The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

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SimonSays

Wandering back in to see what's been happening...

Post deleted and moved to the Take It Outside board.
 

aka eraser

Re: Royalty statements

Simon, Dave et al - knock it off for a few minutes at least will ya?

I'm in the process of copying/pasting/deleting. Give me a few more minutes and then sally forth to the Take It Outside board.
 

CWGranny

Re: Royalty statements

Deleted so as not to muddy waters...please delete mine from "Take It Outside" too. If you guys want to let someone throw punches at someone who's not around there...then just let them. I don't want to play.

gran
 

aka eraser

Re: Royalty statements

Hapi - I'm going to move your original Kessler post and this one to join the others on the TIO board.

It's personal, doesn't really belong here (now) and has muddied the Simon/Dave water.

Edited to add: You beat me to the punch on the 2nd one. I didn't get a chance to copy or move it.
 

FM St George

Dear Tim...

keep on writing - that's what makes us PA authors who have seen the light different than those who remain under the umbrella and sucking up the lies...

I've managed to sell a short story to GRIT magazine and a few other short ones here and there - nothing to quit my domestic goddess role over, but enough that ONE sale made me more than the four royalty checks I've gotten from PA from the sale of my book.

those PA authors who persist in staying with PublishAmerica for their second, third and fourth book are too afraid to venture outside their safety zone and into the real writing world - where they might also be published, but without the investment of their second and third mortgages.

there IS a world outside of PA and it's irresponsible to tell each other that this is the best there is; this is as good as it gets, as HB prattles - if I cut a deal for my first novel with Random House (oh, please, please please! :b ) and then another house steals me away, I'm not automatically a bad person.

PA survives by keeping their authors uninformed and fed like mushrooms; telling them that they can't go to other publishers or dare to think outside of their own cocoons to become better writers - HB practically threatens them if they try!

keep on writing and submitting and yes, you WILL make those sales... hone your skills and you will get paid for your writing!

... way more than 90% of PA authors, I think...

:)
 

absolutewrite

Re: Another Lie

Gran, could you give us mods 3 minutes before you make a dramatic exit? Might just be that we agree with you and are working to clean this up.
 

aka eraser

Re: Another Lie

I think I'm done. Wanna make a date in the mod squad room Jenna?
 

absolutewrite

Re: Looking forward to that royalty check!

I was there. You standing me up, fisherman?
 

aka eraser

Re: Looking forward to that royalty check!

I've lost a bit of weight. I must have been standing sideways.
 

BeckEaston

Did you remove my whole post?

I don't see the questions I asked. Must have been removed. Oh well, okay, calming...calming. Is this fight obsession or it passion? Good question!

Now on to bigger and better. Got another letter from the FTC today. YIPPEE! :D
 

SimonSays

Answers to disappearing questions

Beck

I am angry about the deceptive advertising. I think it's wrong - and so as you saw I point out the differences.

I do strongly believe that anyone who takes the time to find about how the publishing industry works should be given as much as info as possible so that they do not get sucked in by any company's advertising or self promotion. I believe that knowledge is power. I also believe we have a responsiblity to ourselves to gain that knowledge - and there are consequences for not doing so.

I also believe that few who seek to be published will be able to do so - and that's where things become a grey area for me. For those PA'ers who are happy with PA and are not good enough for legit publication - those people are in fact living their dream. I am not convinced in those cases that it is better to force them to face the truth - and because you can't pick and choose who you disillusion based on who has a legit shot and who doesn't, I tend to lean toward leaving well enough alone - and being there to support those (like you) who come to the realization on their own.

In those cases, I also support giving them a realistic view of what their chances are of publication - which based on industry figures is somewhere around a 2% shot. I am not singling out PA authors with that figure or implying that they are any worse than anyone else. Across the board it's around 2%.

I have no issues with getting into it with anyone else on this board - but it's another issue entirely when you bash or make fun of those not actively participating in this ungoing dialogue (i.e. the PA authors who post over there). I find it particularly bad form - when it is being done by people like Dave - who is not a PA victim and in my opinion, at least should be a voice of reason. And I don't mean to sound like I'm scolding, but I don't know how else to communicate how bad some of this comes off. My concern with that is solely how it refelcts on you (you in general, not you in particular) and your cause.

As for what my real name is - I have obviously chosen to use a psuedonym and am quite comfortable doing so. I was not insulting or challenging Sofi - I think she is wise to do so as well.
 

Trapped in amber

Re: Royalty statements

(looking round to see if it's safe now)
Is there a certain stage in the process with PA when people tend to become disillusioned? I was wondering whether, for the people who signed with PA on this board, one particular thing or an accumulation of things made you change your mind about PA.

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HapiSofi

query

Jenna, I've got a problem. I believe my long careful post about Gary Kessler belongs somewhere on the Bewares Board. Consistent sources of bad information are a hazard too. I'd say the same if I'd written about Todd James Pierce, or any of the other online sources of inadvertent disinformation.

What should I do?
 

absolutewrite

Re: Royalty statements

The missing posts have all (I think) been moved here: p197.ezboard.com/fabsolut...=168.topic

Hapi, let me reread and think about it a minute.

*
Okay, I've reread. I understand your concerns about writers who give out bad info-- I've had to bite my tongue a hundred times when a "competitor" of mine in the writers' e-zine world gives out bunk advice... she has no real experience, yet poses as a guru. I always want to counter her advice, but always know it'll just go down an ugly path.

Anyway.

I have no idea who Kessler is, but unless he's a serial killer, I'm still very put off by your warning. First, he's never posted here, so I'd think the warning would make more sense in places where he does post (otherwise it just sounds like gossip)-- and second, you didn't just post facts/advice... to me, it read as, "Let me humiliate this worthless peon as much as I can, and let us all have a good laugh."

He may be everything you say he is. I just think we all lose a little bit of our humanity when we set out to make someone feel small... even when they've tried to do the same to us. Yeah... I don't have a solid answer for this one.
 

unknownauthor

stages of how I realized PA wasn't right

Trapped in Amber,

You won't believe this but here goes why I "saw the light."

You will notice that EVERYONE who signs with PA has see then negative talk about PA. What happened to me was that I saw all of that, signed anyway because of what I saw on the message board, and then things began to happen that were exactly about what I had read here.
Posts were dissapearing. Shortly after I signed and got my password, there was a discussion among the Authors about the 'PA bashers' and the logo came on and said that they were all 'author wannabe's', and that some of them had been turned down by PA to publish a book. That is the first and last time I ever saw the logo post on this, from then on the posts questioning were deleted. I had read on here how you were called bashers.
Then the royalties questions started, some the logo explained, and then again, deleted. People began to be banned one right after the other. Slowly, everything I had read was becoming a reality. And now, here I am.
 

HapiSofi

Re: stages of how I realized PA wasn't right

That is, you found the narrative approach helpful? The stories and descriptions lined up?
 

absolutewrite

Re: Another Lie

I wonder how long PA can keep using that line about the "bashers" being rejected PA authors. Most of the vocal anti-PA people have long publishing histories with major companies. Why would PA authors believe that (a) we ever would have submitted a ms to PA in the first place if we already had lucrative deals elsewhere, and (b) PA would have turned down the caliber of manuscripts that the major houses have picked up? Amazing.
 

Trapped in amber

Re: Another Lie

Thank you Unknownauthor. Do you think anything could have happened that might have stopped you signing the contract, or was it something that you had to experience? Basically, I'm asking is there anything that hasn't been said or done that you think might change someones mind if they are now in the position you were in before you signed the contract?

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unknownauthor

Re: stages of how I realized PA wasn't right

That is, you found the narrative approach helpful? The stories and descriptions lined up?


Yes, absolutely, the stories and the descriptions lined up.
Before my first post here, I read everything on this site regarding PA and not one thing was misleading or untrue.
Everything here is true.

I honestly think it doesn't really take as long to figure out that you all were right, I think it takes awhile for one to decide to admit that you all are right.

You can see the one's who are wondering, they are the one's who go onto the board and ask a simple question, I don't know, you can just tell when they start to know.

Take into consideration that right now, if you look up PA, you'll get the negative remarks first, sometimes before you get PA itself. I don't see much of a way for anyone to go to PA without first stopping here before they sign the contract.

Every new Author over there knows about you. They had a choice. They could listen to you, or listen to the others in the cult. I think right now, people are only taking about 3 months or so after their books are out to see the light, now, being willing to say, "man, they were right, let me go tell them," well, that takes a little longer.

Why is HB and some others so adamant about PA? Maybe he had a success problem, maybe he just cannot admit to everyone that he made a wrong choice.

Let me say here that I would think it nearly impossible to not know. The fact that you are considered PA bashers is not a bad thing. It is a name that we all remember once we get over there, and every time one of them calls out that name, it brings to mind something that was said here, and that it matches the actions of the board there.
 

unknownauthor

Re: Take it OUTside the Board!

Do you think anything could have happened that might have stopped you signing the contract, or was it something that you had to experience? Basically, I'm asking is there anything that hasn't been said or done that you think might change someones mind if they are now in the position you were in before you signed the contract?


No, because PA is so good at deleting posts. Maybe if I would have read here and then gone there and seen something said, yes, it might have changed my mind, if I saw a lot of authors question a lot of things, and I believe that this is their intention. Everyone over there thinks that the negative comments are removed because it's bad for morale, but it's really so that new people thinking about PA can't compare there with here. They have put a lot of thought into this, they got the private board and the even randomly take off posts there that have no detrimental consequences for PA, and I think that they do this to throw everyone off track.

On the private board, as soon as someone mentions royalties, they will delete that and someone's pretend bar. What do you think they all yell about?? The bar being deleted. If you know whats going on, there are a lot of hints that people give, but you really have to watch, and naturally, I can't be there all the time, but I know when something is going on.

You all are helping, and if I were you, I wouldn't change at all. You have PA running around trying to cover all the bases, and if you say enough, and find out enough and post it, then there will be too many holes for them to plug, count on it.
 

Trapped in amber

Re: Violet, if you look back...

It must be pretty convincing to see so many people happy with PA on those boards, when weighing up who to give credence to. I'm curious as to what other options you thought were available to you when went with PA?

It has occurred to me that for a lot of people PA plays on a lack of awareness of the publishing industry, so that some end up thinking a (real) traditional publisher or agent wont take on new authors. It's struck me that someone might still go with PA, despite knowing there are problems with it, if they think they don't have any other options.
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unknownauthor

Re: Re; Take it OUTside the Board!

To be honest with you, I am one of the real stupid people of publishamerica. When I finally decided to write and then publish, I was in a hurry.

I knew someone who had his book published and it was so expensive, I knew that there was no way, (not in a hurry anyway), and for what I do, there are a lot of people who self-publish, who have boxes and boxes of books under the bed that they must sell for at the least twenty bucks each.

I knew that a traditional publisher would take a lot of time...you'll notice that I said 'traditional.' I believe we all knew when we signed that it was to good to be true for this to be all clear cut. That there had to be something wrong, but hey, I would only have two books under the bed if I couldn't sell. However, let me say this; I have no idea how much time is involved in sending a manuscript to a traditional publisher. I never looked into it.

I write constantly. I have always written. There are people on PA who say they have gotten only rejection after rejection, and to me, that would take a long time.

Will PA publish anyone? Well...LOL...all you have to do now is read the posts and you have to say yes. That is one good thing, they can't delete for spelling and oh my, it's horrible over there! Of course, in saying they will publish anyone, you have to know that means good writers also.

I am long winded tonight...someone is finally talking to me, lol, just kidding. One more thing. As long as you are talking about things that either are not right, or don't seem right, the readers can and will be on the look out for these things, even if they don't realize it and maybe one will spot the one thing that will stop this madness.



As an aside, when I talk about my books now, I say 'printed' after reading all the latest over here.
 

unknownauthor

Re: Take it outside.

By the way, in case anyone is interested on the topic of how much knowledge these people have, take a look at the thread entitled: Attention PA Support...the spelling mess is there too, all in one thread.

I hope no one takes offense at my pointing out this thread.
 

DeePower

An invitation to unknown

There are several things you can do. There are two discussion groups I belong to that are comprised of PA authors who don't like the way they've been treated I invite you to join. The caveat is that you do have to use your real name and tell us a little bit about yourself.

There are also several, shall I call them 'campaigns' in the works that will help reveal the true business model of PA. If you have any information to provide it would be welcomed and the fact you provided it kept confidential.

Dee
www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com
 
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