I HAVE SENT MY CERTIFIED LETTER TO PUBLISHAMERICA, MY BOOK MAY BE DEAD, BUT THEY DIDN'T KILL MY DREAMS. HAS ANYONE GOTTEN A QUICK RESPONSE FROM THEM ON BEING RELEASED FROM A CONTRACT, OR IS IT NON-BUSINESS AS USUAL? I WAS NICE, BUT IT WAS SO, SO, SO HARD, NOW AFTER BEING AFFLIATED WITH THEM I HAVE TO CHANGE MY NAME.MAYBE A COMPLETE MAKEOVER WOULDN'T HURT EITHER. I FEEL SO STUPID, GULLIBLE, AND SHOULD HAVE DONE MY LITERARY HOMEWORK, WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN.
PLEASE RELEASE ME LET ME GO
- Thread starter luv lit
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First, welcome to the Cooler.
Second, please don't type in all caps - that signifies yelling and is kind of hard on the eyes.
Third, check out the Newbie Guide and PublishAmerica subforums. You'll find tons of info.
Take your time and look around, come introduce yourself - we're a friendly bunch.
Second, please don't type in all caps - that signifies yelling and is kind of hard on the eyes.
Third, check out the Newbie Guide and PublishAmerica subforums. You'll find tons of info.
Take your time and look around, come introduce yourself - we're a friendly bunch.
You're not alone. As JC said, check out the entire PA forums here for others who sought to be released from PAs clutches.
Welcome and best of luck!
Welcome and best of luck!
Sorry for writing in all caps, I'm a newbie, and not very good with the computer. Had I been I might have found out about PA before I made this terrible mistake. I will check out the other forums, if I can find my way around. It took me 20 minutes to find this one.
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Welcome, luv lit! 
I've been trying to get out of my contract for almost two years to no avail; however, others have been more fortunate. Keep trying, and has been said many times on these boards, write a new, better book. Good luck to you, and welcome to AW!
I've been trying to get out of my contract for almost two years to no avail; however, others have been more fortunate. Keep trying, and has been said many times on these boards, write a new, better book. Good luck to you, and welcome to AW!
Welcome luv lit. Don't judge your abilities by PA - they literally mean nothing. They'll take an exceptional book as quick as they'll take a terrible one, so you shouldn't feel bad about being taken in.
The best thing you can do is write a new book, get yourself a harsh beta reader to tell you what needs to be fixed about it, and then look up some legit agents. You can start with Agent Query or Query Tracker, then take the names you find there and check them out here in bewares and background checks and/or Preditors and Editors.
Have a look around. There's a lot of great information here and a ton of helpful people that will give you a nudge in the right direction. They still put up with me and I've downright pestered a couple of them.
The best thing you can do is write a new book, get yourself a harsh beta reader to tell you what needs to be fixed about it, and then look up some legit agents. You can start with Agent Query or Query Tracker, then take the names you find there and check them out here in bewares and background checks and/or Preditors and Editors.
Have a look around. There's a lot of great information here and a ton of helpful people that will give you a nudge in the right direction. They still put up with me and I've downright pestered a couple of them.
No problem. It happens.
A word of warning about the PA forums - there is a LOT of info. And I do mean a lot! You're not the only one to get sucked in, and it's not the end of the world that it happened to you. You'll see.
So, like I said, check it out - ask questions - introduce yourself - tell us a little bit about you. And make yourself comfy. Coffee's fresh, company's good, and in no time, you'll feel right at home.
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Thank You everyone for your kind advice, I haven't even been with PA a year, if this letter won't work they can expect one or two from me every week, until they get tired of me,I would love to make their life miserable. I won't be buying any books, need to save the money for certified letters. They will not make a dime off of me. Also I think somethings up with them, all PA titles,the last time I looked were not available on B & N, also Amazon has no available PA titles, I haven't checked Booksamillion yet, don't know what going on , but red flags are popping up all over. This is good, don't want them to succeed and hurt any other authors. Also does anyone know who Lightning Source is?
Lightning Source is merely a printer. Even they're being sued and countersuing PA. At least Lightning Source is professional. PA is not.
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PA has changed to Baker & Taylor as a book distributor and it will take a bit of time to get information changed in computer databases. Infocenter made a post about this on the PA message board.
1. WELCOME!
2. Don't worry. Loads of people have been duped by PA. They would not still be in operation if they did not continue to get people in.
3. read the bords. We are a helpful buch and there is loads of information here.
4. I am with the others. its sad but, forget you ever wrote that book. For get it. Write a new book and start over
2. Don't worry. Loads of people have been duped by PA. They would not still be in operation if they did not continue to get people in.
3. read the bords. We are a helpful buch and there is loads of information here.
4. I am with the others. its sad but, forget you ever wrote that book. For get it. Write a new book and start over
Oh, thats too bad, I was getting happy, maybe they were going out of business, but ...they would just come back, same thing, different name. Tomorrow I am going to start to email them. If I can figure out how to post everything I will put it on AW. if its going to take a while, I might as well start tomorrow. I will take my name off of all author websites, also, I have someone who has endorsed the book, he's really popular among horsemen, should I write him and tell him what has happened, and hopefully someday he will endorse another of my books?
It's possible. Once scammers have hit on a formula that works, they tend to keep using it.
The main things we can do are spread the word, make sure writers searching for information can find it, and support those who have been taken for a ride.
The books disappearing from online stores is bad for the authors but great for PA. Most of its profits come from sales to authors, and authors certainly don't need to order their books through Amazon or B&N. Plus, authors who are bilked or who don't receive the books they paid for have fewer resources and are easier to deal with than readers/customers in the same position.
Someone else will have to address the question of alerting the person who endorsed your book, so I'll just close by welcoming you to AW!
PA says no Pink Slip !
Well PA says no termination of contract. I will just go in a sit in a corner and cry, NOT ! I told them I really didn't care, but expect my non-renewal letter in the mail. I don't have the funds to promote this venture anymore, which I don't . I just wanted a logical reason why not? I told them not to do it out of spite or malice. There is really no reason to keep me, if its not making any money, just give me a good reason why they want me so bad, and not to do it just because they can!! I guess appealing to their conscience is too much to ask.
This venture was like a small business, like any small business, if its not showing a profit, you get out of business. Even IRS says you have to show a profit after so many years, or get out. So, in that prospective, the book is broke, I'm broke, time to tie up lose ends, which I am trying to do by terminating my contract and put up a sign "went out of business."
Well PA says no termination of contract. I will just go in a sit in a corner and cry, NOT ! I told them I really didn't care, but expect my non-renewal letter in the mail. I don't have the funds to promote this venture anymore, which I don't . I just wanted a logical reason why not? I told them not to do it out of spite or malice. There is really no reason to keep me, if its not making any money, just give me a good reason why they want me so bad, and not to do it just because they can!! I guess appealing to their conscience is too much to ask.
This venture was like a small business, like any small business, if its not showing a profit, you get out of business. Even IRS says you have to show a profit after so many years, or get out. So, in that prospective, the book is broke, I'm broke, time to tie up lose ends, which I am trying to do by terminating my contract and put up a sign "went out of business."
I'm sorry to hear that, but not really surprised.
The best thing you can do (aside from making sure that non-renewal letter gets out) is to put it behind you and get back to your next project.
The best thing you can do (aside from making sure that non-renewal letter gets out) is to put it behind you and get back to your next project.
Jersey Girl , I was prepared for them to say that, I really didn't expect them to release me. Only a company with good business sense would understand how a "real" business should be run, from what I have heard, they are "pretending to be a real business" and don't understand how a "real" business should be run, I checked their, BBB standings, of course, they are not a member, but BBB in Maryland has given them an "F" rating. That is the lowest you can get by them, that was no surprise either. I made a copy of it to mail to them, with my non-renewal letter and that is public record, so they can't say I made that up to make them look bad. They did that themselves, by practicing bad business, and they have no intentions of changing, I wonder if they went to the same business school the CEO's of all the failing banks went to, they had no conscience either!
I am currently trying to get out of my contract right now, telling them I will not buy nor promote, nor will any more of my friends buy or promote. All because they said my book would be discontinued if I didn't buy four copies, and use the code to activate softcovers.
Thanks (Arigato!) I am currently speaking with Virtual Tales, Paladin books, The Wild Rose Press, Writer's-Exchange, and eHarlequin about doing some publishing with them. So far, I've seen nothing wrong. I've also googled them, and only found positive feedback on them.
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