Oh, look. I appear to have commented on the Bookseller's article. Just in case it doesn't appear, here's a copy:
I have been contacted by many authors via my blog, How Publishing Really Works, who submitted their work to YWO/Legend on time and yet have since heard nothing, despite the original Christmas deadline for publication having passed some seven weeks ago.
The books which have appeared on Amazon are rife with errors; some of the books which have been bought by the authors are also reportedly full of errors (one writer reported that her covers all have a thick green stripe across them).
I note that the one success Chalmers quotes is a book which has reportedly sold over 1,000 copies: might this be the same book which was rushed through to publication by YouWriteOn because its author placed an order for 1,000 copies? Selling books back to authors, rather than on to readers, is typical of a vanity press, and yet both YouWriteOn and Legend deny that this is a vanity publishing scheme.
While this was touted as a way for authors to be published for free, it's interesting to note that only those writers who paid the £39.99 "distribution fee" (Ted Smith's phrase, not mine--he founded and runs YWO) to attach an ISBN to their books have achieved publication: not one of the writers who went with the completely free offer seems to have been published, and some recent emails sent by YouWriteOn implies that this free offer will not be repeated.
When the writers who were involved in this scheme realised how things were falling apart, what did they do? They tried to contact Ted Smith by email, but received no satisfactory replies; so then they asked questions on the YouWriteOn message board. Ted Smith's reaction was to start deleting comments there; then to delete whole threads; then the week before Christmas he closed down the whole message board and has not yet reopened it.
Meanwhile, there are still writers out there who have no idea if their books are going to be published, while others who have been "lucky" enough to get through YouWriteOn's publication schedule are unable to get hold of their own books.
And yet Tom Chalmers says that "the project had largely been a success". A success for whom? Not for the writers concerned. But perhaps for YouWriteOn, which has recieved over £10,000 in "distribution fees" for this scheme since October 2008.
http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com/search/label/YouWriteOn