Have they started rejecting?

I suspect they reject anyone who hasn't put out the required amount of money to buy their own books...

Yep, it always seems that second books are rejected due to "lack of sales". Now, that's not uncommon in publishing, but with PA we know where most of the sales come from.

Christine N. said:

Yep, it always seems that second books are rejected due to "lack of sales". Now, that's not uncommon in publishing, but with PA we know where most of the sales come from.

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Exactly.
When an author submits a second book, it is routed to an "editor" who reviews the sales figures of the first book.
If that figure is not high enough, the manuscript is rejected.
What is that magic number?
Your guess is as good as mine, but you can bet an author who does not buy his/her own books is not likely to get "published" again.

My guess? 75 books on the ol' Authorial Visa Card.

It just goes to show you can't spell "PublishAmerica" without "sham".

A thought...

James D. Macdonald said:

My guess? 75 books on the ol' Authorial Visa Card.

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do you think if you wrote in and said, "I sold over 75 copies to myself on my Lulu published book," they would consider that as a good reference and offer a contract to Travis again?

Or does it have to be with their company?

just a thought...

Why on earth would a writer go back to Publish America with another book? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Usually they submit the second book while they're still in the "honeymoon phase" ie before they get the first royalty check. AKA reality check.

allenparker said:

do you think if you wrote in and said, "I sold over 75 copies to myself on my Lulu published book," they would consider that as a good reference and offer a contract to Travis again?

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Alas, it would be untrue. I didn't buy 75 copies of Atlanta Nights. No, AN sold well over 500 copies the old-fashioned way: People who I don't even know bought them.

James D. Macdonald said:

Alas, it would be untrue. I didn't buy 75 copies of Atlanta Nights. No, AN sold well over 500 copies the old-fashioned way: People who I don't even know bought them.

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You'll never make it with PA if you stick to that mentality. It's completely counter to the rules of "Author: the RPG."

If you keep that up I'll be buying your books in bookstores. (Damn, done that already-- and more than once over the last couple of decades.)

Maddog said:

Usually they submit the second book while they're still in the "honeymoon phase" ie before they get the first royalty check. AKA reality check.

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That's the only way I could see someone sending them a second book. Even the wackos that post on their message board and act as if that company is the second coming of Jesus would wise up once their first check arrives in the mail.

patrick bateman said:

That's the only way I could see someone sending them a second book. Even the wackos that post on their message board and act as if that company is the second coming of Jesus would wise up once their first check arrives in the mail.

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Sadly, that's not true for the hardcore faithful. When I ran my own insurance agency one of the tenets I ascribed to was "a business should meet a felt need." Most of the people on the PAMB, if quizzed, would say their need is being met.

IMHO, the current crop of the PA faithful mainly consists of the willfully ignorant, the aggressively illiterate, and the hopelessly naive. Their "felt need", that of being really-for-sure-published-authors, is met by PA, and in spades. No wonder they're tickled pink; they never had a greater desire other than sell a few copies of their work to their friends and family.