Publishers Weekly: Authors' Allegations re: Publish America

[DeePower]

Publishers Weekly has done three articles in response to author's allegations that Publish America practices are misleading.

You can read the article(s) at the link below. You do need to be a subscriber, but a 30 day subscription is free and no credit card is required.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA481863.html?text=Publish+America

Here is my take on the article

The author's complaints are in the following areas.

Publish America:

Sells books that the rights have been returned to the authors

Doesn't pay royalties it owes,

Does not provide competent editing

Sets unreasonable book prices

Does not place books in bookstores

And does not respond to author questions in a timely manner

Ms Miranda Prather, executive director for Publish America denied all allegations. She said that the company does have a presence in bookstores but would not estimate how many of the 9000 authors actually have their books stocked by bookstores. She also declined to identify the CEO of PublishAmerica. She admitted that PA only edits for grammar and spelling.

Ms. Prather states "Nobody has come to us with a true breach of contract. [Claims] have run the gamut of individuals complaining about the prices, the editing or the marketing."

I believe that not paying royalties and selling a book after the rights have been returned to the author could be considered a breach of contract. I'm not a lawyer, and don't want to be one. I have not received any royalties for this last period or a statement. PA has been notified three times of that fact with no acknowledgement on their part.

Odd how Ms. Prather declines to even estimate how many authors' books are stocked in bookstores. 9000 authors and as of today, Amazon shows 7069 titles released by PublishAmerica. The PA website says that

http://www.publishamerica.com/benefits.htm
"The majority of our books that are sold retail are sold in physical brick and mortar bookstores. Tens of thousands of people and hundreds of our authors across the nation have purchased PublishAmerica books from physical brick and mortar bookstores."

(Small detail - Notice how it does NOT say that the majority of PA books are sold retail. It says that the majority of PA books that are sold retail are sold in physical brick and mortar bookstores.)

http://www.publishamerica.com/facts/index.htm
An average 250 times each day, a bookstore calls or logs on to order a PublishAmerica title. Of all the brick-and-mortar bookstores, Barnes and Noble is our largest customer. Borders/Waldenbooks and Books-A-Million are second and third.

So while Ms. Prather refuses to even estimate how many titles are stocked in bookstores, PublishAmerica does know that 250 times each day a bookstore attempts to order a PA book. They also can track how many books are sold in bookstores.

And she won't identify the company's CEO. Odd.

Dee

http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com
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Co-author of "The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Agents, Editors and Booksellers Behind Them,"
http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com

[Willow]

I think I said this somewhere else before but surely this is finally the size and breadth of a Class Action Law Suit--??

[mark_y48]

There will be more stories, and hopefully with a conclusion based on the evidence that a casual PA style dismissal won't successfully deflect.

I'd like to read the series but the last time I registered I received the magazine for months. They're tenacious in selling it.
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Always report the truth

[nancyp]

writers weekly is the best!