Nasty, Unprofessional Behavior by Publish
America's "Author Support"
My correspondences with Publish America ...
Fuchsia = Publish America
Blue = Me
*Author's real name not used to protect the innocent
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:29:52 -0400
To: [email protected]
From: "PublishAmerica Author Support" <[email protected]>
Subject: Complexitypoet: nonsense
Dear Complexitypoet:
Please clarify "the deceptive practices of Publish America". We will not for a
second consider your request until you have either backed up your outrageous
allegation, or backed off from it.
Thank you,
PublishAmerica Support
[email protected]
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 10:28:50 -0400
To: [email protected]
From: <[email protected]>
Subject: Want out of PublishAmerica Contract
Dear Author Support,
I still want out of my Publish America contract as soon as possible. I am not
promoting Complexity in any way, and I am telling people about the deceptive
practices of Publish America via word of mouth and website. I have all emails
and correspondence, and I want my request honored immediately. I will not buy
copies of Complexity, and I am telling others to not buy as well. Complexity
will not be bringing in any money. Thank you for your time, and I hope this
matter can be resolved.
Complexitypoet
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 12:19:31 -0400
To: [email protected]
From: "Author Support Team" <[email protected]>
Subject: Complexitypoet: Nonsense
Dear Complexitypoet,
Please cut the nonsense right now. Your irrational rant
below is so
littered with misconceptions, myths and misinformation that we can
hardly be expected to take it seriously. We will expect your apology
and for you to behave in a manner becoming a professional author. We
have never treated you as anything less.
>I am not promoting my book Complexity, and won't be.
And? While it is in every author's best interest to be
proactive in
the promotion and marketing of the book, we never required you to do
so.
>Publish America is a vanity press/POD that makes up
for not charging
>the author a publishing fee by marking up the price of his/her books
>and leaving authors no choice but to buy their own books.
No other way to say it than that you are incorrect.
PublishAmerica is
100% a traditional publisher. PublishAmerica underwrites all costs
that are involved with publishing books, down to the last penny. We
charge our authors nothing, ever, earning our income by selling books
only, which is the true hallmark of traditional publishing. Our
contracts are industry standard and have been scrutinized and
greenlighted innumerable times by attorneys all over the fruited
plain, which helps explain why we count hundreds of lawyers among our
authors.
>Complexity should not cost over $7, but it is $14.95
retail, $11.95
>special price.
And what do you base your cost analysis on? We base our
pricing on
years of experience in the business. We know what works and what does
not. Pricing has never inhibited PublishAmerica's progress nor our
thousands of happy authors in any way. We know that our pricing is
not deterring sales. We have found that pricing is simply not nearly
the significant issue that some may think it is. Remember too, that
we are just as eager to sell books as you are, and would do things
differently if we thought it appropriate.
We have sold upwards of a million books, which stands
in contrast to
any allegation that our books are not competitively priced and/or
supplied. Our book prices have always been the same, and, unlike most
other publishers, we have never increased them.
>Not only that, Publish America does no promoting.
Again, you are mistaken. Per the contract, we could opt
to do
absolutely nothing since all promotion and marketing are at our
election and discretion. However, you know that we do much more than
nothing to see that your book was released to the industry and
promoted. PublishAmerica sends marketing information for each new
title to RR Bowker's Books In Print, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, The
Brodart Company, Barnes & Noble.com, Amazon.com and through our
printer in the United Kingdom to wholesalers in all main markets in
Europe where our books are made available to more than 200 million
European readers. This marketing information is distributed to each
and every book retailer and library across the country. Consequently,
your book is available through each and every bookstore in the
country, and all those bookstores have all pertinent information at
their fingertips.
In addition, PublishAmerica creates a direct mail
letter with book
release marketing information, which is sent to individuals and
businesses across the US, including magazines and newspapers. These
efforts have helped generate thousands of feature articles and/or
reviews about our authors and their books, some of which are posted
on our web site: http://www.publishamerica.com/Press/index.htm.Our
Public Relations department discusses new releases with news media
every day. Also, they send thousands of books, gratis, to legitimate
reviewers at magazines, newspapers, television, and radio shows.
Furthermore, we have launched a showcase website for
all of our
authors, called PublishedAuthors.net. It gives individual web pages
to each and every author, highlighting them and their books. The
content of these pages are edited by the author individually and are
password protected. Not only that, but it also gives every author
their own e-mail address, @publishedauthors.net. This innovative new
service, plus all of the above, is free, of course, as you have come
to expect from us.
>I know now what a REAL publisher does for its author.
Based on? In today's world, all traditional publishers,
be they
Random House or PublishAmerica, need proactive authors who are
interested in the success of their books, not divas who complain when
they do nothing and the book does not achieve their perceived level of
success.
>If my rights are not returned to me, I will seek legal
action.
You should seek competent legal aid in reading your
contract and
separating fact from fiction. For now, your contract remains in full
effect, and we will continue to publish your book.
Have a great day!
Thank You,
Author Support Team
Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 11:39:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: <[email protected]>
Subject: I want out of my Publish America contract ASAP!
To: "Author Support" <[email protected]>
Publish America Author Support,
I am writing to demand I be released from my Publish America
contract. I am not promoting my book Complexity, and won't be. I am
incensed that you believe Publish America is a 'traditional'
publisher, or commercial publisher. Publish America is a vanity
press/POD that makes up for not charging the author a publishing fee
by marking up the price of his/her books and leaving authors no
choice but to buy their own books. Complexity should not cost over
$7, but it is $14.95 retail, $11.95 special price. Why would someone
buy Complexity (a new author) at that high price, when a poetry book
by Maya Angelou costs half the price?
Not only that, Publish America does no promoting. Putting a book
online is not promotion, and neither is sending order forms to my
friends, relatives, and local newspaper. The newspaper didn't even
print it obviously.
I know now what a REAL publisher does for its author. I shouldn't be
running around begging for bookstores to shelve Complexity, nor
should I be hassling my family and friends to buy it. If Publish
America were a REAL publisher, Complexity would be on shelves and
people outside of my family and friends would know of it!
Lastly, I received a rude email from Author Support about the
concerns I had with Publish America. Support should be professional
at all times, especially with the people who are paying their
salaries. That email was uncalled for. I was also banned from the
Publish America message board for having a difference of opinion. Why
band me if Publish America is so legitimate?
I do not want an amended contract, nor will I sign a 'gag'
clause/order of any sort. Do not waste your time sending me either.
I want for Publish America cease printing any copies of Complexity.
I want Publish America to remove Complexity from online bookstores'
catalogs/all catalogs, and I want Publish America not to sell any
copies of it. I want my royalties from Complexity sent, and my
publishing rights for Complexity returned as soon as possible. I
will continue to speak out against Publish America for the deceitful
and condescending ways it treats authors/writers. If my rights are
not returned to me, I will seek legal action.
Sincerely,
Complexitypoet
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:48:32 -0500
To: [email protected]
From: "Author Support Team" <[email protected]>
Subject: Complexitypoet: contact support
Dear Complexitypoet,
Your letter was deleted unread. It did not reach the intended recipient(s), and
it will not be directed elsewhere within the company. Your sole point of contact
is [email protected] . Once you direct your concerns there, and there
only, our support team will be happy to respond promptly.
Thank You,
Author Support Team
[email protected]
-------------------------------------
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Complexitypoet
>Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:44 AM
>Subject: I want to be released from my Publish America contract ASAP!
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 12:50:14 -0500
To: [email protected]
From: "PublishAmerica Support" <[email protected]>Subject:
Complexitypoet: not feeling well
Complexitypoet,
Please re-read your contract, and this time read it carefully.
You, or any other PublishAmerica author, are not under any obligation or
pressure whatsoever to purchase copies of your own book, for book signings or
otherwise, at any time, under any circumstance. Nor are you under any special
privilege to receive free copies beyond what your contract, signed and agreed to
by you, dictates.
As for you talking to one fringe bookstore, this tells you nothing about all the
other thousands of bookstores and/or their policies. The true fact is that
PublishAmerica books are being ordered, stocked, and/or sold by hundreds of
bookstores every day, lately once every two minutes, twenty-four hours per day,
seven days a week. For you to insinuate otherwise, boggles the mind. Each day,
bookstores schedule book signings for our authors, and they do the book
ordering. So, if you choose to do book signings, and one bookstore balks, try
the next!
Please show us where PublishAmerica claims or claimed that we "put authors'
books in major bookstores". Publishers make no such claim, because they can't.
Bookstores decide what they put on their shelves, publishers don't.
We are sorry that you are "burnt out and broke", quite obviously from causes
beyond your publisher's control, and wish you a speedy recovery. Your healing
process may be helped by the fact that you need to spend no more time on posting
on our mesage board. Your access privileges have been revoked after you elected
to advertise a fraudulent website that is aimed at undermining your book's sales
chances.
Thank you,
Author Support Team
[email protected]
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 15:13:05 -0800 (PST)
From: <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: AST Question
To: [email protected]
To Whom It May Concern:
I have written before concerned getting books for book signings and events, and
I am appalled that I should have to pay out of pocket for books for these
events! If anything, the books the author requests( their OWN work), should be
given to them at no cost, but the potential buyers, on the otherhand, should
pay. Both the company and the author both benefit from this - I do not see how
PA doesn't see that. The authors at PA are not given a generous advance or
anything similar to be paying for large amounts of books, traveling all over the
place, and making promotional materials.
I also have another concern. I contacted a bookstore that said that it doesn't
shelve self-published books. I thought PA was not a self-publishing company! It
claims it is a traditional publisher. If that bookstore is mistaken, I believe
that it will behoove you to call this particular bookstore and explain to them
that you are not a self-publisher so that your business would not suffer from
misinformation. I won't send the info of the bookstore unless you ask for it,
and I will be sure to check up with them in the event that you do decide to call
and do call them.
I am also upset that you claimed to put authors' books in major bookstores, and
you don't! In fact, authors have to promote with them as well! What is
traditional about this? What promotion does PA do on authors' behalves?
I am very concerned about my book. I put a lot of effort and hard work into my
work, and I expect the best to be done by it. It needs diligent promotion and
the help of a reputable publisher to get into the limelight. It doesn't need an
author who is burnt out and broke because the publisher won't give her a break
by having free promotional books for book signing and events - without taking
money from the author's pocket.
I believe you will take this matter seriously, and will do your best to satisfy
your authors. I believe you have your authors' interests at heart and want to
see them succeed. I hope to hear from you as soon as possible regarding this
matter. Thank you.
Complexitypoet
Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:10:43 -0400
To:[email protected]
From:"PublishAmerica Author Support" <[email protected]>
Subject:Complexitypoet: contract term request
Dear Complexitypoet:
For now, your contract termination request is denied, and your contract
remains fully in place, but we would be interested in the reason for
such an unusual request. Depending on the reasoning, we may reconsider your
request at our next review meeting, to be held at our leisure.
Thank you,
PublishAmerica Support
[email protected]
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:16:16 -0700 (PDT)
From:<[email protected]>
Subject: I want my publishing rights back ASAP!!
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Dear Author Support,
I still want out of my Publish America contract as soon as possible.
I am not promoting Complexity in any way, and I am telling people
about the deceptive practices of Publish America via word of mouth and
website. I have all emails and correspondence, and I want my request
honored immediately. I will not buy copies of Complexity, and I am
telling others to not buy as well. Complexity will not be bringing
in any money. Thank you for your time, and I hope this matter can be
resolved.
Complexitypoet
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