Publishamerica book publishers, publishing companies. Writer beware never recommends that writers use vanity publishers. Another class action suit launched against publishamerica sfwa. If america star books publishamerica is going out of business, their authors should start demanding their production files now, before there are. Advice for those of you getting ready to publish your book for those of you who are getting ready to publish your book, please take a look at this site before you do. The changeover is acknowledged on america stars website, on the about us page america star books used to be known as publishamerica, the nononsense, hard driving pioneer that changed the american publishing. America star books frederick md formerly publishamerica. Small presses see if a small press is right for you. Editors and assesments services what do they do and when do you need them. Im finally getting to post about something ive been keeping under my hat for quite some time. So far, approximately 14,000 writers have been duped.
Posted by victoria strauss for writer beware publishamerica. The late, notsogreat publishamerica celebrating independent. The publishamerica website support questions and answers use this form also for changesadditions to the publishamerica website. Given the amount of time that has elapsed since the company vanished, writer beware thinks its safe to conclude that paasb is permanently out of business. Rowling is not amused by a publishers promise that some of its books will be brought to her attention. Feechargingwhether for the actual printingproduction of the book, or for some other item related to the publishing process, such as editing or publicity. Publishamerica america star books lawsuit against writer beware. In may 2014, america star books publishamerica sued me for defamation, in part on the basis of this post the complaint named writer beware and two additional wb staff members, but i was the only one who was ever served. Some writers and authors advocates have accused the company of being a vanity press while representing itself as a traditional publisher. Why do we continue to list publishers that arent currently active. With all the small presses and selfpublishing options that are available these days, theres just no reason to pay an arm and a leg to a vanity. This delights me because while publishamerica can and apparently does delete all critical comments or difficult questions from its own message board, it doesnt have the same power on twitter.
America star books, formerly publishamerica, is a marylandbased printon demand book publisher founded in 1999 by lawrence alvin larry clopper iii and willem meiners. After one cofounder sued willem meiners, the other cofounder, in may of 2015, and reached a settlement with undisclosed terms in july 2016, the company morphed several times. Writer bewares alert on publishamerica reveals that while the publisher may not charge writers for publishing their books, its editorial standards are so low that it amounts to little more than a vanity press. Writer beware seems to be defending book country writer beware victoria strauss blog interview no. For example, publishamerica offers to correct its own publishing errors for a fee. Fill out the form at the bottom, and choose the subject errors on the publishamerica website.
Here are various links to watchdog sites detailing publishamericas checkered history. On june 11, 2012, a class action complaint against. Writer beware has received scores of complaints over the years about publishamerica, and hundreds more can be found online. Publish america is not accredited with the better business bureau bbb here. Although they fit perfectly with the many other aspects of publishamericas business model that writer beware has received complaints about over the years, i still find them shocking. Urlink also sells ad space in a 50page catalog, with most of the pages listing eight book per page. The always excellent writer beware newsletter alerts us to a strategy being used by publishamerica to lure people to publish using their services. The company has been the subject of at least one successful arbitration proceeding, resulting in a substantial award for a pa author. In may 2014, america star bookspublishamerica sued me for defamation, in part on the basis of this post the complaint named writer beware and two additional wb staff members, but i was the only one who was ever served. Writer beware has the sordid details of this scammy publishers fall, but basically. It changed its name in 2014, and since 2017 it has stopped accepting new authors. Writers have bought the banners shown in the photo, and others. Some publishers require authors to buy bulk quantities of their own books.
Publishamerica changes its name, but can it change its. Author mill publishamerica opened its doors in 1999. If only authors will order x number of books, a copy or copies of the book will be sent free to celebrities tom hanks, oprah, publishersproducers dreamworks. Ive highlighted the allegations that were unfamiliar to me. Authorhouse book publishing includes authorsolutions and xlibris. Authors file class action lawsuit against publishamerica. Rowling incident, in which publishamerica tied rowlings name to one of its numerous author promotions. Dec 03, 2019 recently, victoria strauss wrote a post for writer beware about a change at publishamerica. America star books, formerly publishamerica, is a marylandbased printondemand book publisher founded in 1999 by lawrence alvin larry clopper iii and willem meiners. Writer beware has the sordid details of this scammy publishers fall, but.
Writer beware shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadowworld of scams, schemes, and pitfalls that threaten authors. Publishamerica allows books to be returned in certain circumstances. The top 101 independent book publishersa to z listing. For more information about publishamerica, see writer beware s alert. Trouble at americas most prolific author mill, america star books, nee publishamerica. David boyer uses many aliases chipmunka publishing. In january 2014, it changed its name to america star books, and. The closest it has is publishamerica is a new variant on the old vanitypress model, which once more doesnt state that it is a vanity press, but at least gets close. Pittsburgh postgazette gets the closest to providing support, but even there a distinction is being drawn between vanity press and author mill two statements almost provide. Recently, victoria strauss wrote a post for writer beware about a change at publishamerica. Publishamerica publish america wont get your book in. Writer beware trouble at americas most prolific author. Your book which might be the best thing since sliced bread will be tainted by its association with many, many dreadful books, because publishamerica doesnt screen its submissions. My bad experience with publishamericaamerica star books.
We are the nations number one book publisher we publish more new titles than any other traditional book publisher. Royalties for those books have been accounted for and in some cases paid in this or a previous statement. Writer beware was founded in 1998 by myself and fellow author and science fiction and fantasy writers of america sfwa member ann crispin who writes as a. An inside look posted by victoria strauss for writer beware a little while back, i blogged about yet another of the ways in which publishamerica was attempting to extract cash from its authors. On march 18, 2014, america star books, formerly publishamerica, filed suit against me, michael capobianco, rich white, and writer beware in the circuit court for charles county, md. If you order a set number of books, they promise to send a copy to celebrities, producers, agentsthey name tom hanks, oprah, dreamworks, etc. Publishamerica has a history of regularly putting thousands of its titles on the market in hardcover we accept more new and unpublished authors than any other traditional book publisher in the nation. Writer beware shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadowworld of scams. Its closed to submissions, its got open liens against it, and the owners sued each other last year. Feb 01, 2014 for more information about publishamerica, see writer beware s alert. Because the returned books were in fact not sold after all, we have refunded all monies received for those books to the purchaser. We do update the list from time to time, as questionable publishers sometimes change their names, clone themselves, or go out of business.
America star books frederick md formerly publishamerica american book publishing salt lake city, ut no longer active archebooks publishing las vegas, nv. This company isnt a publisher, it is a vanity press masquerading as a publisher. Writer beware victoria strauss, author of fiction for. Whatever your book is about, publish america is happy to publish it. Black gate articles publishamerica settles lawsuit. Its really just a name change the new america star website is registered to publishamerica founder willem meiners but they seem to be trying to convince people that there was a buyout and its now a new company. It has now been over six months since the company vanished. Publishamerica now changed their name to america star books.
As many of you are aware, this author mill is known for its efforts to persuade its authors to buy their own books, in part via a rotating series of special offers. Posted by victoria strauss for writer beware im sure you all remember the notorious j. Rowling is not amused by a publishers promise that some of its books. Writer beware thinks its safe to conclude that paasb is permanently out of business.
My bad experience with publishamericaamerica star books some of you may be familiar with publishamerica, who some time ago changed their name to america star books. Unfortunately, asb didnt terminate contracts or return authors rights. Several sfwa writers spent a weekend banging out atlanta nights, a deliberately unpublishable opus. Class action lawsuit filed against publishamerica victoria. A class action lawsuit has been filed against publishamerica, a notorious vanity press that has long appeared in the writer beware. Some writers and authors advocates have accused the company of being a vanity press while representing itself as a traditional publis.
Writer beware began receiving complaints about american book publishing in 2001. Publishamerica is now america star books victoria strauss. These socalled publishers would charge you to publish your book. Sep 30, 2017 writer beware shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadowworld of scams, schemes, and pitfalls that threaten authors. Publishamerica, in a message on its website, is telling authors that a delegation will soon meet with her in edinburgh and tell the harry potter. As a result of this post, im getting many emails from authors who believe they are contacting publishamericaamerica star books. Writer beware the latest on the disappearance of america. Jun 11, 2012 class action lawsuit filed against publishamerica posted by victoria strauss for writer beware i cant count the number of questions ive received over the years from unhappy publishamerica authors, wondering whether a class action lawsuit against pa has beenmight beever will be filed. Books for younger readers, in the first three print issues of black gate. The risk of scams is great, and even if the vanity is not a scam, whether youre getting good value for money is an open question. America is the land of the free, and as such, we preserve the rights established by our founding fathers.
This post was written in august 2017, and chronicles the abrupt disappearance of publishamericaamerica star books. Aug 09, 2017 this post was written in august 2017, and chronicles the abrupt disappearance of publishamerica america star books. Writer bewares mission is to track, expose, and raise awareness of scams and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry. Class action lawsuit filed against publishamerica posted by victoria strauss for writer beware i cant count the number of questions ive received over the years from unhappy publishamerica authors, wondering whether a class action lawsuit against pa has beenmight beever will be filed. Writers beware, fraudulent literary agentspublishers. Publish america, a company that solicits new writers to publish and market their books for high fees, has changed its name to america star. Another class action suit launched against publishamerica. Your book will not be edited for content if your book is edited at all. The infamous vanity publisher publishamerica has joined twitter.
Writer beware america star books appears to be dead but. Publishamerica charges bookstores more than trade publishers charge. Writer beware has files on hundreds of questionable publishers, both active and inactive. Thats why publishamerica has already published 60,000 books written by 45,000 authors. Some writers and authors advocates have accused the company of being a. Here are various links to watchdog sites detailing publishamerica s checkered history. The latest on america star books publishamerica writer beware shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadowworld of scams, schemes, and pitfalls that threaten authors.
Publishamerica makes its authors books unsellable in a number of ways. Publishamerica tries to lure thousands of authors into their scam. We may have heard something, or received complaints, and if we have, well let you know. For more information about publishamerica, see writer bewares alert. To complement the general advice and warnings on the writer beware website, the writer beware blog provides uptotheminute information on specific scams and schemesalong with advice for writers, industry news, and a special focus on the weird and wacky things that happen at the fringes of the publishing world. Writer bewares mission is to track, expose, and raise awareness of scams and other questionable activities in. I did a post on the change last year and touched on my own story then, but i want to go into a bit more detail about their racket and how i extricated myself. Publishamerica is now america star books writer beware. The questions still remain for victoria strauss, ann a. Always a good default if you arent sure about an individual or company. Writer beware s mission is to track, expose, and raise awareness of scams and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry. Aug 16, 2011 posted by victoria strauss for writer beware publishamerica.
Victoria strauss has remained silent and has yet to respectfully empirically defend prove her claim against american book publishing. If youre not familiar with pa, they are one of the most seductive of vanity publishers, primarily because they promise so much and require no upfront payment from authors, blurring the definition of vanity publishing just enough to make it sound good. Publishamerica america star books lawsuit against writer. On march 18, 2014, america star books, formerly publishamerica, filed suit against me, michael capobianco, rich white, and writer beware in.
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