PublishAmerica: Too Good to Be True?

There is an insidious company that has wormed its way into the publishing industry in recent years. This company boldly calls itself PublishAmerica, as in setting out to publish America, and indeed, from their submission rate, it looks as though that is just what they are doing. If only it was as good as it sounds.

PublishAmerica was founded in 1999 by Willem Meiners and Larry Clopper, both men have been unsuccessful in having their own works conventionally published. The company is based in Fredrick, Maryland, which seems to have reasons stemming from that state's lack of interest in investigating possible criminal activity within their borders. The company's executive director is Miranda Prather, a woman who knows first hand about how the criminal system works. The editors, acquisition editors, cover editors and author support people are too numerous to list as the list changes almost weekly from the massive amount of turnover at this company.

PublishAmerica describes itself as a 'traditional publisher'. The term 'traditional publisher' has no meaning and adds no value to the company. Larry Clopper has stated the term is one that he and Mr. Meiners came up with on their own; quite possibly to further confuse the first time authors that are the main target of the company. The website also proclaims that they are a royalty paying company. The royalties fall far short of what conventional publishers are paying. The books, to begin with, are over priced and PublishAmerica offers only an 8% royalty on the net price, not the gross price, of the book. The average royalty on a PublishAmerica book is less than one dollar per book.

PublishAmerica proclaims they never ask for any money to publish a book. The fact is, PublishAmerica requires their authors be responsible for registering and paying for the copyright on the manuscript, something conventional publishers automatically do for their authors. PublishAmerica is trying to distinguish themselves from vanity presses by claiming they ask for no money upfront. The fact is, vanity presses are upfront about the fees they charge where PublishAmerica is trying to disguise their vanity fees by pricing their books, on average, five dollars higher than conventionally published books.

PublishAmerica will not place their books in brick and mortar bookstores. They claim to be 'available through' major bookstores worldwide. This is true, any book with an ISBN is available through any bookstore worldwide. Did you catch the phrase 'available through'? Without thinking about what that phrase means, it sounds like you could walk right into any bookstore in the world and pick up a PublishAmerica book. That is strongly not the case. The only PublishAmerica book you are going to find in a bookstore are the ones the authors have ordered themselves and badgered the bookstore managers into keeping a copy or two for sale on consignment. PublishAmerica books are so poorly edited and so overpriced that bookstore routinely decline to carry them.

So, if bookstores won't stock PublishAmerica books, what's an author to do? Exactly what the principals of PublishAmerica expect them to do, buy their own books, by the crateful. Upon the release of the book, and two or three times throughout the year, PublishAmerica authors receive emails proclaiming the newest discount on purchasing books. The discounts could be as high as fifty per cent, if the author purchases at least forty books; however there are no royalties paid on books the authors purchase on discount and the shipping charges are astronomical. Quite often the author is left with boxes of books they can't sell. A person only has just so many relatives that can be persuaded to purchase a book.

PublishAmerica states on their website that they are in no way a vanity publisher; however during an arbitration hearing, Mr. Meiners stated that the target of their sales are their own authors and that those authors provide the majority of the company's income. That is exactly how a true vanity publisher works.

It is strongly recommended that people seeking publication stay far away from PublishAmerica. The website, as well as the seven year contract, are full of double talk and innuendo. It would be far better, and cheaper in the long run, to take your manuscript to your local printing company and have it printed and bound, if all you're looking for is to have your book published. At best, a PublishAmerica book will be an over priced, unedited manuscript bound between two poorly photo-shopped covers. At worst, it will be a lifetime reminder of not doing enough research before submitting a manuscript.