Publish America has been one huge disappointment for many would be authors, including me. Like so many other people being new to writing, new to Internet scams, new to publishing I set myself up for failure with Publish America. I had thought myself lucky to have avoided the so called vanity press publishing companies. You know what, if they advertise they are a vanity press or a self publisher at least they are being honest. Publish America sells a lot of hype and uses all the carefully worded sales pitches it takes to lure the writer in.
Being an honest person I still believed that an ethical company would not accept a book just to trap the writer into spending money. I thought they would read the story, send it back with editing or re-writes and help a writer produce a market worthy book. They are a traditional publishing company so, of course, they want the highest quality of book unlike those vanity presses; imagine how people feel when they realize the truth.
My book was a story inspired by an actual event but my creative mind took the story into conspiracy, murder and intrigue. Publish America said it was worthy of publishing. They sent me the contract and I had a local attorney look it over. The attorney said it was very vague but not bad. So I signed it, I have been trying to get them to let me out of the contract for several months now or at least get them to edit my book! The impasse is I can't sell the book in the current status, not edited; they won't let me out of the contract because they say it is marketable as is.
From all the email contacts with Publish America while working on the book I had been duped into believing they were actually editing my book. I had edited with spell check, grammar check and had friends read it. I sent in hundreds of change/errors as I tried to edit my own writing per Publish America's instructions. Still I assumed it would have a final edit by the "real" editor for the company. I never dreamed that a big publishing company would allow material full of errors out with their name on the cover!
Publish America is not a traditional publishing company. This company feeds off thousands of writers, would be writers as well as a few pretty good authors. The business is sign them up and get them to pay Publish America's inflated book prices plus not get any royalties on books purchased by the author. The books are so riddled with typo's and errors they are not suitable for serious marketing by anyone. Even in my small town the local bookstore owner had already had her fill of Publish America's books, she did allow me to have book signing but as time passed, ultimately, I became embarrassed by how pitiful my book was edited, I stopped trying to sell it.
The story line is good, people liked it and not all the readers are people known to me that purchased my book. My book has over 300 errors, mostly commas, some misplaced words and still a few misspelled words. I had a man go through it line by line, page by page, to prove my point. I asked that Publish America make the changes and they flatly refused in an arrogant note back to me. They told me that all books have mistakes in them even best selling authors make mistakes.
My own personal press releases on-line have had a combined total of almost a thousand hits but as far as I can tell no books were so sold. The publisher's reputation alone makes your book difficult to impossible to market. The price is enough to keep any sane person from purchasing most Publish America author's books. You can purchase hard back books from many companies for under $10.00 in all kinds of stores. Most paperback books of unknown authors don't rate a double digit price tag.
My 185 page book is priced from $19.97 to over $20 for tiny paper back, available from on-line sources only.( I challenge anyone to find the book in stock in any book store, it just doesn't happen with a Publish America book.) The book came out March 2008 my largest royalty check has been $46.00 and that, with the first check of $2.79, puts me in the hole by nearly a $1000.00. Just do the math and remember that they say they are the fastest growing publisher in America.
As an author with Publish America you have no way to know if or when a book is sold or where it was sold. They do not market, they use a so called press release that goes no where, that is the extent of their marketing, plus a web page on their site.( Who would go to Publish America to find a book, only family or friends?) Save your self some grief, check out all the negative sites about publishing companies, sorry, Publish America is just one of many scams out there.
If you have been duped by Publish America send a complaint to the Attorney General of Maryland as well as your own state. Send a complaint to the Better Business Bureau in Baltimore, Maryland. The more voices the faster we can get something done about this scam. Publish America has a mean side and they are not above pulling all kinds of dirty tricks on authors that want out of the contracts.
The contract is a seven year agreement worded carefully in favor of Publish America. Novice writers do not see the opportunity to use the vaguely worded agreement against them but it is a carefully devised tool for Publish America to use in case there is dissent and disagreement.
Always do your homework before you sign a contract. Many of us didn't and we are paying for it now. The best advice is stay away from Publish America!