Stumbling Blocks to Success: The Continued Woes of a Self-Published Author

The Publish America Fraud Scandal

For those of you who don't know me, let me introduce myself. I am the author of The Alchemist of Brynn: Legends of Valeria, a manuscript of the fantasy genre which was published two years ago by PublishAmerica, LLLC in Frederick, Maryland. The manuscript itself took seven years of research and development and two years of writing and editing to complete.

Like many other new authors, I had no idea what was involved in the publishing process, so I left most of the decisions concerning my book to the publisher. The manuscript was published on time as promised, and I received my complimentary copies in the mail. That was when my experience took a turn for the worst.

While browsing the internet one day, as I am often prone to do, I came across a website called Ripoff Report. The site featured a number of shocking articles describing how published authors had been defrauded out of royalties by Publish America. I didn't think much about it at first. After all, lots of companies can get bad press even from one little article. But here was a list of dozens of articles by different authors all touting the same complaints of fraud, copyright infringement, and a lack of promotion. Curious, I started digging into my own records. I wish now that I hadn't.

The first problem I discovered came after a search for my manuscript on Amazon. The search revealed used, like-new copies of my book for sale in Michigan, Nevada, and the UK. I found this information puzzling since, according to my royalty statement from Publish America, I had sold no copies in the past year. Still willing to give the company the benefit of my doubting nature, I contacted their support department and inquired as to why I was not collecting any royalties for copies that had obviously been sold. An accounting error, perhaps? The answer was not what I expected.