Indeed they are. Unlike PA, mine DO send out review copies, and they have the "Look Inside" feature up on Amazon. (G'ness knows, most PA books don't dare do that or they wouldn't get any sales at all!)
It was a huge thrill to see those first reviews in Locus, Mid-West Book Review, and Publisher's Weekly. I didn't send them copies! (Didn't know enough to do so. Apparently neither does PA.)
I dang-near freaked when I saw a half-page ad on my first book in a magazine.
PA would never, ever do THAT!
No, they come up with daft schemes like getting their
victims writers to pay for NYT ad space. I'm
sure eager NYT readers scanned the fine print to pick out the names of those PA
victims writers, then, consumed with curiosity, promptly logged on to buy their books! :snort: (Yo--writers--have you gotten your money back from the investment?)
They can say "I'm a published writer" all they like, but it cuts no ice with the big kids. PA made sure of that.
I sure wish 60 minutes or Oprah or SOMEONE with influence would do a number on PA.
Dr. Phil had a chance, but didn't take it.
Dr. Phil: "Do y’all think that this book is going to make a lot of money? Is that what this is about?”
“Well, she told me that it was projected, the first check in September was projected to be $3,000,000,” Sarah says.
“No, what I told her was, according to my contract, a million books sold was a $3,000,000 check,” Carrie explains.
Dr. Phil turns to Carrie’s would-be publisher, Batya, from PublishAmerica. He asks her, “How many $3,000,000 checks has PublishAmerica ever written to a new author two months after the book came out?”
“I think I can safely say none,” she says.
(What this transcript leaves out is the deer-in-the-headlights look on the face of the PA rep, Batya.)
So WHO at PA told this would-be millionare she would get a sweet three mil in the first two months?
Shall we start a pool?
Was it . . .
Miranda at her desk with a cell phone?
Wilhelm by his Hellocopter with a joystick?
Larry in his office with a pen?