PublishAmerica is too much fun

I just love writing about the PublishAmerica scam, especially now that the swindle's president,Larry Clopper, has decided to start talking to reporters.  The latest news,  as reported by the Associated Press, is that one of the company's disgruntled authors decided to test Clopper's claim that they are a "traditional publisher" that is selective about the books they "acquire" (for the astonishing advance of $1).

Clopper said PublishAmerica is selective -- only 30 percent of submitted manuscripts make it to print. Some authors believe otherwise.

Dee Power, unhappy with how PublishAmerica had handled her novel, "Overtime," submitted a "new" book that consisted of the first 50 pages of "Overtime" and the last 10 pages, repeated over and over. The manuscript was accepted. (Power declined to have it published). PublishAmerica also accepted a novel by Kevin Yarbrough, even though the first 30 pages were repeated six times. (Yarbrough revealed his trick on an Internet site.)

Clopper said those "flaws" would have been discovered before publication, but acknowledged the works had initially been accepted. "People make mistakes," he said. "When somebody views a manuscript, they may not read the whole thing line by line."

While I sympathize with the authors who were ripped off by PublishAmerica,  I'm stunned anybody who visited their website, and read the terms of the contract, could have fallen for their scam. It's not like Cloppers and Co. went to much effort to hide the true nature of their enterprise, a vanity press making a laughably half-assed attempt to masquerade as a traditioanl publishing company.  But aspiring authors, naturally frustrated by their inability to sell their books, are too blinded by their desperation to read the small print... or to recognize the obvious. It makes them easy prey for swindles like PublishAmerica, WritersUniverse, and their ilk...

Comments

[David J. Montgomery]

I got an email from a guy the other day requesting that I review his book. I looked it up and saw that it was published by Publish America. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was just pissing away his time to go along with his money. It's sad the way these companies prey on the gullible and desperate writer.

[sabrina]

I am so glad that I got a chance to read this before I signed away the rights to my book. I am a new to the world of have my work published and I don't want to be taken advantage of. If any one could tell me about a real publisher that would be great!

[Mark A. York]

It would be great if it were that simple. Or not.

[Rebecca]

I signed with P.A. even knowing all the "hype" that's on the internet - I'm not sorry that I did because I would have to sell my work (of poetry) no matter who I went with. The other choice is to pay big bucks up front so what's the big deal? I am in the early stages of getting the book out to the public. Maybe I'll change my mind later, but I doubt it. At least this way I can afford it.

[Karen Vanderlaan]

so, for those of us who were stupidly duped by Publish America, how do we get to another publisher??

[Carolyn J. Day]

I have published two books with Publish America. I cannot set up a website because I have IE 8, I can't access the post card to the second book, so I can't send out my own notices, and I can seem to get any answers from the support people. Others that have tried, cannot write a review on the site.
I was hoping for a chance without having to pay for the publishing. I am on my sixth book and this is two different series. It's hard to get anyone to read you work when you try to put it out to find an agent or to get a publisher to look at it. If you don't have something already published, they won't look at you.
So, what do we do? Those of us who are not rich and really love to write--what do we do?