New York Poetry Review on PNN

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PUBLISH AMERICA books are not carried in any national bookstore chain. They have a poor return policy and are overpriced by 25% according to Barnes and Noble spokesperson. "We have never and will never carry a Publish America book in our stores"

PA has a policy of selling overpriced books to it's authors at an inflated rate. The Authors in turn are encouraged to market their own works. PA does no marketing for it's authors.

Under reporting of sales is another issue many PA authors have. PA claims that the sales ranking on Amazon books has no meaning and in no way relates to sales.

To further insult it's authors the Amazon advanced search will give you the exact sales ranking of every book sold by PA. Again PA claims this has no relation to sales the numbers mean nothing.

One author who ranked #10 in sales for PA on Amazon only sold 16 books according to PA royality staement. That is #10 out of 24,011 books currently being sold on Amazon for PA.

Authors who complain are blacklisted from the highly censored PA messege board. Any complaint is quickly removed and that author is banned from further postings.

PA is nothing more tha a variation on the old vanity press. Any author who is thinking of signing with PA need only to GOOGLE PA and see the negitive postings.

According to one PA author. "They are the destroyer of dreams. " taking the work of aspiring authors and holding it for a ransome for seven years. When is the BBB of Maryland going to put a stop to the criminals at Publish America

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Publish America Scams Thousands Of Authors

PublishAmerica tries to lure thousands of authors into their scam. So far, approximately 14,000 writers have been duped. But many haven't, due to the simple fact that they went over to Google, Yahoo, AOL, Ask, MSN, Netscape, and other search engines and put in those two words "Publish America" or "PublishAmerica" only to find out that PublishAmerica is run by a group of con artists. Read some quotes about writers who were scammed and of those who successfully kept their books safe from the clutches of PublishAmerica.

Those Who Got Away...

"I had sent my manuscript to PublishAmerica but I have not signed the contract. What on earth is a $1 advance? That's not money. I am not going to sign the contract after reading your article. They sound like crooks." D.B., USA

"I have read your compilation of complaints about Publish America and I am left with the question, where should a first time author publish his book? By getting writers to sign a seven year contract I think Publish America seeks to make indentured servants out of creative people. In contrast some other on-line publishers allow the writer to retain all rights to the book, so it could be placed with another publisher at any time...I don't savor the thought of being lured in the beginning only to get the shaft later. That business model sounds like a free hooker, only you end up with an STD." T.F., USA

"I actually sent them my manuscript - but had second thoughts - voice of intuition I guess. They are sending me their 'contract' - and I guess I should just let it sit in the drawer when I get it and not sign or mail it back to them. I am a little puzzled about their business. I guess I was misled by the 'patriotic' website. I think somewhere on the website they state they DO sell their books through stores and I thought there was a reference to Random House? Puzzling." M.H., Canada

"I had hoped to publish my manuscript with PublishAmerica. It is not quite finished so in the meantime I emailed my nephew who lives in the States to check out the company for me. I was horrified to read some of the information he sent me." G. S., United Kingdom

Unfortunately, Those Who DID NOT Get Away...

"I just read your article entitled Publish America is really PrintAmerica. I wish I had read this and other articles before I handed my book over to them for eight years!
My book is scheduled for release on June 21, 2005 and I have lost all enthusiasm for the project I was once so passionate about. The 'red flag' was raised when I received my manuscript back from the editors and there were more mistakes than when I first submitted it.
I just completed a second book and this one will either be accepted by a real publisher or it will remain locked in a drawer somewhere.
Thank you again for opening my eyes at the expense of only one book." W.J., USA

"I know you have been flooded with responses to your complaint, but I had to add my two cents. I have been appalled by the lack of professionalism of this group. I recognized pretty early on that it was, as my husband says, 'Grandma Target Marketing', but I still thought I could work with it, and get my book out there. What a joke! My books arrive counted incorrectly, it shows up as 'out of print' on Ingram, and when the rare bookstore has tried to order it from PublishAmerica, it takes them days to get AN ANSWER ON THE PHONE!! Then, when I e-mail with a question, they just don't answer. When I call with a question, they just don't call me back! It is unbelieveable. I am very worried that I might, as an author, be 'stigmatized' by the PublishAmerica brand. What can be done about these things? I am more than willing to send my story, but what will come of it? I could go on for hours, like the two things they changed in editing went from grammatically correct to incorrect!!!! Anyway, what is our objective?" D.T., USA

"I have decided today after getting my first royalty check that PublishAmerica is a lot of hooey. I was very nervous after reading some of the complaints about them and had defended them about the contract. At first it was a shining moment to be published. My complaint is that the royalty check they sent did not match the number of books that I signed. In other words to dispute them I have to pay them for an accounting. I am sorry that I signed a contract with them. They flat out ripped me off and I will not recomend them to any other authors. To file a complaint would mean that they would do to me what they have done to others that are not satisfied with them. I do have a seven year contract but can't wait for the time to pass. There is a lot to be desired from them and they flat out lie to you. So I hope that the word will be put out about them and how they pay their royalties. For example I have a ranking with Barnes and Noble for my book and at Amazon.com and I know that more than four books sold. In fact I know the amount of books that I signed or autographed so this is how I know that they lied. I would file with Maryland Better Business Bureau but I have gone online with complaints to a watchdog group that can list it under their umbrella. But I just wanted you to know how unhappy I am and deeply disappointed with this publisher. Author Beware. "

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