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Publish America: Making Books

Are Lulu THAT bad?

I've been using Lulu for a couple of years for photos as well as ebooks and made a little money. I've just put up a paperback and will be relying on internet sales either through Lulu or links to the Lulu product direct through my website (I wrote my own ecommerce software for direct sales of ebooks through my site).

As I'm selling through the net, I don't need to buy an ISBN nor do I need to buy a crate of the books to gather dust in my loft.... So, Lulu is essentially free with this model as being just ONE way to sell books as well as get a little more web presence.

I've just started using Mobipocket a week ago for my titles and already the money's coming in... also for NO OUTLAY.

I doubt if I'm going to pay off my mortgage with the proceeds, but it's still money and it SURE is fun! :D
 
Publicity Side of Things

Thought I'd put my 2 cents in about the publicity side of Publish America. Putting aside all the profits that go into the middle man's pocket, you are going to struggle to get any sort of media response when you publish through Publish America.

PA is not the only company you need to keep your heads up about. I've seen several other names mentioned but beware there are big name labels that will accept anyone through an "imprint". An imprint is basically the same company but they won't put the name with a good reputation on a lesser book. They sure will take anyone's money though!

Here are the facets I can think of at the moment which are impacted by going through anyone but a top publishing house's main label.

Book Events: Authors who have published through Publish America know that their books used to be nonreturnable to the distributor. That was the kiss of death for book events at big bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders. Those bookstores won't do an event based upon consignment except for very rare circumstances and they just don't order a book they can't return. Currently, Publish America is returnable but it doesn't fix the cover prices they put on all their books. Bookstores are catching on to the gimmick and will turn down most books whose cover price isn't competitive.

Cover Price: The prices PA puts on their books is 2-3 times a book sitting next to it on the bookshelf. Unless you have a lot of luck, you aren't going to sell many books beyond your friends and family for this single reason.

Reviews: You can get reviews for any book. What you need to decide is who you want doing those reviews. The New York Time Book Review doesn't touch PA books without gloves and only long enough to toss it in the garbage bin. There are many top reviewers that don't review anything not released by a traditional publishing house. (This should always be your first avenue if you want to be a top-selling author.)

Local media: In lower population density areas, you can pretty much feel assured that you will get some sort of press regardless of your publisher. If you live somewhere like L.A., you have to have a top publisher name to get attention from anyone including your neighborhood publication.

National media: A top notch publicist can find you some media across the nation but it will take a lot of time and you are paying for that time. Veteran media know which publishing companies turn out any book regardless of content and are hesitant at best to even accept a review copy.

I hope this can help someone make an educated choice before printing with a POD, subsidy or vanity press!
 
Have no illusions...PublishAmerica is the worst of the worst, and well-known...in a negative way. They are INFAMOUS.
Over at Speculations there is a thread about them with over a thousand posts, all bad.
They represent the lowest form of literary life, i.e. charging money to hard-working authors, making promises they can't keep, and producing expensive substandard books that nobody wants.

Bookstore managers won't touch a PA title.
 
Publish America

Publish America authors struggle to be sure. I agree that the program is set up in a way that authors are scammed continuously. Anyone I know who considers them, I tell them to run the other way screaming if they must.

The only point I disagree on is that bookstore managers won't touch a PA title. For those authors who have been duped into publishing with PA, the door is not completely shut. PA authors will have to work twice as hard but they can usually set up at least one event for a book launch.

Expect only friends and family to show up for the event and expect to have any books not sold at the event returned after about 90 days. PA books simply do not sell because of the high cover prices.

PA authors can usually get a little bit of media but generally don't expect much even with a publicist's help.
 
There are two kinds of POD, one is good, the other bad.

Publish on Demand: This is where you take your manuscript and mail it off to a company who charges you to make a complete book out of it. Most of the time, they do little or no editing. If they edit, it's only because they need to in order to make the pdf file come out straight for the printed book. Generally, these companies care not a whit whether your book needs a pro editor. They just print them up. It's garbage in-garbage out all the way.

Print on Demand: This is perfectly legitimate, and rapidly becoming the standard for small to medium-sized publishers, and even some larger ones. You upload your finished manuscript and cover files, and the company prints you a book. The best is Lightning Source, who are used by some large publishers. The advantage of print-on-demand is that your book is made available without having to carry 50K copies in a warehouse.
Lightning Source is only for professionals, or serious writers. You must purchase your own isbn prefix before using them. This means buying a minimum of ten numbers (about $250) and making sure your text and cover files are perfect. LSI charges almost $500 to 'take down' a book file and make changes...even if it means adding a missing period at the end of a sentence. The upside is that once you are with LSI, you can acquire your book at a very reasonable price, enabling you to offer it up at true wholesale rates to bookstores.

Bookstore managers I have spoken to in the Puget Sound area tell me they avoid PA books for two reasons: Questions on quality of the book, (they know most PA books are not pro-edited) and the cost per copy. Why should a bookstore manager pay 10 dollars for a trade paperback when they can get the same size title for 3-5 dollars? They usually won't. As Sabrina noted above, sometimes you can get a local bookstore to toss you a bone, but real marketing through PA is virtually impossible.

As an in-between, temporary choice...you could try Lulu.com. They are not too bad, but the print costs will still keep you out of bookstores. You can acquire copies for less than PA, but still a bit high for true marketing. The upside to Lulu is that you can make changes to the book, if necessary, for free.

Secret: Many small/medium size presses keep open accounts at Lulu, but print their books for actual distribution through LSI. They do this in order to get a proof copy and make final changes to their pdf cover/text files before uploading the final version to Lightning Source. While doing this, they just check the box at Lulu that says 'Available Only To Me' and then order a copy of the book. This way, they can avoid the high charges of LSI to make changes...the best of both worlds.
 
Pod

I'm glad you have had good luck with the Print On Demand set up. I find that Lightening Source still charges rates that are too high to be competitive.

For example, I am friends with T.J. Perkins. She has a 2 book series, a 5 book series and another book that is the beginning of a series. Her target audience is "tweens"; not kids, not teenagers. She was self published/ publish on demand before she learned how the industry works and then incorporated her own publishing company.

She chose Lightening Source because she could not afford to print a huge run of books. Because of the prices Lightening Source was charging per book, they told her to mark her 100 page "tween" books at $11.00. Competitive books are $5.00 max. I just don't consider that reasonable price for the market.

In my blog, I mention that the cover price should not be more than 10-20% off the average of traditionally published books in your genre. Much more than that deviation and you aren't going to make many sales beyond family and friends. The standard Joe/Jane consumer will look at other books near yours and try to figure out why the bookstore is charging more for a no name author than Stephen King's new novel. In the end, they're buying Stephen King.

Maybe large publishers get a better deal on Lightening Source printing prices enabling lower cover prices but I've heard that they typically use Lightening Source for old titles that they aren't willing to run a print of again because there is only sporadic demand.

I did not know about the secret Robert mentions and I'm glad I learned something new today!

-Sabrina
 
SabrinaLove says:

"I'm glad you have had good luck with the Print On Demand set up. I find that Lightening Source still charges rates that are too high to be competitive."
Click to expand...

I don't understand why LSI is charging that person you mentioned so much.
LSI charges us $3.36 for single copies of a 200-page 6 x 9 inch paperback. 'Normal retail' on six/nine is about 9-11 dollars in stores. Our wholesale rate for that book to bookstores would be 4.50-5.00...well within bookstore pricing. I don't see the problem...
 
I don't know exactly how much T.J. is being charged but she was advised by Lightening Source to put a $11.00 price tag on a 100 page kids book. I do agree that $3.36 is a good price for a book with 200 pages. You have a good set up for making profit and still having a competitive cover price. I'll have to ask T.J. what her actual cost is.
 
I checked the Lightning Source page again for more information. I think your friend signed up with LSI as an author, not a publisher.

This means she didn't purchase a block of isbn's under her own prefix, most likely.

If you are going to use LSI, you MUST open a bank account in the name of a publisher, even if it is only 'Joe Smith Press', and buy the isbn's in the minumum ten-block. Then, you get the wholesale print rate, which is dirt cheap. Quality is good on the books. Then...create your catalog, google on 'independent bookstores' (your area) and start making up a mailing list for your soon-to-be-created catalog.
Those numbers you invested 250usd on will be good for years. It's a good deal for serious writers. But don't forget to have that ms. and interior matter, covers, professionally formatted...

On the main subject of this thread: Boy, does AB LOVE to bash Publish America. We absolutely cannot stand them. We went public big-time against them on several forums. They emailed us: 'You don't understand how we do business, and we'd appreciate it if you would cease and desist your comments...'

So...we bashed them some more, even harder. Ha! I sent them the new posts with an addendum:

"and we hope you don't like it..."

Are we terrible, or what?:)
 
Bash on!

TJ may have signed up as an author. I'll have to ask to her. The printing side of the literary industry is not my forte obviously.

You know, with PA, the company I work for was started by a publicist that worked for a different company and when she started out, she contacted every publisher she could find to create relationships to get business. PA was one of them. She told me the first time she contacted them, they didn't have heat in their basement office. She was told is was a common thing. There's a red flag right there. A company that doesn't treat their employees with basic things like heat isn't a company I want to work for.

I also know they give their contractors quotas although they will vehemently deny those allegations all day long. You know, they can fire people for not signing enough authors but as long as they never write a number down it's not a quota!

My biggest issue with Publish America will always be the intimidation letters. It took me a very long time to explain to one author that PA cripples a publicist's ability to have a good campaign. She just couldn't understand. She just couldn't comprehend and was very persistent so I finally agreed to represent her with the warning she would most likely not make enough book sales to earn back her money.

I felt bad through the campaign because I sent a lot of rejections her way when they discussed the publisher or the cover price. I explained again halfway through her campaign that PA makes the author make all the sales and that time she got it. Boy was she mad!

She wrote PA angry because of the high cover price and the fact that they weren't doing a thing to help her sell books. She also complained that her local B&N stores wouldn't stock her book. These are all true statements. The email she sent was quite wordy and mentioned some other issues as well.

The response she received ignored the 2 main complaints and chastised her for smaller issues. They defended themselves by saying that B&N buys over 100 books a day from them! Then, they demanded the apology. I almost fell out of my chair when I read their response! It was the most juvenile letter I have seen from a company EVER!

For those unfamiliar with the B&N argument, if a company has 10,000 "new" authors promoting their own book and asking their friends and family to buy it, is 100 books sold a day that great? (For them it is because they do nothing to help sell it.) Also, they leave out the numbers of returns they receive. A Barnes and Noble may order copies for a book signing then send most back because they didn't sell. What you really want to see from a publisher is that B&N regularly orders lots of 10,000 or more to stock across the nation. They will NOT stock a PA book across the nation.

The bottom line to me is there is only one group of authors that should consider PA's services. That group is the one that is writing something for their family and have no interest in selling to the general public. This group should always turn down the in-house add-on services and pay PA NOTHING. (The editing services are sub-par at best and should be avoided like a coiled rattle snake!) An author writing for his or her family doesn't need to pay out of pocket and for that PA is a decent option.
 
I published my first novel through PA - I was naive and lived to regret it. Luckily I had my manuscript professionally edited first (so PA's next to useless inhouse team didn't have a chance to muck it up) and the quality of the finished trade paperback is actually good, but my biggest bugbear is the ridiculous pricetag they put on them. It really did make it a major uphill struggle to sell. I did manage to get it in a few stores and I did manage to sell a decent number online (about 2,000 units in total), but every last one of them was down to blistering hard work. You don't get a single ounce of help with marketing and PR from PA regardless of what they say.

I published my second novel through Wasteland Press and I have to say they have been an absolute DREAM to work with. They are honest and upfront and charge a set fee depending on the options you want. It was a reasonable price and it also included 150 paperback copies and 5 hardback copies for personal use. I still made sure to have my manuscript professionally edited first (cost £360 for an accredited professional to thoroughly go through the 95,000 word manuscript), but the finished article is top quality and reasonably priced with industry standard retail, distribution and wholesale discounts and a full returns policy.

I still have to do my own marketing and PR, but with a fair RRP and discounts, it is making the job MUCH easier. I'm now being judged on the quality of the story and writing instead of the publisher.
 
What services does the professional editor offer? Spelling errors, punctuation problems, and pointing out excess verbiage? I take it structural considerations are out of the bargain? Or are they?
 
They offer as little or as much as you want. I went for the whole shooting match - it covered everything including spelling, punctuation, styling, structure and continuity.

It's important to get an accredited one though so you know you're going to get a professional service. A member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders is the best option. Here's their website - www.sfep.org.uk
 
My wife publishes through PA and they do not offer any help whatever with marketing, the price tag on the books, as stated, is high and not competitive. So far she has three books published by them, but as soon as she's finished the series she's going to look for a new publisher. That will not be easy.

Mick Cook
 
With 3 books under her belt I would recommend that she has another crack at traditional presses - try the small independents if she doesn't have an agent.

After the success of my second novel, Sinema, I have now managed to get a traditional press interested in The King of America. A new version is going to be released through Wild Wolf Publishing this year. They've also got first refusal on my third novel, The Killing Moon.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the advice. My wife has already tried other publishers and is seeking an agent. Now that she has a third book under her belt and the final book in the series well under way, she may have better luck with the books she intends to write in the future.

Mick
 
Actually, the possibilities are now getting to sound interesting. I've only recently begun thinking about putting together a "personal" hard-cover book -- I hate that term vanity book :) -- for the benefit of kids and grandchildren. I have been having extended conversations with one of my grown children and he noted how little he really knew about his parents or his family -- echoing a much earlier realization of my own about how little I knew of my own parents and relatives before I was born, and even after. So, vanity publishing -- and yes it is vanity -- definitely strikes a chord. Which may get heavily damped when I see the price, but still the urge is there, and it better get done soon. Even the thought of learning to print and bind my own book suddenly begins to look interesting.
 
Peder said:
Actually, the possibilities are now getting to sound interesting. I've only recently begun thinking about putting together a "personal" hard-cover book -- I hate that term vanity book :) -- for the benefit of kids and grandchildren. I have been having extended conversations with one of my grown children and he noted how little he really knew about his parents or his family -- echoing a much earlier realization of my own about how little I knew of my own parents and relatives before I was born, and even after. So, vanity publishing -- and yes it is vanity -- definitely strikes a chord. Which may get heavily damped when I see the price, but still the urge is there, and it better get done soon. Even the thought of learning to print and bind my own book suddenly begins to look interesting.
Click to expand...

There are gazillions of websites and some excellent books to guide you if you want to bind your own book by hand. These can be works of art as well as cherished heirlooms. You don't have to take whatever a 'vanity press' offers.

Making Memory Books and Journals By Hand is one I have, but just glancing at Amazon, I see others just as tempting..
 
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