Why would a writer do this?

I'm not 100% sure, but it could be something to do with their 3 different editing options. Helps them pop a book out quicker and start earning money from the author right away.

I didn't know that they put a disclaimer on the books. Maybe it's a new thing they've now got going to project the illusion that they're a real publisher.

Alas, no one at PA knows what they're doing, and they're as likely to add errors as fix them. They don't recommend changes -- at least not where it counts, in narrative flow and plot and character. They limit themselves to light copyediting, and that they do badly.

PA's been using that disclaimer ever since they started their unedited option, perhaps to keep us from pointing out the typoes and telling folks how amateurish they look. This option seems to be designed to reel in the Golden Words folks -- the ones who don't want any changes made to their Golden Words (but who will nevertheless buy a hundred copies of their own book) and the impatient ones who want the book NOW (but who will nevertheless buy a hundred copies of their own book).

The upside for PA is this: they make just as much money off the book as they would if they "edited" it, but it saves them on staff costs.

xhouseboy said:

I'm not 100% sure, but it could be something to do with their 3 different editing options. Helps them pop a book out quicker and start earning money from the author right away.

I didn't know that they put a disclaimer on the books. Maybe it's a new thing they've now got going to project the illusion that they're a real publisher.

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Don't you mean "poop a book out quicker?"

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Nancy

I can only tell you the reason I chose to forego their editing: by the time I learned the truth, it was too late. They had it and it was in the 'editing' process. When they offered me their new 'expedited' editing - which included the 'don't touch it' - that's the one I chose.

Not because my words were golden or I was impatient, but because I figured that was the least damage they could do me by that time.

I'll toss out a theory and say the idea of no editing might appeal to some writers and that's part of the reason PA puts in there. It's for the writers who feel they are misunderstood and don't want their style changed. It's almost like a selling point.

I imagine it's so authors won't be able to use the "PA didn't edit my book like they claim to do" in arbitration cases.

PA authors are generally so anxious to get their books, they don't want to wait any longer than they have to.

And of course, a vast amount of individuals in the PA camp have no idea how atrocious their grammar and spelling really is...so don't think much of having a no-edit option.

ModoReese said:

I'll toss out a theory and say the idea of no editing might appeal to some writers and that's part of the reason PA puts in there. It's for the writers who feel they are misunderstood and don't want their style changed. It's almost like a selling point.

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I don't know where you get this three editing options from PA. I was never offered any option, period. After ten months, out of the blue an Editor? sent me proves and told me I had two weeks to get them back. No option was even offered.
So maybe the author didn't get a chance to pick.
I know I sure as hell didn't
Larry

How long ago did you go through the process, Larry?

When did they start offering the options, about a year ago, I think? Maybe longer?

They didn't offer it two or three years ago.

seun said:

I have in my hand a particular title published by PublishAmerica. This is taken directly from the copyright page:

'At the specific preference of the author, PublishAmerica allowed this work to remain exactly as the author intended, verbatim, without editoral input.'

Now I could be missing something but I have to ask why any writer would want their work published without someone who knows what they're doing going through it and recommending improvements.

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PA has an "immediate" option, where they take the book as-is. Many authors take it because they are impatient, or they think their book is perfect.

Christine N. said:

When did they start offering the options, about a year ago, I think? Maybe longer?

They didn't offer it two or three years ago.

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Early in 2005. My book came out in May, so it was in February or January when I was working with them.

We weren't given an option either. And yes, PA added more mistakes than were in the original ms. It took every bit of the two weeks to fix their mistakes! The book still came out full of errors...so glad I'm free of that bunch of scammers.

I signed the contract in Oct 2005, received my first feedback in August 2006.
Proofs, no editing options. I returned twenty four pages of changes from the proofs and then another twelve after I got the proofs back with changes. They were real nice about not changing everything I ask and they added a few new things too.
I had two days to check it out, so you can guess where I spent the next 48 hours.
I received my two copies the second week of this month and haven't cracked the cover, which BTW I like a lot, they did do a really nice job on the cover.

Larry

My PA book came out in 2002 and I didn't get any editing options either. I also had two weeks to get changes back to them. No, I wasn't desperate to get it published. At the time I had an agent (one I thought was reputable) that sent my ms to PA. I thought ... HEY this is cool, I got accepted somewhere. Between working two jobs to put my son through college and trying to do the rest of life's little chores, I didn't have the time to get on the computer and go fact finding about PA. My agent told me the ms had been accepted, didn't bother to tell me to a PDA, and started sending out the contract info. By the time I realized it was a vanity press it was too late. PA didn't inform me that I had to do the publicity for the book until after it was in the final process for publication.

tlblack: Could you please name the agent?

(Three gets you seven the agent was a fee-charger.)

seun said:

I have in my hand a particular title published by PublishAmerica. This is taken directly from the copyright page:

'At the specific preference of the author, PublishAmerica allowed this work to remain exactly as the author intended, verbatim, without editoral input.'


Now I could be missing something but I have to ask why any writer would want their work published without someone who knows what they're doing going through it and recommending improvements. I've skimmed this title and picked up various typos; it looks painfully amateurish.

So why would an author do this? Vanity? Desperation? I've lost track of the number of times I've been rejected but I still wouldn't resort to this. My work deserves better.

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Some writers (obviously not all) are supremely confident in their abilities. It's like the sit-coms where someone who is just learning karate for the first time, warns, in classic fashion, "I warn you: I know karate!" Then they try to show off what they know....many times with disastrous results.

The same, I think, is true for many newbie writers. We think our words are perfect the way they are and don't need to be changed. It is an attitude among some newbies in the writing business that really hinders us from being published commercially.

I have heard of at least a couple instances where editors gave their suggested corrections to newbie authors, and the newbie authors exploded with rage at the idea that their words were not perfect, to the point they treated the editor very badly.

So I think in some cases, it is an issue of arrogance on the part of the author.

I have to agree with SeanDSchaffer. I meet so many self-pubbed authors who claim they went that route because they didn't want to lose "creative control" of their work.

There appears to be an unfounded fear amongst *unpublished writers* that the "big bad publishing industry" is out to get them, rip their words right out of their hearts and minds, and change their tomes into something they (the authors) never intended. This is different from the fear of plagiarism, which is another unfounded fear amongst unpublished writers; a fear I myself once held. It's alarming the number of writers, inexperienced writers especially, who believe the very field they've chosen is working against them.

As a side note:

*I personally don't refer to any writers as new writers or newbies because I've yet to meet a writer who hasn't been writing for 10 years or longer. I'd hardly call anyone who's been doing something for 10+ years "new" at it. For the record, most "newbie" writers find that word condescending. Artists, we're such a sensitive lot, eh? In my book, there are only two kinds of writers - published and unpublished. We agree that if PA is a writer's only publishing "credit" then that writer falls into the unpublished category (read: industry inexperienced/no legit publishing credentials). But the writer is not necessarily "new" at writing.*

When I chose that option, it wasn’t because of arrogance or impatience; it was because I knew several PA writers who were heartbroken over the errors PA had inserted in their books and refused to correct.

That's another reason

I'd seen the disclaimer when I published my book with them, which is why I didn't choose that option. Of course, I had to spend the entire two weeks going over their revised copy to catch all of their mistakes. I'm not saying that the copy I sent them originally was perfect (it wasn't), but it certainly had fewer mistakes than the copy they sent back to me.

There's nothing easier than publishing a book as-is.

If you arbitrarily rule out the class of authors who know something about PA's history and practices, the next most likely groups to take the "no editing" option are naive writers and mentally unbalanced writers. That'd be a bonus to PA, because those guys are a lot of trouble to edit.

Here's how I'd interpret what PA was saying: