by Tora

Created on: March 20, 2009

I first heard about Publish America in 2005, from a coworker who was proudly anticipating the release of his very first book. As a writer who was actively researching publishers, I was very interested in learning more about Publish America. I did quite a bit of research in the weeks following our discussion, and everything that I learned convinced me that Publish America is not a legitimate publisher.

Publish America claims that it is a "traditional" publisher, but it is not. There are a few main points that distinguish Publish America from traditional publishers, most notably the fact that Publish America operates on a "POD" or "print-on-demand" model, where copies of a book are printed as they are ordered rather than in advance.

True traditional publishers also offer their writers substantial advances when they agree to publish a novel. The advances are based on how many books the publisher expects to sell in the first print run, and are much higher than the "symbolic" $1 that Publish America reportedly gives its authors.

Another key difference is that traditional publishers actively market the books they promote and do not primarily sell their books to authors and their family and friends. While Publish America has proven itself more than happy to accept any manuscript that's submitted, as James D. Macdonald and a group of (mostly) science fiction and fantasy writers proved with the infamous "Atlanta Nights," they do not make much effort to get books into stores. They will contact local bookstores on behalf of their authors to arrange book signings, but that's about it. They do not advertise the books they publish in printed media. Unless the author approaches a local retailer and convinces a manager to carry his or her book, it's unlikely their books will appear on shelves at all.

Because Publish America's books are so much more expensive than books released by traditional publishers, bookstores are more hesitant to keep them in stock. That's not the only reason that many booksellers prefer to not carry them, though. Typically, books published by Publish America feature poorly designed covers, and they contain little to no editing.

In the past, books from Publish America were not returnable. If booksellers ordered copies from Publish America and were unable to sell them, they had no way to recoup the loss. Now, Publish America's books are returnable for booksellers who place orders through book wholesaler Ingram. Unfortunately, many booksellers are still hesitant to order books and place them on their shelves. Traditional publishers' books are typically available to booksellers with a discount of 40% through Ingram. Publish America's titles, on the other hand, are available at only a 5% discount off the cover price. Booksellers have a lot less incentive to keep Publish America titles in stock, because it means they make less of a profit than they would from traditional publishers' titles.

Publish America relies on inexperienced authors to make its profits. While it claims to treat its authors the old-fashioned way and pay them, it makes no active effort to market its authors' books. Authors should steer clear of Publish America-even if they choose to not go with a real traditional publisher, there are much better alternatives (like Lulu ) available to them.

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