PublishAmerica has been in the news lately and I wanted to write a post detailing why a writer should, in my opinion, never ever get involved with this company but David Gaughran beat me to it. He writes:
For those unaware of the checkered history of PublishAmerica, a quick summary:This list is part of a longer article David wrote. It's about the Authors Guild and you can find it here: The Authors Guild Doesn’t Serve Writers.
1. They are one of only two organizations to earn the dubious honor of having their own sub-forum on Absolute Write’s Bewares & Background Checks (the other being Robert Fletcher’s infamous web of companies).
2. Preditors and Editors have a lengthy entry warning writers away.
3. The Better Business Bureau rates PublishAmerica as an “F”.
4. The leading industry watchdog – Writer Beware – regularly cover PublishAmerica’s various attempts to squeeze money out of their writers (e.g. here, here, here, here, here, and here - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg).
5. PublishAmerica are now the subject of a class-action suit, the allegations being very familiar to anyone who has followed the company (full complaint can be read here).
In short, PublishAmerica is probably the last place I would recommend to a writer.
Wherever you send your manuscript, I wish you the best of luck. Check your prospective publisher out with organizations such as Writer Beware and Preditors and Editors, do a search on their name and ask other writers what they have heard about the company before you sign anything.
Yeah, it floored me when I saw the Authors Guild use PublishAmerica as an example of how the DOJ's lawsuit was hurting the publishing world. That told me pretty much all I needed to know about them.
ReplyDeleteI agree. As Barry Eisler says in his post, "The 'Authors Guild' Jumps the Shark, "it's amazing how much mischief you can cause when you get to choose your own name". Depressing, but true.
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