The Old Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (Publish America)

It's been bumped forward a few minutes.

I don't think they'll be hooting. I think they'll be howling, in frustration and anger.

Dee, are you thinking what I'm thinking?:lol

Joe, H.B. Marcus has frequently acted as an extension of PA, sometimes exhibiting the same behavior towards dissenting authors as the company does. As such he comes in for criticism that wouldn't be applicable to PA authors as a whole. He has become conflated with the company, mostly through his own actions.

For the record, I was not speaking of HB, but of some of the others who refuse to see the truth, no matter how plainly it is presented to them.

But wouldn't this be true of H.B. as well?

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Are there transcripts available of the broadcast?

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Is Erica Books Literary and Erica Books the same as Erica House?


They are both if Frederick is why I ask.



David

O.K. let me get this straight...It's O.K. to make fun of "my friend'' but not anyone else on the PA boards......Hmm that's perfectly hypocritical.

Please, send me a copy of the rulebook.

For the record, I was not speaking of HB, but of some of the others who refuse to see the truth, no matter how plainly it is presented to them.
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Actually I was just wondering if you were talking about HB or the rest. Now that I know you weren't talking about HB I detest what you said. Say whatever you want- I won't stand in your way. Just know that this is about PA not the writers. Just my personal opinion.

Now where is that rule book..just joking dude. I'm new here not trying to pick a fight or anything. Just I don't think it's right to pick on people when the true beef is with the company.

And of course you can say that about HB..why? Because it would probably be true. Just look at how he acts, etc..

Yikes...
Clopper couldn't tell them a bestselling PA author...on National TV? Now that's scary!!!

Nice Job, Jenna

Phooey. It was really short. But Asa did cover some of the good points. Nice job, Cate!

Thanks, Aka... and welcome!

Cate Cavanaugh was the author they talked to and Jenna talked about red flags in publishing.

The slant was fairly negative on PA

Okay, that was interesting. Jenna looked good. Wozzisface Asa, the reporter who did the story, was admirably firm and clear about bearing in mind that marketing and distribution are as important as anything else in the business. (Yay, Asa!)

He also said that even with as many titles as they've got in print, the head of PA was unable to mention one title or author of theirs who's hit it big. Of course, PA came back with a slick reply: most publishing houses can't point to a bestseller. Which is true -- but PA's the only publisher anywhere near its size that's had no successful books.

On balance, a good piece of work.

I have read close to twenty PA books. A couple were really quite good. There were close to ten that were quite awful, and I am being nice here. The other ones were not bad, had some promise, and could have benefited greatly from some professional editing. I know for a FACT that my book was not edited at ALL, and it would have been better if it had been.

The truth? I don't think any of them, including my own, would ever be a best seller...that's for sure. I have learned a lot since my first book, and feel that my second (a co-authored novel) is better. We are in the process of trying to find someone willing to take us on. So we'll see...

I'm back, after a longer and colder and windier weekend than I expected.

The embargo is apparently off the story of the sting manuscript; I've posted the links to it on a SFWA private site, so that those who helped with the creation of the novel will have the first crack at reading the whole thing.

More in a bit.

Those are the people who are going to hang onto PA like it's a lifeline -- maybe their next PA book will be their lucky break. And all the while, they're thinking it's their fault when they don't become best-selling authors because they're being told they whined and sat on their duffs and didn't sell aggressively enough
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EXACTLY!

I'm well aware of how he acts, and as per my earlier post, I'm not EXACTLY sure of his motives.

I do know he wants attention, and here and other places he sure seems to get what he wants....that is, a lot of it.

Just a thought.

HB gets what he wants? HUH?

Phooey. It was really short. But Asa did cover some of the good points. Nice job, Kate!

Those who don't live in NY -- like me -- can go to wnbc.com and see the story. There's no video, but you can read the story. At the top of the page, you'll see "Today in New York." Click on that, and when the next page opens, click on "Asa Aarons."

Good job, Cate.

(lowers lantern, arm was aching)

Welcome back Uncle Jim

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Was Jenna in the broadcast, or am I getting confused?
Are there any websites for local NBC news? I'm looking but have had no luck yet.
Edit: Thanks Sher2!

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....attention, from several boards. That's what he wants. attention.

I just read it, and wow!

All this press harnessed in such a short time frame is wonderful.

Now THAT we can agree on..lol..

Wow! I am so psyched about the NBC report! You both did a great job!

For those who haven't been here all along (or don't have an eidetic memory), here's the origin of the project.

Briefly, it's in the "Did PublishAmerica Reject Your Manuscript" thread, where someone suggested putting together a Bad Anthology to see if PublishAmerica woulc buy it.

I said:
<Blockquote>The individual authors would have to give up their copyrights, and assign them, in writing, to whoever the person who submits the work turns out to be.

Rather than an anthology, this ought to be put together like Naked Came the Stranger.

It still wouldn't prove anything, (like Stranger didn't prove anything) but it might be fun.

You'd need to have someone in charge of making this work (the person assigning chapters, enforcing deadlines, and putting it together), someone to submit it (that'd be someone that PA has never heard of, and you know that they read these boards). You'd have to get a group of people who you know, face to face, who aren't PA plants, and who know how to keep their mouths shut.</BLOCKQUOTE>

A bit later, I decided to do it. I know a number of people in SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), professional writers who PA decided to slag off in their sleazy little authorsmarket.net tantrum. These are people who PA claims can only get published because their genre "does not require believable storylines" or "does not need believable every-day characters."

In contrast, presumably, to the books PublishAmerica puts out ...

<Blockquote>And, not surprisingly given all of the above, more than 3,000 authors knocked on our doors aspiring to join you as PublishAmerica authors. Roughly twenty percent of these may end up joining you as PublishAmerica authors!</BLOCKQUOTE>

as PA said a year ago in their letter trying to induce their authors to buy more of their own books.

<BLOCKQUOTE>Your manuscript will be reviewed by our Acquisitions staff, who will determine whether your work has what this book publisher is looking for.</BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, yes! But what exactly is it that this book publisher is looking for? That is the question... to be answered soon.

*refresh*

w00t! Jim's back!

*refresh* *refresh*

What is interesting through all of this is that PA has said absolutely NOTHING about any of the articles. I'm wondering if authors are feeling a bit abandoned by their publisher...I would think that circling the wagons might be in order?

Also, there's been no mention on the PA Boards of the CNBC spot as of yet. Perhaps they are bumping posts as soon as they are received.

www.publishamerica.com/cg...e/7411.htm

Joe,

Your buddy is not funny.

There is no doubt that HB needs to work on his comedy routine. There was nothing funny in his post about eating a live dog.

Definitely a reason not to purchase his books of humor.

Are you here to keep HB's name in the discussion?

P&C

Here is a copy of the accepance letter. I've altered it in the following manner: I've removed the "author" name; that individual who acted as my surrogate in submitting the manuscript can identify himself if he cares to.

(Note: this acceptance letter, with full headers, is already in the hands of counsel, should PA decide to make cartoony "legal" threats.)



----- Original Message -----
From: PublishAmerica Aquisitions [meg@publishamerica.com]
To:
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 12:53 PM
Subject: Atlanta Nights


Dear Mr.XXX:

As this is an important piece of email regarding your book, please read it completely from start to finish.

I am happy to inform you that PublishAmerica has decided to give "Atlanta Nights" the chance it deserves. An email will follow this one with the sample contract attached for your review. If you do not receive the email with the attached sample contract in twenty-four hours, please contact me, so I can resend the document via another method.

I will be happy to answer any questions you may have concerning the contract and to guide you through the contract negotiations phase. Please note that once you have requested that we send the official contract, we cannot further amend the contract.

Upon receiving your e-mail in acceptance with the terms, we will forward the final contract documents to you via regular mail for your signature. Along with your e-mail acceptance please include your legal name, current address, telephone number and title of work as you would like it to appear on the final contract.

The main terms of the contract are that we will pay you climbing royalties starting at 8%, you retain the copyright, and we will begin production on the book within 365 days of the date we receive the signed contract. A symbolic $1 advance underlines that all financial risk is carried by the Publisher, as we firmly believe it should be.

Once the signed contract has been processed in our offices, you will be contacted by our Production department regarding "the next step" for your book in the publishing process.

After both parties have signed the contract, you will be contacted by our production department with a list of questions and suggestions. Please feel free to e-mail any concerns or questions dealing with the terms of the contract to meg@publishamerica.com. Also, please visit our web site at .

Welcome to PublishAmerica, and congratulations on what promises to be an exciting time ahead.

Sincerely,


Meg Phillips
Acquisitions Editor
PublishAmerica

<HR>

Counsel informs me that, in the state of Maryland, the offer of a contract is sufficient, there is no need for us to sign and return the contract to say that an offer was made.

The NBC report:

www.wnbc.com/askasa/4124957/detail.html

When they showed a clip of me showing Asa some books, what I was doing there was talking about Lisa Young's book and how it deserved a real publisher-- then comparing cover prices with other books, like debut author and AW columnist Karyn Langhorne's A Personal Matter. I was also pointing out a book I was able to buy easily long after PA had reverted the rights to the author.

The main characters in this book are:

Penelope Urbain

Bruce Lucent

Isaac Stevens

Henry Archer

Margaret Eastman

Richard Isaacs

Callie Archer

Irene Stevens

Andrew Venice

Arthur Nance

Isadore Trent

Yvonne Perrin

Rory Edward

Steven Suffern


Note that their initials spell out:

PUBLISHAMERICA IS A VANITY PRESS.

Jim, do you want the title in that post?

...of respect for you and your work, and I think that Absolute Write is the greatest, but Jenna, the male in me has just got to spit this out, you are quite babe-ish. And then some.

I'm shutting up now, and I will never say something complimentary about how a woman looks again...at least not tonight...

:p :p

...da bomb. I am still laughing....

:rollin

Here is a copy of the accepance letter. I've altered it in the following manner: I've removed the "author" name; that individual who acted as my surrogate in submitting the manuscript can identify himself if he cares to.


Welcome home, Uncle Jim! I absolutely love the "sting" concept and look forward to seeing the fallout. I, by the way, have the exact same "acceptance letter" in my files. I'm now calling it the "Sucky File."

There was nothing funny in his post about eating a live dog.

Oh, my God! That is disgusting, even for him.:/

Note that their initials spell out: PUBLISHAMERICA IS A VANITY PRESS.

:rollin :rollin :rollin

Hold on to your seats, folks. This is gonna be a wild ride!

Note that their initials spell out:

PUBLISHAMERICA IS A VANITY PRESS.

That is wickedly ingenius!

:rollin :rollin

Isaac Stevens - My nephew's name is Izaac Stevens, and I'm sure he would be honoured to have his name used in such an illustrious and worthy project; if he wasn't six years old :lol

Good job everyone!

Chacounne

LOL!

And Ed: THANKS! Hey, the woman in me doesn't exactly mind hearing that she's a babe.

Jim, more! More! Thank you for meeting my deadline and saving the forum from my cruel overpunctuation.

This is such an exciting time.

A thread has been started on the broadcast on the PA boards.

www.publishamerica.com/cg...e/7434.htm

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Thank you for meeting my deadline and saving the forum from my cruel overpunctuation.

Jim, thank you. Jenna used flashing text. If you hadn't come back................ :eek

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Joe,

Your buddy is not funny.

There is no doubt that HB needs to work on his comedy routine. There was nothing funny in his post about eating a live dog.

Definitely a reason not to purchase his books of humor.

Are you here to keep HB's name in the discussion?

No doubt, he needs a tune up for his routine....

I don't believe I need to do anything to keep HB's name in this thread, He gets mention enough without my help.

Let me say again, I'm anti-PA. I'm anti-PA.