PA"s Advance Notice

DK,

You are so right as usual. PA is obviously in deep trouble.
By overpricing their books and being hostile to their authors, they killed themselves.

When You, Joe, Betty and I won't go back, they have trouble.

I cannot imagine them killing the sacred cow like that. I think they know that e books are the up and coming area for book publishers and are going to concentrate their efforts in that direction. Perhaps they will have a version of the Kindle or the Nook to offer in the future. Why waste all that paper and ink if having a downloadable file will do just the same.

Does Amazon or any of the other online publishers offer marketing assistance any better than PublishAmerica has done? If they have any sense, they will change their name and re-invent themselves.

I always felt it was unprofessional to write a snotty email to any one. There are better choices of words that impart the same messages. I still think James Elders is in charge of those.

Love,
Betty

Betty,

If James Elders is in charge of the emails, no wonder they have problems.

When Lane and I were tossed from the boards, I got some real eyeburners.

When I inforned them what had happened, their response was that it was none of my business and they would ban me forever.

I said, "Good please do, I don't even want to be on your board."

Funny! I wish I had saved them.

Dear Alice,
Those kinds of emails are best deleted. I imagine our computers just want to puke them out and save the space for nice words.

Love,
Betty

Betty,

You are so right--no one could say it better?

Love ya,

Alice

3/9/2011


Where did you hear that PA was going out of business ?
Do you think they'll up chuck our rights ? I wonder when
is their last day ?


Cheers..Joe

Joe ,
It is pure speculation on my part. I went to their homepage and looked at their site map.

Their last books released were twenty on Dec 10, 2010.

That was three months ago.

3/10/2011


Alice..

As they say I smell a dead fish ! Or There's
something rotten in Denmark..


Cheers..Joe

Just don't pay them for anything.

Yeah! They suggested I buy my rights back at $99. Then they suggested I buy them back at $199. Then $299. I thought selling something usually went the other way, downward. Something is amiss somewhere...

However, these threads have supposed their demise before and instead there were new, daily ads for special promotions.

Again, I think they had a great idea at the time they began. It may still have its place. There's just more competition and the advent of ebooks with which everyone is grappling.

These are difficult times. Borders closed all but two stores in Florida. Locally, we lost a Target store. We had this very elegant and long-standing furniture store where you dressed up to go shopping :-) It just filed for bankruptcy. A friend almost ordered a custom couch from them. The decorator didn't call her back...178 people lost their jobs. Now, where will I go to see how the other half decorates? I'm a "Savon" shopper myself - or "Rooms to Go." Even "Big Lots."

And this is sort of off topic; but it just slays me how the states are trying to balance their budgets by laying off workers. Yep, that's what you do in down times, lay off more people to join those already without jobs who have no discretionary money to build the economy. Even a dummy like me knows it's job creation that builds an economy, not laying off government workers. I know, another thread.

What happened to common sense?
People can't spend money they don't have. Can't see how laying off people is helping the economy. I suppose the experts got their degrees from the school of how to do things the wrong way. How to go into debt and blame someone else.

dkchristi wrote:

However, these threads have supposed their demise before and instead there were new, daily ads for special promotions.

I don't see the need for this constant speculation. It smacks of ingratitude. "I got my book(s) published while the going was good and now they can go to the wall and be damned."

The problem with speculation is putting the thought into the universe sometimes contributes to its fulfillment. However, these are difficult times in the United States in regards to any business in which one has an investment. Print rights and books in progress are considerations for authors who are working with publishers. Therefore, concerns about where those rights go are legitimate. The timing could be critical to choices people make also.

I'm not certain, but the escalating cost of oil could impact printing and shipping costs along the way. Any publisher hanging on by a thread may feel the impact.

Ebooks are an advantage when it comes to both of those issues.

I just don't understand why I must purchase "x" number of books for my publisher to represent my book. I was under the impression that the publisher wanted to sell the books they published - to the public. Guess I was wrong.

Yes, you were wrong, Abe.

From PA's website:

"PublishAmerica is a traditional, royalty paying publisher. We charge no fees for publishing a book, ever. There's no catch, no hidden surprises. We even pay small advances to indicate our principle. The author is never, ever, under any obligation to pull their wallet to make any purchase whatsoever. We don't want their money. We want their book. All expenses involved with acquiring, producing, manufacturing, and publishing a book, and marketing it to the industry's wholesale and distribution channels for full availability through all bookstores at home and abroad are underwritten by PublishAmerica solely. This is one of our main claims to fame, and one that we are very proud of. All authors are treated equally here."

It seems pretty clear to me. If you want your book publishing at no cost (with no obligation to buy any books to cover the cost of producing that book), PA will underwrite all the costs incurred in the publishing process.

I don't want them to go down at all. I woudl like to see them prosper and succeed. They have me wondering--another offer today.

Excuse me, they want our money. They want it always.

Of course they do, Alice. What business can survive without a regular turnover? Authors also want their books to sell and be read. You are buying copies of your children's book to give away. Eventually, that might pay off. The book might become successful. If it doesn't, then at least those books you could afford will have given pleasure to all who read them. Mandinam Press is small scale with no email messages to persuade you to buy more of your own books. PA has greater overheads and has to generate sales. It has always been so and will continue to be so -- whatever sales pitch they adopt in their emails.

Shelagh wrote:

dkchristi wrote:

However, these threads have supposed their demise before and instead there were new, daily ads for special promotions.

I don't see the need for this constant speculation. It smacks of ingratitude. "I got my book(s) published while the going was good and now they can go to the wall and be damned."

I am the speculator. I have also been been one of their chief defenders. As was Dick, E.Don and Ann. Finally with a four year old book priced at $29.95, what can I say?

... and if you had self-published, it would be exactly the same price:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Say-Got-What-Parkinsons/dp/1440422338/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299773636&sr=1-5

Your book is on Amazon, Alice:

http://www.amazon.com/Living-by-the-Swamp/dp/144679430X

Good, Thank you, Shelagh,

Now who will review it first, on Amazon?

All you need to do is copy your reviews from here to there.
The first reviewer will get a prize.

I got a great publisher.

I bought 50 books because I wanted to give them to people.

Well, My publisher is already plugging my book.

Thanks, Shelagh!

If a publisher goes to a show in New York, Paris, London, Frankfurt or Jerusalem, and will only show my book if I buy a certain number of copies, those are not terms of endearment. Nuff said on this.

DK,

You just won the prize! What is the prize? Another book. You can give it away--whatever!

Thanks a ton!