Real publishers pay you

it's happened again.
I'm with a group of writers and one of them proudly states -- "My book has been accepted by PublishAmerica!"

All I can do is cringe. Again and again that publisher's name comes up among beginning writers. Oh,(they say), it's so difficult to get published by the main publishers, but PublishAmerica accepted me. Well, honey -- they accept most everything sent to them. (Even tho they say they don't.) I think I heard that they even accepted a manuscript for a novel that a group of writers wrote using all the worst examples of writing they knew.

Is it so difficult to research bad publishers?
Okay, here's Writer Beware’s "Two Thumbs Down" Publishers List. And one specifically about Publish America's tactics here. Once you've read that information, do go to the Writer's Beware webpage (a link to it is on that blog) and read why.
(Scroll down to the link on that page that will zip you to The Great PublishAmerica Hoax)

I've kinda given up trying to explain to writers why publishing with a bad publisher is worse than not getting published at all. Writers using these publishers just don't want to hear it.

Besides the fact that Money should Flow TO the writer -- writers should NOT pay anything to the publisher -- these bad publishers also do not fulfill the promises they make. Some of them get sued by writers who have discovered what normal publishers actually do.

If you are just writing a book so that you can say that you have a "published" book, and you don't care if anyone buys it and reads it, and you don't care if you find that you have lost money on the deal, then I guess it doesn't matter who prints your book. (Don't ask me about the person who spent $20,000 to get her picture book published. I don't think she'll ever earn her money back on that.)

Most professional writers treat writing as a business. Writers have a product -- their writing. They tell a good story or present nonfiction in an interesting way. Publishers pay them for the right to publish and distribute their product. Writers get an advance when the book is accepted and royalties as long as it is in print. Writers work with the editor to make it the very best book possible. They work with the marketing department to promote the book.

Many writers earn a living at this. Money flows to the writer. Many others use this as a second job, keeping their day job.

-WendieO