Received: from mail-3-166.rch001.net ([52.124.3.166]:35924) by stodi.digitalkingdom.org with esmtps (TLSv1.2:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:256) (Exim 4.91) (envelope-from ) id 1g4rWs-00049B-0j for Lojban@lojban.org; Tue, 25 Sep 2018 10:53:49 -0700 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; s=k1; d=sc02.rmdlvry001.com; h=From:To:Reply-To:Subject:Feedback-ID:Message-ID:List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version:Content-Type:Date; bh=oPlU0fm8CzWw1OyGmiqWC9lZIWjmF9KsLrhhYcAgJns=; b=FYCHL9D2NpcQOqZ4aIi6YStmJGdgsNNQghN8Wy1me4m2Cx1cwuzT7Sxk2hGZ419IqJm4U9I6aCH/ dNF/GBY4vaIij/hB/Q3jH2DQLMCgQ5iBOqKVFU8raJOlTzOjYXA9ll2xXq5VMhQphVAdjWTwaoeD yjGzCx61WKKx4q/hzDY= From: "Martin Foner" To: "Lojban@lojban.org" Reply-To: Subject: It Is Time to Stop Amazon's Bad Practices With Publishers X-BPS1: 6847981 Feedback-ID: 6847981:2206302:RM X-BPS2: 73291 Message-ID: <0daee569-eaeb-4497-bb0a-4988783d6730@a.sc02.rmdlvry001.com> List-Unsubscribe: , X-Mailer: RM Mailer (v5.4.890.0) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="=-fqIFRxJAV+rVsnidoudC6w==" Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2018 12:53:46 -0500 X-Spam-Score: 3.0 (+++) X-Spam_score: 3.0 X-Spam_score_int: 30 X-Spam_bar: +++ X-Spam-Report: Spam detection software, running on the system "stodi.digitalkingdom.org", has NOT identified this incoming email as spam. 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[URIs: ppgcpublishers.com] 0.2 HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS From and EnvelopeFrom 2nd level mail domains are different -0.0 RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE RBL: Sender listed at http://www.dnswl.org/, no trust [52.124.3.166 listed in list.dnswl.org] -0.0 SPF_PASS SPF: sender matches SPF record -0.0 SPF_HELO_PASS SPF: HELO matches SPF record 2.0 HTTPS_HTTP_MISMATCH BODY: No description available. 0.8 BAYES_50 BODY: Bayes spam probability is 40 to 60% [score: 0.4998] 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message -0.1 DKIM_VALID Message has at least one valid DKIM or DK signature 0.1 DKIM_SIGNED Message has a DKIM or DK signature, not necessarily valid 0.0 LOTS_OF_MONEY Huge... sums of money 0.0 T_MONEY_PERCENT X% of a lot of money for you This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --=-fqIFRxJAV+rVsnidoudC6w== Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Having trouble viewing this mail? Click here to view it in your browse= r. http://link.rm0005.net/v/R0WNvtmy2K-8JPk76UOgOA2 Make sure that you always get our messages: Add mfoner@nplconsult.com = to your contacts. Click here to unsubscribe or update your email address. http://link.rm0005.net/subscription/?t=3DR0WNvtmy2K-8JPk76UOgOA2 Martin Foner's Publishing Newsletter Because You're Serious About Success... or You're Not Volume 23, Number 12 Hello, Everyone... * * * * * * IT IS TIME TO STOP AMAZON'S BAD PRACTICES WITH PUBLISHERS. =C2=A0=C2=A0= =C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0IF WE CAN... LET US HELP YOU Well, here we are again. I currently have three clients who are having= rather serious Amazon issues and getting the usual "go away, we're Am= azon and if you don't like it, f*** off and go find somewhere else to = sell your books"... which is why I always say it is critical to have m= ultiple streams of revenue. Amazon can be good for you, but equally, t= hey can make life very difficult... and they never give you any market= ing information about your customers... which is very, very bad. And f= rankly, if any of the dozens of stories I have dealt with over the yea= rs are real (and they are) Amazon only cares about growing Amazon and = to hell with anyone who gets in the way. Every year or two there is a rash of what I would call Amazon acting b= adly toward smaller publishers. And for the most part, you are just on= e tiny fish in a huge ocean. But in the few cases in which we have got= ten involved and brought a handful or dozens of publishers together to= fight Amazon... or filed suit against egregious practices... sometime= s and without much rhyme or reason, Amazon backs off, straightens up, = and flies right... (for a while). So, it is time again to ask all of you to send me your Amazon horror s= tories, bad practices, raw deals, "f-you" moments, and anything else t= hat we can highlight here, then take to Amazon, and who knows, maybe e= ven resolve. Your subject line should be "Amazon Horror Stories". Then, as succinctly as possible, give me 2 or 3 paragraphs of narrativ= e and a listing of the documentation you have for back up. As well, I = need to know what your losses to date are from their bad acting, and w= hat they might add up to if the acting continues. If you are having these or other problems, let me know ASAP: Examples: My client owns hundreds of copyrights and exclusive distribution in No= rth America agreements. European based sellers are selling products in= to the US market, which is in violation of their agreements with the p= ublishers. Amazon is not supposed to permit this type of selling for e= xactly this reason. They have been notified dozens of times. They have= done nothing. Now is the time they are going to do something! Another client is dealing with fraudulent third party sellers. The pub= lisher has provided stacks of documents to Amazon on, at present, roug= hly two dozen sellers who are scamming customers using his products. S= o far, Amazon has done nothing to close these fraudulent sellers down. Yet another client is complaining that because of the political nature= of his titles, Amazon has set unreasonable buying requirements for cu= stomers... like having to have Prime to order his books... and discoun= ting his books to almost their cost to minimize his ability to sell th= em outside the Amazon universe. He has somewhat fixed the unreasonable= conditions, but the predatory pricing issue remains. In the past I had two clients who had documentation of very minimal sa= les of Kindle books... and never received a dime's worth of payment fo= r them. Really? We helped to fix that, but I really wanted to go after= them in court, but the amounts were so small it would have been a sma= ll claims court issue. You get the idea. To repeat: No long winded harangues... just the facts and a way to con= tact you if we need more information. DO NOT send back up documentatio= n at this moment. Just the basic information. Thanks! IN MY OPINION, AVOID THOMPSON SHORE UNTIL THEY CLEAN UP THEIR ACT... O= R MAYBE PERMANENTLY Yes, this is just my personal opinion... but, based on my 40+ years in= publishing, and a current project they are (supposed to be) printing.= .. things are not so good. Now, to be fair, I have ALWAYS touted Thompson Shore (T/Shore) as a GR= EAT printer... fast, fair, quality, service. So now, it is my obligati= on to let everyone know, and this is a good place to do it... that I h= ave changed my professional opinion from three thumbs up to two thumbs= down and cut the third one off for now. I am working with a client who is printing a 300+ page amazing full co= lor cookbook. Her work is the essence of Jersey Shore cooking and eati= ng and she has been the #1 female chef/owner along the Seaboard for 20= + years, with multiple restaurants. (If you are interested, we are tak= ing pre-orders on our site.... A GREAT holiday gift!) Shameless plug. More Info and Order here: http://link.rm0005.net/go/R0WNvjr3Ug44FCgs4O= 1Raw2/ http://link.rm0005.net/go/R0WNvjr3Ug44FCgs4O1Raw2/ Anyway, this isn't exactly 100 copies of a 200 page mass market sized = novel. It is a split order including hundreds of hardcovers for souven= ir editions, plus thousands of paperbacks for sale. I will skip the de= tails, gory as they are, but I have to say their customer service in t= his case has been poor, their response time has been poor, and when I = sent an email to the Pres and two VPs listed on the front page of thei= r website... it took two weeks to get a phone message from one of them= , indicating it wasn't my email they were responding to but my issues = with their C S people. They took a five figure deposit without mentioning that the cover stoc= k would be unavailable. 'Unforeseen, you know.' And their option was t= o provide a lighter weight stock when our order was specifically for a= heavier weight stock. 'Well, it is just as good.' And after a week of= apparently looking for some reasonable weight replacement cover stock= they 'found some stock', 'how lucky we were', they replied again... a= nd they then requoted the job with the changed paper stock and the sto= ck increase was a bit over $8 !!! Yes, you read that right... they had= the unmitigated gaul to charge another $8 on a project running close = to $18,000., after letting us know the day of printing that the origin= al cover stock wasn't available!!! When I suggested the C S person might discuss the issues we have suffe= red so far and have the $8 charge removed... well, it has been three w= eeks and we are still waiting for an answer. Their overall response: Well, yes, we are very busy now with Edwards c= losing, and some other smaller printers closing, and all the new busin= ess, and paper being in a bit short supply, and it is just very busy. Well, folks, I have the answer to the problem of a printer being too b= usy to handle customers... STAY AWAY!!!... Then, at some point, they w= on't be so busy and maybe they will have the time to clean up their ac= t and start acting like the company I have been used to dealing with f= or many years. And I have other clients and associates doing jobs with them so I will= be following up to see if things change. But for this moment... STAY = AWAY!!! They have no clue and worse, they don't care. My client thinks I am not so good for sending her to a less than 100% = printer... she sees all my correspondence. I have no reply but... this= really isn't how they do business...but in reality, IT IS EXACTLY how= they are doing business RIGHT NOW, THIS WEEK, and they are not making= apologies for it, nor are they trying to 'make up for it' in any way.= It used to be when you gave out an $18K project and there were issues= , you got daily phone messages of progress, you got free storage of pa= llets, you got whatever you needed. I can't even get an $8 upcharge re= moved, or a status inquiry returned!!! Well, if you need some printers... send me an email and I will give yo= u my revised top five depending on what you are printing. WE CANNOT PERMIT PEOPLE TO HIDE BEHIND THE FIRST AMENDMENT AS AN EXCUS= E FOR COMMITTING CRIMES For those of you who 'know' me through these newsletters, and some for= decades... you know I am a libertarian who very strongly protects eve= ryone's rights to be left alone and live their lives. I am a fan of ke= eping government out of my bedroom and my wallet. I think the governme= nt has an obligation to care for those who cannot care for themselves. But I have had it with those who believe that we MUST use the First Am= endment as a reason NOT to have companies like Facebook, Twitter and Y= ou Tube provide information to law enforcement authorities when a crim= e has been committed. Let me give you an example from this week. The women accusing the judge nominated to the Supreme Court has had de= ath threats, apparently delivered through, among other media, social m= edia. Facebook and Twitter will tell you that they will not provide th= e 'information' on the holders of the various offending accounts. This is flat out wrong and anyone with this policy MUST change it imme= diately. Just as Apple was in a gray area with the California bomber's= cell phone information a few years back. They do not have any Amendment right to protect and harbor criminals o= f any kind, regardless of what they quote. The person, people, or mob, as is likely, who is threatening this curr= ent woman needs to be sniffed out and arrested. Tampering with a witne= ss, threatening a Federal witness, notwithstanding threatening to murd= er the person, or worse... terroristic threats I think it is called...= . These people have committed crimes. Their words are threats and they= should be taken seriously. Certainly as seriously as if I walk down t= he street and walk up to you and say "I am going to kill you in one mi= nute, or tomorrow, or I know where you live and will kill you there." And while the idea of the government intruding into one more private a= rea of my life (though not mine specifically since I don't do Facebook= , Twitter, or You Tube) is abhorrent... the people using these means t= o threaten others and then run and hide behind the First Amendment... = that somehow their speech is protected... Protected from what? Their s= peech was and is a criminal act, and they should be called to account = for it just as if they did it on the street corner. It is long past time we get our s*** together and start acting like ad= ults, or the government will use our collective stupidity/laziness aga= inst us. And here is my point in terms of us as publishers, as people who regul= arly REQUIRE the protections of the First Amendment... if we permit im= proper and really, illegal uses of the First Amendment, and don't spea= k up and don't take action... it will not be long before WE, as publis= hers, and as citizens, will lose our right to be protected by the Firs= t Amendment. And THAT is why we cannot allow the public, the mobs, and any less tha= n completely peaceful protesting alt-right, to conflate the First Amen= dment with protecting criminals. IN MY OPINION, ANYONE IS BETTER THAN AT&T FOR ANYTHING This will be quick and easy. While I am on a tear about horrible servi= ce and booting people and companies out of my circle of life vendors (= see Thompson shore above), I want to add A T & T in ALL its forms and = variations. This includes their Internet service, which is marginal at= best. Their cell phone service is abysmal... and to add to it, their stores = and employees make the experience so painful it becomes masochistic to= be a customer. The billings we have gotten have actually increased on= a monthly basis from their "deals" to some astronomical number after = 12, 18 or 24 months. It is often inaccurate and requires another of th= ose de Sade visits to their stores to resolve it. Their Direct TV... I counted in our service area fully 50% of the avai= lable channels were either shopping or sexual channels. And while I do= n't use the television to shop, I also don't use it for sexual purpose= s... and thus have forfeited roughly 50% of the service available to m= e... when it works at all. And lastly, and let us not forget, A T & T got into the home alarm bus= iness a few years back. My partner and I are still in limbo between ha= ving her credit ruined and us going into court in Dallas, Texas, to ge= t this all resolved. The service never worked and we had repair person= after repair person out. For months...yet we paid the bills each mont= h under threat of being sued for breaking the 12 month contract. Final= ly, we hired an independent repair person who advised us the battery t= hey installed was no good and lasted roughly 30 minutes each time it w= as reinstalled. Thus, they could show us it worked, but 30 minutes lat= er, it simply didn't. Now, do we spend $1,000 to go to Dallas and sue them to get my partner= 's credit rating back since they dinged her credit for the balance of = the contract...some $500? Do we pay the $500 and let them call us the = idiot of the week? Or do I come out here swinging a baseball bat and r= eminding everyone on my newsletter list... roughly 80,000 of you aroun= d the country... to drop these bastards as quickly as you can before y= ou, too, wind up wanting to commit crimes against them? I have chosen the last path, and while I don't feel any better... I do= feel I am warning my friends to avoid a future problem. Take heed. Ge= t away from these bastards as fast as you can. MY COMPLIMENTARY OFFER TO REVIEW TITLES FOR BULK & CUSTOM SALES POTENT= IAL EXPIRES NOW, IN FIVE DAYS... DON'T DELAY *** HERE IS MY SPECIAL OFFER TO YOU. I am offering ALL publishers an o= pportunity to have ONE BOOK analyzed by me for its Bulk and/or Custom = Sales potential, ...AT NO CHARGE... COMPLIMENTARY... just so you will = begin to have the idea of why Bulk and Custom Sales are so important t= o your survival.*** I have done this once before eight years ago. It was very strongly rec= eived with 500+/- books submitted to me to analyze. Yes, it took about= six weeks to get to everyone, but I got a great deal of positive feed= back... and we all need that. Currently, I have received well over 500= requests this year and am continuing to review titles. It is fun... n= ot to mention it is super important to keep this industry, as we know = it, alive and well for the future. And one of the best ways of doing t= hat is to keep the publishers in it alive and well. This has become, o= ver many years, an area of specialty for me... something I do exceptio= nally well. Read the below 'bold' paragraph carefully and follow its instructions: Feel free to submit your book now. Send me an email with your book inf= ormation, a link to it on your website, a copy of the Table of Content= s, full size front and back covers, and your email and contact informa= tion. If you prefer to send me an eBook of your book, that is ok also,= with the other information... to mailto:mfoner@nplconsult.com . Use the subject line: Bulk-Custom Book Analysis Remember, fiction, children's fiction, romance, sci-fi, etc., anything= of a fiction nature really doesn't lend itself to this process, and I= will likely reply with a blank page to those requests. Non-fiction wo= rks for the most part, informational, business, self-help, technical, = are good. I will analyze ALL the books I receive, other than those mentioned abo= ve, one per publisher, for now, through the 30th of September. This is it. This offer has been extended for about a year. Time is up. And, if you would like to speak confidentially about the potentials of= success with your titles and bulk, customized, and special sales... c= ontact me at mfoner@nplconsult.com mailto:mfoner@nplconsult.com .=C2=A0= I have over thirty years of experience in Bulk and Custom sales... te= ns of Millions of Dollars in revenues... my largest individual unit sa= le was 250,000 units of one title, on one order. We should talk if you= want to succeed in Bulk and Custom selling. Many dozens of publishers= have done well from using the expert help I can offer. NEW LISTINGS... PUBLISHERS FOR SALE... MAPS, ART BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, PR= OFESSIONAL TEST TAKING BOOKS... I have a few listings way worth a second look. And some worth a third = and fourth look. I am going to highlight a few of them in this issue. = If you want discuss them further, just email me=C2=A0 mfoner@nplconsul= t.com mailto:mfoner@nplconsult.com UNIQUE MAP COMPANY... In business 30 years, and with over 500 copyrigh= ts, marketing agreements, and variations, this part-time map company h= as a customer list, products, multiple websites, and contracts licensi= ng their products to well known organizations and corporations. Just t= his summer, digitizing much of this work and putting this treasure tro= ve up on Amazon... sales reflect this new 'push'. They got serious att= ention when the TV program "West Wing" used one of their copyrighted m= aps on multiple episodes and they were off to the races and have been = ever since. All owners are into deep retirement and are not heavy mark= eters...but their networking over the years has done them well with mi= nimal effort. Profits consistently in the $30s-$40s... plus $70K inventory... and 50= 0 products in their potential line... Asking $295,000 which is 5X net = plus inventory and some value for IP assets. ART REFERENCE PUBLISHER... Maybe the best known series brand of art re= ference books in the world. Company is almost 60 years old and hasn't = done any marketing in the last 27 years and is still doing nicely on i= ts name alone. New editions come out once or twice a year. Profitable = even on a very part time basis. This publisher won't be on the market = very long now that we are promoting it. We originally had a buyer and = that took the company off the market for months. Now, it is on the mar= ket again and will sell quickly. If you are in the art world, you know= the brand and it would improve your stature to own this worldwide kno= wn brand. Asking $249,000 (3.5X net) PLUS some arrangement on cost bas= is $500,000 inventory. COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE... Midwest US city... in business almost = 20 years, part time activity, full time net income. Was monthly for ma= ny years and when owner became ill, went to bi monthly. Profit is stro= ng but going back to monthly will increase the net by 50% based on his= tory. Netting now $80K, could be easily up to $120K. Long ad history, = strong community, and even stronger mass community appeal of the mater= ial. This one will go quickly as we are promoting heavily in the geogr= aphic area to all kinds of magazine and newspaper publishers. Asking 2= X net/1x ad revenues at $199,000. PROFESSIONAL TEST TAKING BOOKS AND COURSES... We don't have all the de= tails yet on this company, but for those who want to get on the list f= irst, this company has been in business for a few decades providing co= urses and test taking reference books for professional designations...= Attorneys, CPAs, and others. Apologies for lack of detail, but those = of you for whom this fits in nicely... I expect to hear from you this = week! A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR If you believe your publishing business, or any commercial business yo= u own, isn't up to what it should be creating or earning... then you s= hould contact me at mfoner@nplconsult.com mailto:mfoner@nplconsult.com= . I can help you grow your company to your goals and then help you ex= it profitably. If you want to acquire another publisher, or line, or even a few title= s, then you should contact me. If you want to sell your company, or lines, or a few titles, contact m= e. If you want to succeed as a self-publisher... contact me. If you finally get the idea how critical it is to have a Strategic Pla= n, then for certain and right now, you should contact me at mfoner@npl= consult.com mailto:mfoner@nplconsult.com . Copyright Martin Foner, 2018. =C2=A0=C2=A0 mfoner@nplconsult.com mailt= o:mfoner@nplconsult.com There should be an unsubscribe button somewhere at the footer of this = email, but if there is not, simply email me directly at mfoner@nplcons= ult.com mailto:mfoner@nplconsult.com , and I will have you removed fro= m future emailings. While it is considered opt out instead of opt in, if you don't unsubsc= ribe, we will consider you as approving us to continue to send you new= sletters and related publishing information. If you do not approve, yo= u need to unsubscribe, not mark this spam or do other untoward things.= .. just unsubscribe is enough. NPL Publishing Consultants, a division of Professional Publishers Grou= p Corporation, Post Office Box 1010, Ventura CA 93002. www.ppgcpublishers.com http://link.rm0005.net/go/R0WNvju-QEgQ8gO8cktFj= w2/ This email is being sent to Lojban@lojban.org. 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Martin Foner’s Publishing Newslette= r

Because You’re Serious = About Success… or You’re Not

Volume 23, Number 12


Hello, Everyone…

  • IT IS TIME TO STOP AMAZON’S BAD PRACTICE= S WITH PUBLISHERS. IF WE CAN… LET US HELP YOU

  • IN MY OPINION, AVOID THOMPSON SHORE UNTIL THEY= CLEAN UP THEIR ACT… OR MAYBE PERMANENTLY

  • WE CANNOT PERMIT PEOPLE TO HIDE BEHIND THE FIR= ST AMENDMENT AS AN EXCUSE FOR COMMITTING CRIMES

  • IN MY OPINION, ANYONE IS BETTER THAN AT&T = FOR ANYTHING

  • MY COMPLIMENTARY OFFER TO REVIEW TITLES FOR BU= LK & CUSTOM SALES POTENTIAL EXPIRES NOW… DON’T DELAY<= /strong>

  • NEW LISTINGS… PUBLISHERS FOR SALE&helli= p; MAPS, ART BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, PROFESSIONAL TEST TAKING BOOKS…=



IT IS TIME TO STOP AMAZON’S BAD PRACTICES WITH PUBLISHER= S.      IF WE CAN… LET US HELP YOU

Well, here we are again. I= currently have three clients who are having rather serious Amazon iss= ues and getting the usual “go away, we’re Amazon and if yo= u don’t like it, f*** off and go find somewhere else to sell you= r books”… which is why I always say it is critical to hav= e multiple streams of revenue. Amazon can be good for you, but equally= , they can make life very difficult… and they never give you an= y marketing information about your customers… which is very, ve= ry bad. And frankly, if any of the dozens of stories I have dealt with= over the years are real (and they are) Amazon only cares about growin= g Amazon and to hell with anyone who gets in the way.

Every year or two there is= a rash of what I would call Amazon acting badly toward smaller publis= hers. And for the most part, you are just one tiny fish in a huge ocea= n. But in the few cases in which we have gotten involved and brought a= handful or dozens of publishers together to fight Amazon… or f= iled suit against egregious practices… sometimes and without mu= ch rhyme or reason, Amazon backs off, straightens up, and flies right&= hellip; (for a while).

So, it is time again to as= k all of you to send me your Amazon horror stories, bad practices, raw= deals, “f-you” moments, and anything else that we can hig= hlight here, then take to Amazon, and who knows, maybe even resolve.

Your subject line should b= e “Amazon Horror Stories”.

Then, as succinctly as pos= sible, give me 2 or 3 paragraphs of narrative and a listing of the doc= umentation you have for back up. As well, I need to know what your los= ses to date are from their bad acting, and what they might add up to i= f the acting continues.

If you are having these or= other problems, let me know ASAP:

Examples:

My client owns hundreds of= copyrights and exclusive distribution in North America agreements. Eu= ropean based sellers are selling products into the US market, which is= in violation of their agreements with the publishers. Amazon is not s= upposed to permit this type of selling for exactly this reason. They h= ave been notified dozens of times. They have done nothing. Now is the = time they are going to do something!

Another client is dealing = with fraudulent third party sellers. The publisher has provided stacks= of documents to Amazon on, at present, roughly two dozen sellers who = are scamming customers using his products. So far, Amazon has done not= hing to close these fraudulent sellers down.

Yet another client is comp= laining that because of the political nature of his titles, Amazon has= set unreasonable buying requirements for customers… like havin= g to have Prime to order his books… and discounting his books t= o almost their cost to minimize his ability to sell them outside the A= mazon universe. He has somewhat fixed the unreasonable conditions, but= the predatory pricing issue remains.

In the past I had two clie= nts who had documentation of very minimal sales of Kindle books&hellip= ; and never received a dime’s worth of payment for them. Really?= We helped to fix that, but I really wanted to go after them in court,= but the amounts were so small it would have been a small claims court= issue.

You get the idea.

To repeat: No long winded = harangues… just the facts and a way to contact you if we need m= ore information. DO NOT send back up documentation at this moment. Jus= t the basic information. Thanks!



IN MY OPINION, AVOID THOMPSON SHORE UNTIL THEY CLEAN UP THEIR = ACT… OR MAYBE PERMANENTLY

Yes, this is just my perso= nal opinion… but, based on my 40+ years in publishing, and a cu= rrent project they are (supposed to be) printing… things are no= t so good.

Now, to be fair, I have AL= WAYS touted Thompson Shore (T/Shore) as a GREAT printer… fast, = fair, quality, service. So now, it is my obligation to let everyone kn= ow, and this is a good place to do it… that I have changed my p= rofessional opinion from three thumbs up to two thumbs down and cut th= e third one off for now.

I am working with a client= who is printing a 300+ page amazing full color cookbook. Her work is = the essence of Jersey Shore cooking and eating and she has been the #1= female chef/owner along the Seaboard for 20+ years, with multiple res= taurants. (If you are interested, we are taking pre-orders on our site= …. A GREAT holiday gift!) Shameless plug.


More Info and Order here: https://ppgcpublishers.com/product/feed-thi= s-community/


Anyway, this isn’t exactly 100 copies of a 200 page mass= market sized novel. It is a split order including hundreds of hardcov= ers for souvenir editions, plus thousands of paperbacks for sale. I wi= ll skip the details, gory as they are, but I have to say their custome= r service in this case has been poor, their response time has been poo= r, and when I sent an email to the Pres and two VPs listed on the fron= t page of their website… it took two weeks to get a phone messa= ge from one of them, indicating it wasn’t my email they were res= ponding to but my issues with their C S people.

They took a five figure de= posit without mentioning that the cover stock would be unavailable. &l= squo;Unforeseen, you know.’ And their option was to provide a li= ghter weight stock when our order was specifically for a heavier weigh= t stock. ‘Well, it is just as good.’ And after a week of a= pparently looking for some reasonable weight replacement cover stock t= hey ‘found some stock’, ‘how lucky we were’, t= hey replied again… and they then requoted the job with the chan= ged paper stock and the stock increase was a bit over $8 !!! Yes, you = read that right… they had the unmitigated gaul to charge anothe= r $8 on a project running close to $18,000., after letting us know the= day of printing that the original cover stock wasn’t available!= !!

When I suggested the C S p= erson might discuss the issues we have suffered so far and have the $8= charge removed… well, it has been three weeks and we are still= waiting for an answer.

Their overall response: We= ll, yes, we are very busy now with Edwards closing, and some other sma= ller printers closing, and all the new business, and paper being in a = bit short supply, and it is just very busy.

Well, folks, I have the an= swer to the problem of a printer being too busy to handle customers&he= llip; STAY AWAY!!!... Then, at some point, they won’t be so busy= and maybe they will have the time to clean up their act and start act= ing like the company I have been used to dealing with for many years.<= /span>

And I have other clients a= nd associates doing jobs with them so I will be following up to see if= things change. But for this moment… STAY AWAY!!! They have no = clue and worse, they don’t care.

My client thinks I am not = so good for sending her to a less than 100% printer… she sees a= ll my correspondence. I have no reply but… this really isn&rsqu= o;t how they do business…but in reality, IT IS EXACTLY how they= are doing business RIGHT NOW, THIS WEEK, and they ar= e not making apologies for it, nor are they trying to ‘make up f= or it’ in any way. It used to be when you gave out an $18K proje= ct and there were issues, you got daily phone messages of progress, yo= u got free storage of pallets, you got whatever you needed. I can&rsqu= o;t even get an $8 upcharge removed, or a status inquiry returned!!!

Well, if you need some pri= nters… send me an email and I will give you my revised top five= depending on what you are printing.



WE CANNOT PERMIT PEOPLE TO HIDE BEHIND THE FIRST AMENDMENT AS = AN EXCUSE FOR COMMITTING CRIMES

For those of you who &lsqu= o;know’ me through these newsletters, and some for decades&helli= p; you know I am a libertarian who very strongly protects everyone&rsq= uo;s rights to be left alone and live their lives. I am a fan of keepi= ng government out of my bedroom and my wallet. I think the government = has an obligation to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

But I have had it with tho= se who believe that we MUST use the First Amendment as a reason NOT to= have companies like Facebook, Twitter and You Tube provide informatio= n to law enforcement authorities when a crime has been committed.

Let me give you an example= from this week.

The women accusing the jud= ge nominated to the Supreme Court has had death threats, apparently de= livered through, among other media, social media. Facebook and Twitter= will tell you that they will not provide the ‘information&rsquo= ; on the holders of the various offending accounts.

This is flat out wrong and= anyone with this policy MUST change it immediately. Just as Apple was= in a gray area with the California bomber’s cell phone informat= ion a few years back.

They do not have any Amend= ment right to protect and harbor criminals of any kind, regardless of = what they quote.

The person, people, or mob= , as is likely, who is threatening this current woman needs to be snif= fed out and arrested. Tampering with a witness, threatening a Federal = witness, notwithstanding threatening to murder the person, or worse&he= llip; terroristic threats I think it is called…. These people h= ave committed crimes. Their words are threats and they should be taken= seriously. Certainly as seriously as if I walk down the street and wa= lk up to you and say “I am going to kill you in one minute, or t= omorrow, or I know where you live and will kill you there.”

And while the idea of the = government intruding into one more private area of my life (though not= mine specifically since I don’t do Facebook, Twitter, or You Tu= be) is abhorrent… the people using these means to threaten othe= rs and then run and hide behind the First Amendment… that someh= ow their speech is protected… Protected from what? Their speech= was and is a criminal act, and they should be called to account for i= t just as if they did it on the street corner.

It is long past time we ge= t our s*** together and start acting like adults, or the government wi= ll use our collective stupidity/laziness against us.

And here is my point in te= rms of us as publishers, as people who regularly REQUIRE the protectio= ns of the First Amendment… if we permit improper and really, il= legal uses of the First Amendment, and don’t speak up and don&rs= quo;t take action… it will not be long before WE, as publishers= , and as citizens, will lose our right to be protected by the First Am= endment.

And THAT is why we cannot = allow the public, the mobs, and any less than completely peaceful prot= esting alt-right, to conflate the First Amendment with protecting crim= inals.



IN MY OPINION, ANYONE IS BETTER THAN AT&T FOR ANYTHING

This will be quick and eas= y. While I am on a tear about horrible service and booting people and = companies out of my circle of life vendors (see Thompson shore above),= I want to add A T & T in ALL its forms and variations. This inclu= des their Internet service, which is marginal at best.

Their cell phone service i= s abysmal… and to add to it, their stores and employees make th= e experience so painful it becomes masochistic to be a customer. The b= illings we have gotten have actually increased on a monthly basis from= their “deals” to some astronomical number after 12, 18 or= 24 months. It is often inaccurate and requires another of those de Sa= de visits to their stores to resolve it.

Their Direct TV… I = counted in our service area fully 50% of the available channels were e= ither shopping or sexual channels. And while I don’t use the tel= evision to shop, I also don’t use it for sexual purposes…= and thus have forfeited roughly 50% of the service available to me&he= llip; when it works at all.

And lastly, and let us not= forget, A T & T got into the home alarm business a few years back= . My partner and I are still in limbo between having her credit ruined= and us going into court in Dallas, Texas, to get this all resolved. T= he service never worked and we had repair person after repair person o= ut. For months…yet we paid the bills each month under threat of= being sued for breaking the 12 month contract. Finally, we hired an i= ndependent repair person who advised us the battery they installed was= no good and lasted roughly 30 minutes each time it was reinstalled. T= hus, they could show us it worked, but 30 minutes later, it simply did= n’t.

Now, do we spend $1,000 to= go to Dallas and sue them to get my partner’s credit rating bac= k since they dinged her credit for the balance of the contract…= some $500? Do we pay the $500 and let them call us the idiot of the we= ek? Or do I come out here swinging a baseball bat and reminding everyo= ne on my newsletter list… roughly 80,000 of you around the coun= try… to drop these bastards as quickly as you can before you, t= oo, wind up wanting to commit crimes against them?

I have chosen the last pat= h, and while I don’t feel any better… I do feel I am warn= ing my friends to avoid a future problem. Take heed. Get away from the= se bastards as fast as you can.



MY COMPLIMENTARY OFFER TO REVIEW TITLES FOR BULK & CUSTOM = SALES POTENTIAL EXPIRES NOW, IN FIVE DAYS… DON’T DELAY

*** HERE IS MY SPE= CIAL OFFER TO YOU. I am offering ALL publishers an opportunity to have= ONE BOOK analyzed by me for its Bulk and/or Custom Sales potential, &= hellip;AT NO CHARGE… COMPLIMENTARY… just so you will beg= in to have the idea of why Bulk and Custom Sales are so important to y= our survival.***

 

I have done this once befo= re eight years ago. It was very strongly received with 500+/- books su= bmitted to me to analyze. Yes, it took about six weeks to get to every= one, but I got a great deal of positive feedback… and we all ne= ed that. Currently, I have received well over 500 requests this year a= nd am continuing to review titles. It is fun… not to mention it= is super important to keep this industry, as we know it, alive and we= ll for the future. And one of the best ways of doing that is to keep t= he publishers in it alive and well. This has become, over many years, = an area of specialty for me… something I do exceptionally well.=

Read the below ‘bold= ’ paragraph carefully and follow its instructions:

Feel free to submi= t your book now. Send me an email with your book information, a link t= o it on your website, a copy of the Table of Contents, full size front= and back covers, and your email and contact information. If you prefer to send me an eB= ook of your book, that is ok also, with the other information… = to mfoner@nplconsult.com= .

Use the subject li= ne: Bulk-Custom Book Analysis

Remember, fiction, childre= n’s fiction, romance, sci-fi, etc., anything of a fiction nature= really doesn’t lend itself to this process, and I will likely r= eply with a blank page to those requests. Non-fiction works for the mo= st part, informational, business, self-help, technical, are good.

I will analyze ALL= the books I receive, other than those mentioned above, one per publis= her, for now, through = the 30th of September.

This is it. This o= ffer has been extended for about a year. Time is up.

And, if you would like to = speak confidentially about the potentials of success with your titles = and bulk, customized, and special sales… contact me at mfoner@nplconsult.com .  I hav= e over thirty years of experience in Bulk and Custom sales… ten= s of Millions of Dollars in revenues… my largest indivi= dual unit sale was 250,000 units of one title, on one order. = We should talk if you want to succeed in Bulk and Custom selling. Many= dozens of publishers have done well from using the expert help I can = offer.



NEW LISTINGS… PUBLISHERS FOR SALE… MAPS, ART BOO= K ENCYCLOPEDIA, PROFESSIONAL TEST TAKING BOOKS…=

I have a few listings way = worth a second look. And some worth a third and fourth look. I am goin= g to highlight a few of them in this issue. If you want discuss them f= urther, just email me  m= foner@nplconsult.com

UNIQUE MAP COMPANY= … In business = 30 years, and with over 500 copyrights, marketing agreements, and vari= ations, this part-time map company has a customer list, products, mult= iple websites, and contracts licensing their products to well known or= ganizations and corporations. Just this summer, digitizing much of thi= s work and putting this treasure trove up on Amazon… sales refl= ect this new ‘push’. They got serious attention when the T= V program “West Wing” used one of their copyrighted maps o= n multiple episodes and they were off to the races and have been ever = since. All owners are into deep retirement and are not heavy marketers= …but their networking over the years has done them well with mi= nimal effort.

Profits consistently in th= e $30s-$40s… plus $70K inventory… and 500 products in th= eir potential line… Asking $295,000 which is 5X net plu= s inventory and some value for IP assets.

ART REFERENCE PUBL= ISHER… Maybe t= he best known series brand of art reference books in the world. Compan= y is almost 60 years old and hasn’t done any marketing in the la= st 27 years and is still doing nicely on its name alone. New editions = come out once or twice a year. Profitable even on a very part time bas= is. This publisher won’t be on the market very long now that we = are promoting it. We originally had a buyer and that took the company = off the market for months. Now, it is on the market again and will sel= l quickly. If you are in the art world, you know the brand and it woul= d improve your stature to own this worldwide known brand. Aski= ng $249,000 (3.5X net) PLUS some arrangement on cost basis $500,000 in= ventory.

COMMUNITY CHRISTIA= N MAGAZINE… Mi= dwest US city… in business almost 20 years, part time activity,= full time net income. Was monthly for many years and when owner becam= e ill, went to bi monthly. Profit is strong but going back to monthly = will increase the net by 50% based on history. Netting now $80K, could= be easily up to $120K. Long ad history, strong community, and even st= ronger mass community appeal of the material. This one will go quickly= as we are promoting heavily in the geographic area to all kinds of ma= gazine and newspaper publishers. Asking 2X net/1x ad revenues = at $199,000.

PROFESSIONAL TEST = TAKING BOOKS AND COURSES… We don’t have all the details yet on this company, b= ut for those who want to get on the list first, this company has been = in business for a few decades providing courses and test taking refere= nce books for professional designations… Attorneys, CPAs, and o= thers. Apologies for lack of detail, but those of you for whom this fi= ts in nicely… I expect to hear from you this week!



A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

If you believe your publis= hing business, or any commercial business you own, isn’t up to w= hat it should be creating or earning… then you should contact m= e at mfoner@nplconsult.com. I can help you grow your company to your goals and then help you ex= it profitably.

If you want to acquire ano= ther publisher, or line, or even a few titles, then you should contact= me.

If you want to sell your c= ompany, or lines, or a few titles, contact me.

If you want to succeed as = a self-publisher… contact me.

If you finally get the ide= a how critical it is to have a Strategic Plan, then for certain and ri= ght now, you should contact me at mfoner@nplconsult.com.

© Martin Foner, 2018.=   mfoner@nplconsul= t.com

There should be an unsubsc= ribe button somewhere at the footer of this email, but if there is not= , simply email me directly at mfoner@nplconsult.com, and I will have you removed from future em= ailings.

While it is considered opt= out instead of opt in, if you don’t unsubscribe, we will consid= er you as approving us to continue to send you newsletters and related= publishing information. If you do not approve, you need to un= subscribe, not mark this spam or do other untoward things… just= unsubscribe is enough.

NPL Publishing Consultants= , a division of Professional Publishers Group Corporation, Post Office= Box 1010, Ventura CA 93002. 

www.nplconsult.com  www.ppgcpublishers.com

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