An Idea

Who would like to tell PA they do not appprove of their ad policy?

Okay 14 people have read this and no one has volunteered for the job,

Dick said PA was made aware of how the authors felt before they began thair advertisement insertions.

Most customers who are disguntled never tell the disgruntler. They walk away,

We are in hock for seven years--I say collective action is what we need--not on ther message board where they can ban the complainers

Also I would be more open to giving them $100 to have my buy button back at Amazon.

As long as they are auctioning services , why not sell us some we want?

Alice, why would we want to tell PA that they do not approve of their own policy?

You can tell PA whatever you want. They will not listen. The only thing they hear is the swipe of an author's credit card.

Shelagh,

You caught me --I meant we do not approve of their ad policy.
We can gripe about it here forever and get nowhere.

I told you I was not perfect --now I have proved it.
This notion pertains only to me and does not extend to anyone else.

Mel,

Hi, great to see you. Have you told author support this in a calm, rational, polite and dispassionate manner?

What makes you think they would listen, Alice?

Alice,

It really doesn't matter what tone you use with author support, there is only one opinion they are interested in...THEIR OWN.

You said you would be open to a $100 for Amazon to reinstate your buy button...you just need to provide them with two copies of you book (a lot cheaper than a $100) for them to stock to have the buy button.

Zada,

I don't think they would liisten. I don't think they would not listen.

I would like to see what they would say. I'd very much like to see their response to someone who has never had a cross word with them.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

Alice,

It really doesn't matter what tone you use with author support, there is only one opinion they are interested in...THEIR OWN.

You said you would be open to a $100 for Amazon to reinstate your buy button...you just need to provide them with two copies of you book (a lot cheaper than a $100) for them to stock to have the buy button.

Thank you, Don.

I did not know that.

"Inch by Inch Life is a cinch." I am getting my buy button back on Amazon

Now all we need to do is persuade them to have an auction to lower the price of our books.

I would like mine to be $14.95 instead of $24,95.


Thanks to Don, I still have my $100.00.

Has anyone tried to get their book price lowered?

We could volunteer to forgo the ads.


that would save them some money and us aggravation.

Alice, you may e-mail author support in a calm, rational, polite and dispassionate manner. I won't waste my time. However, I expect this is the kind of reply you may receive:

"Dear Ms. Crooker:

Thank you for your request about the ads. We feel these ads only benefit YOU, the author. Your ad will appear in tens of thousands of books, going to millions of homes across the fruited plain. It is only right to include same ads in your books which will benefit all of our 35000 happy authors! Therefore, we deny your request to remove ads from your books. If you happen to need books to have on hand... "

Well, you can figure out the rest.

As you see, in all reality, PA will probably not listen to your claim, even if you have always supported them. I don't believe it is right, but unfortunately it's the way it is.

And about the price, the said they raised them due to the economy. They will not lower them. Their profits are first and foremost important. My book is 252 pages/27.95

Absolutely ridiculous.

I agree with Mel. PA will not change their business model. For over five years now, pressure to change the way the business is set up has been counter-productive. Instead of changing in the direction for which their crtics have campaigned long and hard, PA policies have become more like vanity publishers, not less. Likewise, instead of the pressure making life more difficult, the free publicity has worked in their favour. The argument about PA authors being sucked in and misled carries little weight because of the wealth of information about the company that is so readily available. Every writers' website stresses the importance of finding as much information about all publishers as is possible before submitting and then only submit to agents/publishers that accept work in the writer's chosen genre.

There can be no excuses for not knowing exactly how PA conduct their business.

PA will not change to please anyone. They will change to stay afloat and keep the business going. If new authors stopped signing up, they might re-think their policies. With over 35,000 authors, that doesn't seem likely.

I believe they would have made more money with cheaper prices, better relationships with authors, better communication up front as to what to expect, not publishing as many books, no ads.

Contrary to what others have said, they might get an email from me. Complaining about the mundane is one thing, giving feedback is another. As a business owner we were glad when people called us with complaints rather than going around our small town saying how bad we were. And as a licensed clinic, someone was required to take "complaint training."

It included listening, how can I help you, offering suggestions, etc.

One time we found a piece of glass in the salsa at a Mexican restaurant. The owner came out and apologized, paid for our dinner, and gave us a gift certificate for two free dinners. We knew he tossed out a big vat of salsa and tried to find the source of the glass.

Now that's the way to handle complaints.

I could help PA, but no one asked me, and the opportunity was passed up when Mr. Meiners called.

Carol

I could help them too, but they would eschew my help. I make the mistake of getting quite testy with them over their messageboard.

They responded in kind. Oh well I went to see them--they were quite surprised. I did not take up policy with them.

Marie, you are just a stone's throw from them. Why don't you drop in and tell them they would make more money if they removed their raunchy ads from the books, fired their email crew and lowered the price of our books.

Tell them they would be loved by us all.

35,000 authors singing their praises ought to be irresistable.

I agree with Carol, Take up the greviance with the company not the world.

One time I took Mother-in-law out for lunch to a very nice restaraunt.
They brought me a beautiful salad. I was happily stuffing it in my mouth when I happened to catch a glimpse of her salad.

It was wilted, black and hideous. She did not want me to complain, I said, "I do not pay for garbage."

When the waiter came to see how we were doing, I told him
I was doing great and was sorry to see the state of my friend's salad

He took one look at the salad and it was gone. We were given free food and thanked. He told us the salad had been accidentally saved intead of discarded.

Whatever--if I'd have said nothing they couldn't have fixed it-- I could have gone around town and told everone I saw what horrible garbage they fed people--it would have all been true too.

Being tied into a seven year contract is a whole lot different than being served a nasty salad, but I understand your point.

I suggest you e-mail them a no nonsense e-mail to tell them of your displeasure. Asking Marie to trot over there is asking a bit too much as she has taken them to arbitration. I don't think they'd listen to her. I don't think they'll listen to you either. That isn't saying anything against you, that's just the way that they are.

I am thinking I would like my rights returned to me, but think if I wait a while, they will be going out of business.

Mel, I realize an email from me would be most unwelcome.
There is a lot that could be said against me. I know that there is never an issue so thin that there are not two sides to it.

Carol is our best bet.

Maybe they would be more open to a mental health worker. She needs to let them know she is speaking for a lot of people.

Zada,

About the time someone falls down their rickety front porch they could be out of business so fast we wouldn't have time to bat our eyes.
I am glad I lived through my visit.

I wonder if f they are trying to discourage visitors.

Best to stock up on our books--just in case--ya all know about the two for one sale.

I think that PA is between a rock and a hard place. Without a lot of retails to rely on and Amazon removing their buy buttons, they are in a crunch to keep cash flowing. Taking on their own printing forced their hand on amazon and they decided that they could not allow amazon to print PA books. Now to mine more money from their author base thay came up with this ad idea. Add they economy into the mix and you can bet that fewer authors are buying books. It is kind of a downward spiral to raise prices so that when they discount to authors they make incrementally more per book.

Most of the publishing service provider companies have discount deals going to entice people to publish more books. This is a tough time in general and PAs model requires cost up front before sales to author/customer.

All of this being said, there will always be a steady stream of people wanting to get their books in print for no cost even with the 7-year contract and high prices, whether these folks buy/sell enough books from PA to make PA a profit is another story.

DT,

One problem is solved--my husband is a genius. I willl stipulate that I want no ads in my books that I order from them.

Since they print their own books--should be simple to leave off the last page.

If they won't do it , I will not order the books.
I will see how hard up they are.

Reasonably speaking, if I may, I do think authors could make a feeble attempt to sell their books.

After all, It does cost PA money upfront to put out our books.

Maybe they should change their contract to read "free if author is responsible for ??? copies."

After the magic number was reached they could drop the price.
I begrudge no one a profit.

Enjoy


http://thinkthankyou.org/index.htm

After reading the above link, you will think.

PA reminds me of a too large family.

They had a geat idea, grew too quickly and stated getting complaints.
They thought we should all be eternally gratedful.

All were not , so they lumped us into one huge group of whiners.

I am still very thankful to PA for publishing my book.

I would like them to be perfect--their perfection would not irritate me in the least.

If nothing else, giving feedback makes me feel better. Last night I got so mad when I read about AIG wanting more bail out money and that if they didn't pay the big bonuses they would not be able to attract "the brightest and best." So I wrote a little blog on the article and checked this morning and it was there. AIG probably won't even notice or take account of my suggestions, but I feel better.

I will write to PA with our ideas. If they set the prices of our books high so 50% would be reasonable for the authors to purchase, then my idea is to set our books lower and make the percentage offered to authors to purchase lower like at 60% instead of fifty. I'll send them a little business plan blog. It would make me feel a whole lot better than complaining forever to other authors on a certain messageboard we will not name.

I like this discussion from a group of excellent authors.

Carol

THANK YOU, CAROL

YOU ARE THE VOICE OF REASON.

Please do share with us their response.

I am a bit pig-headed about this, because as a board chairman, I would encounter folks who wanted to get up in a meeting and accost someone
about something.

I would say, "Have you talked to this person about this issue?"

The answer was always," NO!"

The funniest one was the man who wished to complain about the school, to the church board.


He just wanted to embarass the principal because we had no jurisdiciton over the school,. I asked him if he had discussed his complaints with the the principal

He was very determined and so was I. I called the principal and said
"Watch out tonight! You will be attacked for your school dress code"

The attack was so ridiculous the man sat there in a sloppy t'shirt and complained bitterly because the teachers and children did not wear collars to school.

It was hard to keep fom laughing.