Finally!! My first book is out!!

[Vanessa Canevaro]

Quote Simon Says: "In the most specific sense being published is when a particular entity chooses to put a writer's work out there to represent the publication and/or to make money for the publisher."

From Websters Online:

Main Entry: pub·lish
Pronunciation: 'p&-blish
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, modification of Middle French publier, from Latin publicare, from publicus public
transitive senses
1 a : to make generally known b : to make public announcement of
****2 a : to disseminate to the public b : to produce or release for distribution; specifically : PRINT 2c c : to issue the work of (an author)******
intransitive senses
1 : to put out an edition
2 : to have one's work accepted for publication
- pub·lish·able /-bli-sh&-b&l/ adjective

Emphasis mine.

Yes, PA may not be the best choice, but according to Merriam Webster David IS published.

[Simon Says]

Vanesssa -

2 : to have one's work accepted for publication

This is the key definition when it comes to the concept of "being published" in the commercial and academic sense.

Any entity that accepts EVERYTHING that comes their way or charges for acceptance - is not publishing in the strictest sense of the way, because in that case acceptance has no meaning whatsoever. Acceptance only has meaning if their is some sort of requirement or threshhold for acceptance.

I stick by my statement. POD, Vanity et. al. is not being "published" in that sense.

If it makes you feel better to think that POD qualifies - go right ahead and keep your ego in tact.

[David Middleton Edelen II]

Hey Y'all,
Top of the morn to you all!! I hope all are fairing well and in good health and spirits this morning! I am on top of the world my self!

I don't understand what the big mystery here is, and all this commotion about what it is to be published or something to be published. While I am no scholar, but to me, without looking in a dictionary, the word publish and the act of publishing or being published means simply that a book has been accepted for publication by any given publishing company. Then it was formatted, cover designed, size decided, paper cut to page size, etc., and was then printed out and made available to and for sale to the general public. To me that is what it means for something to be published. As far as my book goes, while perhaps not the best in the world and the publishing company may not be the best in the world, it is now in print and available to the public. I know several people who have ordered, recieved and read it and were delighted with them. The books look good (5 1/2" by 8 1/2"), are well made and sturdy, and the cover and all is very pretty and nice looking with a really neat design and/or pic on the front. All that have beheld, held, and/or read it loved it. So I reckon that the fact that it was accepted by a publishing company, was printed out and published, and has been read by many so far, then I reckon that that means it has indeed been published.

Another "thang", to put it in Southern jargon, someone also recently said that Publish America never sends the notices to the local newspapers. I will have to beg to differ. A lady here in Millbrook, also published with Pub Am, was gotten in touch with by our town's newspaper, who believes in promoting local authors and other talent, and was told that her publishing company had notified them via a press release of the impending release of her 2nd book. Well they did a fine interview with her and had a big article about her, with a nice little pic of her, on the front page of our newspaper.
Another local author, also published with Pub Am was also intereviewed a few weeks ago and they had a nice article and pic of her in the same paper. I am brand spanking new to all this so I really don't know much about this trade or Publish America, but perhaps Publish America has improved, who knows. But like I said, I have no problem with them and am very satisfied so far. The book is available on line at the websites of Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, and Amazon.com. May 2nd is the official release date though so we will have to wait and see what the future holds for me and my book and future books. But no matter what y'all, I will still be here, working at the prison I work at and writing in my spare time. I am not going to let this little bit of worry keep me down.
Take care,
Dave

[David Middleton Edelen II]

Hello again all,
I just wanted to say that Publish America has been absolutely wonderful to me for the year or so I have been dealing with them. From my first query to the publication of my book (MORE GHOSTS AND EERIE TALES OF ALABAMA; True Tales of the Supernatural and the Unexplained!)they have consistantly been courteous, friendly and helpful, prompt and on the ball. As I said in the other response, I have no problem with them.

And as far as their products go, as I said earlier, my book is nice and well made and with a great cover. They did that. All I did was put in a couple of suggestions for the cover design. Their cover design department designed and created the outer cover of the book. I like it and couldn't ask for a neater cover design. If anyone is curious about what it looks like and want to view it, go to www.publishamerica.com/books/8363 . If anyone does go look at it please post a response here and let me know what you think. If by some slim chance someone orders it and reads it, please let me know what you think of the book itself.
Take care,
Dave

[Nickie Fleming]

Hi David!

I'm glad you like the cover of your book. I also have two books with PA, and my only complaint about them is that they send you the royalties by cheque. This is a practise absolutely not done anymore in my country, Belgium, and I'm having difficulties (plus high taxes to pay) in cashing them. But as far as I can check they provide the right number of books sold.

I have another book with a Dutch publisher, and there of course I don't have these problems. I don't know right now if I'll continue to write in English, or just concentrate on writing books for the Dutch market (smaller, I agree, but with a public that loves my stories), but that is not because I find fault with PA.


Nickie

[Simon Says]

David - I'm glad that you are happy with Publish America and I hope that you remain happy with them.

Many on this board (myself included) could never be happy with them because we want and expect more than someone to provide us with a cover we like. We want our books on shelves in bookstores all over the country - something that real publishers provide. We want our books reviewed and marketed - another thing that real publishers provide. We want a publisher that follows the basic industry standards that will insure that the things above happen. These include real editing (not just running spellcheck), competitively priced books with a return policy, a sales force selling to booksellers - not authors, a marketing and advertising strategy targeting bookbuyers - not authors.

As I said, I'm glad you're happy, but I do suggest you follow Bobby's advice if next time around - you choose to seek an agent or a publisher that can provide you with more than a nice cover - and that is that you do not mention that your first book was published with Publish America.

[Mya Bell]

Johnny Walker said: "These writers are shooting for the moon."

Actually, my Eagle landed on the moon years ago. I'm shooting for Jupiter.

The snobs above think you have to get into "the loop", consisting of about a 1000 publishers owned by just five big companies.

If you read my post again, you'll note that I encouraged David to read the archives, especially the self-publishing posts, so he could arm himself with information on marketing to maximize his chances of selling his book.

Johnny Walker also advised: "So, young man, be brave, fight the odds, sneer at the nay-sayers and bitter back-biters . . . even if your book retails at $20, you can buy them from the publisher at $12 or so and sell at $14."

David. Don't do this. This is terrible advice!

If you buy at $12 and sell at $14, the $2 gross profit will not BEGIN to cover your travel, photocopy, gas, and other expenses, not to mention your time. In fact, at those rates, you'd probably have a net loss of about $5 per book. Make sure there is a much bigger difference between the buying and selling price. Previous posts in the archives can help you with this. Also, I strongly recommend join one of the excellent self-publishing discussion lists. Even though you are not technically self-published, you are responsible for selling your book in the same way as self-published authors and you can benefit from their years of experience in this area. They give very good advice.

Make the best of it. Be courageous. The women and wish-they-were-women on this forum will attack you tooth and nail -- they'll make you feel this country is totally feminized and politically correct.

Johnny, he is making the best of it, as far as I can see. And I'll say it again. Nobody attacked David. They bashed PA, based on feedback and frequent posts on this forum from PA authors.

This is still a man's world and you get out there and be a man. Sell those books and to hell with the little women coming and going and saying tsk tsk tsk. You hear me, young man? 'nuff said! Have balls!

I think David already has balls, Johnny. From his posts he also seems to be a decent, nice guy. Your gender-bashing personal agenda isn't providing him with much genuine practical advice, which is what he needs at this time.

--- Mya Bell

[Mya Bell]

David, I was thinking...

Your book could probably be tied in with Halloween sales promotions. It's six months away, so that would give you just enough time to schedule things.

Why don't you call your local book stores, your local library, local radio stations, and local department stores (especially those that sell Hallowe'en related stuff) and offer to read a ghost story or two in October. Schedule a bunch of them.

Since these places set up their schedules months in advance, you probably need to call them right now.

Follow Johnny Hess' lead. Get dressed up in September, take a picture, and send it with a press release to your local newspaper with human interest information about you. Include a schedule of your readings.

Local human interest is the most effective way for an author to sell a few books without spending a lot of money on gas and hotels.

--- Mya Bell

[David Middleton Edelen II]

Hello Mya,
Thanks for the advice. As far as whether it is a man's world or not, or is in charge of what, I am the type of guy who has no problem with a female boss or seeing women in charge of things or asking and taking a woman's advice. My mother raised five children without a man's help and so did a couple of my sisters. So in this day and age I figure you should give credit where credit is due, no matter what race, creed, religion, or sex.

Now then, about getting my book on shelves in stores nation wide, etc.. How do I do that if my publishing company isn't going to do it?
Thanks for all the advice to all.
Dave

[Simon Says]

David -

The cold, hard truth is that you don't - make that you can't get Publish America books in stores nation-wide.

It's not just that PA doesn't have a sales force pushing to get their titles into stores.

The bigger problem is that PA books are not returnable. Real publishers allow stores to return unsold books. This is how the business functions. You order two dozen, you sell a dozen, you keep a few on-hand and return the rest. Because PA will not allow books to be returned bookstores are not willing to order them and risk getting stuck with stock they can't sell. Especially considering PA books are higher priced than many with smaller bookstore discounts which means a smaller profit margin. There's also no advertising support from PA pushing the product to the consumers. Booksellers often do cooperative advertising with publishers, publishers supply posters, etc. to push their titles, publishers pay for prominent placement in stores (i.e. windows, etc). PA does none of this. And last but not least there is the quality issue. POD books in general have little or no quality control and no professional editing.

Taking all that into consideration, there's a damn good chance stores would not be able to sell the PA titles, and would be stuck with them, losing money. The policies regarding carriage of POD books are often made at the corporate level. It is the policy of the big chains - not to carry such books for the reasons stated above. And though you may have some success getting a few copies into local bookstores, both chains and independents, you will not have much more luck with the smaller booksellers nationwide - because the mom and pops can even less afford to be stuck with unsellable titles.

I'm sorry David - but this is the way it is. The only shot you have at selling lots of books is investing lots of time and money in advertising and promotion and selling them yourself.