Hi just joined this forum after reading allot about PA.Unfortunately it is too late for me.I curse the search engines for giving me their site on a platter.So far most of the things i have read have happened to my book. I signed the contract and when things got sour then i started reading the negative(you know at first you are in some state of denial then realize they all can't be wrong). I want to know how can i (if anybody knows) get them to cancel my contract.I think i have grounds too but have not taken any action yet after reading allot of negative things even when the authors were in the right.My big hope is that they printed my book with mistakes on nearly every page(not big ones but if you know english you can see that when you say he she or it then verb ends with "s" right + some other inverted ones). I want to write to them about it and on these grounds get them to annul my contract but i am not sure.One thing going is that they told me they do not edit after the second return which happened last year.So i can counter with "who is going to buy a book with mistakes on nearly every page?"Incidently my book was published in october 2007.Would be appreciative of any advice.Looking at the things floating around with the amount of wronged authors by this so called POD VANITY publisher, i wonder why is it you hear only the positives before the negatives still.
I have added a letter that i forwarded to P&E recently so that they can add on their never ending thread.If you like to read it here it is :
To P&E
I like your site allot and it is very informative. So sorry I got to learn about its existence after signing my contract with Publish America. I like the detailed section you have devoted to them but i think you should expand it to a whole separate page with a big highlight. My book was picked up by them (Publish America) in March of 07 and I was very happy at the time but along the process, certain things came up that led me to resort to question certain of their practices. I can say what drew up first was their editing process which was a pure joke. They give you two chances to check the manuscript after which it is put in adobe format before sending it to the printers and both times that I checked my manuscript, I found out there were still some corrections to be made with the mechanics of some sentences and I understood their game. I thought they looked at all that and later found out they did only spell checks and don’t really care for anything else. By the way don't they know that the author reads his so work so much that he becomes blind to his mistakes. Every good publisher knows that and it is the compelling reason why they have competent editors around. As they returned it to me, the last time, they added it was final draft no matter what i did and only my approval was needed at this point. They did also mention no more correction please. I sat down with it after a couple of days rest to get an objective eye. I found, unfortunately (despite my unobjective eye since i am the author after all),7 sentences which needed to be redone and thank god it was the last of it(according to my thoughts at the time) but PA editor refused to make the changes saying one more time again that after two times it should have been it and the final sending of the manuscript to the author was purely a formality where no corrections can take place anymore. After a series of emails, I managed to talk him down somewhat (didn’t seem to care about a book being published with mistakes at first) but that episode was not a pleasant one. Then, came cover design. I sent my own which was turned down (they said PA has the right to do that in the contract) and looking at their boards; everybody seemed happy that PA designed their book cover so I thought, let me give them a chance. The result was very unsatisfactory and I protested. Again after several emails which remained unanswered, I got a reply (I don’t get it why they purposely sometimes shift you around like contact that guy or this guy at this dept when they do answer). Anyway, they sent me to a site where they told me to choose from the wide choice of cover art and then send them an appropriate one but the selection was not that big and the choices did not fit the theme of my book. As I uttered more protest to this fact too, they remained silent for a near week before I gave in and said ok, use what they had chosen before(at this point i was thinking only about getting my story published). They book went finally to the printers but then I got their usual email on how to market my book on my own. I started asking questions about this practice which seemed higly unorthodox because i never heard of an author who went to book stores to tell them to buy copies of his book to market to his clients(except if you get it published by Lulu of course). At that point i was really unhappy and made some extensive search on PA and I came to know what they really were. Despite the facts, I tried some passive constructive suggestions on their boards like why don’t they include the author’s web site inside the book and why didn’t PA invest in some marketing for their authors and even charged for it if they liked since they stood to make money too. It was not long till I was banned for some time and after writing email after email, week after week, telling them it was just a suggestion since I was not anti PA and where was the harm, they let me back on the boards. Since then I made like everybody there, always happy and joyful at somewhat being a so called published author and watched as new blood poured in everyday thinking how many more would have their dreams stripped down soon by this so called publisher. I must add that in the forum PA does have its own agent writers disguised to do propaganda from time to time to keep the newbies happy and I was shocked to see that they were writers with years behind them in the business( I question a guy call Dick Stroghill in the first instance). I eventually got banned again when I posted a thread asking others when to expect my two complimentary copies since it was promised within 4 to 6 weeks but it was already 12 weeks then. After the ban, PA contacted me and told me they had gotten my address wrong and they gave it to FedEx to deliver but they could find it. “Yeah right” I said and since I received some packages in the past from FedEx, I know they always make calls before delivery and especially when they don’t have the correct address. After new promises of delivery, the package finally arrived and although I was happy at first, I understood that the 20 $ price strapped onto my book was really overpriced since the size and page count was very unconvincing. To my horror later, it revealed to be the start of my new found deception since, after reading the first few pages , I uncovered flagrant mistakes in print. Gutted was not the word because i knew it was like a child to me which many of my friends and family were awaiting to be shown but did i dare now do it with this. The choice was clear from then on what to do and the option was to lie instead of telling my close ones the true reality of my shame. So I told everyone the book was delayed in production and since i have made some changes to it(can't make allot since my story doesn't work well afterwards) so that i could print it through LuLu and give it to my friends and relatives(know it goes against the contract but they screwed me so i am salvaging my situation).At this point i don't plan to sell it but if i should, from what i read and unless my book becomes a big hit , they would not even know about it. Since then i changed the name of the manuscript and sent it to a few other publishers to see if it would have made it and i have gotten 3 favorable replies out of the 13 submission I have made. Makes me wonder why didn't i take my time to look better last year but then i did not know that search engines only bring out the sharks out of the water first. Now my only wish is to get my contract terminated with PA and pursue it with another small publisher with a good reputation
Well, I could go on with more but you and I both know the devil by his tails and horns anyway so this email is just some fresh feed if you will. I have to add that right now that I am one of the many presently engaged with them who are waiting their contract out to leave. Sadly, one can only find disappointment with them and despite my efforts at warning some new blood from them, I wish there was something on a wider scale that could be done to let everyone know first that they are crooks by nature rather than what they write on their site. I hope this info will help since it is 2008 and makes it a recent commentary to add but I would like for you to not put my name at the end since I want to wait my contract out with PA in peace without any scandal(would be happy to be pointed out how to end it if you may help). Thank you and carry on doing a great job
A.O
I have added a letter that i forwarded to P&E recently so that they can add on their never ending thread.If you like to read it here it is :
To P&E
I like your site allot and it is very informative. So sorry I got to learn about its existence after signing my contract with Publish America. I like the detailed section you have devoted to them but i think you should expand it to a whole separate page with a big highlight. My book was picked up by them (Publish America) in March of 07 and I was very happy at the time but along the process, certain things came up that led me to resort to question certain of their practices. I can say what drew up first was their editing process which was a pure joke. They give you two chances to check the manuscript after which it is put in adobe format before sending it to the printers and both times that I checked my manuscript, I found out there were still some corrections to be made with the mechanics of some sentences and I understood their game. I thought they looked at all that and later found out they did only spell checks and don’t really care for anything else. By the way don't they know that the author reads his so work so much that he becomes blind to his mistakes. Every good publisher knows that and it is the compelling reason why they have competent editors around. As they returned it to me, the last time, they added it was final draft no matter what i did and only my approval was needed at this point. They did also mention no more correction please. I sat down with it after a couple of days rest to get an objective eye. I found, unfortunately (despite my unobjective eye since i am the author after all),7 sentences which needed to be redone and thank god it was the last of it(according to my thoughts at the time) but PA editor refused to make the changes saying one more time again that after two times it should have been it and the final sending of the manuscript to the author was purely a formality where no corrections can take place anymore. After a series of emails, I managed to talk him down somewhat (didn’t seem to care about a book being published with mistakes at first) but that episode was not a pleasant one. Then, came cover design. I sent my own which was turned down (they said PA has the right to do that in the contract) and looking at their boards; everybody seemed happy that PA designed their book cover so I thought, let me give them a chance. The result was very unsatisfactory and I protested. Again after several emails which remained unanswered, I got a reply (I don’t get it why they purposely sometimes shift you around like contact that guy or this guy at this dept when they do answer). Anyway, they sent me to a site where they told me to choose from the wide choice of cover art and then send them an appropriate one but the selection was not that big and the choices did not fit the theme of my book. As I uttered more protest to this fact too, they remained silent for a near week before I gave in and said ok, use what they had chosen before(at this point i was thinking only about getting my story published). They book went finally to the printers but then I got their usual email on how to market my book on my own. I started asking questions about this practice which seemed higly unorthodox because i never heard of an author who went to book stores to tell them to buy copies of his book to market to his clients(except if you get it published by Lulu of course). At that point i was really unhappy and made some extensive search on PA and I came to know what they really were. Despite the facts, I tried some passive constructive suggestions on their boards like why don’t they include the author’s web site inside the book and why didn’t PA invest in some marketing for their authors and even charged for it if they liked since they stood to make money too. It was not long till I was banned for some time and after writing email after email, week after week, telling them it was just a suggestion since I was not anti PA and where was the harm, they let me back on the boards. Since then I made like everybody there, always happy and joyful at somewhat being a so called published author and watched as new blood poured in everyday thinking how many more would have their dreams stripped down soon by this so called publisher. I must add that in the forum PA does have its own agent writers disguised to do propaganda from time to time to keep the newbies happy and I was shocked to see that they were writers with years behind them in the business( I question a guy call Dick Stroghill in the first instance). I eventually got banned again when I posted a thread asking others when to expect my two complimentary copies since it was promised within 4 to 6 weeks but it was already 12 weeks then. After the ban, PA contacted me and told me they had gotten my address wrong and they gave it to FedEx to deliver but they could find it. “Yeah right” I said and since I received some packages in the past from FedEx, I know they always make calls before delivery and especially when they don’t have the correct address. After new promises of delivery, the package finally arrived and although I was happy at first, I understood that the 20 $ price strapped onto my book was really overpriced since the size and page count was very unconvincing. To my horror later, it revealed to be the start of my new found deception since, after reading the first few pages , I uncovered flagrant mistakes in print. Gutted was not the word because i knew it was like a child to me which many of my friends and family were awaiting to be shown but did i dare now do it with this. The choice was clear from then on what to do and the option was to lie instead of telling my close ones the true reality of my shame. So I told everyone the book was delayed in production and since i have made some changes to it(can't make allot since my story doesn't work well afterwards) so that i could print it through LuLu and give it to my friends and relatives(know it goes against the contract but they screwed me so i am salvaging my situation).At this point i don't plan to sell it but if i should, from what i read and unless my book becomes a big hit , they would not even know about it. Since then i changed the name of the manuscript and sent it to a few other publishers to see if it would have made it and i have gotten 3 favorable replies out of the 13 submission I have made. Makes me wonder why didn't i take my time to look better last year but then i did not know that search engines only bring out the sharks out of the water first. Now my only wish is to get my contract terminated with PA and pursue it with another small publisher with a good reputation
Well, I could go on with more but you and I both know the devil by his tails and horns anyway so this email is just some fresh feed if you will. I have to add that right now that I am one of the many presently engaged with them who are waiting their contract out to leave. Sadly, one can only find disappointment with them and despite my efforts at warning some new blood from them, I wish there was something on a wider scale that could be done to let everyone know first that they are crooks by nature rather than what they write on their site. I hope this info will help since it is 2008 and makes it a recent commentary to add but I would like for you to not put my name at the end since I want to wait my contract out with PA in peace without any scandal(would be happy to be pointed out how to end it if you may help). Thank you and carry on doing a great job
A.O
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