The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread
- Thread starter James D. Macdonald
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They're quite probably genuine. There's no doubt that PA has some satisfied customers - people who enjoying playing Published Author: the Roleplaying Game, those whose books haven't actually been published yet and are still in the honeymoon stage, writers with a niche market who knew what they were getting into.
Haven't we had some current and former PA authors here mentioning their testimonials were used on the site?
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Interesting videos from PA: "I'm Never Going to Get Published," wherein Willem stresses you can get published at PublishAmerica for free—unlike Lulu, Authorhouse, and Createspace, which charge big money.
"Halftime at PublishAmerica", wherein Willem again stresses "for free" and seems to be pitching to the underdog:' We have come from behind and we have come to win."
Arrgghh!
"Halftime at PublishAmerica", wherein Willem again stresses "for free" and seems to be pitching to the underdog:' We have come from behind and we have come to win."
Arrgghh!
I suspect that PA will be around for a long time in one form or another. Even if they do shut down one day, there will always be another swindler to take their place.
PA's despicable business model preys on the general public's ignorance of the publishing industry, and that's never going to improve much. Even with P&E, even with AW, even with information available with a simple search (heck, type "Publish America" into Google and one of the auto-suggestions is "Publish America Complaints"), people will always be willing to turn a blind eye for their dream.
The best we can hope to do is steer as many writers away from them as possible.
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PA will be here for quite a while (barring a successful lawsuit). They've found a way to get money for next-to-zero work.
What they are is more-and-more irrelevant. Used to be that this sub-forum was a dance hall. Now it's a graveyard.
What they are is more-and-more irrelevant. Used to be that this sub-forum was a dance hall. Now it's a graveyard.
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I wonder if they had their traditional Christmas-time firings of the staff members who were due to get raises. And I wonder if Larry wore a Santa suit while he was dumping them.
He's soulless enough to do that.
On the other hand, Prather has a public Facebook page where she has been showing so many signs of humanity that I wonder if she still works there.
Gosh, this company is STILL in business! Hello, to those who remember me, and Happy New Year. I haven't been keeping tabs on PA that much anymore (probably good that I don't), but I'm glad most of you in here have. This company still has my book, but I think the 7 years is up as far as print rights or whatever it is.
On a happy note, I've started writing again. I haven't returned to poetry or fiction yet, but I'm blogging some. I'm getting there.
As for PA - There are no appropriate words.
On a happy note, I've started writing again. I haven't returned to poetry or fiction yet, but I'm blogging some. I'm getting there.
As for PA - There are no appropriate words.
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Unless you explicitly and timely requested termination of the contract Before the seven years, it rolled over to s new term. Better check on that.
--Ken
I wasn't able to locate the book on the PA site. Barnes and Noble is selling it for $19.95..
Appears to be out of stock in a couple other places. No feedback on the Amazon or Barnes and Noble pages.
Red Rhino appears to sell its books at severely bloated prices. The book Where the Wild Things Are is almost $60.
Appears to be out of stock in a couple other places. No feedback on the Amazon or Barnes and Noble pages.
Red Rhino appears to sell its books at severely bloated prices. The book Where the Wild Things Are is almost $60.
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My book is available from 8 sellers, and anywhere from PA's price to about $70. (And my contract expires in October! Nine months to V-PA Day!! WOOT!)
Uncle Jim and others here know how this stuff works better than I do, so I'll let them have the final word, but IIUC these places don't actually have the book themselves, but they will order it from PA and send it to you, taking some sort of cut, of course. And just because your book is listed doesn't mean your contract is active; it just might be that it was never taken down from whatever list these other sellers are tapping to get titles.
Uncle Jim and others here know how this stuff works better than I do, so I'll let them have the final word, but IIUC these places don't actually have the book themselves, but they will order it from PA and send it to you, taking some sort of cut, of course. And just because your book is listed doesn't mean your contract is active; it just might be that it was never taken down from whatever list these other sellers are tapping to get titles.
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Here's one example of bizarre pricing of used books at Amazon that made CNN. There are others.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/04/25/amazon.price.algorithm/
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/04/25/amazon.price.algorithm/
Heh. Just noticed an out of print book of mine is being sold for $999.11.
It does seem to be computer pricing at work as other sellers have the book for as little as a penny.
It does seem to be computer pricing at work as other sellers have the book for as little as a penny.
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So they take your $999.11, in turn buy the book from someone else for a penny, and make close to a thousand dollar profit.
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In a bunker somewhere, Miranda is scribbling in a notebook marked 'new business plan'.
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I still have the author copies from my old PA books, but I don't have the guts to go in the safe and get them out. Not even for a grand a piece. What if opening that pandora releases the Cracken or Crack hound? I am never quite sure which is which.
Response from PA about my contract/book
I emailed PA last night regarding getting the print rights to my book back. Here is the response:
Dear (my name):
Your contract expired and your book went out of print on 7/27/12. You own the unformatted text only, and you can do as you choose with that alone.
PublishAmerica continues to own the ISBN number, the cover design, and the layout design of the text. Any use of any of these items would be a serious and very clear case of infringement. Therefore, you can use the same design only if we transfer the rights to you, or to your new publishing company.
If you would like to use the cover or layout design, we would transfer the rights to you for the cover design and/or text layout. We would provide you with a high resolution pdf file of the cover, and a clean, publishable version of the PDF text file.
Also included by request is an editable text file of the manuscript. The cover design costs $500, and the text layout costs $250. Full rights are included with each.
Again, you own the unformatted text only, and you can do as you choose with that alone.
PublishAmerica Support
http://publishamerica.com/support/
Here is my question: What is the disadvantage to me regarding PA having the rights to the ISBN number?
I emailed PA last night regarding getting the print rights to my book back. Here is the response:
Dear (my name):
Your contract expired and your book went out of print on 7/27/12. You own the unformatted text only, and you can do as you choose with that alone.
PublishAmerica continues to own the ISBN number, the cover design, and the layout design of the text. Any use of any of these items would be a serious and very clear case of infringement. Therefore, you can use the same design only if we transfer the rights to you, or to your new publishing company.
If you would like to use the cover or layout design, we would transfer the rights to you for the cover design and/or text layout. We would provide you with a high resolution pdf file of the cover, and a clean, publishable version of the PDF text file.
Also included by request is an editable text file of the manuscript. The cover design costs $500, and the text layout costs $250. Full rights are included with each.
Again, you own the unformatted text only, and you can do as you choose with that alone.
PublishAmerica Support
http://publishamerica.com/support/
Here is my question: What is the disadvantage to me regarding PA having the rights to the ISBN number?