Some writers and authors' advocates have accused the company of being a vanity press while representing itself as a "traditional publisher".
[8] In late September 2005, PublishAmerica announced its books would be returnable by the bookseller if they failed to sell, a standard practice among other commercial publishers.
PA pays advance fees of US$1–$1,000[1] to its authors, provides minimal editing, and provides few of the services handled by trade publishing, such as retail distribution, marketing and media relations.
[4] PublishAmerica's Prather stated that book prices reflected "what the market would bear" and that "we don't control the bookstores in the country.
[12] In an attempt to demonstrate a lack of editorial oversight at PublishAmerica, several authors have written "sting" manuscripts.
[13][14] PublishAmerica also accepted another author's manuscript that featured the same 30 pages repeated ten times.
[16] In June 2012, a class action lawsuit was filed in Maryland District federal court against PublishAmerica LLLP, by plaintiffs Darla Yoos, Edwin McCall, and Kerry Levine.