humorously) ironic!

:lol

Re: Blackballing

Uncle Jim did speak unto the Words of Willem:

"By gum, you're right! How could I have been so blind? We are a vanity press! Here, let me tear up the contract. Go, sell your book elsewhere! For myself, I shall give all my worldly goods to the poor and go on pilgrimage in an attempt to atone for my sins!"

Book of Willem, Chapter 2, Verse 19

Click to expand...

Dude, like you totally forgot the sack-cloth, the ashes, and the hair shirt.

R/
Duncan

Re: Royalty statement

Not really a frequently contributing member of this thread, but my statement is even easier to understand.

It lists the books sold at both regular and high discount, the reserve against returns (some publishers don't, I understand) the actual returns, the amount of royalties, the amount of my advance, and the balance.

Which brings me to a thought... I've been following this thread, although I have no stake in it personally. I noticed someone above talked frankly about how they got published and the numbers involved. There seem to be so many misconceptions about what a publisher does and what's normal (particularly with PublishAmerica authors). Does it make sense to have a thread where willing people could describe their publishing process for the edification of others?

For example, my book is niche nonfiction. It's not ever going to be a best seller of any kind. Yet, I still sold just under 3000 copies from my publication date in April through my statement cutoff at the end of June. 3000 in three months.

That's my first book, with no agent, I'm not famous, and I don't know anyone in the industry. And according to my editor, this is completely average for books of this type at this publisher -- I'm in no way a breakout author. I earned out 3/4 of my $2000 advance (which I would NOT have had to pay back even if I never did).

Total time marketing: 3 hours (I did a local signing thing for fun and to support my local specialty book shop). Total money spent: none (gas to the signing I guess).

My publisher send me a box of 30 for free, a few of which I've given away but I have no intention of BUYING any more. Am I stocked in stores? I've seen my book on the shelf in local chains, even though I've never talked to them about ordering it. Frankly, I don't know how widely it's distributed. But since I sold zero copies directly, it must be out there.

Re: More on the bashers

I wonder if "all over Europe" means all over European sites?

Re: On a more personal level...

re: the "all-over Europe"

That's exactly what they mean. Let's take a PA book at random... How about Marti's Colorado Cold Case (which is one of the few PA books out there I really want to read, second only to Argile Stox's Computer End Program.)

www3.addall.com/New/compa...1413713750

It can be found in (through) 30 different places on that one link, but according to Ingram it sold 18 last year (the year it came out) and one this year. All that means is all these Europeon bookstores have access to the Ingram database. If they looked closer, they'll see their books are also available through most non-English bookstores as well.

The same goes for those sellers hawking used/new copies through Amazon. Just because a book has 10 copies available used/new doesn't mean you've sold 10 copies somewhere down the line. Some of those sellers will claim to have 100 copies in stock, but they just do that so the book is always available to be ordered through them. The moment they get an order for a POD book, they have it printed through Lightning Source.

Re: On a more personal level...

"Personally, I suspect it's another word game trap that PA's playing by offering to transfer the rights for no charge."

When they say they'll do it for no charge, doesn't that simply mean they won't make you (as the author) pay to do it? They'll still stick the 50/50 split in the proceeds...

"I think bashers, if they are actually PA authors, should return their dollar plus the money PA invested in them and be free to submit their work to someone else if they think they can do better."

PA should also return all the money they took in from said authors/bashers...just to make it fair.

:hat
Big Daddy West

Re: Book Publishing

www.publishamerica.com/cg...s/2880.htm

www.publishamerica.com/cg...e/7621.htm

Someone wake me up from this nightmare!

On the other hand:www.publishamerica.com/cg...e/7421.htm
I'm still number 24 on this list...

Re: On a more personal level...

Having just received some of my royalty statements from one of my publishers, I noticed that my publisher also includes the state or country where the sales occurred. Mine actually listed two other countrys. I'm assuming AU is Australia and FR is France. For some reason, all of my books with this publisher sold very well in Ohio.

Oh, one more thing. This particular publisher of mine is even smaller than the one above. Yet I receive better responses and explanations when I have questions than PA gives to their authors. My other publishers are equally better than PA even though they are smaller.

The Great PA Campout

Chris's link to the list of attendees for the summer PA campout included a familiar name.

Looks as though our own Joe Schmoe, friend of HB, is planning on enjoying the great outdoors this summer. Will you be warning them about the perils of publishing with PA, Joe? And since you said you haven't signed with PA, how come you got invited to the shindig?

Re: Joe

betsie.tripod.com/literary/id168.html

as if the article isn't funny enough, about HB's security for his wife and child being a writer ...there's this:"Since that time a big influence has been a friend, Jon Heald. He has a knack for turning anything tragic into the funniest thing I ever heard."


t

Re: Blackballing

Myself, I think that if you're unhappy with PA that communicating with them in any way except through a lawyer is a waste of time.

What do we expect? That if we're rational enough, eloquent enough, humble enough, or present enough evidence that Willem will suddenly slap himself on the forehead and say, "By gum, you're right! How could I have been so blind? We are a vanity press! Here, let me tear up the contract. Go, sell your book elsewhere! For myself, I shall give all my worldly goods to the poor and go on pilgrimage in an attempt to atone for my sins!"
------------------------------------------------------------

Now that's the best damn advice I've heard - all week!

And the rest had me LMFAO! :rollin Ah, I need that.

campout

Anyone can invite anyone, I don't think it's to fishy that he invited his friend, where has old Joe gone anyway I wonder.
Well, July seems very far away, but if I don't get un-invited, maybe I'll go talk about the perils of PA and get them to be real for a day-we'll see.
Chris

Re: The Great PA Campout

I echo Whispering Bard's question to Joe. But I'm just nosy!:rollin