Published - Page 11 - Writers Forum

swisstony · 04-03-2005, 05:33 AM

I'm guessing there's no harm in going the traditional route first. With the contacts I have re web development skills, I could probably do a shopping basket thing for my books on a site of my own if I chose, and market that as best I could. I guess these POD type publishers offer the book binding, which is cool I guess. I'm interested to know Jetman how your work got onto Amazon, is that because of iuniverse's efforts?

swiss

mammamaia · 04-03-2005, 12:31 PM

tony...
anything that's submitted to amazon gets 'onto' it... as long as it has a bar code, they'll take it... but that doesn't mean they'll promote it... it just sits there in their data base along with the jillions of other books...

Drzava · 04-03-2005, 01:48 PM

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Yeah, Amazon isn't exactly selective in the books it takes!

Kryso · 04-03-2005, 03:46 PM

I am a published author with Publish America, and my book has been out since 27th July 2004. I find them great to work with and have never had a problem with them, in any aspects of the publishing of my book: THE SOUL REAPERS-The Human Harvest Has Begun, ISBN 1413719260. And I have never advertised or publicized my book anywhere and I had a great royalties check from them in September!
They are in the process of publishing my second book, one of a seven book series called THE TEMPLE OF THE SKY.

valeca · 04-03-2005, 04:52 PM

Airborne,
I'll say congratulations - if for no other reason than you finished what you set out to do. Good luck with it, and I hope it works. It may not be the right route for me, but you deserve the curtesy of appreciating the effort you've put in.

mammamaia · 04-04-2005, 08:22 AM

kryso...
would you mind telling us how much that great royalties check was for and how many book sales it represents?... lots of those i mentor are looking for publishing options and info like this would be a good 'other side' to all the horror stories about pa...

congratulatory hugs, maia

Kryso · 04-04-2005, 10:45 AM

No offence but I don’t want to give out numbers, lol. But I’m happy with what I received, and it enables me to write full time. And as I’ve said, I sent my second book to them, which the contract has also been signed and is in the process of being published. I know there’s been a lot of bad publicity for PA, but with every company, publishers and business you always get some that are not happy – that’s life.

mammamaia · 04-05-2005, 10:00 AM

no offense, but if you got so much from PA that it enables you to write full time, i don't see why you'd be reluctant to give us a ball park figure...

i know i sound skeptical, but that's only because PA puts out so much phony hype and has been known to have folks post fake success stories meant to hook new victims...

the only payments i've ever heard of that have REALLY been received by PA clients were so small they wouldn't pay for you to write for a week, much less 'full time'...

you could help offset the bad publicity by being up front about how much you've received and for how many books sold... that you won't, does make me wonder about the validity of your claim... as i hope you can understand...

i have a copy of their contract and with the percentage that goes to the writer, for someone to make as much as you say you have from one PA book, it would have to have sold in the tens of thousands... and, priced at $22 for a paperback, i just can't see that being the case...

i hope you will put my doubts to rest, because i really would like to have a success story to pass on to those who ask me if they should try PA...

Kryso · 04-06-2005, 01:45 PM

No offence, but I don’t see even if I gave my exact figure, that it would changes peoples perspectives, because the next thing will be that I made the figure up! And I have no reason to lie! You can check my book on their site, or on any of the over 100 websites that are presently selling it online. Here’s some links…

http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSear...60&mode=direct
http://www.fetchbook.info/compare.do...60&startFrom=1
http://archive.museophile.org/cgi/ar...&search=Search
http://www.campusi.com/bookFind/asp/...dId=1413719260
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.a...n=books&zxac=1

And I’m so happy with the way they have treated me that my second book is in the process of being published with them! It’s the same as me saying that you work for a larger publisher who is trying to discredit them! See what I mean, we can jump back and forth forever.

swisstony · 04-06-2005, 04:01 PM

well, as you're based in england, i imagine you couldn't live on much less than £10k a year, unless you lived with your parents who paid all your bills.

I can see Mammamia's point, and I respect financial discretion, but it's interesting to see someone make so much money outside the traditional route. Well done I say. Is there a way to preview your writing on the website's it's on?

snuffypuffer · 04-07-2005, 02:46 AM

Whether PublishAmerica is shady or not, Kryso has given me a lot of good advice on writing, and for that I'm thankful. Whether I go through PA or not I still consider him a friend.

mammamaia · 04-07-2005, 09:02 AM

swisstony... that's why i was wondering about the claim's validity... at its $20 price, 8% for the first 1,000 sales of the book comes to only $1.60 per, or a total of $1,600... so it would have to have sold well over 10,000 copies [in only 7-8 months on the market] to support even the most bare-bones life writing full time...

if that IS the case, then it would be such a great incentive for other writers to go with PA that i'd think their happy client would be glad to share the news... what harm could it possibly do?

Kryso · 04-07-2005, 01:53 PM

Thanks snuffy.

And sorry, mammamaia if I sound untrusting. But I’ve only been on this site for a couple of days; so hopefully I will become more forthcoming and trusting once I get to know everyone and see what sort of site it is!

mammamaia · 04-08-2005, 08:45 AM

i can appreciate that, kryso... and no apology is needed... but remember that trust must go both ways, and when a newcomer makes a rather startling claim and then refuses to back it up, by leaving out the most salient point [and for no good reason], it doesn't make him look all that worthy of our trust, does it?

add the fact that the info sought would be of great help to his fellow writers who're also wanting to have their work published, and i'm sure you can see that the issue would appear to others to be one less of trust, than of the truth of the matter...

i still fail to see why you would 'trust' us with all that information about your book and yet not with the number of copies sold and the amount PA paid you... where is there any risk to you in that?

i'm not asking just to badger you, but because i'd like to be able to understand the thinking behind your saying so much and then withholding the most need-to-know part... especially when it could help dispel some of the bad feeling about PA, since you say you think it's undeserved...

love and hugs, maia

Airborneguy · 04-20-2005, 09:12 AM

I have no problems with PA, but even I have to question making enough off a PA book to write full time. Unless you have a really rich uncle...