The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

MartyKay said:

...They... they.. they refer to a letter from an attorney as a "comical" letter? And they will therefore ignore it??...

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I await reports on their responses to "comical" subpoenas--and the judge's hilarious ripostes. It can only be a matter of time.

--Ken

Educational requirements ... in general trade fiction: None. One of the finest editors I know is a high school dropout.

What is required is the ability to recognize a manuscript that a lot of people would want to buy. To have taste very like the general public's.

The career path is more like this:

a) Hangs out around publishing houses. That is to say, lives in New York, Boston, or one of a half-dozen other cities. Is positioned to hear when one house or another needs a new editorial assistant. May intern at a publisher.

b) Becomes editorial assistant. Makes coffee, runs Xerox machine. Opens envelopes, logs slush.

c) Becomes assistant editor. Reads what's in envelopes. Tracks manuscripts. Begins to have some books that others have acquired.

d) Editor. Can bring books to editorial meeting to try to convince other editors that this book will sell better than other books they've found.

Plus other duties as assigned.

How long this all takes is measured in years. The real requirement is the ability to convince the publisher that you've got the ability to find books that fit in that publisher's line and will bring in more money than they spend on publishing it.

At Publish America the acquiring editor needs the ability to figure out "Will this author buy more than 31 copies of his/her own book?" Because that's all that it takes for them to start to make a profit.

Because they took full advantage of the latest printing technology before anybody else did, the company can afford to sell all copies of a book on a non-returnable basis.

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Maybe the company can afford it but the authors sure as fun can't.

Let's look at the first clause: Because they took full advantage of the latest printing technology before anybody else did...

CBooks Express/Fatbrain/Mighty Words: Founded in 1995
iUniverse: Founded in 1996
Xlibris: Founded in 1997
1stBooks/Authorhouse: Founded in 1997
PublishAmerica: Founded in 1999

Before anyone else did? How about "Two or more years after everyone else did"?

Looks like false and misleading advertising to me....

This thread started out innocently enough...

http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=2217


- Eric

As PA keeps going, 10,000 authors ... 11,000 authors ... 12,000 authors ... sooner or later they're going to find one who has $50,000 in his pocket who is simultaneously $50,000 worth of ticked off. Look up [size=-1]Stephen Esrati someday.

Meanwhile, we're writers. We write. In addition to writing to everyone in government and law enforcement (including your congressman, your state Attorney General, the Maryland Attorney General, the IRS, the FTC, etc. etc. etc.) don't forget your local newspapers. Letters to the editor, letters to the consumer reporters, op eds. Letters to writers' magazines. Letters to national news magazines. Cut off the supply of new authors to PublishAmerica. Cut off their money supply. Cut them off at the knees.


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Dolan, a PM to you bounced because your mailbox is full.

This just happened... hehehe


I was talking to my Mother-in-law. no wait, stop laughing, that's not the joke.

Okay, seriously.

I was talking with my MIL, who is putting together a cookbook with an old friend. She was telling me that they have been looking for local publishers that might be interested in buying it. She said she found one that looked promising. I asked her if she had a website and we'll take a look. (wait for it....)

She pulled up the site; uh huh... Publish America. we had a discussion about their practices (well, more of a monologue, with several 'I don't believe it' and 'what a trip' interjections). She has been instructed NOT to act on anything until after it's been researched.

Funny thing is, three weeks ago I would've never known about their scam. AW rocks.

Closed boards

This thread, http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=2238, illustrates one problem with closed boards: the blind lead the blind. Someone posted a reasonable question about when to use words and when numerals to represent numbers. It is not at all clear that the responses were helpful. Muddled, mostly (so far). No one pointed the poster to a standard style guide, or tracked down an online writing guide (might have found http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/numbers.htm if so).

I have seen a lot of that sort of thing, where someone knowledgeable could easily have given a definitive answer or pointed to the proper resource.

This may not be a terribly important matter, but it is another indicator of the difficulties faced by PA authors who find themselves in the closed PA universe, not even knowing what they do not know and unaware of the normal sorts of resources that writers use.

--Ken

In academic publishing a few decades ago, acquisitions editors tended to be retired professors who had content expertise. Things have shifted. Staffing of the acquisitions department at an academic house for which I used to freelance resembled what Uncle Jim described for fiction, perhaps without coffeepot duty. Editors sent manuscripts out for review by academics.

ResearchGuy said:

This thread, http://bb.publishamerica.com/viewtopic.php?t=2238, illustrates one problem with closed boards: the blind lead the blind. Someone posted a reasonable question about when to use words and when numerals to represent numbers. It is not at all clear that the responses were helpful.

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Good grief...does anyone over there know The Chicago Manual of Style, The Elements of Grammar, or The Elements of Style? 'Tis the best friend a writer will ever have. I will now go weep into my hands for the future of PA writers.

Literary Lola said:

Good grief...does anyone over there know The Chicago Manual of Style, The Elements of Grammar, or The Elements of Style?

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Lola, why would they need those things when they have the PAMB and Marcus the Wise?

utc

Plus ca change

Needless to say, the biggest problem was the fact that my book is a POD, and the “no return” policy. All of the B&N’s both in my town, and in NYC, (have at this point), politely refused to either schedule a book signing or carry any of by books in stock, because of the POD issue. Some of the other bookstores such as Waldenbooks, and Dalton have also politely refused, to schedule any book signing…I’ve suggested in some of the local chains, that I’d “buy back” whatever wasn’t sold, I even offered to work with them on promotions (offering to do a post card mailing, at my expense).

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Sound familiar? It was posted on 6/9/2003. http://tinyurl.com/dxc87

Archive.org clearly shows that the PA questions and issues haven't changed over time. The same questions come up; the same advice is given -- and the books still don't sell.

BTW, for the record, the Jaime Farr promotion item appeared on the PA web page in September of 2003.

Hi Aconite......

Just went back and read your post of May 16th again! Interesting! Have you heard from J. Duncan of the BBB yet?
I believe you admitted to writing this gentleman as well. I will see if Ann has any news for me in this regard.

The above is on topic, but in case the connection is not obvious - my thought for the day - "wannabees" stay away from PublishAmerica if you cherish your dream of beng a successful author some day.

postshy

underthecity said:

Lola, why would they need those things when they have the PAMB and Marcus the Wise? utc

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Silly me. Of course, you're quite correct. It's far more sporting to ask those who have no clue than go to the learned source.

What amazes me is using any of those valued manuals is a logical choice. It's the same with anything you want to do or learn well. If you want to learn to play the harmonica with your bellybutton, you're going to research all you can on how to do that. You might go to a library, or talk to those whose bellybuttons resonate with an audience. You get an informed opinion on what the best harmonica bellybutton books are. What you don't do is ask HB, for godsakes. He can barely find his brain at the end of the day.

In retrospect, I suppose one could ask HB, provided he has a musical bellybutton.

Literary Lola said:

Good grief...does anyone over there know The Chicago Manual of Style, The Elements of Grammar, or The Elements of Style? 'Tis the best friend a writer will ever have. I will now go weep into my hands for the future of PA writers.

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Careful...you'll give someone over there ideas!

Next month's new releases:
The PA Manual of Style
Writing Good

postshy--check your PM.

When you look into the sky...



...you'll see The Flapper, I'm your guy!!!

Yes, it is I, The Flapper, who has returned to convey a message to a special covey of luscious, mega hot hens! Now y'all just let me kick back, flex my drumsticks, and crow,


That's right, I'm pointing my special "Super Clucker" right in y'alls direction! I love each and every one of you, my sweet, passionate poultries, and just remember this - when things get a bit tense or trying, remember The Flapper's Happy Song:


Let the stupid clucker deal with that! I love my hens, each and every one of you, and I look forward to helping y'all with the situation however I can! With me and my new sidekick, Omelet Kat, we'll take on that stipid darf and play the results back on vanity radio for all (6) listeners to hear!

More news later, The Flapper needs some rest after scramblin' around after all these hens.....

Ron, I had over 850,000 hits since my last rebuild on my site's main page. That was in this year alone. The site no longer exists but it will be back in a way certain PA bashers won't like.

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This idiot has all the creative spark of a wet match in a thunderstorm.

The high school kid who did the Numa-Numa dance over his p/c camera had over **a million hits in 11 months. And he didn't even have to fake his death once, let alone twice.

**-source ABC's Good Morning America

"Hits" means nothing. A single page view can count as multiple "hits," because it counts each image on the page, each script, etc. What matters are page views or unique visitors. I recently learned that Absolute Write gets 1.6 million page views per month. That probably means we get about 8 zillion hits.

How to Burn a Bridge

Looking to alienate B&N? Here's how to do it:

I went to Barnes and Nobles about a book signing and was told the same thing as most PA authors were told, they dont handle POD books. Ok, fine no problem. I thanked them for their time and told them if they didnt want my business I would go else, and to have a nice day. A week later, I went to a local flea market and set up a booth outside. I sold almost 60 books that day. The manager from the B& N happened to come by, saw the crowd and wanted me to come to his store. I had the privelge of telling him to "get lost" where was he when I needed a bookstore.

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See it here.

underthecity

Obviously, someone has not heard the conventional wisdom about not burning ones' bridges...yikes...

I am impressed, though, that they could sell 60 copies at a flea market...
I think I only have about 40 copies left of the last batch (that I'll ever buy) at a garage sale this weekend...

Especially on the website in question, considering how much crap there was on the front page. A single visit to the front page only probably resulted in 300+ hits.

I guarantee y'all....

....however he set his hit counter, he hasn't gotten 850,000 hits. A web search for his name consistently put his site two or three pages back, which would indicate not an avalanche of hits. Keith Giddeon, The People's Webmaster, has my site's hit counter set so that if you enter the site, no matter where all you visit, it registers as just one hit. That way, you know the numbers are legit, not grossly inflated ones that mean nothing....

Wait. Wait wait wait waitwaitwait wait.

PA's Fact Sheet said:

FACT #12: [....] Our contracts expire after seven years, unlike the life term that most other traditional publishers require.

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*Goggle* Most other "traditional" publishers require life terms?

Would someone currently published with a legit commericial publisher please speak to this point? I sense dissemblance on PA's part here.

(Well, yes, but I mean here. As opposed to the general aura of dissemblance and deception.)

astonwest said:

Obviously, someone has not heard the conventional wisdom about not burning ones' bridges...yikes...

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Considering that the chief source of wisdom on the boards over there is a two-time champion bridge burner, are you surprised?