Publish America words their releases such that unless read carefully misleads their authors (or potential authors) into thinking their books will be made readily available for public consumption "from sea to shining sea."
When the author's book is printed, PA sends out with the two complimentary copies, a six-page release on marketing. Near the end of that release is the following paragraph:
"We then announce your book to the industry, listing it with Bowker's Books-In-Print, with wholesalers like Baker & Taylor, Brodart Co., and Ingram, and we make it available through the Publish America website, and online bookstores such as Amazon.com, Borders.com, BN com, Chapters.com, and through the 50,000 corresponding bricks and mortar stores. Your book will be available through all of these channels within six weeks from the time you receive your complimentary author copies."
Anything wrong with that paragraph? Looks pretty good to me. The key word is "through." Notice the key word in line five and line six. The trick here is that the book is indeed available "for order" THROUGH all those channels, but that matters not, since you are unknown. There is no "in-store" promotion or placement, no catalog, no regional or national advertising, other than what the author undertakes on his/her own behalf.
That is the scam--not illegal--but morally reprehensible, because some organizations like Barnes and Noble do not as a general rule stock publish-on-demand books in their brick and mortar stores. Of course, PA will argue that they are not a POD organization, but they are indeed and to state otherwise over the internet seems to me to constitute fraud under FCC rules.
(Glad you found out about Publish America.)
Good luck finding a great publisher for your work.
