- Joined
- Jul 1, 2007
- Messages
- 491
- Reaction score
- 147
- Location
- small town in Michigan
- Website
- www.myspace.com
Of course they never expect to pay royalties on more than a few dozen sales.
If this thread stops just one person from submitting to PA then I have done my job as a writer to warn other writers about this company.
In all honesty, I have achieved sales of about forty books since 2004. No author will ever get rich through PA sales. Not in my estimation; No matter how good the book is, because they are too highly priced to entice people to buy them, and the no marketing through book catalogues means that you might as well hide the book in a dark wardrobe for seven years. Just my opinion.
And then I got this from PA.
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Date:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Wednesday, July 18, 2007 8:53 AM [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]From:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]PublishAmerica Author Support <[email protected]> [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]To:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif][email protected] [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Subject:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Michael Burgenmeyer: Misconceptions remain refuted [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Size:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]3 KB [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dear Mr Burgenmeyer: [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]After we refuted the false information that you had been given, we [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]did not hear back from you. We assumed that you had seen that the [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]information that you sent us is false, as you apparently had nothing [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]to the contrary to say. We assumed that you had reconsidered, and we [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]were happy to see your positive comments on our message board. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]> We even posted your positive comments on PublishAmerica, on our web [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]> site Testimonials page. Thank you for your kind words. [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
Shortly after your title was sent to the printer, our Public
Relations Department created and issued a press release announcing
the publication of the book. These press releases are sent to the
author's local media, as well as media outlets that specialize in the
book's topic and have niche audiences. If you would like for us to
send more press releases concerning your book, please send us some
other outlets that may be interested.
Upon the official release date, PublishAmerica announced the
publication of your book to the industry. Your book is listed with
Bowker's Books-In-Print and with wholesalers such as Ingram, Baker &
Taylor, and Brodart. All the book's information is also provided to
retailers across North America, including Internet retailers
Amazon.com, Borders.com, and BarnesandNoble.com. Bookstores may
order PublishAmerica books through the wholesalers or directly from
us at a generous retailer discount. Additionally, PublishAmerica made
your book's listing information available to Indigo/Chapters. Of
course, no publisher has any say as to which books a store or
distributor will elect to carry or list. We have done all we can to
see that Indigo/Chapters could consider carrying or listing your book.
Again, if we had done nothing, that would be fine. We could have
quite easily done nothing in the way of promoting and marketing your
book, yet look at all we have done.
How the hell have they been able to do all of this since Michael has only sent them three chapters of the book? The book has not been sent to a printer nor has it had an official release date. It can’t, because he hasn’t finished writing the book. Publish America has the first three chapters and a synopsis. That’s it.
It is obvious these are standard cut and paste clauses they pop into any email they get from a PA author who questions what they are doing to market their book. However, they forgot that Michael hasn’t submitted his completed manuscript. Nor have they sent him his extraordinary advance of one dollar ($1.00).
PA said:
You are under some very common misconceptions
sbout bookstore stocking. Actually, very few books are stocked on
shelves. Please read this, and our testimonial page.
PA said:
Barnes and Noble has quadrupled the number of books they
order from PublishAmerica during the past year, as can be seen by all
the stories and reports from authors whose books are stocked
PA said:
PublishAmerica books have the same chance of making it onto a
bookstore shelf as do the books of any publisher. It may be of
interest that less than one percent of all authors ever see their
books stocked by bookstores at all. For bookstores to stock all books
published would mean adding 15 feet of new shelf space each and every day.
Therefore bookstore managers must be selective, so they decide based
on what that they think will sell. If they do think it will sell,
they will stock it, and vice versa. So, if your book is romance and
the store's shelves are overflowing with romance novels, the odds are
they won't stock it.
Actually, these emails *are* from either Miranda or Larry. None of the PA flunkies are allowed to compose their own correspondence. When a dissatisfied author questions PA, the email MUST be sent to Miranda and Larry, who then compose the answer. If the cut-and-paste template answers aren't enough to make the author back down, then Miranda or Larry takes the wheel and writes the ludicrous answers you are seeing here.Still getting canned responses from Author Support? I'd say email Miranda Prather directly but she'll just get a flunky to send the email for her. She is a coward.
Alright Jersey, Hand over the lighters before you get in trouble.
Sorry, but it's PA who doesn't understand how "real" publishing works.
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Here is the email I got from the authors guild [/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Date:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:27 AM [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]From:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] AuthorsGuild Staff <[email protected]> [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]To:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] [email protected] [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Subject:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] Re: PublishAmerica Publishing [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Size:[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] 4 KB [/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] [SIZE=+0]Dear Mr. Burgenmeyer,
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]To date, publication by PublishAmerica has not qualified authors for membership in the Authors Guild. The main reason is the lack of a significant advance payment in PublishAmerica contracts. Advances are standard among established American publishers, and represent part of the investment the publisher makes in a book.
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sincerely,[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Terry King (Mr.), Membership Dept.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Authors Guild[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]31 East 32nd St., 7th Floor[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]New York, NY 10016[/FONT][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
Alice King is the head of Human Resources, a confidante of Willem and gunslinger in defense of PA as required, for court appearances and such.They have no clue. Let's look at the top three:
Willem: Willem has experience with vanity publishing only: Erica House. This was a sleazy yet up front vanity press. (I think he charged writers in the thousands).
Larry: No publishing experience.
Miranda: Ditto. Is a known scammer and liar.
So that says it all.
I don't know where Alice fits in this circle jerk.