It’s been a wild #PublishingFoul ride here at Indies Unlimited. For the past month, we’ve brought you harrowing tales from indie authors who have fallen into the clutches of scammy publishers – both well-known vanity presses and small presses – as well as at least one service provider of questionable worth. We’ve also brought you some tips for coping with a scammer if you do have the misfortune of falling victim to one. And I hope it’s clear by now that anybody can fall victim to a professional scammer, no matter how smart or careful they are. Buyer beware is critical, of course, but luck plays a huge part, too. Continue reading “The #PublishingFoul Survey: The Results”
Tag: publishing scams
How we almost got hooked…line and sinker… by Publish America
Guest Post
by Jacqueline Hopkins
Back in 2010, I was living in Alaska, and editing my niece’s book. Shana Gentry told me she had a publisher and they were waiting for her to finish it. I asked her who it was. Proudly, she said, “Why it’s Publish America, of course.” I had never heard of them. Back when I’d tried to get my novel published, I’d gone the traditional route – and Publish America wasn’t one of them. After all the rejections I received, I got discouraged and quit writing, shelving over a dozen books I had started.
In any case, I asked Shana about PA and she said she’d found them online and had already signed a contract with them. When she first contacted them, their response and interest in her book was immediate and very over the top, telling her she had a bestseller and that they would make her a famous author. PA was very prompt in their responses; however, their contract spoke of many charges to come out of her pocket. In fact, she wouldn’t see a profit from sales until they recouped their costs. Only then would get any royalties. Shana also told me she was to pay them around $200 for startup fees and contact placement in the company, and for a front cover and back panel of the book. They also told her an editor would call her and keep in touch with her as she wrote, and that she didn’t need to seek the copyrights as they handled that as well. She told me she had her doubts right away and stopped correspondence with them after about two weeks of back and forth emails and harassing phones calls, pushing her to send the manuscript. Continue reading “How we almost got hooked…line and sinker… by Publish America”
A Small Press Publishing Ponzi Scheme
Guest Post
by Anonymous
I can’t reveal who I am or the name of the publisher with whom I’m in a dispute, but I will say this: if there is anything on the internet that warns you about a publisher, steer clear of them. Don’t sign with a publisher who says you don’t need an agent. Don’t sign with a publisher who tells you that you don’t need membership in your genre’s professional writers’ organization. And don’t sign with a publisher if you see them acting less than professionally on any public forum, anywhere, at any time in the past or present.
I wish I had paid attention to these red flags. My publisher displayed all of them, but fellow writers told me this publisher took good care of its authors, so I ignored the red flags and signed a multiple-book contract.
It didn’t take long to regret it. Continue reading “A Small Press Publishing Ponzi Scheme”
Getting Out of My Publish America Contract
Guest Post
by Brenda Perlin
This past Sunday, I wrote about my nightmare experience with Publish America. After the way they treated me, I knew my only course of action was to try to get out of my seven-year contract.
Seven long years! I blame myself for signing such a miserable contract but I didn’t know any better. I had high hopes and was flattered that someone actually wanted to publish my story. If they would have said hang from the highest chandelier, I might have done so. I was naive and didn’t realize they were a company that published books not because they thought they were good, but because they thought they could make money off of an inexperienced first-time author. Continue reading “Getting Out of My Publish America Contract”