Publish America is a crooked vanity publisher in sheep’s clothing. But that isn’t the point of this particular ramble.
This morning, I came upon this in the Publish America (PA) thread at Absolute Write. The commenter was responding to another commenter who asked if anyone had privately contacted any PA writers.
I’ve sent a few PMs via Facebook when I’ve seen some authors express dissatisfaction with PA or ask questions that won’t be answered honestly. (…)
Another author, on the other PA page, said the only choice was between 1. PA 2. expensive self-publishing 3. the major publishers, who wouldn’t look at work from unknown authors. When I explained about small presses, he said he would do some research, but then claimed small publishers like Ellora’s Cave were all vanity presses trolling Facebook to destroy PA.
In short, when confronted with the facts about PA, certain writers shove their fingers in their ears and sing, “La, la, la, la, la.”
What struck me was the similarity to a conversation my husband had with a right wing colleague.
It’s morning. Folks are ambling about the office, postponing any real work with coffee and idle chit-chat. My husband’s colleague, let’s call him Bob, saunters over, looking like the cat that ate the canary. Bob knows my husband is a dirty liberal, hippy, tree-hugger, feminist, etc. Bob says, smugly, “So did you hear about those wind farms in California? They’re killing thousands of bird, including golden eagles. But have the environmentalists complained? No. They won’t go after so-called ‘green energy.’ They just pick on the oil companies.”
To which my husband gives Bob a dubious look and notes that wind energy is green energy. Bob wanders off, still preening over his supposed victory.
In just a minute, my husband found an articles demonstrating that environmental groups aren’t copacetic with bird deaths. (Emphasis, mine.)
Environmentalists have persuaded the energy industry and federal authorities — often through litigation — to modify the size, shape and placement of wind turbines. Last year, five local Audubon chapters, the California attorney general’s office and Californians for Renewable Energy reached an agreement with NextEra Energy Resources to expedite the replacement of its old wind turbines in the Altamont Pass with new, taller models less likely to harm birds such as golden eagles and burrowing owls that tend to fly low.
So Bob’s statement is a lie (source, no doubt Rush Limpballs). My beloved then prints out the article and leaves it on Bob’s desk. So what did Bob say about this? Nada. The silence was deafening.
I’m sure, if my husband pressed the matter, Bob would’ve moved the rhetorical goalposts. “But, but, birds, dying.” Or maybe he would have demanded a signed affidavit from the trial judge. What’s clear, is that when confronted with the truth, he ran away likes his ass was on fire.
This isn’t a political post, per say. Although, I do suspect that Publish America’s most diehard supporters are conservatives and/or highly religious. But unlike them, I recognize that my “hunch” isn’t grounded in any facts.
My point is this. There’s a segment of the population that will glom onto a belief with the tenacity of a barnacle. And when confronted with evidence that contradicts their ideology, they respond with, “Just keep clapping; the fairy almost has her wings.” These people are magical thinkers, maybe even adherents to The Secret kind of bullshit. If they just keep believing (Can’t you just hear the Journey song?), their beliefs will be borne out as truths. I’ve noticed that some actually see this delusion as noble, believing that they are somehow more loyal than the rest of us cynics. We, the rabble, with our facts and truth.
They are so invested in their delusion, that they’d rather go down in flames than admit that the plane is on fire. My guess is that Publish America isn’t the first entity to screw them over. It probably won’t be the last.
BTW, this doesn’t mean the efforts at Absolute Write, Preditor & Editors, et. al are in vain. They’ve kept many writers from making the PA mistake.
But you can fool some of the people, all of the time.
Regarding the Ellora’s Cave assertion, above. Wondering who is a real publisher? Go check out Ellora’s Cave website. Now look at PA’s (*http://www.publishamerica.com/). Which sells books? (Hint, Ellora’s Cave.) Which sells itself to would-be authors? (PA) Now which do you think will sell more books? I’ll let you work that one out on your own.
(*I’d rather not give them actual linkage.)
