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Dear Xx Xxxxxx, >>I was told it would be available on >>book store shelves, which it is not No, you were not told that, at all.Actually, PA used to claim that their books would be in stock at bookstores and other places. However, that caused problems since their authors expected to see some books stocked when actual events have proven that PA never wanted its books stocked as that would take sales away from PA resulting in lowered profits, so PA changed the one web page at their site to state only that PA books would be available. PA still makes that claim sometimes in emailed responses, but they have a clause in their contract stating that anything stated outside the contract is not valid. So, when they answer, they're actually disregarding anything PA stated outside the contract.
Separately, it may be of interest to you that bookstores typically stock one percent of all new books published each year. For bookstores to stock all books published would mean adding 15 feet of new shelf space every day. Therefore bookstore managers must be selective, so they decide based on what that they think will sell.This is another misrepresentation on PA's part. Most books published each year are not meant for bookstores. They're specialized books for corporations, seminars, and other places where those books have a market. Many books are special limited runs because the presumed market for those is very small, so it wouldn't be expected to be carried by large chains nationwide when its market is local to one area. Furthermore, unless the bookstore is not part of a chain, the bookstore manager has very little say in what it carries because buyers for the chain make the majority of its purchasing decisions. As well, many books go out of print which frees up more shelf space. Overall, it's a lie meant to give PA another reason for not being on shelves in retail outlets.
Last year, Barnes and Noble alone purchased more than 30,000 books from us, making it our largest customer, and Borders and Books-a-Million were our second and third largest customers. This year so far, they have all exceeded last year's volume. Barnes and Noble alone orders 120 books from PublishAmerica each day. Thousands, each and every month, of PublishAmerica books are sold in bookstores across the nation. Bookstores buy books from us each and every day. The PublishAmerica message board is overflowing with testimonials from our authors about their books being stocked in bookstores. Hundreds of bookstores across the nation stock our books. See http://www.publishamerica.com/testimonials for more information.What PA doesn't point out in the above paragraphs is that despite all those orders, which are almost always special orders because the chains have to order them from the printer, not one of PA's books is stocked at any of the national chains. Furthermore, most such orders sold through bookstores are from individuals purchasing the book in the author's locality leading to speculation that those special orders, generally in the ones and twos, are from the author or the author's relatives. Additionally, the few bookstore stockings that did occur were the result of action taken by the writers and not by PA. Those are not at all testimonials concerning PA's ability, but of the writers signed with PA.
>>it is overpriced for a book of its genre Other books are often cheaper than ours because the author has paid money to a vanity/subsidy publisher, who is then able to price the book lower. Your book is not in that vanity category, but was published traditionally, at no cost to you, the author.PA once more avoids telling the whole truth. While they are correct that other vanity/subsidy publishers can price their books lower because the author has paid them for printing, PA neglects to mention that books published by the trade publishers such as Random House and other reputable businesses are even lower than the vanity/subsidy publishers PA compares their prices with. What's more, the trade publishers don't charge their writers at all for their publishing services. Instead, they expect to make money for themselves and their authors by selling books to real customers who aren't related to them or the authors. Furthermore, PA has hidden the vanity publishing fee in the price of the books.
Our business model requires our pricing to be as we have it set. We have the distinction of being the only publisher of any significant size, that has not raised prices in the past six years.This is because PA knows it can't charge more without actually losing sales among its captive market of self-purchasing authors. As it stands now, many PA authors are unable to purchase their own books in the quantities that PA hopes to sell. Furthermore, PA is not a publisher of significant size, not in the ways that count such as total sales or total number of books sold or total outlets where their books are stocked and available. PA also neglects to mention that despite their claimed size, they haven't yet produced a bestseller. In fact, the best that any of PA's books can claim to have sold is just slightly over 5,000 copies and that was mostly accomplished through selling the copies to the author.
Pricing has never inhibited PublishAmerica's progress nor our thousands of happy authors in any way. In fact, exactly the opposite appears to be true, as even a brief glance at the thousands of positive comments on testinmonials page would indicate. Please see this link for a detailed discussion of this issue: http://www.publishamerica.com/cgi-bin/pamessageboard/data/main/6842.htmIf pricing has not inhibited PA's progress, then why hasn't PA sold as many copies of any PA book as has been accomplished for other books published by other publishers such as Random House? What PA is failing to note is that their prices aren't aimed at the general public. Their prices are aimed at their authors who finding themselves without a presence in any bookstore chains feel that their only chance is to self-purchase their books and then attempt to convince a bookstore chain or other retail outlet to carry it. It's at that point that PA sets the hook in the author's mouth because that's when PA makes its profit and the poor author gets stuck with credit card bills and a stack of books that can't be easily sold because PA doesn't provide decent editing on what they claim to publish, decent prices, decent discounts, and returnability. Furthermore, PA's testimonials are mostly from their own writers and were written before they ran into the wall of obstacles that PA created. Many of those authors have since recanted those comments, but PA deceptively continues to use what those authors once stated and is no longer true.
Also, contrary to what you may have been told, bookstores will generally carry a book that they think will sell, regardless of price, whether it is returnable or not, and whether it is printed on digital or offset presses. You may have found a number of books that are less expensive than yours will be, but we have found a large number of similar books that are more expensive.PA tells another half-truth when they make this claim. Yes, there are books in bookstores that are more expensive than PA's. There are even books with no returnability. There are even books produced using digital as well as offset presses. What PA fails to state is that all of those factors do not necessarily apply to the same books. Nor does PA point out that those more expensive books have a preconceived value shared by the buying public. However, PA is comparing special books with their own ordinary books. Even though every author views his own book as special, the buying public does not and PA does not produce those highly specialized books that carry and deserve high prices.
We know that our pricing is not deterring sales. We have found that pricing is simply not nearly the significant issue that some may think it is. Remember too, that we are just as eager to sell books as you are, and would do things differently if we thought it appropriate.PA makes another half-truth in that statement because it does deter sales among the true buying public. Many PA authors trying to resell their own books have discovered this to be true. That is why so many PA authors have written to PA asking for the prices to be lowered. PA doesn't feel it's appropriate to change or do anything differently because their authors are their true market and will purchase their own books when desperation sets in.
We have sold over a million books, which stands in contrast to any allegation that our books are not competitively priced and/or supplied.However, PA again fails to note that they didn't sell that million books to the actual buying public. In fact, using PA's own claims it clear that fewer than a hundred thousand books were sold through retail markets.
PublishAmerica is a traditional, advance and royalty paying publisher, sharing printing facilities with Random House, Simon and Schuster, McGraw-Hill, etc. Barnes & Noble, being the nation's largest bookstore chain, orders books from us virtually each and every day. In fact, they are our single largest customer. Bookstores order a PublishAmerica book more than 300 times each business day. Barnes & Noble alone is typically responsible for one-third of those orders.PA fails to mention that they invented the term "traditional" as applied to publishers and that most of the scam publishers have since taken up the use of that word to make themselves appear better to those authors they're trying to sign. Nor does PA mention that using the same printing facilities is not what makes a company reputable or legitimate. It only shows that they're using the least expensive means available just like any company wanting to make a profit would do. Again, PA makes the claim about orders without mentioning that none of PA's thousands of published books are stocked by any of those chains. At the same time, PA fails to mention that PA gives an advance of only one dollar (US) while other publishers giving advances typically give far more. Nor does PA point out that many of their authors see royalty checks appropriate to purchasing one or two happy meals at a fast food restaurant.
The way things are now, with your book currently, your monetary bottom line is in far better shape than if you had paid money to a vanity/subsidy publisher. We thank you for your thoughtful and well thought-out letter, but we must decline to lower the price of your book.Of course, PA doesn't intend to lower their prices. They know their authors are trapped in a seven-year contract and that the authors, by and large, are honest people who respect contracts, even when those are weasel-worded like PA's and weasel-interpreted like PA does.
We appreciate your efforts, we understand your concerns, and we have a solution that meets your objective. You should shortly be receiving amendment paperwork that will make your PublishAmerica contract non-exclusive.This portion of PA's response fails to inform the PA author of the fact that no legitimate publisher even wants to be in a partnership with PA which is what would come about because in the real publishing world, PA is considered the punchline of a filthy joke.
Thank You, Jessica Author Support Team Support@PublishAmerica.comAt least, PA's representatives are actually placing a name on their emailed responses. There's still no last name, but it's a start. Even so, in comparison with all other publishers, it's insignificant because the people working for reputable publishers aren't afraid to sign their full names.
P&E analysis written by David L. Kuzminski, Editor, Preditors & Editors™.