On April 30, Author Solutions Inc. (currently the subject of a class action lawsuit by authors who allege, among other things, breach of contract and unjust enrichment) announced expansion of its Partridge brand to South Africa and surrounding nations with Partridge Africa.
This follows expansion in March to the Malaysia region with Partridge Singapore. Both new ventures are being launched in “partnership” with Penguin Random House’s subsidiaries in those countries, and both–while not promising any crossover–heavily leverage the PRH connection.
I blogged last year about Partridge India, the first of the Partridge ventures. Since that time, Writer Beware has received complaints from Partridge authors who’ve had problems with quality and service, similar to those experienced by authors with other ASI brands. Some of those complaints can be seen in the comments on my post.
Given what I know about ASI’s PR strategies, I’m not surprised to see that both Partridge Singapore and Partridge Africa offer affiliate programs that allow individuals and organizations to make money by “introducing” authors to the services. From Partridge Africa:
Every customer or member is a potential author—you just need to present them with the opportunity to publish through your store, meeting place, or website. Here’s how it works:
1. Sign Up. Simply click the link below to review the official rules and submit your information.2. Promote Partridge Africa. Affiliates will receive—at no cost—all the marketing materials you need to get started. We will provide graphics you can use on your website. You can be assured that the people you refer will get the services they desire. The mission of Partridge Africa is to empower authors and help them fulfil their book-publishing goals.
3. Earn Revenue. How much you earn depends on your promotional efforts and the resulting referrals and authors who sign up to publish with Partridge Africa. But the more interested individuals you send our way, the more you can earn.
Does anyone get any continuous message from Partridge Singapore when you terminated the contract to ask for payment when nothing is done or printed? I find it fishy when they called again to ask to sign for another package. So I have terminated even before the book is made. The next day they just stamped their logo on my pictures sent and said is in the progress so I need to continue with my payment.
what about notion press? Anyone has an experience? Or other suggestions?
I was looking online about 3 years ago and came upon the Partridge Singapore site. Wrote in (email) to get further information…At first a male sales person attended to me & even called me personally- boasting how great their company is and that pushed that I sign up as he has 'hundreds'of writers to attend to & I'll 'miss out' if I don't act now… I didn't.
A month down the line, he called me back with a different tone of voice and coaxed me gently to sign up this time- I thought he was busy attending to his 'long list of writers'? I still didn't sign-up as it didn't feel right.
Almost three years till today, they are still bugging me using different numbers to contact me & emailing me. This time they used another female personnel . Very persuasive, but still pushy… even though I kept telling them no.
Almost signed up. I looked up this site almost 3 years ago while doing some research… here I am today reading up more on the information here. Now, I will definitely NOT sign-up.
Thank you for setting up this site.
Howard
Oh my .. i was also searching for a.publishing company and they were referred to me. Received and email and also got a.call but i left it unanswered as i was not ready to start anything. Luckily i goggled for information and found this article. Thanks for the cautious alert , i guess i'll leave them hanging for now.
These blokes are actually well marketed and on the surface, sound very convincing. I've seen Facebook shares of this so called vanity publisher and to be quite honest, almost fell for it myself (I was and am still looking for a medium to publish my writings).
Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully more writers are made aware of these desperate scavengers.
Damn damn damn
I wished I've read this before putting my money in. Well, at least they only have my money and not my work.
They now seem to be very friendly and good with words. That's how I got suckered in. I'll consider myself lucky if I even get half my money back.
I was currently in contact with them and what stern voice they used on me. I forgot my consultant's name but I remember her stern voice very well. That I should give her cooperation and that I have to come up with a huge amount of money and tells me that it an offer.
I'm actually reluctant on giving them any money because they way they talk to me gives away their dishonesty. And thanks to this post, I'm glad that I didn't give them any cents at all.
I'm now absolutely concerned…
Thanks for the heads up. I really see a lot of their ads on FB & web now. Will alert fellow writers in Malaysia as well.