The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Marian Perera · May 20, 2010

NivianBlanche said:
Is there any PA author out there that has been accepted by an agent or a real publisher?

Absolutely. Heck, there's an ex-PA author who is a real publisher.

NivianBlanche · May 20, 2010

Thank you guys so much.

@ DeadlyAccurate:I wonder if that is a reason that I'm not getting any responses? I'll tastefully leave that out next time.

I really love you guys here. You are all AWESOME!!!!!!!

Canada James · May 21, 2010

Believe it or not, no one will care. In fact, most people will nod, know someone who has a book with PA, and you can share stories. Personally, I just never talk about it - too many positive things happening with my life.

I took Jim's advice and, while waiting out my contract with PA, I wrote another (better) book. Now I've been published four times with two different publishers, both small but both legit. All they care about is the quality of my writing and my ability to sell books.

Thanks Jim. Good advice, as always.

C.J.

NivianBlanche said:
Is there any PA author out there that has been accepted by an agent or a real publisher? I'd like to hear some good news. I'm scared to death that because I went through PA that any reputable agent/publisher will laugh at me.

Appalachian Writer · May 21, 2010

Just dropped in. I didn't have a PA story until today. An acquaintance kept touting a book written by her church's pianist. Today, she had a copy and I took a look. Said pianist had signed a six book deal with a publisher. I was envious in the beginning, thinking about how long I'd worked to find an agent and here was this first-book upstart getting published! (Hey, I always admit my sins.) Anyway, I WAS envious until today. Right there in big, bold print at the bottom of the page: Publish America. Then came the first page of the story: I counted 17 punctuation errors. I was suddenly swept with a wave of not-envy. Without the good advice of AW'ers, I might still be gnashing my teeth over her luck. Now...not so much.

narcolepticgi · May 21, 2010

speechless...

:Hug2:

I was born in West-by-God-Virginia and I still long for the hills.

28. "...shall be submitted, if at all, to a court in the State of Maryland.Author and Publisher irrevocably submit to the jusisdiction of any Maryland State or Federal court for any suit related to this agreement."

I'm waiting on the reaction from the forwarded e-mail to Laura Bush's contact.

Books are now "buy 100 get 600" :Shrug:

Gillhoughly · May 21, 2010

narcolepticgi said:
Books are now "buy 100 get 600"

Ahhh- but WHEN?

PA's delivery time is a joke. A bad one.

Even worse is PA's shipping cost on 700 copies: $2,793.00.

That's paying 3.99 per copy, dear PA lurker. To ship. To you.

I took delivery of 500 copies of a self-pub book I did. (It is a signed, limited edition thing I can get away with because I have a solid fan base.)

Shipping cost? About 40.00.

For $2,793.00 I can have 1000 new copies of that edition printed, delivered, with change left for a pretty good lunch. And dinner. With my friends.

If you want to do a book for NO COST, ask your pals here at AW to recommend some non-PA alternatives.

If you just want a book in hand, there IS a better way to do it than getting stuck with PA's ridiculous price gouging.

If you want to be a pro writer, scrape PA off your boots and come play with us.

.

CatSlave · May 21, 2010

narcolepticgi;4977196Z Books are now "buy 100 get 600":Shrug:[/QUOTE said:
When you post comments like these, would you please post a copy of the PA offer also.
Thanks.

merrihiatt · May 21, 2010

Even worse is PA's shipping cost on 700 copies: $2,7093.00

Nice math there, Gil. :roll:

How about $2,793.00. And, your point is well taken.

Gillhoughly · May 21, 2010

Thought I'd fixed that. Fixed now. Hit the refresh button.

James D. Macdonald · May 21, 2010

merrihiatt said:
How about $2,793.00.

But you know what that darned-near three grand gets you? It buys the peace of mind of knowing that you didn't pay to be published. Stigma avoided!

TheTinCat · May 24, 2010

James D. Macdonald said:
But you know what that darned-near three grand gets you? It buys the peace of mind of knowing that you didn't pay to be published. Stigma avoided!

You know, $3000 for peace of mind sounds pretty good to me right now - but if I bought it from PA, it would probably cost me my soul, DNA and sense of direction in shipping.

Gillhoughly · May 24, 2010

I'd rather have a 3000.00 advance, than pay for PA's padded shipping.

Remember, that's my estimate for just the shipping cost. I didn't include how much for printing the books.

That's well padded, too, dear PA lurkers. Count on it. Literally. COUNT on it.

But PA isn't a *vanity* press, just 'cause you're paying AFTER you're cemented to their 7-year contract. They say so on their flag-waving, Jesus-praising website.

Just like they're not a POD printer, even though they only Print/Publish a book (On Demand) same as any other POD operation.

YOU, however, are their very own POD (Pay On Demand) money machine each time you decide to "have copies on hand" and haul out the ol' plastic.

Um--how many "latest offer" begging emails have you gotten this month from them?

You know how many I've gotten in the last 20 years from the five different publishers I've sold books to?

That would be none.

Are you mad yet?

You should be.

Marian Perera · May 24, 2010

I found a PA authors' Yahoo group that was established at the start of 2004 and became more or less defunct before a year was up (now it's just Viagra spam). The author who started it soon realized what a dead end PA was, but there were a few interesting explanations of why other authors went with PA.

my roommate and I both wrote our first books at the same time and we raced to see who could get published first. I won and went through PA. He lost and recently sold his to Eos through an agent.

My first check back in Feb. was a whopping $5.95 and my second check for Aug. was $2.78. I didn't even get the checks cashed because I was so embarrassed. I mean, I know that I just signed another contract with PA for my third book but that was only because I kept getting these letters saying that they have too many clients already and whatnot so I was like, "Well, it's getting my book out there." So, I went with them again.

I know that they aren't completely truthful in some ways but I choose to keep doing business with them. No business or publishing company is perfect and completely honest all the time. Everyone lies sometimes in life. We aren't perfect so why should we expect PA to be that way.

I found this amazing. Would you be fine with your business partner or doctor or lawyer lying to you, because hey, everyone lies? Would it be OK for PA to cheat you on royalties because, after all, no one's perfect?

Gillhoughly · May 24, 2010

I find it freaking unbelievable!

I know that they aren't completely truthful in some ways (snip) No business or publishing company is perfect and completely honest all the time.

The ones I deal with are--as in they damned well better be or writers with more clout that I would be suing their arses off. Not just publishers--everyone better be honest!

but I choose to keep doing business with them.

So if you kept getting food poisoning at the same restaurant, you'd keep going back because they compliment you on what a great eater you are?

Everyone lies sometimes in life. We aren't perfect so why should we expect PA to be that way

All any of us have in the business world is our good name. It is how things get done.

Yes, if you ask your sweetie "Do these pants make me look fat?" expect a lie. That's socially acceptable.

But if a store advertises those pants at 20.00 and sells them for 100.00 at the register, you'd pitch a conniption fit.

I feel so sorry for this writer who is so desperate to "get a book out there" that being lied to and walked all over is perfectly acceptable.

And dear writer--having a title listed among the 40,000 other titles on the PA website is NOT getting your work "out there."

You're not published, you have been robbed.

narcolepticgi · May 25, 2010

Sorry...

I'll start posting the entire e-mail for 'ya.
For those PA authors that got the "WIN A TRIP TO LONDON" e-mails here is a site to send them to:
report[email protected]
FTC [email protected]
The main website is www.consumerfraudreporting.org

I was doing research for an agent and read an item that mentioned the Publishers Weekly research that stated that PA was in the top 10 PoD publishers having published 5, 698 books last year. :flag:

Lets see...if they made...say $3 per book and $3 on shipping then their profits for 2009 were?

$34,188??...say what! Maybe they mean 5,698 new contracts? That would be about 19 new contracts per day (using 300 work days).

The article also mentions that there is no immediate information from PoD companies as to their actual sales.

No reply from the Barbara Bush folks yet. Seems I've found yet another group that simply don't care!

I'd really like to know what Baker & Taylor thinks about all of these "free books they ship for free". I don't see how they do this.

Well, gotta' go...brain freeze! :Soapbox:

DaveKuzminski · May 25, 2010

Pretty authoritative when Publishers Weekly states that PA is a Pod publisher.

Cyia · May 25, 2010

DaveKuzminski said:
Pretty authoritative when Publishers Weekly states that PA is a Pod publisher.

No. No. No.

They are in no way POD. They're P-O-D. or Pod or something else entirely.

Print on Demand as opposed to Publish on Demand, or vice versa/ versa vice

As long as the authors Pay on Demand, they don't care if they end up PO'D

DaveKuzminski · May 25, 2010

narcolepticgi said:
...Maybe they mean 5,698 new contracts? That would be about 19 new contracts per day (using 300 work days).

Yet they don't all get posted to Amazon.com according to their authors? Hmmm, more incentives by PA for the authors to self-purchase so they can grease the publishing wheel and be listed?

GothicKnight · May 26, 2010

I guess it all comes down to what your goal is. If all you want is your name on a novel, which you can hold in your hands, then by all means, PA is the way to go. Trouble enters this particular paradise when your goal is to have your novel in the hands of other people, people you don't know, who might pick up your novel on impulse at a B&N. In this case, PA is absolutely the last publisher you want to get into bed with. Just my opinion.

Terie · May 26, 2010

GothicKnight said:
I guess it all comes down to what your goal is. If all you want is your name on a novel, which you can hold in your hands, then by all means, PA is the way to go.

Not even in this case is PA the way to go. One can easily put together a book for oneself using a service like Lulu or Createspace for considerably less than it would cost with PA.

LexiCan · May 26, 2010

Here's the latest offer. My problem with this is if their authors are so gosh darn happy, why would they need to talk to "the big publishers?" And, once again, do the authors really think PA is going to do this or that any of the "big publishers" or "best-selling folks" are going to hang out at PA's booth let alone read anything they have "posted prominently" there?!

Dear Author:

This is the week! This is when PublishAmerica is rubbing shoulders in New York with the who-is-who in the publishing world! And then some.

You want to leave a note for the big publishers, or for these best-selling folks?

How about this for participating celebs: Jon Stewart, Condoleezza Rice, Barbra Streisand (the keynote event!), James Patterson, R.L. Stine, Lemony Snicket, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson (in hot water this week!), Mika Brzezinski, soccer star Pele, Baker&Taylor's Larry Bennett, Barnes&Noble's Patricia Arancibia, John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Pat Conroy, Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Lee Gifford, Patti LuPone, and many more.

They're all coming to the Book Expo America in New York this week, where PublishAmerica has two booths and where thousands are expected to come and see what we have to show.

Talk to them! Write them a note, and we will post it prominently at our booths at the Expo, starting as early as tomorrow. Be sure to include your e-mail address so that someone can respond to you if they want.

Here's how we do it:
Go to www.publishamerica.net, use this coupon: Bestseller50. Minimum order volume is 4 copies.

In the Ordering Instructions field, write your message. You can write a
a general note, or something to someone in particular. Your order of 4 or more
copies will ensure that we'll post it for everyone at the Expo to see. Our
booths are located near Publishers Weekly and the Random House, Disney,
Scholastic, and Simon and Schuster meeting rooms.

Offer expires Wednesday. Full-color books and hardcovers are included!

Thank you,
PublishAmerica Bookstore

HistorySleuth · May 26, 2010

That is so pathetic, I just don't know what to say. Its email for God sakes. You can email who ever you want for nothing. Like anyone is going to stop and actually read them.

BenPanced · May 26, 2010

Why am I not surprised you have to buy books before they'll even post your message? For cryin' out loud, you can write and mail a fan letter for less than $1. You'll have a better chance at getting a canned response.

Gillhoughly · May 26, 2010

Pathetic and stupid.

That lot won't be down on the Book Expo floor with everyone else. I mean, come ON!

If some moron actually thinks Streisand or Fergie is going to waltz up to the PA booth to read a message, then yeah, that moron and PA deserve each other.

Those celebs have BETTER things to do, PA lurkers. Really, they do.

So should you.

The book expo is ENORMOUS. PA, like PA writers, will be lost in the crowd and largely ignored.

EVERYONE IN PUBLISHING is perfectly aware of what a tiny, unprofessional operation PA is. How anyone can miss that I don't know.

You really should go to a book expo and see for yourself how REAL PUBLISHERS do their job.

Real publishers are the freaking aircraft carriers in the Navy and they own the ocean.

PA is a guy in a rowboat that sits in a wet spot in his back yard.

It is perfectly okay to say "Oops, I goofed" and scrape them off your shoes. Stop enabling yourself and PA.

GothicKnight-- I guess it all comes down to what your goal is. If all you want is your name on a novel, which you can hold in your hands, then by all means, PA is the way to go.

No, it is NEVER okay to go with PA. NEVER.

If all you want is an attentive babysitter, then calling up the friendly child molester down the street is NOT the way to go.

Writers who just want a book in hand can go with Lulu or CreateSpace and not have to deal with a 7-year contract, zero editing, PA's endless supply of "buy-buy-buy" mails, their outright rudeness, and a shoddy product priced double what one would ordinarily pay for elsewhere. The overpricing alone should send folk running to the hills, but they only find that out after they're locked in.

Trouble enters this particular paradise when your goal is to have your novel in the hands of other people, people you don't know, who might pick up your novel on impulse at a B&N. In this case, PA is absolutely the last publisher you want to get into bed with. Just my opinion.

PA is not a publisher. They print books. Badly. Tardily. One at a time. As the authors order them. In ten years they've only sold about 5000 copies of their 40K titles to the general public. A real publisher would be out of business with those numbers.

If any of you lurkers want a REAL publisher then go into a bookstore and look inside the front pages. You won't find PA or any other vanity or POD press there. (Don't believe me, go ask at a bookstore.)

Then make danged sure YOUR work is commercially publishable.

You get rejections? You get discouraged?

Big deal. We all have and still do. You put on your game face and try again, but you DON'T let yourself get cheated in the process.

BenPanced · May 26, 2010

GothicKnight said:
I guess it all comes down to what your goal is. If all you want is your name on a novel, which you can hold in your hands, then by all means, PA is the way to go. Trouble enters this particular paradise when your goal is to have your novel in the hands of other people, people you don't know, who might pick up your novel on impulse at a B&N. In this case, PA is absolutely the last publisher you want to get into bed with. Just my opinion.

Terie said:
Not even in this case is PA the way to go. One can easily put together a book for oneself using a service like Lulu or Createspace for considerably less than it would cost with PA.

Or even Kinko's or some local photocopy shop.

The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

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