I'm not bashing, but . . .

I've really had it with special offers two or three times a week from PublishAmerica. I just checked the email and there's another. This time it's a 2 for 1 offer. They must be hurting for cash.

That would be my take on all the offers, Dick. I still have a stock of books, and am not tempted in the least.

I am so un-inportant that even though I have requested 4 times that they change my email address, I never get any thing from them. When I am famous, I will remember that. hahah

Love,
Bety

Not only two for one, but with a 40% discount. Notice that they didn't add the free shipping this time...

Afraid I haven't received PA's special offer yet. I will not be purchasing any this go round. What gripes me if they can offer the books at half price to the author, pay for shipping, and still pay royalties, why wouldn't they make them available to everyone at this price. Those that can not bend or change soon break.

I have that email also. If you factor in their price increase on an already higher price, there is not much of a savings. My PA book used to be 19.95 at 50% off it was 9.95. Now it's 24.95 at 2 fo1 it is 12.475 each. This is a 208 page book and should be priced around 13. My other books are longer and retail for 15.85 and 16.95.

The hardcover versions of my other books are 25.95 and 26.95, so the smaller PA paperback is within $1 of one of my other hardcovers.

PA can't play off of Lightning Source's volume anymore. Before if they didn't sell books they didn't bear the expense of the printers and production, now they do whether they are selling books or not. They need to churn cash to pay for fixed costs. Something has to give.

You're right, that works out to 7.485 each for my book. A good deal if an author could actually move the books. I just don't know what authors could do with so many of their own books. At some point every one wiil have enough of their own stock. Unless you have books that you sell to support seminars, it is a non starter for most people.

dtpollard wrote:

You're right, that works out to 7.485 each for my
book. A good deal if an author could actually move the books. I just
don't know what authors could do with so many of their own books. At
some point every one wiil have enough of their own stock. Unless you
have books that you sell to support seminars, it is a non starter for
most people.

I know what you mean, DT. In the first couple years or so since 2005 -
when Keechie came out - I managed to personally sell something over 600
copies to family, friends and a few book signings. I don't think they
want another copy...

I try to keep around 20 copies on hand just in case, but I have maxed out my market.

Brew, if all the contributors to the anthology sold 600 copies, Forever Friends would be on the way to becoming a bestseller -- 27,600 copies!

Congratulations on making so many sales and working so hard to do it!

Since 9/22 I have received 17 'offers' from - PA Mostly % off, 2 for 1, etc. and one offer to auction off ads in others books! (in addition to the first 'auction'.)

I keep getting the same offers, but I won't be able to take advantage of it. I like Nutter wish that PA would offer the discount to bookstores.

Vickie

I have heard reports about this from other PA authors on various forums. It doesn't make the publisher look good, coming on like a sleazy used car salesman.

Betty Fasig, count your blessings. Wonder if it would work if I changed my email address?
The thing that really gets me is I've never bought a single book from PA. Tried once when a friend needed two in a hurry, but got a recording saying to leave a message. I hung up and ordered two from Buy.com for him.

Sadly, Dick, you, like me and many other PA'ers are on their spamming list. I wonder if incessant spamming is grounds for harrassment? I'll have to contact my attorney and ask. I'd suggest e-mailing PA and asking them to cease and desist.

Welcome aboard, Greg!

It only takes a second to check the box beside the PA email and hit the delete button. No problem at all for me. They can send one email or a thousand and it won't make me decide to buy books. I bought ten last year to take to a conference with me, and that's the extent of my purchases from PA. The fact is that them sending me countless emails with their latest deal simply doesn't matter to me. I don't even open them anymore, just delete them, and in the time it took for me to compose this post, I could have deleted every email they've sent in the last few weeks, so it's not like it's a big deal.

Nutter and others are correct though, in that PA does indeed market to their authors and puts very little emphasis on selling to any other market. Nutter was also right when he said that you can buy King and other bestselling authors for quite a bit less than you can buy unknown PA people, so we'd be pretty much out of luck even if they did target other people, unless they dropped the price drastically.

Well said, Don. It does only take a few seconds to hit delete. I still wonder how PA is doing financially; all the proactive marketing of late suggests a need for income. I just hope that if they sink they'll return all book rights to their authors prior to going under.

I have been known to be wrong but my take on the way things are going -- after reading DK Christi's post on the Publishers Board -- is that PA is doing okay, but moving away from "traditional" publishing towards self-publishing: no editing, no free books, no distribution. It looks to me as though PA is going to be more like Lulu.com in the future and less like a commercial publisher.

Just my opinion.

You may be right. Lulu is far more efficient, however.

I agree with Don about how easy it is to delete the PA messages, but getting them is as annoying as repeated messages from a retailer.

Shelagh, what you said makes sense, I've wondered the same thing about PA.

Shelagh wrote:

I have been known to be wrong but my take on the way things are going -- after reading DK Christi's post on the Publishers Board -- is that PA is doing okay, but moving away from "traditional" publishing towards self-publishing: no editing, no free books, no distribution. It looks to me as though PA is going to be more like Lulu.com in the future and less like a commercial publisher.

Just my opinion.

I agree partially with your hypothesis, Shelagh, but Lulu doesn't mass spam their authors toward self purchases. PA may be changing their operational paradigm but it still seems the customer base is not the book buying public but the author himself/herself.

I didn't want the clutter, and the possibility that something important from PA would get snowed under regular correspondence, so I set up a folder just for them.That way, I can keep tabs on them without having to fill my inbox with it. I have just not emptied that folder, and have kept every important missive from PA staff in case I need it to use for reference or prove something later on down the line.

It seems like Shelagh is right about PA switching to a Lulu type of publishing, and they may be spamming their authors to build up operating revenue to do the switch.

Dick Stodghill wrote:

You may be right. Lulu is far more efficient, however.

Lulu might have been more efficient but not any more. This is the table for their latest distribution package:

	Lulu Marketplace	Published By Lulu	Published By You
Author retains copyright	X	X	X
Book available on Lulu.com	X	X	X
Customizable Lulu storefront	X	X	X
Book available at Amazon.com		X	X
Book available at Barnes & Noble and globally			X
Bookstores can order the book from Ingram			X
Book listed in Bowker's Books in Print		X	X
ISBN assignment		X	X
Lulu is publisher		X
You are the publisher	X		X
You own the ISBN			X

If you are outside the US you have to buy the "Published by Lulu" package and, as the table above shows, books are not available on B&N or online stores other than amazon.com (that includes amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca etc.) and books cannot be ordered through Ingram.

To add insult to injury, if you set the price in pounds sterling, the book will sell on amazon.com for the same amount in dollars. This isn't just Forever Friends. This is hairymob's latest book selling on amazon.com for the same price in dollars that he set the price on Lulu.com in pounds sterling (£6.94):

http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Journey-Billy-Young/dp/1409205401/