author

Jenny's story

I'd been through the 'submit/reject' mill fifteen or so years back - after winning every contest I'd ever entered with my two completed novels - and since I didn't really have that fire in the belly one needs to become a 'published' author, I tucked both manuscripts away, until an internet friend told me he'd be absent for a while to finish the 'contractual requirements' to get his book finished and on the street. The conversation went from one thing to another, ending with his graciously offering to introduce me to his 'editor'. Since I believed him to be a good writer from what I'd seen of his work, I contacted his 'editor' and was invited to submit my book to PA.

I didn't rush into the relationship. A couple of weeks passed while I did some research into PA, and found a few negatives - nothing like what you see on the 'net today - then all the cheerleader hooha on the PA Message Board about the complaints coming from 'about 8 disgruntled authors'. I let the invitation drift off my radar screen and actually forgot about it until I received a letter, via snailmail, from PA wanting to know where my submission was, hoping I hadn't decided to withdraw it from consideration.

Even though I was uneasy about the things I'd seen on the 'net, I decided that if worse came to worst, I could always clear my desk of everything unimportant and make PA's misery my new hobby. I had a different reason for wanting to be published, anyway: a friend and I had an agreement. If I'd keep trying to get published, she'd keep trying to get her invention patented and distributed. Unfortunately, she died of lung cancer in the middle of our 'agreement'. If nothing else, I'd end up with one copy of my book for my husband and one to bury with my friend.

Like everyone else who's got a book with PA, I got the letter telling me that my novel was going to be published, 'given the chance it deserves'. I signed the contract - after having a lawyer look it over! - and fulfilled my obligations under it. I went above and beyond on those obligations - like so many other PA authors have done - because the expectation locally was for a signing. for reviews. for interviews. I fulfilled those obligations, too - or will by the time Christmas gets here. Unfortunately, the lawyer who looked the contract over isn't experienced in publishing contracts - it looked okay to him so I took him at his word. I didn't understand the weasel wording it contained about royalties. And it never told me there wasn't a returns policy. It never said my book would cost 30% more than others in my genre. It didn't mention that getting it those 'brick and mortar' stores was going to be nigh on to impossible.

Bottom line, the Never-Ending PublishAmerica and the others associated with it (Absolute Write, P&E, PA Sucks, etc.) are providing an incredible service to writers all over the world. We'll never know how many people we save... and those who sign anyway, well... there's nothing anyone can do to stop them if they do so after reading any of what's available today.

Just as a final warning: As of October 22, 2005, there are currently 11540 PA books available on Amazon.com. I know for a fact that 15 copies of my book were sold from there within the last two weeks - I bought them myself to fulfill one of my obligations for a signing. With those whopping 15 sales, my book is currently #15 (coincidence, or what?) on the 'PA Bestseller' list on that site.

Does that tell anyone how abysmally the other 11525 below me are selling?

I'll get my money back - the full cost of each - on those fifteen copies because they're already sold. A high percentage of the authors who buy their own books never recover even the 50% they pay when they gratefully accept PA's offer to sell them what they should be providing for free!

Caveat Emptor! And I mean that in its truest sense of the term, because that's just what you'll be: the buyer.

Not the 'published author'.

The buyer.

The disappointed.

The embarrassed.

The one who, in the end, really did pay to play.