PA Author Joe Gadreau?

I looked him up on Amazon. Other than that, I have no idea who he is.

If he's published with PA, then it's very likely that he's completely unknown outside of discussions about that publisher's bad practices.

The average book with PA sells less than 75 copies, and only about 20-30 directly to readers. Over 1,100 of their books have never sold a single copy. None of their 20,000 books have ever been best-sellers or even okay-sellers.

Edit: with that Amazon ranking he's probably sold a single copy through Amazon over the last three years. Is that the level of success he wanted to share with you?

LloydBrown said:

None of their 20,000 books have ever been best-sellers or even okay-sellers.

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Apparently, there was a novel printed with PA a few years back that sold somewhere around 5,000 copies. Don't know how true that story is, though. I wouldn't practice fasting to wait for the next that sells that many.

Lep.

I think the author bought most of those 5K copies himself, IIRC. It's possible I don't.

Christine N. said:

I think the author bought most of those 5K copies himself, IIRC. It's possible I don't.

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That's the way I remembered it too.

thecraftteens said:

Apparently, there was a novel printed with PA a few years back that sold somewhere around 5,000 copies.

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Yes, Neo Franco Cantu's book "A Destiny Foretold" sold an alleged 5,200 copies, according to PA. The author said he was really surprised, so I suspect the claim is exaggerated. In fact, he openly questioned the honesty of PA's royalty payments on their message board and was banned.

I remember much supposition that Mr. Cantu purchased many of his own books, but I never saw any direct evidence of that. Given that it's normal, it's a reasonable supposition, though. Mr. Cantu did respond to an e-mail I sent and make a statement by proxy to the board. A search of the archives would likely turn it up.

Also, Mr. Cantu said that he would seek another publishing option for his next book. He has not published through PA again.

In any case, if your best-seller out of 20,000 titles sells only 5,000 copies or so, you really, really suck. If you took unpublished manuscripts off of hard drives across the country, odds are that you'd do better.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05022/446283.stm

"According to Clopper, gross revenues in 2004 totaled $4 million to $6 million, a negligible amount in a multibillion-dollar industry. The company's all-time best seller is Neo Franco Cantu's "A Destiny Foretold," a historical novel that's sold around 5,200 copies. Dozens of other titles, Clopper said, have sold thousands of copies."

Yeah, 5,000 copies is bare minimum for most publishers to call breaking even, not even close to best-selling.

LloydBrown said:

In any case, if your best-seller out of 20,000 titles sells only 5,000 copies or so, you really, really suck.

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Not necessarily. If your printer is PA, you could have written the next 'Gone with the Wind' and it would do no better than Cantu's. The writers may or may not suck, but when they're with PA, it doesn't matter; they all get the same treatment.

Christine N. said:

Yeah, 5,000 copies is bare minimum for most publishers to call breaking even, not even close to best-selling.

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It depends on the publisher. Big American publishers, yes. But small-to-medium-sized niche publishers, or foreign markets, may have lower thresholds.

The Catholic publishing world cashes out at around 2,000 copies. (Which is still far above PA's reported average of 75.) Five thousand would be considered a good seller, with best-selling status being conferred around 10,000 copies.

The same is true for Canadian books (secular or religious), where 5,000 is threshold for best-selling status if I am not mistaken.

But even by these lower thresholds, only one of PA's tens of thousands of books meets this bestselling standard.

P.S. No, I haven't heard of Joe Gadreau. So I'm not likely to buy his book since it isn't on the bookshelf of our local bookstores, nor has it been reviewed by any of my favorite book reviewers. Nor, as a book reviewer myself, have I received a review copy. And given the number of books by established writers on my reading list, I'm not looking for more unless an author captures my attention.

Ol' Fashioned Girl said:

Not necessarily. If your printer is PA, you could have written the next 'Gone with the Wind' and it would do no better than Cantu's. The writers may or may not suck, but when they're with PA, it doesn't matter; they all get the same treatment.

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I think Brown meant that the publisher sucks, not the author.

Doh. I think you're right, Maggie. That's what I get for reading before I get my tea IV started...

What Maggie said.

You'd think to expect more from someone that calls itself "America's #1 Publisher!" or whatever crap is on the front page of the website. That's all I meant. One book out of 30,000 does barely enough to make a mark or come close to what other publishers might call respectable?