United-pc.eu

by Melinda Tung
25th August 2016

Morning all,

Have anyone heard of United-pc.eu or used them before?

Any comments and advice are very much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,

Melinda

Replies

@ Melinda: Did you pay Novum to vanity-publish your ms? Does this mean that United-pc will only "publish for free" mss that Novum has already made 100s of pounds out of... without actually printing any copies* or "pushing" the book (aside from displaying it on their web-site: which is as much publicity for them as it is for your book)?

This would mean that United-pc is just a scam to hurry authors into the arms of vanity publishers. ("With any luck, they'll choose Novum.") Or maybe they refuse to publish books recommended by other vanity publishers. The name, UNITED makes me suspect that it doesn't belong to Novum: it's been set up by a cartell of vanity publishers who each bet that SOME hungry authors will be hurried their way.

* "print on demand". They only print copies that have already ordered by readers. They already have your 100s of pounds in their pockets, so they run no risk of losing money.

We are SLIGHTLY more ethical at La Gr@not@... ;p

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Emilie van Damm
27/08/2016

Thanks Jimmy,

I've checked it out. Not trustworthy, United-pc.eu is part of Novum - vanity publisher who recommended my manuscript. Best to stay away from them.

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Melinda
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Melinda Tung
27/08/2016

Just looked at their web-site.

It SOUNDS as if they're trying to do much the same as we are at La Gr@not@... but with a LOT more money behind them. HOWEVER:

a) they write "Please do not send us manuscripts if you do not have a recommendation from another publisher!

??? ??? ??? (!!!)

Well, if you've got Publisher X enthusiastic enough to recommend you to United-pc, why doesn't Publisher X just publish you itself? (We at La G are looking for work other publishers wouldn't touch. And work that they would... but don't want to risk their money on unknown writers.)

b) "The publisher sends review copies - on demand - to the media in Great Britain." From my experience: if the book hasn't already made a name for itself, the media isn't about to "demand" review copies. In the good old days, a publisher would automatically send out review copies to ALL the POSSIBLY interested media. (No good sending "The Raunchy Gardener" to "Parents Magazine".) NOT "on demand". The fact that the media didn't read all the books sent them (gave them free to post-room trainees) wasn't the fault of the publishers. At least they tried.

I'm not saying that United-pc is useless. But just you try getting another publisher to recommend you first!

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