Well GUYS N' DOLLS - it HAPPENED! Two days ago, I signed for a Certified letter from Publish America CANCELLING my 1st and only book!
WHY? Because of a dispute over my ROYALTIES! The letter SAYS because of insufficient DEMAND for it. My best guess is that only about 50-60 were ever purchased by: 25 ME, Family & Friends. WHY? Not because I didn't try my best to market it - RATHER because the publisher does absolutely NOTHING to HELP in any way to promote SALES!
If you should have any doubt to the veracity of this statement, please GO TO:
www.publishamericasucks.com *** there you can read complaints from HUNDREDS of their Authors. Unfortunately, I did not discover this site until AFTER my book was published!
If I were asked to give an HONEST opinion of PA - I would say that their SCAM is even BETTER than Poetry.com --- they will publish just about ANYTHING, and you don't PAY - but ultimately they can't LOSE! WHY? They don't SPEND any money. People BUY their books at an EXORBITANT price, they don't DO any work, so their costs are absolute MINIMAL!
WHAT WILL I DO? At the moment - I DUNNO! I do know I won't give up! My little book is GOOD!
I may 'burn' some CD's. I will seek another Publisher! OH - I did LEARN an important FACT:
This is CRITICAL in my humble opinion to ALL AUTHORS! Although you DO maintain and OWN your Copyright, you do NOT own the ISBN Number!
IT is owned by the PUBLISHER. What does this mean? EVERYWHERE that I did try to market my book I included the ISBN No. and NOW it is UNUSABLE! If you want to get your OWN ISBN no. you MUST PAY about $300.00 to a company that CONTROLS them!
And to do that would not only be costly & foolish, but also any NEW publisher will supply THEIR OWN NUMBER! ERGO, it would also be a waste of TIME!
WHAT A SYSTEM!
WHAT AN INDUSTRY!
WHAT A COUNTRY!
If I sound just a tad BITTER - I AM! WHY? Because MILLIONS of us "Little People" who happen to want and love to WRITE - are often SCREWED by ignorance! WHY? Because even in today's "Hi-Tech" society, it is still an uneven playing field!
EVERYTHING IS SLANTED toward the God-Almighty Powerful COMPANIES and CORPORATIONS! Maybe somewhere out there exists Writer's Unions, or Guilds, or Associations that may or may not be helpful in some way - BUT - I honestly ask you - ARE YOU A MEMBER? DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO IS A MEMBER?
Call me STUPID - but I was TRUSTFUL! I WAS HONEST! I was HOPEFUL! Remember the old adages:
"Caveat Emptor! - Buyer Beware!" and "A FOOL and his money are soon parted!" and "TRUST ME!"
Well, my Fellow Americans, (gee, doesn't that still sound Presidential?) - if there is ONE HONEST LAWYER OUT THERE - I would love to see a "CLASS ACTION SUIT" filed against these CHARLATANS that
cheat us and get away with it! WHY? Because our so-called government representatives are too busy "kow-towing" to big, rich special interest groups!
In closing, just one other comment, or rather question: WHY have I typed all this here, in the short Summary? Why NOT in the BODY, or EDITOR?
Because it keeps coming up a beautiful shade of solid BLUE, and won't let me enter ANYTHING!
Is it ME? My brand-new APPLE laptop computer? After several complaints to AD - I GAVE UP!
This book is about Poetry. Many different kinds of fables, short stories about life experiences, laughter, drama, children, humor, love, inspiration and some urban styles of poetry.
With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing.
Essays dedicated to the new media, doing business on the web, digital content, its creation and distribution, e-publishing, e-books, digital reference, DRM technology, and other related issues.
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