The Newer Never-Ending PublishAmerica / America Star Books Thread

CatSlave said:

...This is what B&T told me:

We are not printing books for Publish America.

ETA: Try contacting TextStream, a subsidiary of B&T located in their distribution center in Illinois that does digital printing.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Christine.

Thank you, Terie and Christine for the breakdowns. I didn't catch the minimum orderering amount. Doh!

I think their profit would be good, as it seems fair to assume, based on other posts, they won't actually ship the books anyway. Just probably give some lame excuse for months as to the delay.

You know, I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how many authors will order it, only get the eight books, then be told that they didn't do the order form right or something. From what was said previously, there's no proof of the extra ordered books on the bill, and that makes it super easy to say that the author just made a mistake and didn't do it right. I know it's wrong of me to think that, but we see how often things like this already happen with authors not receiving discounts or not receiving royalties and what not in line with the agreement, and when they basically make themselves unaccountable (yet again) it just leaves me cringing and thinking, "Great, we're going to be hearing about this on PAMB before long."

I wonder if anyone is still getting sucked into these poorly-disguised money grabs by PA?

Eventually the fish recognize the hook and will stop biting, you know.

Unfortunately, I am aware of a couple of PA authors who have taken advantage of these "special offers." Not the latest one, but the one where the books were sent to Oprah and one of the offers a few weeks ago.

The problem with something like this is people will go for it because it might offer the only option for resale at a profit. Whether people like it or not, if they realize that, they'll spend the money when they feel like it's a good opportunity.

Most recent reply

CatSlave said:

Hey PA lurkers, if you're having problems receiving your book orders from PA, try checking with Baker & Taylor directly.

They have replaced Lightning Source as the commercial printer PA uses, according to the latest advertising by PA.

This is what B&T told me:

We are not printing books for Publish America.

ETA: Try contacting TextStream, a subsidiary of B&T located in their distribution center in Illinois that does digital printing.

Click to expand...

I queried B&T again, and just got this reply:

I apologize. We are doing the POD for PublishAmerica .

Sorry if I got everyone's hopes up.


*phooey*

Dang it! My hopes were raised, but only a little.

Darn, so were mine.

Spotted over at the PA group on Facebook:

Dear Author: Two days
only. Tell your fans! All books at PublishAmerica are priced
down to $7.99. No coupons, no minimum purchase volumes.
Just $7.99 for any book, in any quantity.Want some copies
of your own book on hand? This is the day! Check it out at
{blah}. Hardcovers excluded.
Thank you, PublishAmerica
Author Support Team

Click to expand...

They're STILL overpriced.
Hold back, and see how low they will go.

Tell your fans! All books at PublishAmerica are priced
down to $7.99.

Click to expand...

If they're fans, wouldn't that tend to mean that they already have the book?

Also, I wouldn't know where to begin if I was told to "tell my fans" something. I don't know who/where they are.

But I guess that's only a problem if "fans" and "family" aren't interchangeable.

I apologize. We are doing the POD for PublishAmerica .

Click to expand...

B-b-b-but PA isn't a POD publisher. They say so!

FACT #5: PublishAmerica is NOT in any way a POD, vanity press, or subsidy publisher, and has nothing in common with them. Obviously, our authors are also not being self-published. In the most commonly used context, POD indicates "Publish On Demand", or vanity publishing. Vanity publishers charge for their "services". Some charge a few hundred dollars, others a thousand or more. We are not in that league, in any way, shape or fashion.

Click to expand...

B&T, how DARE you? What planet are you on? Apologize immediately!

James D. Macdonald said:

No, Gill, you don't understand. They're not POD, they're POD. (They say that, too.)

Click to expand...

Enunciation is the key to understanding. You have to get the stress on the right points.

P- OD

PO-D

P-O-D

But in the end, almost everyone ends up P.O.'d

They claim to be print on demand, not "publish on demand" - meaning they're a "traditional publisher" who uses a certain printing technology, not a vanity publisher who publishes whatever the author wants them to publish.

I think.

Either way it's BS.

Of course, PA doesn't have any fake testimonials even though "The FTC recently issued an opinion clarifying that fake testimonials on Web sites are a violation of federal law..." That quote came from the Red Tape Chronicles at URL http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/03/mo...sely-what-con-artists-look-for-those-who.html. Or do they?

POD vs POD.

Tomatoes vs tomatoes.

Potatoes vs potatoes.

PA's version of the top one remains indigestible and sickening, while the others are tasty, nutritious classics.

TheTinCat said:

They claim to be print on demand, not "publish on demand" - meaning they're a "traditional publisher" who uses a certain printing technology, not a vanity publisher who publishes whatever the author wants them to publish.

I think.

Either way it's BS.

Click to expand...

Time for this hoary chestnut by Lewis Carroll:
"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'" Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't – till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"

"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice objected.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master – that's all."

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again.

"They've a temper, some of them – particularly verbs, they're the proudest – adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs – however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"

BenPanced said:

Time for this hoary chestnut by Lewis Carroll:
"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'" Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't – till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"

"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice objected.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master – that's all."

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again.

"They've a temper, some of them – particularly verbs, they're the proudest – adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs – however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"

Click to expand...

^
Post of the day. Well done, Ben!

Just seemed appropriate since that's what I've seen about PA on these boards, how they twist things around to make them fit their version of how the business works.

James D. Macdonald said:

Totally.

They aren't print on demand, they're publish on demand. Either that, or they aren't publish on demand, they're print on demand.

I never could tell the difference.

Click to expand...

I thought that the difference was that they aren't POD, they're POD. And clearly italics makes all the difference in the world.