This is an interesting article written by a columnist and book reviewer sharing her experience with this publisher. This is the original link to Reverend Sinthyia Darkness' website.
The comments are priceless. I am going to suggest that authors contact this writer and see if we can urge her to write an article about PublishAmerica authors. I just sent mine.
Does PublishAmerica Promote Their Authors?
By Rev. Sinthyia Darkness
If you have considered entering a contract with PublishAmerica, you must also have read some author's complaints about not being paid for books sold or that the publisher does not promote their authors. Author's also claim that they have spent in some cases, thousands of dollars to promote their own books. link
PublishAmerica sends frequent sales pitches to their authors, incentives to get them to buy copies of their books, such as "donations" to Tom Hanks, Steven Speilberg, Wal-Mart and the list goes on. But is any of this true? Many are sceptical.
What happens if a reviewer contacts this publisher about a particular author or a media inquiry in general? Let's face it, media coverage can make or break a writer's career. I have taken note that very few author's published with this company are well reviewed and have heard rumors that reporters and reviewers have refused to review a book published by PublishAmerica. If you know me, I don't follow any trends or pay attention to what anybody else is doing. I do what feels right for me and reviewing authors is right, especially if I can shine the spotlight on an unknown writer.
I visited their website for their review policy and found a statement pertaining to reviews on their website here .
Does PublishAmerica provide complimentary review copies?Can bookstores receive them?
PublishAmerica provides complimentary review copies to legitimate media reviewers who submit their request in writing. As per contract, this is done at our discretion. Please have any potential reviewer e-mail support@publishamerica.com or fax 301-631-9073 with his or her request. If you have any e-mail correspondence with a reviewer, you may also forward that to the above e-mail address.Found on this page PublishAmerica responds to the following issues: number 2.- "PublishAmerica does publicize and promote individual books in many different ways, including sending free copies to reviewers, magazines, newspapers, television, and radio programs. We also do direct mail campaigns, make announcements to major national reviewers and their organizations, attend trade shows, etc, and conduct workshops and discussion groups at these events.These efforts have helped to generate hundreds and hundreds of feature articles and/or reviews about our authors and their books, some of which are posted on our web site."OH REALLY?????
I have an interesting story to add to this controversy. As a news columnist, I contacted PublishAmerica at the email address provided in hopes of interviewing and promoting some of its authors. Every author deserves a break and here I am a member of the press asking their PR department about worthy candidates for an interview. I sent them a letter of inquiry and I did recieve a very polite response last week with an offer to send me several author's Press Releases. Of these, I chose to review for my column, a book that looks most promising titled 'The Order of Spirits by Dr. Larry A King D.B.S. I was looking forward to reading this book, reviewing it and discussing its merits with my congregation. The man from the PR department, in response to my request to review this book, instructed me to contact support@publishamerica with my request. I had initialy contacted that address and my letter was forwarded to the PR Department. Despite this confusion within their company, I again contacted support with my request. The next day, I recieved, to my utter most surprise this letter:
"Thank-you for your request. At this time we are unable to approve your request for a complimentary review copy of the title 'The Order of Spirits' by Dr. Larry A King, D.B.S. If you would like to place an order for this book please visit our online bookstore at http://www.publishamerica.net/ or call our author support team at (301) 695-1707.
Have a nice day,
(name withheld)PublishAmerica supportxxxx@publishamerica.com"
WHAT? The press does not buy their copies to review. Nobody does. Why should we? In all honesty, journalistically speaking, there are no perks in reviewing an author unless its somebody on the NY Times best sellers list. It would have been to this publisher's advantage (and the author's) to provide it for me. But they refused the news media! What really gets me is how they wasted my time. My initail query was sent to support@publishamerica.com. At that point, someone should have responded with sorry but you have to pay us to review our books. Instead, they forwarded my letter to their "PR department" who in the end instructed me to send my request to support, which is what I initially did anyway. Makes no sense to me. This is why you never see a PublishAmerica book reviewed. Nice, eh? Traditional publishers do send out review copies and I have a stack of them right here from other publishers that I will be reviewing instead. I bet you authors, if you buy 12 copies, they would be willing to donate a copy to me..I responded to this shocking email when I could finally lift my jaw up off the floor. I asked them why they were denying books to the news media and reminded them that reviewers do not pay for their books to review (IMO, author's shouldn't either. The impression I was given is that this publisher does not care about having their books reviewed and is unwilling to make an investment in their authors, but more than willing to sell copies to reviewers and authors. PublishAmerica is is sending out press releases (more than likely written by the authors themselves) at the bottom of these releases, they add the same misleading content:"PublishAmerica is a traditional publishing company whose primary goal is to encourage and promote the works of new, previously undiscovered writers. Like more mainstream publishers, PublishAmerica pays its authors advances and royalties, makes its books available in both the United States and Europe through all bookstores. PublishAmerica offers a distinctly personal, supportive alternative to vanity presses and less accessible publishers."Don't believe a word of this. They are not encouraging. As this article points out, they do not promote their authors. In fact, denying them the chance for media coverage is sabotage. Notice their careful wording here "through all bookstores," is much different than "in all bookstores."I found this little gem on their website, herethey are giving marketing advice! Considering they are limiting their author's chances of success, I find it interesting that they are giving out advice. " If you get reviewed in the paper, announce the review, which paper it appeared in, and put the entire review online." Shout it to the world, because it would be miraculous indeed.
Further reading:The great PublishAmerica seat auction!
2 comments:
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.
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.
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