AuthorHouse / WordClay / Words of Belief / Author Solutions, Inc.

Whoosh!

CaoPaux's INDEX works better for finding stuff here in B&BC, unless you go to Advanced Search and choose "search subject lines only" (or similar).

ETA:

Curses. Foiled again!

I was at my local Borders today and observed a table that had been set out for a book signing that occured yesterday. It was a title in hardback with regional interest .

$34.95.

Then I looked at the publisher. Authorhouse.

The book was pretty thick, but I couldn't say I cared for the Helvitica typeface. This was a book that, given its subject matter, could have been placed with a larger regional press, maybe a small press, or a university press.

I asked the clerk how the signing went, and he said "good." I guess they had quite a crowd. But, there were stacks and stacks of these books on and next to the table. Maybe 30 or 40.

That's a lot of books to sit in one's garage.

Out of curiousity, I checked authorhouse's website. The bare minimum package they offer, "Foundation," costs $599, and if you want hardcover, it's $350 more.

So, assuming the author went with the small package and bought the hardcover option, he was out close to a thousand bucks on "publishing" alone.

Then, God, all those books. I'm sure Borders won't keep more than five on their shelf, so the author will have to come and collect all the rest and shlep them to stores around the tristate.

With the $34.95 pricetag, and I don't know what the markup is, but I have a feeling authorhouse gets the lion's share per copy. How much profit can this author make, having bought so many of his own books for distribution?

How do you even break even on this kind of thing? Honestly, I don't know which is worse: PA or Authorhouse.

And call me elistist all you want, but I most likely will never buy an authorhouse book, unless it's free.

Well, if you asked me how a vanity/subsidy or self-published book signing went at the bookstore I work in, if they sold 3 or 4 it was average, if they sold more that 5 it was good, and if they sold more than 10 it was excellent. I don't have a word for more than 15 because it hasn't happened since I've been working there.

"Author Solutions, you got some 'splainin' do to."

There's nothing in it for the authors' groups. Weiss has nothing to offer. Because in an honest meeting-of-the-minds it would go:

WRITERS' GROUPS: How soon are you planning to go out of business?

WEISS: Right now.

WRITERS' GROUPS: Great! You, and Harlequin, and Thomas Nelson still don't count as professional publishing.

I see this as a marketing ploy on the part of Mr. Weiss. When people ask him about why RWA, MWA, SFWA, and NINC delisted Harlequin and Thomas Nelson, and why they think his outfit is sleazy, he'll be able to say (like Bobby Fletcher), "I offered to meet with them, but they refused!"

So, anyone know anything about Author's House?

aracari1 said:

So, anyone know anything about Author's House?

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Try googling "Author House" and "scam" and see what happens.

Bottom line: avoid.

If you're looking at self-publishing, go with Lulu or Createspace. Otherwise find a real publisher

I used Authorhouse with a couple of my early books. A good experience when it comes to doing my own editing, cover art and design, writing my own copy for press releases; but lacking in author support services. On my last book, my rep went out on maternity leave, and not only was her mind occupied during the process of formatting the galley (which may or may not have resulted in numerous Authorhouse formatting errors they had to correct, and not on my dime), but there seemed to be a breakdown in communication. I was left hanging for almost a week, right when I was ready to have the book ready for print. Bottom line is if the book is good enough for an agent and publisher to believe in, you don't need a POD service. On the other hand, if you are writing a book for your family/posterity, and not for some (albeit modest) financial gain, well, PODs are your bag. Word of caution with Authorhouse, as with any service you pay for, be proactive and take control of the process.

aracari1 said:

So, anyone know anything about Author's House?

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Put the kettle on, make yourself a coffee, and read through this thread thoroughly.

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

Bottom line: avoid.

If you're looking at self-publishing, go with Lulu or Createspace. Otherwise find a real publisher

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...better still, just look for a real publisher before you ever consider self-publishing or using one of the many author solutions services. At least by following the accepted traditional route, you will know why you ended up self-publishing and your decision will then be based on sound and realistic reasoning.

Absolutely correct, MickRooney! I used Authorhouse back when they were First Books, because my ponderous novel couldn't get seriously considered...for obvious reasons. I would never go POD now, and wouldn't recommend that route to anyone else, either, unless one wanted to publish something pertinent to family history, with no intention of selling it (but a person could do that kind of thing via their own desktop). That's not marketable writing, that's something entirely different, which is what POD should address. If I knew then what I know now...(sigh).

Okay, a little bit of a complicated question here. I had a book with Authorhouse back when it was 1stbooks. My contract said I could get all rights back if I asked. I told them so a few years ago (I got help from Absolute Write back then to get them to say so in writing) and it has apparently been out of print all this time. I checked on it regularly, so I know.

No copies available anywhere. Just the way I wanted it (so I could rewrite and maybe, hopefully, after publishing other books, get it published for real instead of for fake).

However, suddenly it looks as if it is available for sale by amazon.com. Is this just an amazon.com weirdness and I should ignore it? Is my book back in print against contract? Should I contact Author Solutions, Inc. about it and complain? Or should I try to make a test purchase at amazon.com and see if it works?

I'm talking about new books, not the used or the "new" sold by third parties. Amazon says:

Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

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Which sounds as if my book is in print but out of stock.

Also, adding to this issue, amazon.com used to only have two or three third-party books of mine available at any one time, and they were all more than $50, often much more. This was the regular situation for years. But now there's suddenly ten third-party books there and they're all very cheap. Cheaper than I have ever before seen for third-party copies of my book. This fuels my suspicion that, against contract, more copies of my books are being printed.

What should I do? Test purchase? Contact Author Solutions, Inc.? Something else?

Contact AuthorHouse at their web site, jamiehall. I did just exactly this three weeks ago, I discontinued my books so I could send out queries to agents (I have done rewrites already). One of my books was published when they were 1st Books, but was included in my page on the AH site. I simply had to sign a form (they call it a 'cancellation form'), which agrees that they will no longer carry the book; and further, if you ever want it reinstated, it will cost the author $100.00/title. No problem for me at all, as I have no intention of ever self-publishing again.

Thanks,
Maddie

I forgot to mention that the reason the books seems "in print" but "out of stock" is that it's a POD, "print on demand", and the orders are sent to a printing company, with a 7-10 day lead time. But if you cancel the title with them, it will be completely unavailable, unless someone out there bought a few copies for posterity.

Wow, I just read through this entire thread!! Very interesting. I found it by clicking the link to it on another thread.

Update:

The problem is solved. It was an amazon.com glitch, because my book went right back to being listed as unavailable at the purchase attempt.

AuthorHouse Scam - Ponzi Scheme / PublishAmerica Involvement at Bertram Capital

Trying to find some additional information on AuthorHouse Publishing after they offered my best friend's 15 year old daughter (who writes school level poetry in her spare time), "a publishing contract" and then tried to extract $1,999 from a minor (Yes, I've seen all the emails and it truly beggars belief that a company would try to extract funds out of a minor)

As a result, my friend forwarded the 3 week correspondence that his daughter had with AuthorHouse to his attorney, and was told more or less in legal jargon that AuthorHouse was a virulent, nasty scam. Did a check at Preditors...this speaks volume about AuthorHouse - a fraudulent publisher that wants to extract money out of a 15 year old child.

Today, our friends did some further digging about AuthorHouse and discovered this Authorhouse Scam blog:

http://authorhouse-publishing-scam.blogspot.com

It's a long read but it goes into some interesting details about about an SEC investigation that Author Solutions/AuthorHouse is currently undergoing for tax fraud, Ponzi schemes, dirty business deals with Larry Clopper of PublishAmerica amongst other proverbial nasties.

Would love to hear some practical advice on the AuthorHouse Scam,

Dave Sullivan (feel free to PM me - we're planning a lawsuit against this company)

Ahhh, reading the attached link, a blog from someone who claims to have worked for AuthorHouse, I am left with doubts...

I don't see any facts that are supported by any documentation, or links to where AH/AS is being investigated.

The stuff about PA, as much as I wish it was true, again, no evidence provided.

I am not suggesting any of this is not true, but I would want harder proof before I would say it is true...

thothguard51 said:

Ahhh, reading the attached link, a blog from someone who claims to have worked for AuthorHouse, I am left with doubts...

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No kidding. Some of her claims are just bizarre, and there's no backup for any of it. She claims to be an ex-employee, but this reads to me more like the rantings of an angry author. I'm annoyed that she links to (and mis-characterizes) one of my blog posts.

AuthorHouse isn't a scam. (It's also not a publisher.) Not a good idea, maybe--but not a scam.

- Victoria

Dave-Sullivan said:

Trying to find some additional information on AuthorHouse Publishing after they offered my best friend's 15 year old daughter (who writes school level poetry in her spare time), "a publishing contract" and then tried to extract $1,999 from a minor (Yes, I've seen all the emails and it truly beggars belief that a company would try to extract funds out of a minor)

As a result, my friend forwarded the 3 week correspondence that his daughter had with AuthorHouse to his attorney, and was told more or less in legal jargon that AuthorHouse was a virulent, nasty scam. Did a check at Preditors...this speaks volume about AuthorHouse - a fraudulent publisher that wants to extract money out of a 15 year old child.

.....

we're planning a lawsuit against this company)

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For what are you suing them? Offering a contract? If she's a minor and signed it on her own (which I would have to assume from the correspondence being with her and not her parents), then it's not binding anyway.

(No, INAL)

Victoria,

I don't remember any of your blogs making the claims this blogger makes. All in all, I think most of your blogs are more than fair, to both sides of an issue.