PA and the Serial Killer...

thothguard51

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Publish America has got to be cringing at this publicity...

Serial Killer Charles Kembo Reportedly Authored Children's Book Available On Amazon and published by Publish America.

http://www.aol.com/2011/11/01/seria...&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl10|sec1_lnk2|109457

According to the article...

Kembo allegedly told Burtinshaw the book sold 14,000 copies in the first two weeks. He also said the book had been optioned for a movie by an American studio, the Province reported.

I guess all his buddies in the big house bought a copy. This has got to be a best seller for PA, if the numbers are true, which I doubt.

Of course, PA and Amazon had no comment, but I suspect Amazon will cease selling the book on their site. They have take books down before because of bad publicity...

This could be a new selling gimick for PA. Big House Press, we want your story and will sell it to all the inmates in the country...in the world. But hurry, this is limited time offer. Add $99. to be listed in the full color broucher we will provide when Larry and Miranda visit the big house. Hopefully in the near future...
 

Chris P

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Link to Huffington Post Story.

His 372-page book sells for $15.95. They must have checked it during the temporary price decline. A book that size usually sells for $29.95.

Why should PA not like the publicity? I'm not suggesting they do, but PA has no vulnerability in the matter and taking the book off Amazon, etc. isn't going to affect sales since nobody buys PA books through Amazon anyway.
 

Sydneyd

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I saw this story earlier and came straight here to see what you all had to say. I checked out the reviews on Amazon and one stuck out to me (part of the review):

"I must say that I only purchased this book because everyone was railing against it."

Really?! I am getting more ideas on how to sell my story if everything else fails...
 

thothguard51

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His Amazon Ranking is 12,253 as of a few minutes ago. His book is obviously selling so PA is going to have to send him his quarterly royalty check...

Still, I wonder what he would do if Publish America withholds his checks. I mean its not like he can show up on their door step and demand his money. He's in Canada and locked up.

I don't blame the guy though for writing or turning to PA to get his book out there. What else has he got to do? I am just surprised that he is able to set all this up. He obviously has Internet access while locked up, which is a lot more than some writers have...

I can only hope he uses whatever money he gets to make some type of restitution to his victims families...
 

IceCreamEmpress

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Kembo allegedly told Burtinshaw the book sold 14,000 copies in the first two weeks. He also said the book had been optioned for a movie by an American studio, the Province reported.

Who would expect a brutal serial killer to lie shamelessly?

Those people on Amazon are some real prizes. "Our greatest authors were pedophiles and worse"? What do you mean, "our", Kemosabe?
 

thothguard51

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I saw that review and just shook my head.

Another reviewer said they rated the book low not because of who he is but because the book was that bad. There is not a sample to pull up so I have no idea what the book is about or what level of editing he did.
 

skylark

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I saw this story earlier and came straight here to see what you all had to say. I checked out the reviews on Amazon and one stuck out to me (part of the review):

"I must say that I only purchased this book because everyone was railing against it."

Really?! I am getting more ideas on how to sell my story if everything else fails...

PA's next offer:

"Send us only $49 and we'll invite 50 people to rail against your book! It's sure to make you a bestseller!"
 

Miselle

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If the book is good, I don't care who he is or what he did. It's an interesting sidebar though and I'm going to snag a copy.
 

Richard White

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A good book from Publish America? Get real...

Ah, ah ,ah . . .

Hate the company not the writer.

You know as well as anyone else that PA will print anything. That means, they can just as easily print a well-written book as a book that really could have used an appointment with an editor.

They don't read them. They just run them through the spell checker, slap a cover on them and ship them out.
 

victoriastrauss

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His Amazon Ranking is 12,253 as of a few minutes ago. His book is obviously selling so PA is going to have to send him his quarterly royalty check...

Right now the ranking is around 34,000 and it ships in 1-3 weeks. Sounds like PA is having some trouble keeping up with demand--not really a surprise.

- Victoria
 

aliceshortcake

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According to the article...

Kembo allegedly told Burtinshaw the book sold 14,000 copies in the first two weeks.

I wonder if Kembo mistook an Amazon rating for the number of books sold? He wouldn't be the first PA author to confuse the two.
 

DreamWeaver

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If it's selling and PA has to print and ship many copies, the whole business becomes too much like work, plus the profit margin is probably quite a bit lower than "pay us $49/$99 to recommend your book to [flavor of the week]," which doesn't require actually printing or shipping any books at all.

Watch for PA to drop this author--it isn't like they don't have about a million completely believable excuses they could use.
 

gotchan

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Does Canada have any sort of Son of Sam law?

As mentioned by JDM, the Son of Sam law merely prevents felons from profiting from their crime. This book is unrelated to the crime.

I don't think we have equivalent statutes, anyway. There have been several cases were as part of the sentence, the judge enjoined the convicted from writing about their crime or selling the rights to their story. This wouldn't be necessary if there was a general prohibition.
 
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Stijn Hommes

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So if he ever gets a parole, he can't get a job or write a book. No chance at a rehabilitation at all. Isn't it a great world we live in?

Don't get me wrong. I don't like the guy, but unless he gets a death sentence, he should have a second chance at life, especially at something as lonely as writing.
 

Terie

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So if he ever gets a parole, he can't get a job or write a book. No chance at a rehabilitation at all. Isn't it a great world we live in?

Don't get me wrong. I don't like the guy, but unless he gets a death sentence, he should have a second chance at life, especially at something as lonely as writing.

No, that's not what it says.

As mentioned by JDM, the Son of Sam law merely prevents felons from profiting from their crime. This book is unrelated to the crime.

He can get a job; he can write a book. He just can't profit from a book written about the crime.

Why on earth should a convicted felon be able to profit from the crime they committed and for which they were convicted? If some creep rapes 15 people or robs shopkeepers or criminally assaults people or whatever, why should he get to profit from a blockbusting bestseller about the crime? Why shouldn't the proceeds go to the victims instead?