Saving NaNoWriMo people from PublishAmerica!

Ack! All right, Playhouse residents. We have a mission.

That's certainly an unpleasant thought. It'd be like giving a fox the key to the hen house. The fox would probably do less damage. What can we do?

Good for you, Sheryl. The story I'm writing at the moment is first draft and therefore probably belongs in a cesspool, but I shall still be avoiding PA!

Sheryl Nantus said:

keep an eye out on the forums for people claiming that they've already got a publisher for their NaNoWriMo novel - I wouldn't put it past PA to scour the forums and find peeps guillable enough to put their babies with these scammers.

I'd refer them back here, however - I didn't want to make the thread totally off-topic, as you can read, but at the same time I wanted to put out the information that PA is *not* a legitimate publishing route to success. The PA author is still in the honeymoon stage and was giving out the disinformation she had gotten from the PAMB and PA themselves - and that's pretty enticing to a participant who may finish the 50,000 words and then want to rush into print. If I were PA I'd pounce on the lot of them!

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I certainly wouldn't put it past them to do that. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that sort of thing.

Sheryl Nantus said:

...
point them to here and the PA threads as the offers come in from PublishAmerica - let's save a few of our kin before they fall prey to the cesspool that is PA!

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Gee, I can't WAIT until I get my offer from PA! What should I say? Any ideas on how I might string them along? This is perhaps best answered in PM's, as there's likely someone at PA reading every thread in every forum that has their company name in it. Let me clear out my old PM's...

I did notice that the terms of whatsit that you're supposed to read as you join NaNoWriMo include a warning about paying for publishing etc.
But then, PA claims you don't pay, so that isn't necessarily going to help.
Reading the 3-Day Novel Contest thread on the book forum I frequent, I had some spasms when one of the participants said 'I've heard good things about PublishAmerica'. Yikes! I replied as fast as I could gather the links to back up what I said.
I can't really claim I saved him, though, because he sounded like someone who would have googled before actually committing himself. Still *fans self, breathes slowly* it was alarming.
-Barbara

Yeah, will be certainly looking out for this kind of thing. Maybe everyone should publish a warning thread in their respective regional forums.

I'll talk to anyone who'll listen

I'm there, my brothers and sisters in arms (against PA).

LITERARY HOSTAGES

New authors (like me) need to discover early on that "publishing" with PA is not actually publishing.

The reality is that once PA has your work you will be buying all your own books at regular market prices. There are very few bookstores that can boast that their main customers are the very authors whose books are on the shelf.

Add that to the fact that the books aren't even on the shelf, but won't even be printed until your check clears their bank, then you begin to see the truth.

The Truth is that "Publishing" with PA is really only giving your work up as a Hostage to thugs who will prevent you from effectively publishing your work, while they work you for every dime they can get.

Unless you intend to start your own bookstore you should keep trying to find an actual publisher who will do his job as he should.

John W. DeVore
exodus2020.com

I'm an ML for NaNoWriMo and I would like to put together a post with a bunch of links warning people off PA.

Do you have a copy of your post that I can use as a template Sheryl?

Let's start a thread each week warning against PA It can't be considered spamming if it's for a good cause and is started by a different AW member each time, can it?

I'm not going to discourage that practice on the little section I "control".

I've read about PA and I've heard about their bad rep. Is it true that they charge you for buying your own book? "

"No one publishes, new authors" is this some kind of gimmick they use?

There's the thread on AW about what the pros say .
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33451

And the one about what real publishers do:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20586

BlueLucario said:

I've read about PA and I've heard about their bad rep. Is it true that they charge you for buying your own book? "

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Careful...most publishers will also charge an author for buying their own book. But, that's usually after you run out of the (many more than 5) free copies they send, and you usually can't turn around and re-sell them (contractually).

That's where PA gets people to fork over the money...because re-selling is usually the only way an author can sell copies.

But not make money.

Even IF you can find a store willing to purchase one or more, they will want a minimum discount of at least 30% in order to make a profit. Given how ridiculously overpriced PA books are to start with ($25-$30 currently), add in shipping and by the time you sell it, you're in the hole further.

I live in England, so I'm presumably safe from Publish America, and I'm certainly not naïve enough to accept any publisher that contacts the author. It works the other way around. I've done my research

Anyway, let me get this straight... They're basically a vanity publishing company then? They take your book, wait for you to pay, then sell YOU copies of your own book. At market prices? Oh dear...

Alphabeter said:

But not make money.

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There lies the rub...

Calamity_Jones said:

Anyway, let me get this straight... They're basically a vanity publishing company then? They take your book, wait for you to pay, then sell YOU copies of your own book. At market prices? Oh dear...

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Unfortunately, they make you pay excessive prices when you buy copies of your own book...not up front. Otherwise, I imagine more people would be privy to the true nature of PublishAmerica.

You know, if we all put links in our signatures at NaNoWriMo, that would probably help quite a bit.

Problem is, nano sigs don't show up unless you start a thread or quote someone. I've been trying to remember to quote another poster so mine does -- trying to help the site by advertising Goodsearch. It's in my sig here too.

There are a couple stickies in the NaNo forums that point to various topics here at AW, so you might want to go check them out first.