PublishAmerica (aka PA, aka AmErica House): A vanity press with a poor contract. Numerous writer complaints. Author mill and plagiarist. Strongly not recommended. "A royalty publisher capable of offering publishing contracts to all varieties of authors. Royalties paid, no fees ever charged, no agents required." Claimed in an Associated Press article that it pays an advance up to $1,000.
More information can be found at Writers Net, Absolute Write, Mindsight (be sure to read all the June 2003 archives), The Writer's Den, here, and here. Writers considering this publisher should visit the PublishAmerica forums and read any topics concerning pricing and distribution, though visitors are urged to read quickly as PA frequently deletes topics that show them in a bad light. Writers can visit Scrivener's Error to read the words of an independent lawyer who possesses intellectual property expertise or read an interview in the San Antonio Current dated 6/24/2004, where Miranda Prather, executive director at PublishAmerica, states, "It's a common myth that bookstore placement equals sales." Furthermore, writers have reported that books published by PA are not considered creditable for membership in the RWA, the Author's Guild, and the Writer's Guild. Further information is available in this Washington Post article dated 20 Jan 2005, where Larry Clopper, PA CEO, admits that he and Willem Meiners came up with the phrase "traditional publisher" to differentiate their company from the vanity publishers even though PA is unlike other publishers that charge no fees.
Here are links to other articles on the web detailing facts about PublishAmerica: WNBC.COM Ask Asa, The Frederick News-Post, An Interview with a PA Bestselling Author, and PA's Response to Writers Concerning Bad Publicity by PA's Author Support.
Concerning PublishAmerica, the BBB of Greater Maryland, Inc. has declared as of 2/20/05 that, "Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a pattern of complaints. Complaints generally allege lack of promotion of authors' books and inaccurate record keeping with respect to books sold and commissions due. The company has responded to most complaints but has not responded to others. The number of complaints increased during 2004."
5/9/05: P&E's editor notes that PA has rejoined the BBB as a member in good standing with no complaints against it. Is this the action of an honest publisher when there are still many writers formerly published by PA whose complaints have not been resolved?
New writers may want to check Publish America, Yes or No? for an unbiased comparison of PublishAmerica to other publishers.
PA has stated it prefers communicating by email. If you have questions concerning PublishAmerica, you may want to contact one of the following at PA:
Executive officers:
Larry Clopper (Company President), Willem Meiners (CEO), and Miranda Prather (Executive Director).
Jessica Lewis, Janet Morrissey, and Michele Omran - General Partners.
Employees:
Leah Baird, Sandee Baker, Kate Barnett, Pat Barto, Sarah Becker, Lyn Brennan, Stacy Brown, Selena Brewer, Loretta Burdette, Janis Cadle (Assistant Acquisitions Editor), Walter Chalkley, Victor E. Cretella, III (attorney), Nikol Destatte, Yael Edelstein, Rebecca S. Embree, Briana Finui, Melanie Gorr, Tania Grab, Charles W. Gray (Assistant Acquisitions Editor), Amy Grant, Tressa Grizzle, Kelly Hartman, Donald Harver, Lynn Hasty, Andrea Higgins, Theresa Hummer, Alice King (alleged to have filed false charges against a PA writer for alleged email harrassment.), Jaime Long, Jon Todd Markowitz, Katherine Michaud, Paula Mills, Santo Mirabile, Claudia Nese, Ashley Patterson, Jamie Polychronis, Claudia Prather, Marie Raeder, Holliann Russell (Public Relations), Anthony Saavedra, Danielle Shenos, Nichole Shuman, Darcy Smittenaar (Public Relations, known to send termination letters), Jeni Watterson, Shawn Street (Public Relations), and Bonnie Williamson.
The following are PA email addresses for which a full name isn't available:
Colleen, jeannetteg (pre-production contact), Jessica (Author Support Team), Kelli (Author Support Team), Lily, Marilyn (Author Support), Michelle, Natalie, Sherry (editor), Shawn (possibly Shawn Street) (Author Support), and Amanda.
Crossed out names have been reported by unverified sources as no longer working at PA.
P&E Seeks Publishing Information
If your manuscript was rejected by PublishAmerica, please email P&E so that we can accumulate statistics for use in verifying or refuting that publisher's claims. Your name and the title of any work will remain confidential as a journalistic resource. If you know an author whose work was rejected by PublishAmerica, please ask that author to contact P&E.
The total reported rejected is: 73
Editor's note: Based upon rejection reports at other sites, because most writers are eager to contribute information, this number should be considerably larger even if only one percent of all authors who submitted to PublishAmerica were to report their rejections. PublishAmerica claims to reject eighty percent of what's submitted to them. Based upon PublishAmerica's earlier claims of 10,000 accepted authors (which is now 25,000), that means they rejected at least 40,000 manuscripts. One percent of that would be four hundred.
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Were you published by PublishAmerica and subsequently banned from their forum either formally or by having your password suddenly deactivated?
The total reported banned is: 40
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If you were published by PublishAmerica, have your royalty statements accurately reflected the number of books that you know were ordered?
The total of authors reporting inaccurate statements is: 47
and the total reporting accurate statements is: 3
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If you were published by PublishAmerica, have you since decided you want out of their contract? If you have already been released from their contract, P&E would also like to know.
The total authors reported wanting out is: 65
and the total contracts reported (by email to P&E) terminated is: 20
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If you were published by PublishAmerica, do you feel your book was reasonably priced?
The total reported for Yes is: 0
and for No is: 51
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If you were published by PublishAmerica, do you feel your book was properly edited by PublishAmerica?
The total reported for Yes is: 3
and for No is: 39
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If you were published by PublishAmerica, were you unable to get your books stocked in major bookstores?
The total reported for Able is: 5
and for Unable is: 29
Editor's note: additional inventory numbers are available at the web site of Publish America, Yes or No. (This site is no longer available.)
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If you were published by PublishAmerica, how many copies of your book were sold through PublishAmerica's bookstore and other bookstores? Please include the book title and do not count copies you purchased using your author discount.
The total reported for More than 1000 is: 0
More than 100 is: 2
and for Less than 100 is: 19
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Have you been threatened by the police as a result of PublishAmerica filing false charges or allegations?
The total thus far is: 2
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Total individuals responding to one or more of these questions: 204
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An update to PublishAmerica's NYT Ad Sales Results: In 2004, PublishAmerica informed its authors that the New York Times had approached it with an offer to do something as partners. That turned out to be nothing more than a sales call for an ad which PA agreed to. PA then advised its authors that it would list their top ten selling authors for the month of August in the ad that would premiere in the 19 Sep 04 edition of the NYT.
Well, that ad appeared and there were ten PA published authors listed. However, some research into those authors revealed that their sales appear to have been all self-purchased. How do we know this? Because such information is available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Ingrams, to name a few. In fact, we invite our site visitors to view those statistics for themselves at Absolute Write's Bewares and Background section of their forum.
By the way, if you caught that ad in the NYT, did you notice that ads for other books generally featured the publisher's name in small print and the books in large print? PA's ad featured the two in reverse. Do you think PA needs to learn more about how to market its wares?
PublishAmerica's second NYT ad appeared on 31 Oct 04. As before, the top sellers from PA showed very poor public sales. Statistics for those PublishAmerica top sellers can be found at Absolute Write's Bewares and Background Check. In the meantime, writers should consider this very closely. How can the reading public even order your book if the publisher doesn't put the ISBN in the ad? Do you think PA needs to learn more about how to market its wares?
PublishAmerica's third ad has appeared in the NYT. Like the second ad, it was smaller than what PublishAmerica first claimed it would purchase. Like their second ad, it failed to give enough advertizing to the books rather than the company. Statistics for the new list of top selling PublishAmerica books can be viewed at Absolute Write's Bewares and Background Check. Do you think PA needs to learn more about how to market its wares?
These linked statistics were all researched and compiled by author James D. Macdonald. P&E thanks him on behalf of writers everywhere.
Additionally, in a letter to the Maryland Attorney General's office, PublishAmerica claimed that they spent over $50,000.00 for three half-page ads. In actuallity, PublishAmerica purchased a single half-page ad and a pair of two-fifths of a page ads. Based upon the NYT's ad rates, that comes up to only $46,195.00 in total. Not unexpectedly, PublishAmerica's claim has turned out to be yet another exaggeration on their part.
3/14/05: A response to a writer from Barnes & Noble concerning PublishAmerica books.
Dear Memory McDermott,
Your letter to Mary Ellen Keating was forwarded to me for a response as my
department manages the business relationships Barnes & Noble has with new
start up publishers, and self-published authors, like yourself.
All the titles PublishAmerica produces are available to Barnes & Noble
customers either through orders in the stores, or online via Barnes &
Noble.com (
www.bn.com). The books are printed (on demand) when they are
ordered, and shipped to the customer's home or back to the store for
customer pick up. The terms for Publish America titles are not competitive
in the trade bookstore marketplace: the books are non-returnable, the
discount is not favorable, and most of the titles including Tea for Two
Nature's Apothecary are about $5.00 over the going price for titles in the
category. These factors in combination inform our decision not to stock the
titles in the stores, and for the stores to decide not to do an event with
the titles.
I hope this information is helpful.
Marcella A Smith
Director Small Press & Vendor Relations
Barnes & Noble, Inc
122 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
4/7/05: The New Three Stooges and The POD Squad features a compendium of facts concerning PublishAmerica compiled by a former PA writer.
4/8/05: The Only Thing You Need to Know About PublishAmerica features more facts (with sources) about PublishAmerica.
4/13/05: Once more, PublishAmerica is in the news.
4/21/05: Mug An Author Dot Com teaches the fundamentals of running a simple scam.
4/24/05: Sarashay's Wholly Unoffical PublishAmerica Controversy FAQ gives an outsider's view.
4/24/05: New York Times weighs in on self-publishing.
5/3/05: PublishAmerica Sting gives the story of Atlanta Nights.
5/20/05: Truth About PA teaches advanced principles of running a simple scam.
6/3/05: About Half of Americans Reading a Book according to Gallup Poll while Miranda Prather, executive director at PublishAmerica, states, "It's a common myth that bookstore placement equals sales." Miranda, looks like you're wrong.
6/19/05: Gee! Even Punjabi people can see what's going on around them as evidenced in Onlypunjab.com.
7/14/07: PublishAmerica's lawyer Victor Cretella infringing contract? This is what we've had reported to P&E. According to our source, Vic has infringed upon or is breaching the terms of a contract in regards to the Arbitration clause. So, is this how PA operates? They don't honor their contracts or show any good faith even when it comes to negotiations and arbitration?
7/21/05 - Gee, how low can you go? Evidently, PA can limbo beneath the belly of a snake as evidenced by a recent review that was posted on their site that they edited to reflect a distorted view of what was actually stated. Here are the two versions with the original critical review on the top. By the way, it was deliberately written like that to make a point about PA's lack of editing:
PA made me a Plublished Arthur
Published Arthur Mick
Essex, UK (7/21/2005)
This book is a work of jeanuous. The arthur says why bokstores are no good and PA will slay big publoishers = he even has my name in his book with all the uther arthurs. Like me and my publishedamercan books 'Nobody Abused Me' and the secwel 'Living With Not Being Abused,' Mister Minors went the cheeper no-chellspecker root so you can sea our works on show in bookplaces from see to shinin see qicker., PA sez they resonate and weer eleet arthurs. That:s good enuff for me: my book got the chance it deserved. Best book I've luked at since Ten Per Cent of Nothing
! 
