PA's Special Offers aka But I thought they wanted my book, not my money ...

That's too much like work. They'll do what they always do, stand around an empty booth and hope someone passes close enough to engage--sort of like those people who try to pass out food samples in Walmart.

Sorry, PA, you're the joke of the industry. Everyone in publishing knows it and you do, too.

That idiocy with JKR was just another opportunity for the industry to point and laugh at you. You're not a real publisher, you never will be.

Just admit you're poorly run, overpriced Print On Demand operation that can't get books into stores and we'll all shut up about you.

New: Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million

Secure your book's spot in this high quality full-color 8 x 11 presentation for Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million.. Your book and your name will be promoted in prominent and beautiful full-color.

Six offerings with prices ranging from 39.00 to 79.00

CatSlave said:

Secure your book's spot in this high quality full-color 8 x 11 presentation for Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million.. Your book and your name will be promoted in prominent and beautiful full-color.

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A commercial publisher does that sort of thing (listing books in a catalog aimed at booksellers) at no charge to the author.

A commercial publisher also doesn't charge to get your book published. They PAY. YOU.

So have Barnes&Noble and Books-a-Million changed their policies about not stocking PA books?

They've said nothing about the chances of B&N actually taking any notice of said catalogue. I imagine anyone can print up a trade catalogue and mail a box-full to any bookseller they please. Heck, my sales rep husband receives plenty of print catalogues from real publishers that he knows won't interest his buyers...

Similarly, anyone could put together a quick digital catalogue and email it out to booksellers. Much cheaper than paying for a print run and postage.

Queen of Swords said:

One of the disillusioned PA authors paid for her book to be translated into Arabic. I imagine PA would have run it through Babelfish, if they bothered doing anything at all for her money.

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This is exactly what I was thinking. I wonder if translations such as Arabic are similar to Japanese when you run them through programs like that--random words it doesn't know end up being left in English.

Old Hack said:

Similarly, anyone could put together a quick digital catalogue and email it out to booksellers. Much cheaper than paying for a print run and postage.

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This would be similar to what would happen now, right? It's kind of like saying "our book is available" but no one would ever actually stock it?

From one of the catalogue offers:

*Demand has been strong this weekend. Initially we scheduled to present Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million with our Fall Selection this week, but we'll take a few more days to get everything ready. Our presentation deadline is now next week. PublishAmerica has no affiliation with either bookstore chain beyond that of a regular publisher/bookseller relationship, without preferential access or other special treatment. Both have been selling PublishAmerica books for many years.

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What day next week? Without a specific date, this is kind of misleading. Speaking of misleading, "Both have been selling PublishAmerica books for many years" isn't the same as "Both have been putting PublishAmerica books on their shelves for many years."

And exactly what is "a regular publisher/bookseller relationship"?

And exactly what is "a regular publisher/bookseller relationship"?

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Ha, certainly not PA 's
A regular relationship would have a publisher sending stores their fall & spring catelogues (that publishers print routinely on their own dime, never even mentioning it to the authors)
It would be having publishers not actively encouraging authors to sell their own books, so as to not undercut the stores sales.
It would be publishers having the stores supply and sell books during an author signing or event.
It would be accepting returns.
Add any other examples of a publisher store relationship here

Both have been selling PublishAmerica books for many years.

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Over at the special-order desk.

Paid in advance.

And BAM reportedly will only accept orders of PA books for direct delivery to the customer; they won't let PA books physically into their stores.

...but we'll take a few more days to get everything ready.

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Sounds like they haven't made enough sales yet. hehe

CatSlave said:

Sounds like they haven't made enough sales yet. hehe

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The "fall selection" catalogue probably won't be ready until sometime in the winter. If then.

PublishAmerica has no affiliation with either bookstore chain beyond that of a regular publisher/bookseller relationship, without preferential access or other special treatment.

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Sounds like they're trying to make sure they cover their (legal) ass now after the Rowling fiasco.

India Multi-First 89.00
http://www.publishamerica.net/IndiaMultiFirst.html

For those who want their book to not be read in India, either.

AARP First, 49.00 Multi, 79.00
http://www.publishamerica.net/AARPFirst.html

"Your book will be brought to the attention of the top promotion outlets that we'll visit with when we attend the AARP National Event and Expo. We'll make contact during the show and follow up with details after the event for maximum impact.​

"
​

Don't you love the carefully vague wording?

Make contact.

I take that to mean they might wave someone over to the PA booth in much the same way those people giving away food samples at the grocers do.

Only with them you tend to get something tasty you want to buy.

Don't fall for it, PA writers. Everyone in the publishing industry knows what a bad joke PA is. Now you do, too.

Wonder who wrote the product description for IndiaMultiFirst and the words "hart" for heart and "capital" for capitol.

I wouldn't buy discount dog food from an online store that was so poorly designed.
The appearance of this website alone should set off the alarm bells in someone looking for a publisher.

Sometimes you CAN judge a book by the cover.

Arkie said:

Wonder who wrote the product description for IndiaMultiFirst and the words "hart" for heart and "capital" for capitol.

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"Capital" is the correct spelling for the meaning of "main administrative city". It's only spelt "capitol" when referring to administrative buildings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol

Anne Lyle said:

"Capital" is the correct spelling for the meaning of "main administrative city". It's only spelt "capitol" when referring to administrative buildings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol

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I stand corrected on the capital/capitol business, but on another matter regarding the Indian market: I was released from the PA contract in 2006, and since that time my book has been available (without my approval) on something called Flipkart.com, an Indian on-line sales site. Current price: RS 1374, whatever that is. I've not looked it up. I send an email to the Flipkart folks from time to time requesting information regarding sales and royalties. They always acknowledge receipt of the email and promise a reply but never have so far. I doubt seriously I've had sales, but wonder how many former PA authors have books on the Flipkart website and surely there must be some sales and where does the money go?

Arkie said:

Current price: RS 1374, whatever that is. I've not looked it up.

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I'm guessing Indian Rupees. 1374 rupees is about £13, or $26. Which seems about right for a PA price, from what I've read in other threads.

Arkie said:

I stand corrected on the capital/capitol business, but on another matter regarding the Indian market: I was released from the PA contract in 2006, and since that time my book has been available (without my approval) on something called Flipkart.com, an Indian on-line sales site. Current price: RS 1374, whatever that is. I've not looked it up. I send an email to the Flipkart folks from time to time requesting information regarding sales and royalties. They always acknowledge receipt of the email and promise a reply but never have so far. I doubt seriously I've had sales, but wonder how many former PA authors have books on the Flipkart website and surely there must be some sales and where does the money go?

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It's probably just a database listing. I doubt they have any copies of your books in stock.

DeadlyAccurate said:

It's probably just a database listing. I doubt they have any copies of your books in stock.

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I agree. Most listings on sites like this are empty listings.

- Victoria

Based on experience trying to order (and looking at possibly setting up an eBay store), there are generally two ways this works: One, there are the stores that list anything with an ISBN. An order is placed, then they order (maybe through LightningSource) and the book gets printed. The other is a front for a drop shipper. They simply have the drop shipper's database as their store. You order from them, they pass the order along to the drop shipper. The drop shipper may have a couple of copies of the book in stock.

You really don't know if the item is in stock until you order. I've run into this ordering books on half.com. Generally if they find they can't get the book they'll cancel the order and your card/PayPal account is not charged.

So yeah, the book is listed in all kinds of odd places. The only things I can suggest are to either place an order, or query the seller to see if they actually have the item in stock and ready for shipping.

And the drop shippers tend to be more honest and dependable.