Depressed, please lend advice?

enchantedfire5 · Sep 2, 2009

My manuscript has AMAZINGLY (pun intended) been accepted at the oh so wonderful PublishAmerica, but now I have discovered the VILE this company holds. I did not sign any contract yet, but I sent an email claiming that I agreed with their contract and asked them to send me the real contract that I could sign, but as of yet, I did not sign ANYTHING! So, I am all right and safe still right?

I was tempted to sign it, to see my book in print, but, the horror stories are just too many, I knew it was too good to be true.

I just want to know that I am ok, even though I sent them my manuscript, and said i agreed to their terms and wanted to sign the contract, only, I never signed anything.

I have been denied by agents twice now, so PA sounded promising, but, never in a million years now.

DeadlyAccurate · Sep 2, 2009

If you haven't signed the contract, they can't legally hold you to anything. ETA: I'm not a lawyer.

I have been denied by agents twice now, so PA sounded promising, but, never in a million years now.

You mean you've only queried two agents, or you've queried dozens of agents over two books? Two is nothing. I've gotten more than that in one day. Many writers get dozens of rejections before landing an agent. My 4th manuscript got seventy before I landed a well-respected agent, and that book still hasn't sold. Publishing is about perseverance, not quick wins.

enchantedfire5 · Sep 2, 2009

DeadlyAccurate said:
If you haven't signed the contract, they can't legally hold you to anything. ETA: I'm not a lawyer.

You mean you've only queried two agents, or you've queried dozens of agents over two books? Two is nothing. I've gotten more than that in one day. Many writers get dozens of rejections before landing an agent. My 4th manuscript got seventy before I landed a well-respected agent, and that book still hasn't sold. Publishing is about perseverance, not quick wins.

Oh wow, seventy? Perseverance I guess. I will continue to query. And yes, I recently sent out five queries and got two of them back, both rejections.

Cyia · Sep 2, 2009

Sheesh, two is nothing. when it gets to 200, then you can worry about the book

Yay you for figuring out your book deserves better

ChristineR · Sep 2, 2009

If you didn't sign anything, you're no worse off than you were.

Getting an agent and a commercial publisher is almost always the right choice, but if you really want to give up and print it yourself, look at Lulu or Createspace. They're a little like PA, but not mean and nasty. But your book will not be in bookstores unless you can convince a friendly manager to put it in the "Local Interest" section.

ResearchGuy · Sep 2, 2009

enchantedfire5 said:
. . . as of yet, I did not sign ANYTHING! So, I am all right and safe still right?. . .

I agree with others. If you have not signed anything, they have no rights to your book. You might want to send them a note that you have changed your mind and will not sign the contract, but thanks anyway. Be polite.

Let me recommend that you read the Writer's Digest Press book (published in 2007 I believe) titled How I Got Published. Well worth your time.

As for Lulu and CreateSpace -- hold off. For a long time. Both are useful (and nothing like PublishAmerica, contrary to what someone else said, except that all use "print on demand" methods), but only when you know exactly why you are making that choice and have fully explored alternatives and exhausted the better ones (normal commercial publishing, first and foremost).

For an overview of the varieties of publishing, my booket The Pursuit of Publishing: An Unvarnished Guide for the Perplexed might be helpful. But the "homework" is an essential part of it, so don't blow that off. It is only about 15,000 words, including annotated references, and I've gotten good responses to it from readers. Free pdf. No gimmicks -- just my attempt to summarize the sorts of things I have talked with writers about for years and have learned from observing writing and publishing.

--Ken

Bartholomew · Sep 2, 2009

GRATS!

DaveKuzminski · Sep 3, 2009

At this point, you could send PA a tone letter for their rotten contract and demand an apology because they wasted your time.

enchantedfire5 · Sep 3, 2009

Thanks everyone!

tlblack · Sep 3, 2009

PA can't do anything with your ms without a signed contract. If I were you, I'd send them a "no thank you, I'd rather chew nails" denial of their contract email, then block their address and lose their phone number. Odds are good that they will contact you several times trying to convince you to sign that contract. On the other hand, if you are curious as to how many times they will contact you in an effort to get that contract, by all means, ignore everything I just said, except the "no thank you" part.

Btw, welcome to AW. You'll find more info here about writing than just about anywhere else and you can also share your work to get feedback, find beta readers to give you input on your ms, as well as dive into query letter hell so that you can write the best possible letter to gain an agents interest. Writing the book was the easy part.

Marian Perera · Sep 3, 2009

tlblack said:
On the other hand, if you are curious as to how many times they will contact you in an effort to get that contract, by all means, ignore everything I just said, except the "no thank you" part.

Maybe something like, "No, thank you, I heard that PublishAmerica tried to sell frames for royalty checks to its authors" or "No thank you, if I wanted to participate in an online auction I'd go to eBay".

ResearchGuy · Sep 3, 2009

tlblack said:
. . . I'd send them a "no thank you, I'd rather chew nails" denial of their contract email. . . .

I'd advise against that. A simple "No, thanks, I've changed my mind" will suffice. And of course, sign nothing. There is no need (and no benefit) to be antagonistic in that note.

--Ken

merrihiatt · Sep 3, 2009

Welcome enchantedfire5! :welcome:

Whew! You didn't sign the contract! I'm not a lawyer either; however, if you have not signed a legal document giving PA the rights to publish/print your book, you're still golden!

I agree with the others who said to simply send a "No, thank you" letter. You may choose to specify why you have decided not to sign with PA or simply decline their offer.

I'm shooting for 50 rejections of my next novel, minimum.

JulieB · Sep 3, 2009

merrihiatt said:
I'm shooting for 50 rejections of my next novel, minimum.

I like your attitude. But you know, if you get an acceptance sooner, I hope you'll swallow your pride. ;-)

merrihiatt · Sep 3, 2009

JulieB, I'd be happy to swallow my pride and hope, hope, hope not to receive 50 rejections. It's just a number I chose so I wouldn't give up when I receive rejection letters. I like your optimism!!!!

Ulee_Lhea · Sep 11, 2009

Welcome enchantedfire5! Talk about an eleventh hour rescue. It's fantastic that you caught their gig in time.

As others have said, two rejections is far from the end of all hope. Keep on researching and submitting. To keep sane during the process, work on your next book. Best of luck to you!

Gillhoughly · Sep 11, 2009

Two rejections is just getting your feet wet. I had more than 25 before I started getting nibbles on my first book.

Each time it came back I'd tear into it and try to figure out what was holding it back.

And I began writing the next book to keep my head from exploding during the wait.

I had two more finished when I got a call from a publisher.

They bought the first book and the other two besides--right off the slush pile!

So stay at it!

ResearchGuy · Sep 17, 2009

Gillhoughly said:
Two rejections is just getting your feet wet. I had more than 25 before I started getting nibbles on my first book.. . .

One of the authors written up in How I Got Published (a book I highly recommend to aspiring authors) was writing book #13 when #5 sold, her first sale to a publisher.

--Ken

Carlene · Sep 17, 2009

Sheesh - TWO? I've been querying for a year and have about 85 rejections - so far. I have partials out and a couple of fulls and....I keep querying! Never give up - NEVER!

Carlene

megoblocks · Sep 22, 2009

Maybe I'm just really sick in the head, but after my first few rejections (of which I was heart broken and terrified of) I actually started liking sending out queries to see if I would get the dreaded form rejection. There was a certain fun to thinking, "I wonder how long it will take for them to say no on this". Course, it was just a heart stopper when query #2398472957984754 came back with "Yeah, lemme see the partial / full".

As above, don't ever stop. Certainly not with 2. But do be sure to visit the query help board and have people look your letter & synopsis over.

Depressed, please lend advice?

enchantedfire5

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

enchantedfire5

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

ChristineR

What happened?

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon

Bartholomew

Comic guy

DaveKuzminski

Preditors & Editors

enchantedfire5

tlblack

nothing simple here

Marian Perera

starting over

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon

merrihiatt

Writing! Writing! Writing!

JulieB

I grow my own catnip

merrihiatt

Writing! Writing! Writing!

Ulee_Lhea

Fear no darkness.

Gillhoughly

Grumpy writer and editor

ResearchGuy

Resident Curmudgeon

Carlene

New kid, be gentle!

megoblocks