Now since this blog post idea can essentially never end, I’m going to focus on why NOT to publish with Publish America. Why am I doing this? Because this “publisher” isn’t out to help you become a published author, they’re out there to get your money. Plain and simple.
My information is not first hand experiences, but I am planning on having an author who was swindled by this company come over and tell us about it. Most of my information was easily found on the Internet and I’ll provide links to my resources. And for those naysayers out there that will just say I’m jealous because I don’t have a published book yet, I will remind you. I have an agent and I love her to death. I was offered no less than 3 publishing contracts for my book, Fallen (that I turned down), and 1 for, Mirror Image (that I was seriously considering). So no, I’m not jealous.
Here’s also a reminder that money flows to the author not away from. If you’re asked to pay for something, be very wary and DO YOUR RESEARCH. Check everyone out before you query them. Period. End of story.
Okay, here’s a quick rundown on why not to publish with PA.
1. They don’t edit your work. In fact, usually more errors are introduced into your work and then they want you to pay for it to have it fixed.
2. Your books will almost never be on an actual bookshelf, because PA doesn’t except returns (almost all commercial publishers accept returns, because they only accept and print books they believe in.) Or in libraries, because they lack the LOC CIP number--something real publishers provide for their books.
3. PA accepts almost everything! It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. If they can easily format it, it gets picked up. (Unless, of course, they’ve met their quota for the day).
4. PA will not sell your book to readers. They will sell your book to YOU! The prices they charge for their books is so exuberantly overpriced that no real reader will buy it, therefore they offer the author “deals” so they buy it. (Sounds a bit different than we’ll never charge the author anything, doesn’t it?)Here's a link from their own site that proves that the books are ridiculously overpriced.
5. And finally, if you publish with PA, it’s not considered a real publishing credit. There isn’t an agent out there that considers this a legitimate credit.
This is a forum post that has multiple sub-forums. Click on any of them and you’ll see everything I’m talking about:
