The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

Samsonet said:

Has PublishAmerica ever rejected a manuscript? I mean, before the submission's revealed as a hoax.

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I know folks who had books rejected, which made me think they must have been really awful, but I subsequnetly discovered that they contained characters who shared a first name with some senior PA employees and apparently PA check for that sort of thing. So, basically, if your MC is called Miranda, then you're getting a rejection, and a lucky escape.

They have also rejected return authors who didn't buy enough copies of their earlier book, and have rejected for copyright violations.

I suspect that there are plenty of days that everyone gets a contract. It seems that there releases are falling off. Has anyone heard how the lawsuit is progressing?

PA Lawsuit

allenparker said:

I suspect that there are plenty of days that everyone gets a contract. It seems that there releases are falling off. Has anyone heard how the lawsuit is progressing?

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I haven't heard anything since PA filed their response. But these things move very slowly.

This used to be a fun thread to read. Well, fun isn't the right term, but it was interesting. Now, it can be two or three weeks before something gets posted. I've started to wait a whole month or so before I even check. What was it, five or six posts since August?

How should I feel about this? Does this mean fewer PA authors are finding their way here, or are there fewer (should that be less?) new PA authors at all?


David

Funny you should say that -- I was just thinking about how easy it is to self-publish now and wondering if that was cutting into PA's pool of victims.

Have they started an anti-KDP/Createspace/Smashwords/Lulu campaign yet? Seems like it'd be their next step.

Damn, I hope I didn't just give them an idea.

Blake M. Petit said:

Funny you should say that -- I was just thinking about how easy it is to self-publish now and wondering if that was cutting into PA's pool of victims.

Have they started an anti-KDP/Createspace/Smashwords/Lulu campaign yet? Seems like it'd be their next step.

Damn, I hope I didn't just give them an idea.

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Straightforward self-publishing does not give the illusion of being legitimately, competitively, commercially published. It is that illusion that the vanity presses exploit. They may lose those who just want the words in print, but not those who crave what the illusion offers.

--Ken

Class Action Lawsuit Against PA Dismissed

allenparker said:

I suspect that there are plenty of days that everyone gets a contract. It seems that there releases are falling off. Has anyone heard how the lawsuit is progressing?

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I received an email from the law firm saying that the class action lawsuit against PA has been dismissed and they do not plan to refile.

Frack.

PublishTeflon.

I'm seeking confirmation of the dismissal. I'd appreciate it if anyone who has received the email from the lawyers would forward it to me--beware [at] sfwa.org. Thank you.

- Victoria

Also--I'm away from home and don't have access to my PACER account (curses!) Could someone with access, who'd be willing to do a little legwork for me, please contact me? Thanks!

- Victoria

I just found this:

http://ia600702.us.archive.org/16/items/gov.uscourts.mdd.202536/gov.uscourts.mdd.202536.17.0.pdf

INAL, but it looks like this is a dismissal without prejudice and that the court is expecting an amended complaint. In other words, it doesn't appear to be dead, yet.

I have not read the original complaint, but after reading the dismissal, I am not surprised.


Sounds to me like the lawyers in this case were not very competent based on what they filed and what the courts found they should not have included, or what they should have included.

Even I know that if you sign a contract for a business service, then you are no longer a consumer. What the lawyers should have include in this section are affidavits from family and friends, or others who ordered books but did not get them.

I also would not have included the paragraphs the courts struck out for the very reason the courts did so. Hearsay, with no factual evidence to back them up.

What the lawyers should have done is reach out to other PA authors and have them sign affidavits on their experiences with PA, especially those who feel PA was in breach of contract.

Of course as we all know, PA's contract has the catch all phrasing that relieves them of any responsibility or from fulfilling their part of the contract. "At the publishers discretion." or some such wording...

The "it's not a consumer matter but a business matter" argument is a familiar one--it's why the Maryland Attorney General's Office has no interest in looking into PA.

It's a gray area, though, since PA authors have to buy so many of the services PA provides. They're consumers in the way that clients of any vanity publisher are consumers.

- Vicgtoria

JulieB said:

I just found this:

http://ia600702.us.archive.org/16/items/gov.uscourts.mdd.202536/gov.uscourts.mdd.202536.17.0.pdf

INAL, but it looks like this is a dismissal without prejudice and that the court is expecting an amended complaint. In other words, it doesn't appear to be dead, yet.

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It's a dismissal without prejudice, but it might as well be with prejudice, because the attorneys have decided not to refile. They are not going to pursue it further.

Thanks to everyone who sent me links and copies of the attorneys' emails. I've blogged about the dismissal here. IMO, it's a loss for the plaintiffs--but not a vindication for PA. Though likely they will claim it is.

- Victoria

victoriastrauss said:

Thanks to everyone who sent me links and copies of the attorneys' emails. I've blogged about the dismissal here. IMO, it's a loss for the plaintiffs--but not a vindication for PA. Though likely they will claim it is.

- Victoria

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Talk about predicting the future.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=141570

[Meiners suggested] the lawsuit was fueled by competing publishers, namely Amazon's CreateSpace.

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I doubt Createspace is even aware of PA's existence, unless grateful writers send it comments on how much better it is than PA. Which it is. Hell's bells, Kinkos is better than PA.

He also alleged that the law firm had a financial interest in the suit because Hagens Berman "share an office building with the owner of CreateSpace ... (and) sought to bring PublishAmerica down."

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Um, yeah. Tell us what you're smoking, Willie. You're from Holland, they do weed there a lot. That stuff will mess with your thinking.

To PA writers he says:

you may have noticed that the real object of these people's wrath is not us. It's you. It's your book,"

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Flat out lie, Willie Wanker. You can stop the cult tactics of us vs them. The threads here have strict rules that we never slam PA writers--they are your victims--only PA. PublishAmerica writers are welcomed here and kinda sorta need some understanding TLC and support, since you leave them bleeding and disillusioned about publishing.

You earned all that negative press all on your own, unless you want to count Clopper and Prather. But you're sooooo fond of taking all the credit, so they'll just have to swing in the wind on their own.

Meiners could not be reached for comment Wednesday. PublishAmerica does not have a listed phone number, and a spokesman, Shawn Street, did not return an email from a reporter seeking a number to call.



A phone number for the attorney listed in online court files was disconnected.

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Mr. Street may be found on Facebook, where he lists PA as his employer. I doubt the paper will get anything out of him until after he's fired shortly before Christmas in the usual culling that goes on so the company can save on taxes. Even then, he's going to be muzzled by some confidentiality agreement.

Let's not bother the poor guy. Working for PA is punishment enough.

OTOH, Vic the Dick and PA were made for each other like green on slime.

I am a newly published author from Publish America and I am very unhappy. While I am thankful for the opportunity Publish America has given to me, and I think the business practice of having a low entry barrier for new author’s is a wonderful cause I am unhappy with the lack of services that Publish America has done to complete my work. I may appreciate Public America’s intention of keeping their author’s work in their intended voice, a bit of information I did not know before signing my contract but I feel that should have been stated to me by them before signing a contract. Furthermore and even more so, I feel that it should also have been stated that grammatical editing would not be done in the finalization of my work. I would have spent more time making sure my grammar was correct before submitting my final manuscript, if I had known. I would have let a friend or family member, who is better with grammar then I, proof read my work. As I read my book in paper back form all I want to do is bring a pen to it and fix the problems. It is so bothering that they created mistakes in my work and also the mistakes I admit I made were left untouched. It was not stated to me before signing my contract that Publish America does not edit. Is it not the job of a traditional publisher to edit work for grammar? I feel I signed my contract under false pretenses. While my contract states that it is not on the part of Publish America to publish a quality piece of work, (in terms of the content, I admit they did deliver on their end of the contract for cover design and formatting) they should have stated that said work will not be edited for grammar and punctuation. I feel if Publish America cared about my manuscript, they would let me bring a pen to my paperback book, make the corrections, and re-submit a second edition. They would also drop the list price so my book has a chance to survive the market place and it’s demand. I know not to even waste my time trying but I wrote them a nicely worded letter to bring to their attention that they added mistakes to my book and then I wrote something like, let’s face it, it’s not like we both don’t know I wasn’t warned about you guys and I also said, if you weren’t going to edit my mistakes then you shouldn’t have touched a word in my book at all. I know I should have been harsher but I am under contract for them for ten years, not like they can screw me over more so then they already did when they ruined my work. I do not expect a reply and I know they will be no help in my wanting to fix the problems and send to print a second edition. I understand too well that they are a scam and I admit that I did spend money to have my book converted to e-format. I figured how could I not in this day and age. Well, now I am utterly embarrassed that my novel has so many mistakes that takes away from the enjoyment of what I would consider a good story. I don’t want anyone reading it to be honest with the mistakes in it and I have lost the rights to my work, (it’s my own fault for thinking I’d be different, it won’t happen to me) but looking on the bright side, it won’t reach an audience anyway so what do the mistakes matter at this point.

Hi, inadream, and welcome to the board!

inadream said:

I am a newly published author from Publish America and I am very unhappy. While I am thankful for the opportunity Publish America has given to me, and I think the business practice of having a low entry barrier for new author’s is a wonderful

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It may be wonderful for the authors, but it's not wonderful for readers or bookstores - and those are what drive the business.

If you were choosing a doctor, would you pick one who had graduated from a college that accepted anyone, no matter how low their grades were? Or would you prefer a doctor whose medical school had high requirements and standards for acceptance?

The same thing applies to books. PA's reputation for accepting almost anything is well known, and that's another obstacle to the authors making sales.

cause I am unhappy with the lack of services that Publish America has done to complete my work. I may appreciate Public America’s intention of keeping their author’s work in their intended voice

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That's their excuse for why they don't edit. All publishers keep the author's work in the author's voice. Why would a publisher buy the rights to a book and then change the author's voice?

That's not to say a good editor won't request any changes in an author's work, but the finished product will still be distinctively the author's own.

Is it not the job of a traditional publisher to edit work for grammar?

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Real publishers (the term "traditional publisher" is one coined by PA, rather than a term used in the industry) do content editing and copyediting.

I feel if Publish America cared about my manuscript, they would let me bring a pen to my paperback book, make the corrections, and re-submit a second edition.

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Unfortunately (though you know this already), PA is not interested in your manuscript, only in your money. I'm also sorry to hear that the manuscript is theirs for ten years... their contracts used to be seven years, but have apparently gotten even worse.

Even if they allowed you to correct mistakes and issue a second edition, the book is likely to be dead in the water because of all the other obstacles PA will place in its path - most PA books have generic stock-cover images, all are overpriced, etc.

I admit that I did spend money to have my book converted to e-format. I figured how could I not in this day and age.

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Sadly, this is another thing authors can do for free (upload their books to the Kindle) if they own the rights. I'm willing to bet PA overpriced the ebook version as well.

I hope you won't let this experience stop you from writing, though. Consider this manuscript a learning experience and research the hell out of publishers before sending your next manuscript anywhere.

That is an excellent point to make about low entry barriers and no I would not want that kind of doctor. My initial imposition was due to how hard it is to make yourself noticed and standout in the publishing world, as a new author. Not everyone is intended to be an author, I understand that. And no I don’t think Publish America should take advantage of want to be author’s and their money but they do say everyone has at least one good novel in them, and some people out there (for example) simply want to see their memoirs published for themselves as their own audience. So as a graduate of business school, I think they hold a nice business model, only of course when taking out of course their flagellant business practices. In other words, they seemed like a better alternative to self-publishing at the time and naive people like myself realize the hard way they are not.

Now with that being said, and re-reading it myself I realize it sounds like I’m in favor of Publish America, I’m not. The truth is I just wanted to see my work in print but now I realize, not like this and not by them. The real reason I signed with them is because they umpped their royalty rate, (and I’m only saying this because you weren’t aware of their new contract agreement in terms of year.) My royalty rates are as followed, 8% on first 500, 12% on 1500 25% on 3,000 (and what seemed amazing to me at the time and means nothing now cause my book has no chance to sell,) 50% over 5,000.

Surprisingly my e-book sells for 9.95 but my soft cover for 29.95 (<absolutely ridiculous.) but it doesn’t matter because no one will buy the book anyway.

And now that you mention generic I realize you’re right and now I’m not satisfied with the cover of my book anymore but let’s face it is was done by Publish America, so I really never was.

Thank you for writing back to me, I’m putting too much thought and time into my aggravation and it’s nice for me to vent a little. I also thank you for being easy on me and not telling me I’m so stupid for signing with them despite all the warning I had, like the way I feel. Also, thank you for saying to keep up with the writing. I do have one book waiting my attention to be read through and I like it more then the one I gave to Publish America. Hopefully, I can find a respectable home for it.

Now, if only there were something to do to bring down Publish America. I’m gathering they have a good lawyer and there contract is designed to screw the writer. It can’t be that they’re too smart when it comes to scamming, something must be done. They’re preying off the hopes of new authors, taking their money and crushing their dreams. That doesn’t sound legal to me. I am positive there is something in our justice system that can bring them down.

How did you find them, if you don't mind saying?