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Guest
·For anyone who considers, or knows someone who is considering, PublishAmerica as a potential publisher:
I got a press release from PublishAmerica today promoting one of their books. I've posted the release here for those who are curious as to the marketing ability of PA. I edited out the author's name and book titles because this isn't the author's fault. I'm sure she thought she was getting a contract with a 'real' publisher who would market her book for her.
The press release, with the exception of where I edited out the author's name and title, is reproduced exactly as it was sent to me. Now folks who aren't well-versed in press release writing may not immediately realize what is wrong here. But anyone who knows anything about PR will probably feel the urge to cry a little.
First, they sent a press release promoting their book to another publisher. I'm not a big publisher. But I am a publisher. The only way I end up on their marketing mailing list is if they farmed email addressess off of the internet without confirming what they were. This is the "throw enough you-know-what" against the wall approach. Just spam the press release to as many live email addresses as you can and hope for the best.
Second, it is poorly written. Besides the obvious proofreading errors (why is "winning" capitalized in the first paragraph?), it is just a drab and ugly release. It reads like a form release where they just plug in the author's name, hometime, and list of publications. There is no attempt whatsoever to make the release newsworthy. Assume for a moment that I WAS a good media outlet for this book. Where is the news here? Why would I care? This is what we call a "Happy Snowflake" press release, where the release assumes that anyone really gives a damn about yet another book of generic content. It isn't even clear what the book is about. Is it a book of poetry? Essays? Is it a biography? Fiction?
Third, it never directs you to get more information about the author. No information on the author's website, book availability, pricing, or anything. It ends with a plug for PA and a link to their site. If I WAS interested in the book, how would I find it? The link provided is to their main site. Rule one of marketing: customers (and media editors) are lazy. If you don't put the important information we need in the release, we aren't going to go looking for it.
I'm not worried about KB members falling for PA, but you may know someone who is vulnerable to such things. So I just wanted to share this so folks can have additional ammo when trying to "talk down" their friends. Because friends don't let friends publish with PA.

I got a press release from PublishAmerica today promoting one of their books. I've posted the release here for those who are curious as to the marketing ability of PA. I edited out the author's name and book titles because this isn't the author's fault. I'm sure she thought she was getting a contract with a 'real' publisher who would market her book for her.
The press release, with the exception of where I edited out the author's name and title, is reproduced exactly as it was sent to me. Now folks who aren't well-versed in press release writing may not immediately realize what is wrong here. But anyone who knows anything about PR will probably feel the urge to cry a little.
First, they sent a press release promoting their book to another publisher. I'm not a big publisher. But I am a publisher. The only way I end up on their marketing mailing list is if they farmed email addressess off of the internet without confirming what they were. This is the "throw enough you-know-what" against the wall approach. Just spam the press release to as many live email addresses as you can and hope for the best.
Second, it is poorly written. Besides the obvious proofreading errors (why is "winning" capitalized in the first paragraph?), it is just a drab and ugly release. It reads like a form release where they just plug in the author's name, hometime, and list of publications. There is no attempt whatsoever to make the release newsworthy. Assume for a moment that I WAS a good media outlet for this book. Where is the news here? Why would I care? This is what we call a "Happy Snowflake" press release, where the release assumes that anyone really gives a damn about yet another book of generic content. It isn't even clear what the book is about. Is it a book of poetry? Essays? Is it a biography? Fiction?
Third, it never directs you to get more information about the author. No information on the author's website, book availability, pricing, or anything. It ends with a plug for PA and a link to their site. If I WAS interested in the book, how would I find it? The link provided is to their main site. Rule one of marketing: customers (and media editors) are lazy. If you don't put the important information we need in the release, we aren't going to go looking for it.
I'm not worried about KB members falling for PA, but you may know someone who is vulnerable to such things. So I just wanted to share this so folks can have additional ammo when trying to "talk down" their friends. Because friends don't let friends publish with PA.
