Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
Here is an example of the sort of solicitation PublishAmerica authors receive daily (if not more often).
Dear author:
For authors with multiple titles only!
The March Madness Multi-title option is here!
We’re offering two of our most popular services for ALL of your books, for one low price!
Your own Literary Agent + Direct Book Distribution
combo package
for ALL of your books
That’s right, ALL your books, one low price, two high exposure services!
**Go to www.publishamerica.net/MarchMadMulti to activate this super combo deal for only $179.
Direct Book Distribution: Bookstores that use Direct Distribution receive a bookstore discount of up to 55 pct, which is more than 10 times than what they may get elsewhere. And the books they order to carry are returnable . This means that the bookstore can return unsold copies to PublishAmerica’s direct distribution center.
Our March Madness Multi-title option will add ALL your books to our Direct Distribution system. Your local bookstore will love it. In fact, we’ll get on the phone right away to negotiate the bookstore’s first next order of of any one, or all, or your books! They will also keep their Ingram option. PublishAmerica books are non-returnable through Ingram.
PLUS
Your own Literary Agent for ALL your books:
We’ll shop ALL of your books around the industry! Our literary agency department takes their job very seriously. Last year they submitted PublishAmerica books to publishers all over the nation and the world. We’ll contact publishers and urge them to take a serious, close look at every one of your books for a possible transfer of publication rights. We’ll let them know that should they be interested, we’ll clear the path and transfer the rights to them smoothly!
The average agented book was introduced to 15 other publishers in 2012. The vast majority of these are U.S. publishers, some really big; twenty percent is foreign, including countries as far away as Germany, South Africa, Australia, India, and Spain.
** Go to www.publishamerica.net/MarchMadMulti to activate today! You will be contacted within 48 business hours by our Special Services Department so we can begin working for your ALL of your books in earnest!
Must choose a shipping option to activate. No use of coupons is allowed.
Include ALL of your books today!
Thank you,
–PublishAmerica Special Services Team
I have one book through them. Never again. Never. Again.
Oh, darn. Never mind. You have my permission to eradicate me.
And here we have Uhu showing us how it's done! Oh, the delicious irony.
I know it's tempting to eradicate this spam, but honestly, the whole juxtaposition thing is hilarious!
I get crap like this from The Jenkins Group all the time. I think they host four different awards programs, maybe six, $100 USD a pop, and the winners get a sweet .jpeg they can proudly display on their book covers! Wow! They have loads of marketing programs, too!
And if any of these people think any of us would fall for that . . .
It's a shame, but a lot of people will do anything to make their dreams come true.
"The average agented book was introduced to 15 other publishers in 2012. The vast majority of these are U.S. publishers, some really big; twenty percent is foreign, including countries as far away as Germany, South Africa, Australia, India, and Spain."
Note they don't say that PA did this, or that they will do this. It's a free-floating pseudo-fact. Sort of like saying, "The average book by E.L. James sold 1.4 million copies last year." And about as useful.
And think of the manpower they would need if a thousand people signed up, and they had to call all those bookstores to negotiate these great deals.
It can't be stressed enough: if you're paying for services the industry regard as paid for by the publishers through advances and royalties, they're making their money off you. Period.
I work in a bookshop. The usual discount is 35 or 40%. And most books are returnable within a certain timeframe, the ones that aren't are specifically marked as such.
Of course, I'm in Australia, we might do things differently here. But I can't imagine it's that different, considering we deal with the same companies.
So while 55% is above normal, it's not ten times.
Missed this sentence the first time. Apparently they don't have proofreaders on staff:
In fact, we'll get on the phone right away to negotiate the bookstore's first next order of of any one, or all, or your books!
Missed this sentence the first time. Apparently they don't have proofreaders on staff:
In fact, we'll get on the phone right away to negotiate the bookstore's first next order of of any one, or all, or your books!
This paragraph really cracked me up … oh the 'really big' grammar of it all!
"The average agented book was introduced to 15 other publishers in 2012. The vast majority of these are U.S. publishers, some really big; twenty percent is foreign, including countries as far away as Germany, South Africa, Australia, India, and Spain."
They say they submit your books to all these agents, etc., but no mention of ever having placed one. I don't think any agent would be more impressed by a submission from self-publishing company than from Fulano de Tal, meaning no respect whatsoever. I already get that for free.
AuthorHouse is using this strategy. For a small fee of I can't remember how much (more than I can afford) they will shop my one and only book (that doesn't sell through them at all) to major publishers. I usually keep emails from them, but I can't find this one. It also involved rather extensive phone conversations.
They're still around because, unbelievably, there are still writers who haven't been warned. I had to stop somebody only two years ago…
I heard about Publish America years ago and what amazes me the most is that they're still around.
So, they publish your books (which you pay for), and then they charge you to shop your already-published books to editors who aren't going to want them because they've already been published. Is that how it works?
That's dreadful. What is a "literary agency department"? It's either a literary agency or it isn't.
And here's the clincher:
"The average agented book was introduced to 15 other publishers in 2012. The vast majority of these are U.S. publishers, some really big; twenty percent is foreign, including countries as far away as Germany, South Africa, Australia, India, and Spain."
Oy. And Vey.
Ramona
You know, even if I didn't know how sleazy they were, that post reveals it.
Only sleazy people use multiple colors and fonts in their sales copy, IME.
If it sounds to good to be true – it is a scam. What publishers are so in need they come to you. So many have been buried by this publisher.