A recent Hollywood rumor was that Tobey Maguire injured his back during the making of Sea Biscuit doing horseback riding scenes, making him unable to star in the sequel to Spider-Man. Although it turned out to be false, he rode a mechanical horse in the film, many actors have had close calls working with horses.

One example was Michael Caine, whose first movie Zulu (1964) required him to ride a horse after a hunting expedition, which after several embarrassing takes almost bought his career to a premature end. “I thought you said you had riding lessons!” said the angry director. “I did!” said the beleaguered star. “And the first thing I learned was I never wanted to ride one of these bloody things again!”

He wasn’t the only one. Jack Nicholson took a hard fall in The Missouri Breaks (1976) which he shrugged off saying,”It would have hurt if I was a real person instead of a movie star.”

Some performers get along famously with their horses, the relationship can go on for years. Gene Autry had Champion trained to jump through a ring of fire at rodeos, the stunt always worked perfectly until Champion aged and Gene had to replace him. Gene exhibited no concern when he was advised by trainers that the new Champion was not ready for prime time his first night on the job. “It’ll be all right boys!” reassured the cowboy through swigs of tequila. The big moment came, the new horse rode out with Gene toward the burning ring and came to a dead stop, sending the famous cowboy star flying to complete the stunt on his own. The crowd gasped but luckily Gene was more drunk than hurt, he simply got up and took a bow like it was all planned.

Most stars won’t take chances. David Niven bribed a trainer fifty dollars so he would get to ride a gentle nag while filming The Prisoner Of Zenda (1937). He brought his animal next to Raymond Massey’s stallion, and both reluctant riders prepared for the director to call action. Suddenly Niven noticed a shadow above him, Massey’s horse had risen on it’s hind legs. Niven realized his nag was in heat and dived out the way as Massey’s stallion came down on Niven’s mare. He watched stunned as the helpless Massey bounced on top of what now looked like a giant rocking horse!

Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks “Fascinating Walt Disney” and “Tales Of Hollywood”. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says,” these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining.” Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at www.hollywoodstories.com.

In recent years sales of critical illness insurance have flagged. The primary cause is the huge 70% increase in premiums experienced during recent years. For many, critical illness insurance has simply priced itself out of the market.

It’s not that critical illness insurance is a bad idea. After all it pays out a lump sum if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of the many critical illnesses listed on the policy and the policyholder survives at least 28 days from diagnosis. (Note: some policies have a 14 day survival period.) Most policies have a huge list of insured illnesses although about 60% of claims are for cancer – not surprising, as 1 in every 3 people will develop cancer sometime in their lifetime. In fact when you look at the concept of Critical illness insurance you can easily make a case that everyone living on earned income should have a policy. It’s designed to give you a pot of capital to live on if serious illness prevents you from working normally.

Premiums have increased dramatically because medical advances have meant that many illnesses that proved fatal in the past are becoming quicker to detect and easier to treat. Hence insurance companies have found themselves paying out earlier on claims and on illnesses which are not necessarily debilitating - which was the original purpose of critical illness insurance.

To give you a better idea of the sort of illnesses we’re talking about, here’s a typical list:

Alzheimer’s Disease

Aorta Graft surgery

Bacterial Meningitis

Blindness

Brain Tumour

Cancer

CJD

Coma

Coronary Artery by-pass surgery

Coronary Artery Angioplasty

Deafness

Heart attack

Heart Valve replacement/repair

HIV/AIDS resulting from blood transfusion

Inability to perform your duties of occupation

Kidney failure

Leukaemia

Loss of limbs

Loss of speech

Major organ transplant

Motor Neuron diseases

Multiple Sclerosis

Occupational HIV/AIDS

Paralysis

Paraplegia

Parkinson’s disease

Stroke

Third Degree burns

Any illness that results in Total and Permanent disability

Insurance companies have at last realised that they’re not going to get anywhere marketing policies that people can’t or won’t afford, and where the companies can’t afford to lower prices. So it now looks as if insurers such as Scottish Widows are considering a break through – splitting the cover so that the prospective policyholder can specify which illnesses he or she wants to insure against. It’s a form of “menu pricing” – cover for each illness would have a price and you simply select which illnesses you want to insure against.

Whether such insurance proves popular will very much depend on the cost. For example, if cancer accounts for around 60% of current claims, you’d expect the premium for covering cancer alone to be about 40% cheaper than a full strength critical illness policy. We’ll have to wait and see.

If you’re interested to find out how much a standard critical illness policy would cost you, you’ll find it cheapest on the Internet. The best sites to look out for are the independent discounting brokers who deal with all the big insurance providers. These brokers can search the whole market for you, come up with the cheapest insurer, and discount their price. Try to use a broker who’ll also give you personal advice on the phone as some policies do vary in the scope of their cover.

Michael writes for Scrouge Life Insurance who offer life insurance quotes and critical illness insurance. Click here for more life insurance topics.

The Only in Your Head Trap

No, this is not an “it’s all in your head kind of thing.”

What we too often do is merely think about our goals. We let them run around in our heads and think because we thought about it, we’ll get there.

I don’t think it works that way.

If you want to dramatically increase the chance of reaching your goals, write them down and keep them close. You want to have your written goals in a place where you will see them everyday.

To sum it up, the weakest ink is better than the strongest memory.

The Inconsistency Trap

For the first two to three weeks of the year, the gym to which I belong will be very crowded. Getting a parking place between 5 pm and 6:30 would be a joke.

Then, as always, the crowd will taper off. It’s almost as if people believe all they have to do is exercise at the beginning of the year and that covers it.

This sounds really silly in this context, but it’s how we behave in so many other situations as well.

In order to achieve our goals, we need consistent day to day behavior and choices over time.

The Slipping Trap

Once you set a goal and start working toward it, there is going to be some slippage. This is just human nature.

Another feature of human nature is that once we slip, we then slide into thinking the heck with it, I’ve messed up, so I might as well just give up.

There is a much better alternative. Instead of saying the heck with it and giving up when you slip, get back up. Learn from what happened, learn how to prevent future slips, and get back on course.

As the Japanese proverb tells us:

“Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscirbe to our monthly Article Empire Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

One of the best decisions you can ever make is to attend a computer training school. As I’ve written in several other articles, you have to ask the right questions before writing a check or taking out a student loan, but when you find the right school you are indeed on your way to a successful career.

There’s a big difference between attending a tech school and excelling at the classes, though. Whether you just “float through” the school or really work hard is totally up to you. From my personal experience at such a school, I’d like to offer you one simple tip that will quadruple your chances of success at the school and in the job market.

Get there early and stay late.

When I attended a tech school years ago, I admit I was surprised that most of my classmates had what I call the “junior high school” mentality - they would get there late and leave as soon as class is over. Guess what? You’re no longer in junior high. You’re attending this school to create a career for yourself. Get to class early, get some extra study and work in while you’re waiting for class to start, and then stay after class!

The most important part of your computer school studies is getting hands-on experience with the technologies that you’re learning. If you’re taking a Cisco class, you need to work with a router or switch as often as you can. If you’re learning a software program, you need to work with that program in the school’s labs as much as possible. Reading books alone will not teach you everything you need to know. The best time to get extra work in is after class. You may not be able to work in the computer labs at night if the school offers night classes, but odds are there are very few people in there during the afternoon. You need to be one of those people.

Doing only what is required of you is not the path to excellence. You need to go beyond the requirements of the school and invest the extra time and effort into your career. I speak from experience - there is no field in the world that rewards individual effort more than the IT field. Develop the habit of going “above and beyond” today, and this will pay huge dividends for you in the future.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

By definition, dermabrasion crystals are used by dermatologists, physicians, spas and salons to clean out the skin off dead cells. Sometimes called micro-dermabrasion crystals, these tiny granules of about standard sizes in grits of 90, 100, 120 or fine 180, are manufactured according to strict standards of health and safety. These dermabrasion crystals are attached or lodged on equipment used to treat patients.

A lot of providers of dermabrasion crystals get their supply from industrial mineral processors. The mineral crystals are modified to qualify as dermabrasion crystals. The crystals are usually made from white aluminum oxide. The highest quality of dermabrasion crystals achieves 99.6 percent clarity. The crystal must not keep dust particles to avoid clogging the equipment used in dermabrasion processes.

If you are looking for reliable sources of dermabrasion crystals, or if you need to them in bulk, check out several online stores offering these products. You may want to browse through several sites to compare prices and services to get the best deal. Watch also for proper accreditation and quality checks on the product. The dermabrasion crystals you buy must be suited for dermatatological and clinical use.

Most good quality dermabrasion crystals cost $2.25 per pound. This may already include shipment and packaging costs. If bought at wholesale, the cost may go down. The supplier can arrange for convenient packaging of the crystals and shipment to your address. The dermabrasion crystals can be packed in any of the following containers available to the customer. Standard jars carry around two or four pounds and up to twelve and a half pounds of these crystals. The product can also come in standard pails that can accommodate 25 to 50 pounds of crystal per shipment. Large drums can contain up to 400 pounds. For bigger orders that reach 2,200 pounds, bulk bags are used.

Diet is very important when you are experiencing an oily skin condition. If you eat a lot of refined carbohydrates and sugar they will create more insulin that produce more hormones, which will create more sebum (oil), and in turn, will create more bacteria and more acne. You have probably heard refined sugar, especially excess sugar, is not good for you. Remember the barometer, (more about the “Skin Barometer” in my book) if you have too much of it, it will tell you that you are doing bad things to yourself. The average person eats over 150 pounds of sugar a year. Refined Carbohydrates you want to avoid come in many forms.

When you eat refined carbohydrates they get digested and your body turns them into sugar. You do not need to add a lot of refined sugar to your diet, your body will produce what it needs naturally.

Eat foods that have the nutrients your body wants, have your body love you, not hate you. If your body hates you, you will definitely know by the way you feel after you eat something!

You need a healthy balance from the inside out to have amazing skin. What you want to do is nourish your skin, by eating well and choosing quality foods. By doing this, you could quite possibly take years off of your looks and add years to your life. I want to share with you why it is so important to choose the proper foods to nourish the skin. By eating the proper foods, it will increase your chances of succeeding. The choice is really up to you.

I discuss the importance of safe, pure and natural skin care products. I will teach you what to look for and how to read the labels of your skin care products. I also recommend an eating well diet to have healthy skin from the inside out. After reading my book you will be well on your way to beautiful skin and a natural state of well being.

Welcome to part three of our series of articles on search engine optimization. In the third and final part of our series of articles on search engine optimization we cover the topic of links, the types of links and what makes them so important.

Links

Links, links, links. Everybody wants people to link to their websites. Why? The truth is that high quality links to your website are important as regards search engine popularity. The question everbody asks though is “… yeah that’s great but how do I get people to link to my site?”

Well firstly there are three different types of links:

Reciprocal

A reciprocal link is when you find a site that you want to get a link from. You place a link to this website on your resources page. You then email the webmaster of the other site and ask for a link in return. The webmaster can then either accept or decline your request.

This is a very hit-and-miss process. If you make 100 reciprocal link requests you may only get 5 links. It’s also very time consuming but can be worthwhile if you get a few strong links from it. These links can “lead” the search engines directly to your site and get you indexed faster.

One note is to never name your links page “links”. Call it resources. Call it related sites but never call the page “links”. Some search engines frown on this. Also try to avoid the automated reciprocal linking software packages - personally I delete any request received from users of these packages without even reading it. Most other website owners will
too.

Non-Reciprocal

A non-reciprocal link is where you ask another website to link to yours but you don’t offer to link to them in return. Unless you have a truly massive and popular website this is not a request you can make very often . Don’t expect website owners to fall over themselves offering free links to your brand new site. Very few people can ask for a non-reciprocal link and make it happen. One possible way of getting this type of link is to
offer some kind of freebie in return. A free ebook or some other
incentive might just work.

Organic

An organic link is a non-reciprocal link that you never ask for. Organic links happen when webmasters link to your site simply because it’s a great resource and it offers value to their visitors too. This all ties in with the point made earlier of writing useful content. Give people a reason to come back to your site and they will. Not only will they come back but they’ll link to your site for free without being asked. These
are the best possible kind of links because you don’t need to go looking for them.

Having other sites linking to yours proves the importance of your site to the search engines. If the content on your site is so valuable that other site owners want to link to it then it must be important. That’s the foundation of Googles approach to website popularity and let’s face facts Google know what they’re doing.

There are other methods to get links to your site but that again goes beyond the scope of this article.

Well I hope you enjoyed what you’ve read in Parts 1, 2 and 3. These articles will provide you with the basic knowledge you need but there’s lots more to learn if you want to be truly successful in the search engines.

(c) Niall Roche - All Rights Reserved

This article was provided courtesy of Search Engine Fuel where you’ll find tons of information on getting affortable search engine optimization

A customer recently contacted me regarding the Myself pelvic floor exercise device with biofeedback. I feel her independent review of this product is beneficial to anyone considering pelvic floor exercises with biofeedback as a conservative treatment modality for stress or urge incontinence. I will mention her only by her initials (PH) in this brief synopsis of her feelings about the Myself. PH, has been suffering from urge incontinence or overactive bladder for some years now, and has undergone clinical biofeedback training previously to better educate her on how to effectively strengthen her pelvic floor muscles. She is referring to kegelcompare.com when she refers to an unnamed website in her comments.

She purchased the Myself for the following stated reasons:

“Needed to improve my pelvic floor (muscle strength). ( I ) had used a device in physiotherapy, which gave visual feedback and told me when and how long to contract and relax the muscles for, and found it an enormous help in doing the exercises. I considered getting a different device as your web site suggested this one was for someone with low to middle strength, and I didn’t think I was so bad… but it has been perfect.”

PH had the follwing to say about what she liked about the Myself:

“The Myself is really easy and quick to use. There is never the excuse that I don’t have time as it only takes 5 minutes. I like the fact that I can concentrate on getting the exercises right, because I don’t have to be counting or looking at I clock, the device tells me when to contract and relax (the muscles). It automatically adjusts to the level I need, and I can see that I am improving. I can also see that I am doing the exercises correctly. I’m not normally someone who can stay motivated when exercising, unless I see results. I am still very motivated.”

PH had the follwing to say about what she did not like about the Myself:

“I thought it was a little pricy, and nearly bought something cheaper, but I’m really glad I didn’t. Bit annoyed that it doesn’t come with the extra sensors they recommend you have to complete the 16 week initial exercise routine. (But now I’m nit picking!)”

PH had the follwoing to say about how often she exercised with the Myself:

“I have used the device as recommended, once or twice a day for 2 months (Five-minute sessions). I have moved up from level one and am in the higher area of level two now. There are three levels altogether.”

PH had the following to say about the benefits she has had from using the Myself:

“Your web site was a little conflicting in what it said about the Myself’s ability to improve sexual pleasure (your “compare” chart says it doesn’t but the information about it says it does. My husband tells me he is very impressed! I feel much more confident about my bladder control. Sometimes I can run without a problem, and can completely stop myself if I have an urge because of the sound of a running tap! I do however feel I have some more exercises to do and more improvement to make.”

I truly hope this client success story will be helpful to anyone working to overcome incontinence.

Brad Porter, RN, BS

Brad Porter, RN, BS is a RN in the state of Nevada working in an acute rehabilitation setting since 2005. Owner and operator of www.kegelcompare.com since 2004.
View their website at: www.kegelcompare.com

Fishing in Florida is easy, exciting and fun because there are so many productive places to fish in the state, it’s not stretching the truth to say if you see some water and it’s more than a few inches deep, there’s probably fish to be caught. Pair this with the fantastic weather Central Florida has and you’ve got heaven on earth for many Bass fishermen. You can virtually go bass fishing everyday.

You can fish everyday of the year, that adds to the attraction as a fishing Mecca. Your chances of catching what you want do vary with the time of the year. But with the temperature and weather barely fluctuating and changes are at a minimum, it is not unlikely to catch a fish even when out of season.

The largemouth bass is the best known and most popular freshwater game fish in Florida. Found statewide, largemouth bass have rapid growth rates. Historically known for huge bass, Florida remains an outstanding destination to catch a trophy Bass.

Central Florida offers not only Lake Toho which is the most popular lake of the Kissimmee Chain, but the fame Stick Marsh-Farm 13 fishery as well as the trophy bass lake Walk in water. Lake Toho is relatively shallow 18,800 acre lake that is covered with various types of aquatic vegetation. The most abundant is the massive hydraulic beds that can be found growing to the surface in up to 12 feet of water.

For Florida bass fishing, bream fishing, or anything in between, Bass World Lodge is the place to be. Their location on the St. Johns River in Georgetown, Florida gives us quick access to some of the most lucrative Florida bass fishing and bream fishing grounds in the United States. Bass World Lodge offers professional guide services, spacious cabins, and fully stocked bait and tackle shops, as well as bass and pontoon boat rentals.

Lake Toho is a lake that faces North/South, the lake is approximately 9 miles long and only a couple miles wide

Similar to most of the Florida lakes medium to large Wild Shiners are the best producers for trophy fish. However, many lurkers are taken on soft plastics, Carolina rigs; Rat’s Traps, crank baits, soft plastic jerk baits, and suspending hard plastic jerk baits are one of the favorites of the local fishermen.

The Seminole Indian name Okeechobee actually means big water, an appropriate title for the largest freshwater lake in the United States occurring entirely in one state. The lake is approximately 37 miles long by 30 miles wide (448,000 acres, 700 square miles) with an average depth of almost 10 feet. To fishermen nation wide, Okeechobee is renowned for the sheer numbers of bass it contains per acre and the fact that it produces more Florida trophy bass over 8 pounds than any lake in Florida and the United States.

Because the river flows north, the upper basin is the area to the south that forms its marshy headwaters. The middle basin is the area in central Florida where the river widens forming lakes Harney, Jessup. Monroe and George. The lower basin is the area in Northeast Florida from Putnam County to the river’s mouth in Duval County.

The source of the river, or headwaters, is a large marshy area in Indian River County. It flows north and turns eastward at Jacksonville to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean

The total drop of the river from its source in swamps south of Melbourne to its mouth in the Atlantic near Jacksonville is less than 30 feet, or about one inch per mile, making it one of the “laziest” rivers in the world. Because the river flows slowly, it is difficult to flush pollutants.

For example, the water color in the Harris Chain is much stained. This is a blessing as most bass in these lakes are shallow and hold close to cover. Noisy lures are effective and multiple presentations to the same spot are required to get the fish’s attention.

The biggest problem most fisherman encounter when fishing in the Harris Chain for the first time is purely mental. Coming from other areas of the state or country, they look at the pea-soup water color and get the impression that these lakes are fishless. This is a shame as they are missing out on some great action if they only knew more about fishing under these conditions. Never underestimate Central Florida; it is a well kept open secret that many fishermen have failed to discover.

For a free course on smallmouth bass fishing and tips on Canada bass fishing, visit www.bassfishingsystem.com/ today.

Publish Anything: The Saga of a PublishAmerica Author By Lisa
Maliga

My story is that an author who’d done online writing for such
dot gones as Themestream, Written By Me, and The Vines, someone
trying hard to have fiction, poetry and nonfiction in print for
real, recommended PublishAmerica. She claimed it was a
traditional book publisher. I was struck with their slogan, “We
treat writers the old fashioned way – we pay them.” Wasn’t that
what publishers were supposed to do?

But since my novel was just sitting on the DiskUs Publishing
site and doing nothing but supplying me with enough money to buy
a pair of skate laces every three months, I thought maybe it
would have a better chance over at PublishAmerica where it would
be available as a trade size paperback both on and off-line.

So this author, Ellen Du Bois, had a big thing on her Geocities
site about books being available in brick & mortar bookstores &
they’d have ISBN numbers and be online and all that stuff. Also
had her full size book cover up so I sat there for 5 minutes
waiting for the damn thing to appear. Not impressive, but she
liked it. Ellen was a cheerleader for her book and sent reviews
from a weekly community rag and she bulk e-mailed several pieces
of correspondence during those heady days when her book was in
prerelease, then release stage in the summer of ’03. I broke
down and bought a copy from Amazon – took almost 3 weeks to get.
And I struggled to read all 176 pages. Tripe. Clichés abounded.
Spelling/grammatical errors weren’t there at least. But the
writing was thin. The story moved too quickly. The main
character was the most realistic as it was most likely based on
the author. The dialogue was okay. The descriptions were
minimal. Had there been a real editor, the book could’ve been
very good. I wrote to Ellen and told her the positive things
about the story, avoiding the negativities. She’d been an online
correspondent for almost two years, yet after I didn’t review
her book on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble she didn’t contact me.
Almost a year later she sent me another e-mail – to promote a
book of her poetry. I was just someone to sell a book to and she
was only interested in the sale and hopefully a glowing write up.

A Future PublishAmerica Author Since I’d already signed the
contract with PublishAmerica, I wanted to cancel it after
reading that trash. Now my book would be affiliated with a
company that put out just about any piece of writing that came
its way. I wasn’t expecting much what with my dealings with the
extinct eNovel and RJ’s eBooks, along with a tiny eBook
publisher named Crafts Across America where I wasn’t paid
monthly as promised. And my novel and short story collection
languished at DiskUs, home of the alleged Number One Best
selling eBook author of all time, Leta Nolan Childers.

PublishAmerica sent me an author’s questionnaire where they
asked for basic biographical information; cover art suggestions,
and a long list of people who might want to read my forthcoming
novel.

“Please prepare a list (names, and addresses,) of people who
know you well enough to be interested in your success as a
writer: personal friends, colleagues, relatives, etc., to
receive a book announcement…Please limit your list and your
labels to a maximum of 100 contacts. Also, please do not include
businesses or organizations of any kind, including bookstores,
media contacts, or government organizations. Include friends and
associates only.”

The editing process of my manuscript took two weeks over the
Christmas holidays. I was able to ascertain that the first few
pages had been read as some minor alterations had been made, but
no changes followed for another 50 or so pages. One of the
errors that occurred was clearly the result of a spellchecker on
the part of PublishAmerica as a question mark appeared after the
end of a statement. I’d read of real authors receiving
instructions to change chapters, alter endings, delete numerous
pages, in other words, really struggle to rewrite a book. Why so
much effort? Names. Reputation. The publisher wanted to put
their name on the best quality book that they had invested in.
The author wanted a book that was saleable but also well written
and something they were proud of. PublishAmerica’s editing
comprised neither ideal as all they did was put the computer
program’s spelling/grammar checker into action.

My two free author’s copies arrived in early March and it was
nice to see my trade paperback book in print sans a cheesy cover
and stapled spine. ‘North of Sunset’ actually had decent looking
stock cover art of a few silhouetted palm trees, a noticeable
font, and a spine where the book title, publisher and author’s
name was apparent. It would look good on bookstore shelves, I
imagined.

Reviews – What Reviews? What was Publish America doing to make
sure my book was reviewed? Nothing. I decided to contact local
daily and weekly newspapers by e-mailing a press release. The
only responses I got were two e-mail autoresponders announcing
the editors were on vacation.

I spent $40 on copies of my book’s galley and mailed them to
three national newspapers and the Library Journal magazine. Then
I phoned a book reviewer at the ‘San Diego Union-Tribune’ and
asked if he’d be interested in reviewing my book but before I
could even describe what it was about, he asked who my publisher
was. I told him. “We don’t review books by that publisher,” he
stated.

I called all the local bookstores and spoke to the managers and/
or community relations people about my book, including a couple
of stores who were physically located on the street I’d written
about. An independent bookstore owner told me that since PA
didn’t have a return policy she was unable to stock my novel.
Another said that I could sell my book on consignment. The chain
stores of Borders and Barnes & Noble said my book would be
available through Ingram if anyone chose to order it.

Tried getting PublishAmerica to send review copies out and it
took them weeks to do so. Had to call and make sure on two
occasions that the books had been mailed. Maybe quoting one of
their enthusiastic promoters on the message board, a guy with a
natural genius for marketing and the budget to back it up, got
three books sent to reviewers.

Then I sent my book to Piers Anthony, noted sci-fi and fantasy
author of more than 100 books. I’d been in touch with him since
2000 when I alerted him to the fact that eNovel was a rip-off.
Although the action in his books usually took place in alternate
time periods/universes, he didn’t mind reading a mainstream
Hollywood novel. He did so. “North of Sunset by Lisa Maliga.
She’s the one listed in my Survey as I’m a Published Novelist Ha
Ha! Ha!, a pertinent warning for starry-eyed aspiring writers.
Her web site www.lisamaliga.com is worth checking similarly; she
tells it as it is. If you took a few decades off my age and
changed my gender, the result might resemble Lisa. North of
Sunset is fun, about a Hollywood producer and his temporary
secretary, showing a good deal of what I presume is reality. It
is written with the omniscient viewpoint, which I dislike, but
it held my interest regardless. ”

I’d discovered through an upset PA author on the messageboards,
which I read on occasion, that someone was complaining about
PublishAmerica. Discovering the Absolute Write Background Check
area I spent several hours reading, at the time, more than 40
pages of complaints about PublishAmerica. Authors not receiving
books in time for booksignings that they set up themselves.
Bookstore owners/managers refusing to stock their shelves with
unedited PublishAmerica titles. Writers unable to get their
books reviewed.

Doing a search on LexisNexis, the reputable online legal
research system, for all PublishAmerica books receiving
newspaper reviews, I saw that from July 2002 to June 2004, only
24 books had been reviewed nationally. Papers in Syracuse NY,
Tulsa, OK, Fort Pierce, FL, Wilmington, NC and Lakeland, FL were
represented. Only Salt Lake City’s ‘Deseret Morning News’, the
‘Tulsa World’, ‘Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’ and the suburban paper,
the ‘Chicago Daily Herald’ were actually major newspapers.
Evidently, the ‘New York Times’ or the ‘Los Angeles Times’ were
not reviewing anything by PublishAmerica’s authors. According to
the PublishAmerica site in the Facts and Figures section, “Fact
#3: Again, unparalleled among all traditional book publishing
companies, each day an average 15 times a PublishAmerica author
appears in the news media, in newspapers, magazines, radio or
TV.” Yet even mathematically challenged folks can determine that
by using the LexisNexis search statistics, we learn that the
average is a paltry once a month that a PublishAmerica book gets
mentioned in a newspaper somewhere in the United States.

Editing – What’s That? Here’s a gem of a post on the
PublishAmerica message board: “When it came out in book form a
month ago, my friends mentioned the editing problems in it, so a
friend of mine with a masters in education went through it for
me. It had close to a thousand editing errors in a 182-page
book. So, have some who actually knows what literary content
should be in a book, go through your book for you before you
send the final draft back to PublishAmerica. Because the final
draft, IS!, how the book will be when it comes out.”

I discovered that through the misspellings, grammatical errors,
and general bad writing that just about anyone was publishable
through the ‘traditional’ publisher located in Frederick,
Maryland. Such postings as: “I too am not the best editor LOL! I
did get my finished books. And when I met with a lady that is
huge in the marketing field, she told me that my book at it’s
length of 132 pages needs to have chapters.” A couple of
PublishAmerica authors discussed editing. “I felt like you did
when I found errors, but then I realized, hey people read it for
the story, not looking for mistakes in typo land! LOL Now I just
keep on a keepin on!”

Sales Figures Question: I’d really like to know how many copies
I’ve sold. Answer: Buy all of the books yourself and then count
them. No matter how naïve PublishAmerica authors appeared, they
will eventually come to the realization that PublishAmerica
isn’t really a traditional publisher, especially when those
twice-yearly royalty checks arrived. Every few months or so
PublishAmerica sent them an e-mail extolling their success,
bragging about a big name author they’re negotiating with, or,
more recently, doing a deal with the New York Times. On August
17th, an e-mail bearing the proud subject heading ‘Advertising
Our Topsellers in the New York Times’ appeared in author’s
online mailboxes.

PublishAmerica was well named in that they want to publish
anyone in North America who has churned out a manuscript,
regardless of quality. They claim to have anywhere from 9,000 to
12,000 “happy” authors and they want more and more of them as
that obviously means more money for the greedy owners, namely
Willem Meiner and Larry Clopper.

The PublishAmerica name and logo is seen as a joke to those in
the media, bookstores and libraries. Books can’t be returned.
All PublishAmerica titles lack the necessary CIP
[Cataloging-in-Publication] data, which is necessary for
libraries to order titles, and who wants to read unedited and
overpriced tomes other than the author’s cronies? Oh yeah, and
while PublishAmerica claims that they’re a ‘traditional
publisher’ why on earth do they have in their main page keywords
list the term ‘self publishing’ three times? And in their site’s
description, they brag: “PublishAmerica, Inc., a traditional
publisher, accepting and publishing manuscripts and books at NO
CHARGE to the author. Royalties paid to writers, books sold in
stores. Manuscript submissions by mail and online”

In the beginning of September I received a royalty check. To my
surprise, I was not only able to afford to buy a pair of laces
for my skates, I shelled out the $12 it cost to sharpen my
blades. Who knew that this company would provide extra income
enabling me to continue participating in my recreational skating
hobby? But it cost me more than the $160 in author-bought books,
the $40 for galleys, which were probably plunged into a
recycling bin, the $87 color business cards, $20 press release
– and the countless hours building and rebuilding my website so
people would happen across it and buy a book that was only
available online–like any other eBook.

PublishAmerica allows the myth of being a ‘traditional’
publisher, a term not used before the advent of the Internet, to
fester. The lie is perpetrated in those HTML source codes that
search engine spider robots deliver; the future authors led to
the promised realm of publishing, an internet web of woven myths
fanning across cyberspace. PublishAmerica resembles most other
ePublishing companies promising tales of bestselling books and
authors. PublishAmerica is just another scam, just another
future dot gone.

If you are a PublishAmerica author, or know of one, who is
unhappily published and will tell your story, please contact:

Attn.: Beth Silverman Office of the Attorney General Consumer
Protection Division 200 Saint Paul Place Baltimore, MD 21202