Atlanta Nights, Anyone?

[Andy]

Has anyone here heard of Atlanta Nights? It's a rather funny story. A group of well-known authors decided to test PublishAmerica's (scam) supposedly strict standards on which books they accept for publishing.

So, they developed a very general plot outline, and appointed one writer per chapter. They did not discuss with each other what each one was writing, so there were people dying and then reappearing. :) In addition, they had two different chapter 12s, a nonexistant chapter, a chapter which was made with a word scrambler, and a duplicate chapter that appeared much later in the book. :D

Amazingly, PublishAmerica accepted it, then rejected it a day after these authors revealed what they had done.

You can read the whole story here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Nights

Or here, for the actual manuscript, acceptance letter, and other information:
http://critters.critique.org/sting/

They currently have the book for sale at lulu.com. All sales are given to the SFWA emergency fund, so it's for a good cause.

As Teresa Nielsen Hayden's review said, "The world is full of bad books written by amateurs. But why settle for the merely regrettable? Atlanta Nights is a bad book written by experts."

[Imelda]

Oh I heard about that years ago. Made me laugh no end. :D

UP WITH CRITTERS!

[Shaun]

Interesting. Although there is some BS on their page. Real publishers do risk their money on you, but they don't take strides to sell books or help you sell them the same way they do for famous authors. Authors these days are doing a hell of a lot of work to get books sold, because if you don't sell out your advance and earn the publisher some profit you're not worth their time. It used to be the other way around where the publisher would help you out...not anymore.

[Imelda]

They help in the way of .. you know, getting the major chains to buy your book. Those famous authors won't live forever you know. :P

[Shaun]

You don't make any money off of the chains though. You only make money if people actually buy your book. It's the same for the publisher too. They make nothing until the book sells. They lose a lot of money too because of authors that nobody wants to read.

[Imelda]

Yeah but it's easier to sell if you're in WH Smith, as opposed to some backwater shop that gets three customers a day ...

[Shaun]

Well, sorta. I mean, true, your book gets out there more, but if it doesn't get spotlighted you're just being placed on a huge shelf with hundreds of other writers who want attention as much as you. If you can't get off your arse and try to get some hype going about your book and sell some copies then you're not going to be with that publisher or with any publisher for very long.

[Carraka]

If I can write stuff like that and sell well on lulu, I have it made. Then again, some of that stuff is so funny I would buy it, so that's not saying much.

...

Next thing you know, we'll be doing our own YWO collaborative novel.

[Imelda]

Keep that idea quiet, Car! *shifty eyes*

Shaun, even if you don't get spotlighted, you're going to sell more copies in a busy store than elsewhere because they get more traffic. Even if people come for the Tolkien, they might notice Tol ... Toline next door. Maybe.

[Carraka]

What's the matter? Don't you want to write a terrible collaborative novel and publish it on lulu?

[Shaun]

Imelda, most debut authors don't earn out their advances. It has nothing to do with being distributed through major book sellers. You might sell a few more books, but your chances of selling lots of books without campaigning for yourself are slim to none. You have to advertise yourself.