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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Science Fiction Authors Hoax Vanity Publisher (dumbass lit-snobs played for fools)
2005-02-18
Science Fiction Authors Hoax Vanity Publisher

"Atlanta Nights," by Travis Tea, was offered a publishing contract by PublishAmerica of Frederick, Maryland.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 28, 2005 -- Over a holiday weekend last year, some thirty-odd science fiction writers banged out a chapter or two apiece of "Atlanta Nights," a novel about hot times in Atlanta high society. Their objective: to write a deeply awful novel to submit to PublishAmerica, a self-described "traditional publisher" located in Frederick, Maryland.

The project began after PublishAmerica posted an attack on science fiction authors at one of its websites (http://www.authorsmarket.net/). PublishAmerica claimed "As a rule of thumb, the quality bar for sci-fi and fantasy is a lot lower than for all other fiction.... [Science fiction authors] have no clue about what it is to write real-life stories, and how to find them a home." It described them as "writers who erroneously believe that SciFi, because it is set in a distant future, does not require believable storylines, or that Fantasy, because it is set in conditions that have never existed, does not need believable every-day characters."
"Why, Kimberley, it's all 'bout flyin' sausages and lil' green men, ain't it?"
"Ah thank so, Scott, tha's what mah high school lit teachers said t'any rate."

Spellbound Earthling: "Such ignorance exists?"
Wise Alien Visitor (nodding in resignation): "Such ignorance exists."

The writers wanted to see where PublishAmerica puts its own quality bar; if the publisher really is selective, as the company claims, or if it is a vanity press that will accept almost anything, as publishing professionals assert.

"Atlanta Nights" was completed, any sign of literary competence was blue-penciled, and the resulting manuscript was submitted. PublishAmerica accepted it.
From: PublishAmerica Aquisitions [e-mail protected from spam bots]
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Subject: Atlanta Nights

As this is an important piece of email regarding your book, please read it completely from start to finish. I am happy to inform you that PublishAmerica has decided to give "Atlanta Nights" the chance it deserves....Welcome to PublishAmerica, and congratulations on what promises to be an exciting time ahead.

Sincerely,
Meg Phillips
Acquisitions Editor
PublishAmerica
The hoax was publicly revealed on January 23, 2005. PublishAmerica withdrew their offer shortly afterward:
From: "PublishAmerica Acquisitions"
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005
Subject: Your Submission to PublishAmerica

We must withdraw our offer to publish "Atlanta Nights". Upon further review it appears that your work is not ready to be published. There are portions of nonsensical text in the manuscript that were caught by our editing staff as they previewed the text for editing time assessment pending your acceptance of our offer.

On the positive side, maybe you want to consider contracting the book with a vanity publisher such as iUniverse or Author House. They will certainly publish your book at a fee.

Thank you.
PublishAmerica Acquisitions Department
Those who wish to see the novel, "Atlanta Nights" by Travis Tea, for themselves can find it at
http://www.lulu.com/travis-teaPublication at Lulu.com is free.

For more information about PublishAmerica and vanity presses, see:
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25187-2005Jan20.html
Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy

#13  From the PA front's article:
"As a rule of thumb, the quality bar for sci-fi and fantasy is a lot lower than for all other fiction...."

Tell me, Angie, how crappy are SFWA's writers compared to PA's? SFWA requires paid professional sales for membership. We have seen what PA requires. You have correctly identified this article as self-serving crap, though, motivated by the desire to retaliate for exposure rather than by any genuine concern (or even knowledge of) literary standards.
I have a challenge for the "sci-fi is crap" crowd: Get together some of PA's dupes and staff members, have them write a bogus SF novelette to what they assert to be the low standards of the genre, and submit it to, say, Analog.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-02-18 11:31:12 PM  

#12  PA contended specifically that standards are lower in science fiction than in general fiction. This is certainly untenable given their acceptance of Atlanta Nights, a work of general fiction produced specifically to incorporate the lowest possible standards.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-02-18 11:05:47 PM  

#11  Remember Sturgeon's Law:
"Ninety percent of Science Fiction is crap. But the, 90% of anything is crap."

Jackals corollary:
"This rises to 100% in areas where post-modernism holds sway."
Posted by: jackal   2005-02-18 2:20:13 PM  

#10  Er, Angie, PublishAmerica does not admit that it will always accept whatever is submitted. Directly and decisively exposing this deception is a worthwhile purpose.

OK, I'll agree with that. But both this post and the others I've seen on the topic focus on how "dumbass lit-snobs played for fools". Ha ha! Showed them! There wasn't much (if anything) said about PA possibly being crooks.

I read the SFWA's article on the dispute, but stopped when I got to the "Waaa waaa waaa they said we suck!" part. I love science fiction, and PA is right here: many of them do suck. Even, yes, the ones that get published. Some, even, who belong to the SFWA.

The rest of the PA article sounds like self-serving claptrap, which is why I didn't want to comment further on it.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2005-02-18 2:17:00 PM  

#9  It appears this is one of those sweet times when the bad guy finally gets what he's had coming for a long time!
Posted by: 2b   2005-02-18 12:49:28 PM  

#8  "It sounds as if PublishAmerica always accepts books for publication, then later you find that it's going to cost you, rather than pay you. I don't see what the great coup is in getting an outfit like that to accept a book."

Er, Angie, PublishAmerica does not admit that it will always accept whatever is submitted. Directly and decisively exposing this deception is a worthwhile purpose. The article was complaining about allegedly low standards in the genre. The exercise demonstrated conclusively that PublishAmerica has no standards at all and is therefore in no position to judge.

Secondly, the article clearly targets the Science Fiction Writers of America, which has led the way in exposing PublishAmerica's scams.
Check out their article on the dispute.

The Authors Market article clearly conflates SFWA with these "crappy writers," which is a lie, pure and simple.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-02-18 12:15:37 PM  

#7  It sounds as if PublishAmerica always accepts books for publication, then later you find that it's going to cost you, rather than pay you. I don't see what the great coup is in getting an outfit like that to accept a book.

This is the article that inspired the hoax. I won't comment on its general content, but it clearly says that most SF/fantasy writers are good writers, etc, but the genres also attract really crappy writers who think that writing fantastic literature means that anything goes.

This is indistputably true, and whining about it is childish. There are literary equivalents to those filmmakers who believe that a couple of weird-looking aliens and some explosions are all that's needed to make a decent science fiction movie.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2005-02-18 11:38:01 AM  

#6  My favorite literary hoax was Jean Shepherd's invention of a book titled "I, Libertine."
Posted by: growler   2005-02-18 11:12:30 AM  

#5  2b
SFWA describes PublishAmerica as "a print-on-demand-based vanity publisher that poses as a 'traditional' publisher in order to ensnare thousands of gullible first-time writers."
Apparently, they don't reveal their hand until later in the process.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-02-18 9:36:16 AM  

#4  Haha, very funny. :) Reminds me of when the physicist Alan Sokal got a hoax paper published by filling it full of nonsense.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats   2005-02-18 9:05:11 AM  

#3  Travis Tea, that's great! But I bet the temptation was there to go with Heywood Jablomi.
Posted by: BH   2005-02-18 8:16:19 AM  

#2  I'm confused. PublishAmerica said in its rejection, "They will certainly publish your book at a fee." Which would indicate that PublishAmerica was originally willing to underwrite it. It's only a "vanity publisher" if you have to underwrite it yourself.
Posted by: 2b   2005-02-18 7:50:10 AM  

#1  This is reminiscent of the famous Naked Came the Stranger hoax of the 1960s, but there are still people dumb enough to fall for it it seems. It should have been subtitled Naked Came the Jackass.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2005-02-18 7:38:07 AM  

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