Saturday, January 22, 2005
By Hillel Italie, The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Six years ago, Larry Clopper was a Web marketing consultant who had written two books he couldn't get published. One of his clients, Willem Meiners, owned a publishing company called Erica House, the kind of place frustrated authors often turn to. It was a vanity press -- a business that makes authors pay to be published.

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Timothy Jacobsen, Associated Press Larry Clopper says the goal of his publishing company, PublishAmerica, is "to publish first-time authors who had no track record." Click photo for larger image.

The two men became friends and started a new venture, Click here. They would take on those people who yearned to be authors but struggled to find a publisher, offer the editing and promotional support not found at a vanity press and do it without a fee.
Founded in 1999, PublishAmerica is now one of the industry's fastest growing publishers, with more than 4,000 new books released last year, a figure at least comparable to Random House, Inc., and other large companies. PublishAmerica has nearly 11,000 writers under contract.
PublishAmerica says on its Web site that by signing with it, "You will have the very important distinction of having your next book ACCEPTED BY A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY." Applicants are assured that manuscripts are carefully reviewed and edited, that books are available in stores and, best of all, that authors do not have to pay to be published.
"The publishing industry will never be the same," Clopper said. "Because of PublishAmerica, there are tens of thousands of authors who can be published, where before their works could never see the light of day."
But the rise of PublishAmerica has prompted both praise and criticism. While many authors thank the company for championing their books, its claim to be a traditional publisher -- not a vanity press -- has been challenged by writers' organizations such as The Authors Guild and debated on author Web sites such as WritersNet and Absolute Write.
Writer Rebecca Easton didn't have an agent and couldn't get a publisher for her novel, "The Trophy Abyss." But an Internet search led her to PublishAmerica and her manuscript was quickly accepted and scheduled for release, last spring.