Young Writers Society

I think I'll step in and elaborate on PublishAmerica.

Is there any way that you can elaborate upon this, please?

PublishAmerica has many flaws. I'll try to be brief.

First, they have insane prices for books. Books they publish that would normally cost around $15 instead cost $20.

That spirals into other problems. As a result of this, Barnes and Noble has released a statement saying that they will not sell ANY PublishAmerica books. Other bookstores have not been quite as outward about it, but they will not sell it either.

You guys must be excited about your friend, so I'm sorry about this next part.

Perhaps the most famous flaw is that PublishAmerica claims they reject 80% of submissions. Remember that. for a moment during this story.

One day, PublishAmerica releases a statement that basically was making fun of Sci-fi writers and their stories. Naturally, the sci-fi writers are mad at them. But they've heard rumors, so they set to work. Over a weekend, about 20 writers contribute chapters. All they know is a few main characters. They roll die to see what characters are in what chapters, and each one writes the worst chapter they can. The chapters all are completely out of order.

Under a pen name, the finished product, Atlanta Nights, is submitted. PublishAmerica happily accepts the book. When the events gained publicity, they reject it.

Also, one time, a man submitted a "book" made up of the same chapter copied 30 times. Guess what? They accepted it.

As a result of this, Barnes and Noble has released a statement saying that they will not sell ANY PublishAmerica books.

o_o; B-b-but her book is being sold at Barnes and Noble! :C

Also, one time, a man submitted a "book" made up of the same chapter copied 30 times. Guess what? They accepted it.

But THAT is ridiculous. o_O;

Well, I suppose I'll tell her for next time and steer clear of them myself! ^_^ Thank you for further information! -thumbs up-

Also note that the contract basically gets PA free and clear of having to do any advertising for the Author. They are a Print On Demand publisher which means they only print copies when ordered and that is usually to the authors family and friends. They accept everything so they can constantly have a stream of revenue while never loosing money and never gaining anything for the author.

When I told them no, they were quite displeased.

Thunder, that's...ridiculous! I haven't read any of the other posts, so excuse me if this is already touched upon, but my friend's dad is a screenplay writer, and he said Vanity is a scam, because they ask you to pay them. He said that's a big no-no, and companies should pay you.

I haven't really gotten *officially* published yet, so sadly, I have no tales to share.

Well, to the traditional author, vanity publishing is a scam. However it is a legitimate business practice. The bright side of Vanity publishing is the author gets exactly what they pay for. A vanity publisher wont try and screw the author over, but simply provide services that the author paid for.

Really you want to look for agents and publishers who don't ask for any kind of payment or money. they make money when you make money.

I feel the need to make another comment here - the purpose of vanity publishing is if you just want to print, say, twenty copies of the book for your family and friends. Trying to use it to legitimately market and sell a book is pretty impossible.

Preach it, brother. If you have money to burn, it's less effort and heartache to actually burn it than to vanity publish.

There's a book, new one published every year, called the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook, which contains lists of good (traditional) publishers, as well as self-publishers, magazines, and agents. It also has a lot of helpful stuff in it written by vairuos well-known or successful writers/editors/publishers.

Overally, if oyu're interested in publishing, BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT. It's properly researched and will do a lot better for you than word-of-mouth reputation. It's sold in most good bookshops, I think.

Just a quick note: Shina (angels-symphony) and I are running the Publication or Perish usergroup. Hope we can help users of this thread and anyone else seeking publication.

thunder_dude7 wrote:I feel the need to make another comment here - the purpose of vanity publishing is if you just want to print, say, twenty copies of the book for your family and friends. Trying to use it to legitimately market and sell a book is pretty impossible.

Still not a good idea, lulu.com is much better for that.

Hi I was wondering about Tate Publishing. They look legitimate to me, but I haven't researched them or anything.

Hai guys,

The "America Library of Poetry" is a complete scam. I submitted a poem to them a while back, and got a letter today, listing me as a "semi-finalist" and telling me to pay $40 for the "anthology".

Needless to say, I am not going to buy the stupid thing.

Sad to say, my English teacher recommended this to me.

Okay, I did some research on Tate and from other authors who have dealt with them, they send you a contract and want you to invest. In other words, It's a vanity publisher. A general rule is that if the publisher is advertising, like Tate has done on YWS they're not worth much. Traditional publishers don't need to advertise because they have built their name and don't need to push their name around to get noticed.

So I don't suggest going with them.

Also there are plenty of books out with information on Publishers and agents. Writers Market is a fantastic book. And don't think that I don't research before I post either. I take great care in gathering information before I give it to other authors.