"Myth: bookstores don't want books if they're not returnable.
Bust: I'm looking at yesterday's bookstore sales report... ah, let me see, one moment... it's from Ingram, the nation's number one book wholesaler, reporting on PublishAmerica books sold to bookstores. Hold on one second, I want to add up how many of these are returnable.
Ah, none are returnable.
Now, how many PublishAmerica books did Ingram yesterday say were bought by bookstores?
651."
I was floored when I read this statment in one of the more recent letters by PublishAmerica's CEO. For years, authors who question the number of books sold and or their royalty money were told as per their contact, they could inspect accounting records at any time. However, when it came time to send the auditor, PA told them their accounting practices are very vague, therefore, the claimant (author) would not see anything that would prove if the royalty statements were correct or not. Authors have been advised that they would be looking at nothing more than what they sent in their royalty statement and furthermore, PublishAmerica supposedly had no record of exactly who purchased books and that would include any purchases made by bookstores!
This quote came from their "royalties department" dated 5/01/2006.
"You should know that information concerning who bought your books will not be provided. Such information is not recorded at all by anyone, including bookstores, and we therefore are not, and could not, be given this information. As for purchases made directly through PublishAmerica, we list the quantities, but we do not have the information to divulge who made the purchases. No book publisher is capable of doing that."- Jessica Royalties@PublishAmerica.com
No publisher is capable of doing that- words directly from PublishAmerica's accounting department. Now either Mr. Meiners pulled the number 651 out of thin air, or PublishAmerica's accounting department had been lying to authors for years who asked for their money.
Looks like the only one busted here is PublishAmerica.
May 29, 2012
Good morning!
It's mythbusting day!
Myth: bookstores don't want books if they're not returnable.
Bust: I'm looking at yesterday's bookstore sales report... ah, let me see, one moment... it's from Ingram, the nation's number one book wholesaler, reporting on PublishAmerica books sold to bookstores. Hold on one second, I want to add up how many of these are returnable.
Ah, none are returnable.
Now, how many PublishAmerica books did Ingram yesterday say were bought by bookstores?
651.
More after this book review, Qiosha by Diane Damerau (ddamerau@gmail.com):
Tommy and Linda convince their older sister Joan to take an exit off of the highway that they’ve never taken before. Turns out it's a road that miraculously leads to the planet Qiosha. In Qiosha, water is a precious commodity that only comes from the sky. The children are given wands, which they can control with their minds. Tommy, Linda, and Joan utilize energy to teleport objects, transform rocks into food, and create drinkable water out of water vapor in the air. They also give the villagers of Qiosha a temporary gift—a swimming pool. Their combined energy brings joy and hope to a planet that barely held on after a meteorite had destroyed most of it.
The brave and adventurous trio discover that it is possible to transport back to Earth, and home they go. In their classes that school year, Tommy, Linda, and Joan discover a method for keeping the planet of Qiosha healthy and populated. They travel back once more to pass on their knowledge. A friendship develops, and the fate of a planet in peril is decided by three young children.
Find Qiosha here: http://www.publishamerica.net/product19441.html.
Here's an iron law in economics: a vendor will stock a product if they are confident that it will sell. If they're not confident, they won't stock it. Keeping an inventory is expensive, and bookstores have (very!) limited shelf space. I added the "(very!)" because most publishers don't even have access to a store's front tables and most prominent shelf corners. The big publishers pay big bucks to reserve those spots. And for the sake of simplicity I'm ignoring the 4 miles of extra shelf space that a bookstore would need to somehow add every year, just to keep up with all newly released books. Not happening.
It requires labor and time to move inventory, and eventually overstocks must be removed, at administrative and shipping expenses. To make this picture worse, bookstores must pay restocking fees to the wholesaler.
Therefore bookstores are reluctant, as in: very reluctant, to stock books that they think won't sell. Whether they can or cannot return unsold books to a wholesaler makes little to no difference. Discarding unsold inventory costs money, period. And money is tight.
So what does that number 651 tell us? That bookstores nationwide believed 651 times that a PublishAmerica book will sell. So they bought it from us, through the wholesaler. It's a done deal. No returns. And that's just yesterday.
Now, I can already see those emails coming from some of you. They will tell me that their local Barnes and Noble store refused to stock their book, and that the reason the clerk gave them was that the book is non-returnable. My response: the clerk made it up. He or she gave you an easy excuse. Maybe they even showed you an internal email that a superior gave them to use as a prop in such situations. But that's all it is, a prop, a pacifier. Their real reason: rightly or wrongly they don't believe that your book will sell in their store. Returnability is not their real reason. No bookstore manager ever thinks, I can't sell this book because it's non-returnable.
Why am I so confident that I'm right? Because I'm looking at the numbers, as I have been doing for many years now. Last week's numbers report that Barnes and Noble stores ordered our books 64 times. In each case the store was confident that the book would sell. And when I look a little closer, it appears that in at least seven instances books were ordered for an in-store book signing. Each time, the Barnes and Noble store clerk or manager made that iron-law decision: they believed the book would sell, so they ordered and paid for it. Actually, Barnes and Noble stores did this 255 times, this month alone. None of these books are returnable.
Here's a nice little caveat for you to ponder. When we say that a book is non-returnable, it only indicates that a bookseller cannot return it to Ingram or another wholesaler. But we always tell them that if they order the book directly from us, they receive not only a better discount, but also they actually may return unsold copies to us. Books that bookstores order directly from PublishAmerica are returnable.
How often has a bookstore returned unsold books to us this year so far? Once.
So let's put this "book returnability is good for sales" fairy tale to bed. It's meaningless. Bookstore managers are not stupid, least of all in this economy. Oftentimes they see a PublishAmerica book, or a PublishAmerica author, they quickly weigh pros and cons, and they make a decision. It is what you do too, any time you're shopping. You see a product, and you weigh: is obtaining this thing benefiting me or not? If it does, you buy it. If it doesn't, you don't. The bookstore manager follows the same logic.
Some booksellers tell you the truth about it. Others are not so good at breaking bad news. So they hide behind the returnability excuse.
And that is all it is: an excuse.
Next time: Book returns, part 2.
I invite you to talk back to me. I don't guarantee a response, but I do guarantee that we listen. You can reach me by email at ceoletter@publishamerica.com. In the subject line write Attn. Willem.
Have a wonderful day!
--Willem Meiners
If you want to rent space on Willem's future Letters-from-the-CEO, go to www.publishamerica.net/service/Willem.html. Have your book reviewed for tens of thousands of people to see, or talk into the open mic!
All previous letters are here: www.publishamerica.net/ceoarchives.
PubliSHAMErica- SHAME is our middle name!
Showing posts with label publish america scams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publish america scams. Show all posts
Sunday, June 17, 2012
PublishAmerica's CEO doesn't think his company charges enough for shipping
PublishAmerica Scam has recieved many complaints about PublishAmerica's outrageous shipping charges. Guess what? Willem Meiners, their CEO published this letter claiming that the company isn't charging enough in shipping fees! This by the way, was Mr. Meiners' last address before the lawsuit was filed and summons served. If I were him, I would cease publishing these letters but I know he won't because they are charging authors $69.00 for a vanity "review" in them. None of these blurbs are a review by any stretch of the imagination. Even if they were, it is meaningless because it is common knowledge that the author bought their review and a real review points out the positives and the negatives.
This is the link to the letter that is published on the company's website.
June 12, 2012
Good morning!
I received this question from author Charles Blazek: "Why does PublishAmerica require authors to choose a shipping option on items that don't involve shipping anything?" He's talking about promotion services. They require choosing a "shipping option".
It's a valid question.
Especially since shipping isn't what it used to be, although you're probably surprised to hear that more than 90 pct of all international trade is still carried by real ships. How many? There are more than 102,000 merchant ships sailing the world's waters. They carry much of what you eat, of what you sit on and sleep in, and of what you wear.
But shipping a book, or a promotion service? Where's the boat?
More after this book review, Horses Who Eat Potatoes and Other Truer-than-Life Stories of “The Other Family Doctor” by Corry Key(info@horsemenofarkansas.org):
Corry Key’s decision to become a veterinarian wasn’t something she ever had to think about. After welcoming her very first horse into her heart at 15, she was hooked, and that solidified her decision to spend her life looking after animals and their health. Beginning her veterinary journey in Arkansas, Corry saw animals in situations where they should have been yanked away from owners. Many times she was forced to turn her back to things she couldn’t control, including dealing with owners who were a whole lot less friendly than their animals.
The majority of Corry’s patients were horses. She recalls with warm fondness the many patients she’s had over the years and the impact they have had on her. Each experience pushed her forward in her career and endeared her to horses even more. They marked milestones in her life, especially that black stallion that no one thought could be tamed. After facing uncertainty and a struggle with infertility, Corry was able to push through and give birth to two children who also share her love for animals. This book is a testament to courage, determination and fulfillment.
Find Horses Who Eat Potatoes here: www.publishamerica.net/product39735.html.
Publishers rarely ship stuff. Occasionally we do, when we fulfill a faraway foreign order that needs to go on a boat, but that doesn't happen very often. Other foreign shipments travel by plane. And the bulk of our books are transported by truck, on the road. Unless Fedex or UPS use their planes to cover part of the distance. But we're pretty sure that they don't use ships.
So why is everybody still talking about shipping when we're really trucking or flying? And why transporting anything at all when the customer receives a service, and not a product?
Shipping as another word for delivering is now widely understood to include more than just moving a package from point A to B. The term also covers handling, packaging and the administrative processing of an order. Handling is another word for labor, real people who spend time on working on the order, which typically involves more than one individual. These folks are paid a salary, and that's an expense that is passed on to the customer.
The same is true for packaging. Boxes, styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, air pouches all cost money, and the customer pays. Administration: there's a clerk somewhere who enters and oversees a work flow. No matter how much you automate production, there's an actual human who is made responsible for signing off on the process. It involves a salary, and it's passed on to the customer.
When you add it all up, it's actually amazing that the customer pays as little for shipping as they do, given that it also includes the long-distance transportation and delivery. The real story here is this: by paying that shipping fee, consumers generally only contribute to the actual shipping, handling, packaging and processing expense. The rest of what fulfilling an order actually costs is passed on to the consumer through the price of the product.
Rule of thumb: the lower a product price, the higher the shipping fee. The opposite is also true: the lower the shipping fee, the higher the product price. There's no such thing as free shipping in the world. If it says "free shipping", something else has become more expensive.
All of the above equally applies when the consumer purchases a service. No delivery is made to the home of the consumer (in our situation: the author), but delivery is certainly made to wherever we execute the service. This can be a TV channel in New York or Los Angeles, a book fair in Europe, or dozens of bookstores in dozens of towns. Often this includes staggering transportation costs, or it involves days of making phone calls or printing full-color promotion material and getting it someplace. Always it involves people doing labor, and they are paid a salary.
We keep the unit price for a service low, always. Too low for it to also cover all of our fulfillment expenses. So we add "shipping" to the service price. Thanks to Charles Blazek's email yesterday we have now changed the description in our shopping cart. The fee is now called "Shipping/fulfillment". You can click on it and read what the fee covers. Except that it covers only part of what it says it does: our processing, administrative and delivery cost is simply higher than what we charge for "shipping", i.e. the cost to deliver the service where we promise to deliver it. We recover the balance through what you pay for the service itself.
I know, this explanation will not satisfy those who keep staring at that shipping fee thinking about postage only. If you can't make the mental leap from the price of a stamp to a look behind the scenes, we can't please you. All I can say to those folks is: only consider the total price. If what you're charged for any product or service, delivery and all, is what you're willing to pay, buy it. If it's not, then don't purchase it.
And stop staring at that shipping fee. The only amount that counts is the total amount.
So why don't we always charge the total amount only, with no separate shipping fee? Maybe we should. But I know that we won't. I'll explain why next time.
I invite you to talk back to me. I don't guarantee a response, but I do guarantee that we listen. You can reach me by email at ceoletter@publishamerica.com. In the subject line write Attn. Willem.
Have a wonderful day!
--Willem Meiners
This is the link to the letter that is published on the company's website.
June 12, 2012
Good morning!
I received this question from author Charles Blazek: "Why does PublishAmerica require authors to choose a shipping option on items that don't involve shipping anything?" He's talking about promotion services. They require choosing a "shipping option".
It's a valid question.
Especially since shipping isn't what it used to be, although you're probably surprised to hear that more than 90 pct of all international trade is still carried by real ships. How many? There are more than 102,000 merchant ships sailing the world's waters. They carry much of what you eat, of what you sit on and sleep in, and of what you wear.
But shipping a book, or a promotion service? Where's the boat?
More after this book review, Horses Who Eat Potatoes and Other Truer-than-Life Stories of “The Other Family Doctor” by Corry Key(info@horsemenofarkansas.org):
Corry Key’s decision to become a veterinarian wasn’t something she ever had to think about. After welcoming her very first horse into her heart at 15, she was hooked, and that solidified her decision to spend her life looking after animals and their health. Beginning her veterinary journey in Arkansas, Corry saw animals in situations where they should have been yanked away from owners. Many times she was forced to turn her back to things she couldn’t control, including dealing with owners who were a whole lot less friendly than their animals.
The majority of Corry’s patients were horses. She recalls with warm fondness the many patients she’s had over the years and the impact they have had on her. Each experience pushed her forward in her career and endeared her to horses even more. They marked milestones in her life, especially that black stallion that no one thought could be tamed. After facing uncertainty and a struggle with infertility, Corry was able to push through and give birth to two children who also share her love for animals. This book is a testament to courage, determination and fulfillment.
Find Horses Who Eat Potatoes here: www.publishamerica.net/product39735.html.
Publishers rarely ship stuff. Occasionally we do, when we fulfill a faraway foreign order that needs to go on a boat, but that doesn't happen very often. Other foreign shipments travel by plane. And the bulk of our books are transported by truck, on the road. Unless Fedex or UPS use their planes to cover part of the distance. But we're pretty sure that they don't use ships.
So why is everybody still talking about shipping when we're really trucking or flying? And why transporting anything at all when the customer receives a service, and not a product?
Shipping as another word for delivering is now widely understood to include more than just moving a package from point A to B. The term also covers handling, packaging and the administrative processing of an order. Handling is another word for labor, real people who spend time on working on the order, which typically involves more than one individual. These folks are paid a salary, and that's an expense that is passed on to the customer.
The same is true for packaging. Boxes, styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, air pouches all cost money, and the customer pays. Administration: there's a clerk somewhere who enters and oversees a work flow. No matter how much you automate production, there's an actual human who is made responsible for signing off on the process. It involves a salary, and it's passed on to the customer.
When you add it all up, it's actually amazing that the customer pays as little for shipping as they do, given that it also includes the long-distance transportation and delivery. The real story here is this: by paying that shipping fee, consumers generally only contribute to the actual shipping, handling, packaging and processing expense. The rest of what fulfilling an order actually costs is passed on to the consumer through the price of the product.
Rule of thumb: the lower a product price, the higher the shipping fee. The opposite is also true: the lower the shipping fee, the higher the product price. There's no such thing as free shipping in the world. If it says "free shipping", something else has become more expensive.
All of the above equally applies when the consumer purchases a service. No delivery is made to the home of the consumer (in our situation: the author), but delivery is certainly made to wherever we execute the service. This can be a TV channel in New York or Los Angeles, a book fair in Europe, or dozens of bookstores in dozens of towns. Often this includes staggering transportation costs, or it involves days of making phone calls or printing full-color promotion material and getting it someplace. Always it involves people doing labor, and they are paid a salary.
We keep the unit price for a service low, always. Too low for it to also cover all of our fulfillment expenses. So we add "shipping" to the service price. Thanks to Charles Blazek's email yesterday we have now changed the description in our shopping cart. The fee is now called "Shipping/fulfillment". You can click on it and read what the fee covers. Except that it covers only part of what it says it does: our processing, administrative and delivery cost is simply higher than what we charge for "shipping", i.e. the cost to deliver the service where we promise to deliver it. We recover the balance through what you pay for the service itself.
I know, this explanation will not satisfy those who keep staring at that shipping fee thinking about postage only. If you can't make the mental leap from the price of a stamp to a look behind the scenes, we can't please you. All I can say to those folks is: only consider the total price. If what you're charged for any product or service, delivery and all, is what you're willing to pay, buy it. If it's not, then don't purchase it.
And stop staring at that shipping fee. The only amount that counts is the total amount.
So why don't we always charge the total amount only, with no separate shipping fee? Maybe we should. But I know that we won't. I'll explain why next time.
I invite you to talk back to me. I don't guarantee a response, but I do guarantee that we listen. You can reach me by email at ceoletter@publishamerica.com. In the subject line write Attn. Willem.
Have a wonderful day!
--Willem Meiners
Class Action Lawsuit filed against PublishAmerica
Authors have waited a long time for this. PublishAmerica Scam, knew for a long time that a class action lawsuit was being planned. Here is our post from 2010. A class action lawsuit has been filed by three authors against Maryland Publisher, PublishAmerica. The crime blog Bogus Barrister was the first to report on this story six days ago on June 11th. Since then, other blogs and websites have been reporting it and the story is picking up momentum. Herein lies evidence that a lot of these "watchdogs" have a hidden agenda when they won't give credit to the original source of information. You can read the entire complaint here.
The Hagens Berman law firm has taken on this case, so you know it's serious business. The lawsuit alledges that the company misleads authors, promising to publish and promote their books when the company actually profits by charging authors for promotional services that are themselves misrepresented. It will be very interesting indeed to read PublishAmerica's response to this lawsuit. We will keep you posted.
The Hagens Berman law firm has taken on this case, so you know it's serious business. The lawsuit alledges that the company misleads authors, promising to publish and promote their books when the company actually profits by charging authors for promotional services that are themselves misrepresented. It will be very interesting indeed to read PublishAmerica's response to this lawsuit. We will keep you posted.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
PublishAmerica Reported to the FBI
When I first went to bat for PubliSHAMErica authors, I intended to find out what it was like to be a PA author to see if the complaints were true. As it happened, I think I have been one of the most poorly treated of authors. The actions of PublishAmerica has now earned them a report filed with the FBI. That's right folks. Yesterday, I went to the Social Security office regarding the fact that PublishAmerica (Victor Cretella acting on the behalf of PublishAmerica) made my personal information public out of retaliation for having published a mult-part series of reports on the Maryland print on demand publisher.
Social Security informed me that they can and do change numbers via the Domestic Violence Act, but although what PublishAmerica did to me, certainly is abusive, it is not a domestic violence situation.
This looks like extortion and was urged by Social Security to file a complaint with the FBI's Cyber Crimes division, which I have done. I would love to share with you, the PDF file to demonstrate just how far these people will stoop. However, that would mean publishing my own personal information, which I cannot do.
PublishAmerica cannot make the argument that as an employee of the Examiner, that the news outlet would have my information already. The Examiner has no staff writers, we are all freelance reporters. Thus, I am not employed by them. Ihave never given them my personal information nor would I ever send an electronic submission containing my information. I am very well known and enjoy celebrity status. PublishAmerica was aware of that status and listed me on their website as one of their "celebrity authors."
They sent a cease and desist letter to the Examiner's webmaster (a third company) by way of their contact us form. Because I blew the whistle on their scams, they retaliated by sending in PDF format, my personally identifiable information, including my Social Security number to the Examiner which is the second largest media company in the country.
The release of my information violates even Pa's company policy, which they seem to violate to suit their own needs.
On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, about a year before the publication of my reports, I sent an urgent email to PublishAmerica. I wanted to see exactly what they were doing with the information of these authors and just how easily it could be for someone to write them and obtain information. I contacted PA to give them the heads up about a possible contact regarding my personal information, and my fear that that information could be made public.
This was their response:
From: PublishAmerica Author Support
alexzandra@publishamerica.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:42 AM
To: S. Darkness
Subject: Sinthyia Darkness: Privacy Policy
Dear Sinthyia Darkness: Thank you for your email updating us on your current situation. Per our privacy policy we will not provided {SIC}any of your information. Thank you,
Alexzandra
PublishAmerica Support
Alexzandra@publishamerica.com
Well, after my investigative reports were published in the Examiner news, Publish America decided to violate their own above mentioned company privacy policy. A C and D letter was sent to the Examiner news (contactus@examiner.com). By this time, I had full celebrity status and just cause to be concerned about my privacy. Included in this Cease And Desist letter (a ploy to get honest information about this company removed from the internet), they also disclosed my personal emails to them that included my personal information. They also sent the media company a copy of said 7 year contract complete with my Social Security number. There was no reason to send a copy of the contract as I published a copy in the article with any personal information removed. There were other emails disclosed with other privileged personal information that should never have been made public.
The staff at the Examiner has passed this information around their offices (you can see the cc's in the email they sent to me) and even sent a copy to me. PublishAmerica has never sent a copy directly to me. I have no idea who has my information and how it is now or may be used in the future. PublishAmerica out of retaliation, created a very serious security threat for me and my family. This ID theft has been reported to the FTC and the FBI. Once someone's Social Security number is known, it is the key, the golden key for thieves. PublishAmerica knew or should have known the harm they have caused by their actions.
Considering this company is being run by people who have blatantly committed fraud, I am very concerned as to how my information is being misused aside from this public disclosure. Willem Meiners is or was president and Miranda Prather the executive director. Miranda Prather is in a league all her own and is no stranger to controversy and scams. In 1997, she gained national attention after having been arrested for faking a hate crime at Eastern New Mexico University. Meiners established a bogus charity known as HELP in an attempt to write off his helicopter travels on his taxes. Meiners donated the amount of about 53,000 to his own charity and thus is now indebted to the IRS for that exact amount. He has not paid and the IRS has now thrown liens on his personal holdings.
I caught this publishing company lying to its authors about donating to Haiti relief, the Get Caught Reading campaign.. none of these charities have ever heard from PublishAmerica. The idea is to get authors to buy copies of their own books and PA would make these donations. That is just a sampling of their scams. I believe that what PA did to me may very well constitute extortion. The documents were prepared by Victor Cretella who is an attorney and should know better. He knew exactly the sort of trouble he was causing for me now and in the future by disclosing my personal information. They did this to me in an attempt to silence me and bully me into not publishing any further news articles about them. My articles prove that they do not have these thousands of media contacts and "happy authors."
PublishAmerica has never contacted me directly regarding these reports, even though they are now published on my own website. They do know my email address because they have been sending me copies of their sales gimmicks. This tells me that the release of my information was deliberate and intended to cause harm which is criminal.
UPDATE CLICK HERE!
Social Security informed me that they can and do change numbers via the Domestic Violence Act, but although what PublishAmerica did to me, certainly is abusive, it is not a domestic violence situation.
This looks like extortion and was urged by Social Security to file a complaint with the FBI's Cyber Crimes division, which I have done. I would love to share with you, the PDF file to demonstrate just how far these people will stoop. However, that would mean publishing my own personal information, which I cannot do.
PublishAmerica cannot make the argument that as an employee of the Examiner, that the news outlet would have my information already. The Examiner has no staff writers, we are all freelance reporters. Thus, I am not employed by them. Ihave never given them my personal information nor would I ever send an electronic submission containing my information. I am very well known and enjoy celebrity status. PublishAmerica was aware of that status and listed me on their website as one of their "celebrity authors."
They sent a cease and desist letter to the Examiner's webmaster (a third company) by way of their contact us form. Because I blew the whistle on their scams, they retaliated by sending in PDF format, my personally identifiable information, including my Social Security number to the Examiner which is the second largest media company in the country.
The release of my information violates even Pa's company policy, which they seem to violate to suit their own needs.
On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, about a year before the publication of my reports, I sent an urgent email to PublishAmerica. I wanted to see exactly what they were doing with the information of these authors and just how easily it could be for someone to write them and obtain information. I contacted PA to give them the heads up about a possible contact regarding my personal information, and my fear that that information could be made public.
This was their response:
From: PublishAmerica Author Support
alexzandra@publishamerica.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 9:42 AM
To: S. Darkness
Subject: Sinthyia Darkness: Privacy Policy
Dear Sinthyia Darkness: Thank you for your email updating us on your current situation. Per our privacy policy we will not provided {SIC}any of your information. Thank you,
Alexzandra
PublishAmerica Support
Alexzandra@publishamerica.com
Well, after my investigative reports were published in the Examiner news, Publish America decided to violate their own above mentioned company privacy policy. A C and D letter was sent to the Examiner news (contactus@examiner.com). By this time, I had full celebrity status and just cause to be concerned about my privacy. Included in this Cease And Desist letter (a ploy to get honest information about this company removed from the internet), they also disclosed my personal emails to them that included my personal information. They also sent the media company a copy of said 7 year contract complete with my Social Security number. There was no reason to send a copy of the contract as I published a copy in the article with any personal information removed. There were other emails disclosed with other privileged personal information that should never have been made public.
The staff at the Examiner has passed this information around their offices (you can see the cc's in the email they sent to me) and even sent a copy to me. PublishAmerica has never sent a copy directly to me. I have no idea who has my information and how it is now or may be used in the future. PublishAmerica out of retaliation, created a very serious security threat for me and my family. This ID theft has been reported to the FTC and the FBI. Once someone's Social Security number is known, it is the key, the golden key for thieves. PublishAmerica knew or should have known the harm they have caused by their actions.
Considering this company is being run by people who have blatantly committed fraud, I am very concerned as to how my information is being misused aside from this public disclosure. Willem Meiners is or was president and Miranda Prather the executive director. Miranda Prather is in a league all her own and is no stranger to controversy and scams. In 1997, she gained national attention after having been arrested for faking a hate crime at Eastern New Mexico University. Meiners established a bogus charity known as HELP in an attempt to write off his helicopter travels on his taxes. Meiners donated the amount of about 53,000 to his own charity and thus is now indebted to the IRS for that exact amount. He has not paid and the IRS has now thrown liens on his personal holdings.
I caught this publishing company lying to its authors about donating to Haiti relief, the Get Caught Reading campaign.. none of these charities have ever heard from PublishAmerica. The idea is to get authors to buy copies of their own books and PA would make these donations. That is just a sampling of their scams. I believe that what PA did to me may very well constitute extortion. The documents were prepared by Victor Cretella who is an attorney and should know better. He knew exactly the sort of trouble he was causing for me now and in the future by disclosing my personal information. They did this to me in an attempt to silence me and bully me into not publishing any further news articles about them. My articles prove that they do not have these thousands of media contacts and "happy authors."
PublishAmerica has never contacted me directly regarding these reports, even though they are now published on my own website. They do know my email address because they have been sending me copies of their sales gimmicks. This tells me that the release of my information was deliberate and intended to cause harm which is criminal.
UPDATE CLICK HERE!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Another Disgusted PA Author
Hello everyone. I started this blog to spread the word about the deceptive practices of Publish America. I choose to be anonymous here, for at least the moment. In fact, I am very well known in my field and have been offered a television talkshow because of my status. About two years ago, I was an unpublished author and I signed a seven year contract with Publish America. The publisher has just mailed me a ridiculous check for $1.oo and some change. I know my book is selling well and I am completely disgusted. I am going to the news media about this in the morning so you will all find out who I am soon enough.
I have been doing some online research and discovered many unhappy PA authors. If anyone is interested in doing a class-action lawsuit, please leave me a means to contact you. This company has stolen enough money and dreams.
I have been doing some online research and discovered many unhappy PA authors. If anyone is interested in doing a class-action lawsuit, please leave me a means to contact you. This company has stolen enough money and dreams.
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