Publish America scam
64Literary agents
self publishing
Publish America scam Part two:
I found a great blog that was written back in 2005, I guess publish America has been scamming for great a few years now. (advice find a literary agent for your book).
Larry Clopper is the master mind behind this revolutionary scam that has ultimately made his wealth with desperate writers like myself. He writes that his company is dedicated to helping rejected disappointed customers. Clopper being in our so called shoes before his great publish America idea. The Washington post has a great article on Larry Clopper's life of hopeless dreams. In this article an author was used as the main theme (one of many of us). This author has been writing since high school and wanted to see her words in print as all of us do. A friend referred her to Publish America and she went on the venture. After the great news, celebrating the idea of being a published author then you ger the whopping one dollar advance hey don't quit your jobs yet. I guess publish America thinks a dollar is all it takes to hook us. This poor author received her grammatical error book along with the contract.When she went to borders to schedule a book signing and they told her this was not going to happen because she was a POD author her dream came tumbling down.
Why do we turn to a company that promises so much only to deliver broken dreams. Why because we are writers. Writers with dreams and those dreams are what make us or brake us. The hope of seeing our words bound by leather or paper in a book is what keeps the wheel turning,. I will share what I have done since publish America shamed me. I got right up dust myself off and went on writing.
I have a children's book on lulu.com I am working on more children's books and working on my novels. I submit my stories to agents I have editors who fix my typos for pennies on the dollar and I do it for myself. Not for anyone else and I don't care how hard they say it will be.
Join a critique group this is an affordable way to know the truth about what we love our written babies. A true friend is one who tells you that the big pink bow doesn't go well with the yellow polka dotted dress. Enter your self published book in contests. writers digest.com has great self publish book contests.
Amazon has there own lulu style self publishing; the best part is it's amazon and as someone whom buys plenty of books on Amazon that's marketing within it's self. So again don't let the dealers wheel you get up and never ever give up that's what sets the winners from the losers.
As one of my favorite contesting gals had up on her wall.
THE HARDER I TRY>
THE LUCKIER I GET.
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I have 3 books with PA. I also follow the rule "Money flows to the Author". I tried Dorrance and Rose Dog first but if you're like me...Retired and no extra $5k to spend it's as good as any other snake pit to play in. August is royalty check month (We'll see if a lawyer and a call to the IRS is needed), and my 2nd book hit # 20 in the UK. I know that 2 of the people at PA have actually read my books and 1 even helped me with editing and grammar. The rest are mad at me. I still haven't given them a cent...I'm not fond of PA and still door knocking for a decent publisher and agent. I know the value of getting in with a good agent and casting company from my time as an actor. It applies in writing too!
Here is my 2 cents worth. First of all if you are a first time author like me and you do not have the money to have your book printed, then like me you may want to go with Publish America (for that reason)
If you know how to sell anything on your own and you believe in your project then who better to pick up the phone and call book stores than the Author themselves. I have done it with Borders and it works believe it or not.
As well if you have any creativeness to you at all you can think of other markets in which your book should be advertised (For Free) and get on the internet writing press releases, sending emails and also calling small book stores.
There are a TON of things an Author can do if they are not "Too Good or Too Lazy" to put their finger to anything besides writing the story itself. I am doing it so I know. On my facebook alone I have sold many books just this week!
Sometimes in life you have to "Take The Reins" and make things happen. Or you can just sit on your couch writing more and more books that may never even get to the printing process, all for what? To look at them in a box all of your life? Having done nothing with them!
I had NOTHING to loose. Yes they send emails about this promotion and that but guess what? I IGNORE THEM and go about MY BUSINESS of selling my books my way.
At least I have a book in print to buy!
There are pros and cons about every publisher. If you know anything about publishing at all, you would know that NO PUBLISHER will give your book extra attention until it has SOLD 5000 copies. So that means that YOU have to get on the horn, get on the net and do what you can to sell those 5000 copies. I have known a Literary Agent for over 15 years who is hooked up with Random House, Doubleday, and many more places. He represented MANY HUGE books such as "Let's Roll" a New York Times Best Seller and guess what he told me to do?
To either Self-Publish or go to a small house like I did with Publish America and be writing another book while I am selling 5000 copies of this one. Once I have sold those copies, then present my new book to a larger publisher with the success of my last book, then they will take notice. Or I could come back to him and let him represent me at that time.
Then he went on to tell me a title he has for a book, asking me if I wanted to write it with one of his writers and pay $5000 for him to represent HIS OWN BOOK TITLE that I WOULD WRITE! THIS MAN IS A HUGE PERSON IN THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY!
I declined and took his advice to go with a small publishing house.
So far Publish America has done all they have agreed to for me and I am happy with them. But then again I do NOT have any extra expectations from them because I do know how to sell and market my own book for free. All I really need is for them to print it.
So once again if you can not afford to have your book printed but you believe enough in your own project that you can convince others to buy it once it's printed, then I would say go with Publish America and be in control of your own destiny and work your way up like Stephen King did.
My book is available on over 2000 web sites world wide
I have given out over 1000 cards from people who want to buy my book. My last royalty statement had 3 sales for a whole year. One for $10.17..My lawyer sent a demand letter to PA.
Some one is making lots of money on my book and its not me. Any one consider contacting the IRS and having them colllect the taxes they have not paid, People can go to jail for stuff like this...bummer
I just sent an e-mail to PA then I saw this, guess what? Xlibris is just as sorry. I know i have sold more then 6 books come on i got more family and frinds than 6
Hi, I was thinking about going with Kindle for my next book. What do you think. Is it legal.
I really don't know how the they went around theirown binding contract. They sent me an email I refused to change my charcters name and they told me the deal was off a few months later they sent me my manuscript.
@daisyf1305--
I noticed on a forum, in which you commented that you said PA threw your contract out. How? Please help. My book hasn't gone to press yet. I haven't even seen the proofs. Please help, if you're able.
I say yes to the lawsuit idea..I'm on board! I recommend Lulu.com as well, I have had no problems, my fans are able to order directly from Lulu, from Amazon, and my own personal websites, and I set my own price for my books, keep 100% royalties, I don't need an editor because I can edit my own work and I edit the work of my friends and fellow writers. I love Lulu!
Wow Harry that would be awesome, but who do we call how do we do it. I still have my contract and my manuscript is in my hands. They still send me emails on book promoting like they are oblivious how much grief they had me go through. ANthing that can be done to stop these dwellers would be awesome.
Thanks for the posting. Unfortunately I read it too late and I am now a confirmed member of the 'duped by Larry Clopper' club. Has anyone considered a class action lawsuit for breach of contract? I'd be willing to support such a move. Lots of unemployed lawyers out there who might take the case for a cut of the award. I don;t see how we could lose. Thanks Harry knick4321@yahoo.com
Wow Bill great comments loud and clear you are more than in your power to stand behind Publish America but I read my contract not once or twice. I sent it to my agent and found out that no where did it say they were in their power to change my book after the contract was signed. They declare they are better than any publisher because you are right they publish any crap, but the thing is we have dreams and if we let co. like publish America stomp on our dreams well they are just not worth real hard working writers time. In a writer seminar I went I found LULU and they don't promise anything all they do is print your work it is up to you the writer to tweak, revise and perfect, and it is also up to me to sell my work. So why should I sign my rights away to a co. that is not going to do squat for me or my book. HELLO!!!!! You are better off with a POD co. That at least will not take away your rights like PA will.
Bill that is a load of crap. I was with publishamerica for a year. Within that year, they said they were not doing my book 3 times. The first time, I took a nervous breakdown. Those 2 men running that whole is authors their selves. They are out to do harm to other writers.
You can see all my books on amazon under Marlene Thornton, and not one is through Publishfarce. That is exactly what that dump is.
After reading Daisy's and others comments about Publish America I can come to only one conclusion. They either didn't read the contract they signed with Publish America or were not sufficently educated to understand it. I found the contract to be very clear when I signed it and I also found Publish America very fair in my dealings with them. I, and I'll bet those who are complaining so loudly have not sold many books. I, of course, am very disappointed but the lack of sales is no fault of anyone other than my self. Publish America never promised to "Sell my book for me". Read your contract folks: Quit your bitching and get to work. If you have written a book worth reading and you work at finding your market it will sell but it is up to you.
You are correct Lance they are not American way they are the me greedy way. The president says he was in our shoes once if he was or wasn't he saw an opportunity to take people like us for granted. A lawyer I spoke to gave me the best advice ever he said:
Daisy if it sounds to good to be true 98.9% of the time it is just that, too good to be true.
DO NOT I repeat DO NOT get yourself mixed up with Publish America! They are scandalous crooks that will screw you for every penny they can. There is nothing American about Publish America beyond the fact that they are located in the USA.
Publish America is the biggest scam in the publishing industry! This Publish on demand (POD) company has been misleading authors for years. They claim to be traditional publishers, which is a total LIE. This company has made bundles of money off new gullible authors by publishing their books and selling them back at discounted rates to the authors. They do no conduct any promotions or distributions, even if the authors facilitate it. The alleged promotions are paid for by the authors when they buy their own books. No one will actually ever know if these promotions have actually taken place. PA's representatives are only addressed by first name or anonymously as "Publish America support." It takes miracle for them to get back to you with the simplest question. Most book stores will not carry Publish America books, because they equate PA to any other self-publishing house or worse. It also takes over two months to receive a book after you order it from Publish America.
Their royalty statements are vague and inaccurate. You will never know how many books your book has sold, unless you hire a private investigator. They can basically do whatever they want. This is an unethical and integrity free company. You are better off being unpublished than being stuck with this alleged publisher. Review the innumerable complaints against this company on the internet. It is truly a publishing mill that will publish anything they receive. They actually have an electronic editor that will keep your book filled with mistakes. You better hire an editor before you approve your final transcript assuming that you will decide to go with this scandalous company. Ironically, their representatives are taught to defend their scams, and they pretend to have pride and ethics. Publish America is truly the biggest scam in publishing history! It's so big that many other scam artists have started their own POD publishing houses.
Beware!!! Research this publisher before you submit your transcript.
- http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?search_forum=-1&search_cat=2&show_results=topics&r
my book my guardian angel
self publish
fahmeed 2 months ago
Any one consider contacting the IRS and having them colllect the taxes they have not paid, People can go to jail for stuff like this...bummer.
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