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

gingerwoman said:

From a lot of the complaints I've seen online it seems that even when friends and family have purchased copies the client of these firms are still told "no sales" I think they probably don't see any reason to bother hiring anyone to pay out royalties.

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I believe James's point is that there are no royalties to be paid from vanity firms. The client purchases the books outright and sells them.

This little ad has been following me around for days. How does AuthorHouse get away with it?

Self Publish a Book Now
Fast, Easy Publishing Process. Sell Your Book In UK Shops. Free Guide!
www.AuthorHouse.co.uk

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'Sell Your Book In UK Shops'? A likely story!

Terie said:

I believe James's point is that there are no royalties to be paid from vanity firms. The client purchases the books outright and sells them.

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Author House, Xlibris etc.... now apparently put the books into eBook form, and upload the eBooks to all the online stores, and offer the print books from online stores.

I have read numerous accusations online that people had friends and family, who bought their books off Amazon.com etc...that they have seen proof of sales on novel rank, and even claims that strangers had bought copies of their book on kindle after seeing their social networking promotion, and that the strangers even sent photos of themselves reading the books etc..., and that they have seen print copies in second hand stores etc etc...-- and that they were paid for none of these sales.
In other words it is alleged by many people, that all these kinds of things happened, but the company just kept telling them "no sales".
It is a different world from the days when all they could basically do was buy print copies, and try to sell them themselves. The model is also not the same as Publish America.
Xlbiris claims it will pay 25% net royalties on such sales. But many people allege they simply do not pay.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/authorhouse
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/iuniverse
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/xlibris-publishing
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/directory/trafford-publishing
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/xlibris.html
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/iuniverse.html
I could go on and on with many more links I know of.

I found out about this stuff after someone I know bought one of their packages and was scammed, then I started researching it online, and .....really you have to read it all to start believing it. The number of similar horrifying stories people have posted is quite shocking. I find it very hard to believe that all these people are delusion kooks, though of course that's what Author Solutions wants everyone to think.

Yeah, I published a few of my first novels through what was originally 1st Books, and then AuthorHouse. Lofty rambling affairs, that would have benefitted from heavy editing. However, editing would not have assured the books would sell or thrive. In fact, I did accuse 1st Books of cheating me on a few paperback sales for my debut novel, Green Earth. Eventually I simply removed all the books from print, though they can still be found on Amazon as used. I once found a signed first edition of Green Earth for sale on Ebay, from a person who'd purchased it at a book signing I did in 2005 in Susanville, California. Needless to say, self-pubbing has only been slightly less profitable than my current situation through a small e-book publishing house, where my sales are shamefully modest. Only glad to note that now I can "afford" the free in-house editing services, though I do wish there was a marketing arm, as I would prefer to write than to market, which is not my forte. Self-promotion was the only way to sell cheaply through self-pubbing, and I am disappointed that professional e-pubbing has also taken this approach.

Author House sent me a contract to sign with them for a $1.00 advance. I won't go into how much printing the books would cost me.

Bryon said:

Author House sent me a contract to sign with them for a $1.00 advance. I won't go into how much printing the books would cost me.

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I'm surprised to hear they offer any advance at all, even $1.00!

Maddie said:

I'm surprised to hear they offer any advance at all, even $1.00!

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I know, I had a friend on Facebook that wrote for them and for the friendship I bought one. Granted my editing skills are nil and the story line for the book I felt was good one, but there were so many spelling errors, I couldn't believe they printed it. When my friend asked for a critique, I was honest. Next day I was un-friended and blocked.

Bryon said:

there were so many spelling errors, I couldn't believe they printed it.

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As far as I know AuthorHouse doesn't provide editing. And I've never heard about the $1 advance - have they stolen the idea from PublishAmerica?

aliceshortcake said:

As far as I know AuthorHouse doesn't provide editing. And I've never heard about the $1 advance - have they stolen the idea from PublishAmerica?

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I've been wondering about Publish America. I've heard other stories about them, but I can't say as they are true.

aliceshortcake said:

As far as I know AuthorHouse doesn't provide editing.

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In my day, AuthorHouse offered editing services, but they were around $5.00 per page.

I guess giving someone a dollar in order to scam them for between $999 to $10,000 or more is a pretty good deal.

Bryon said:

I've been wondering about Publish America. I've heard other stories about them, but I can't say as they are true.

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Oh, they're true. The massive PA sub-forum was my introduction to AbsoluteWrite - I stumbled across it by chance a couple of years ago and read the whole thing. My reaction?



And I don't use the Stabby Banana lightly...

Caveat Emptor, or sharks masquerading as dolphins

A suit was filed this month by the law firm Giskan, Solotaroff, Anderson & Stewart against Author Solutions, its many subsidiaries, and its corporate owner, Penguin, accusing them of fraudulent practices, lack of payment, and other charges. Coincidentally, I received emails this month from two former students. One of them was talked out of thousands of dollars for a useless marketing package, then targeted for another $950 fee (discounted from $1900!!!) for exhibiting her book on a shelf at the Frankfurt Fair, where it will gather dust for a week. The other former student was about to sign on with Xlibris; I referred him to threads here and on Writers Beware, and I hope I talked him out of it.

There's nothing wrong with self-publishing, if writers are willing to take that plunge. But there have always been sharks trolling the waters, and they're still out there, only better disguised. Folks on this forum are pretty savvy, or get that way quickly if they hang around. But I've seen countless writers fall into the same trap. They sign onto a company that offers production and distribution services, then get upsold to packages that offer to support the book they've put out: promotion, marketing, p.r., that stupid Frankfurt offer (which is also used to offer writers shelf-space at other major book fairs) and even a $15,000 package to sell movie rights. Naturally that's payable upfront, not once the rights sell. All these practices and more are detailed here.

I sure hope Penguin does the right thing with this poisonous acquisition of theirs: either clean it up or close it down.

Barbara R. said:

I sure hope Penguin does the right thing with this poisonous acquisition of theirs: either clean it up or close it down.

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From your lips to the Deity's ears.

That suit actually was filed in April of last year, and has been working its way through the courts since.

- Victoria

victoriastrauss said:

That suit actually was filed in April of last year, and has been working its way through the courts since.

- Victoria

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Thanks! In my post I referenced the amended suit, but no doubt I focused on the month and not the year. Thanks, too, for all you've done to protect writers from predators. I refer a lot of people to your website--the post in question contains a link.

victoriastrauss said:

That suit actually was filed in April of last year, and has been working its way through the courts since.

- Victoria

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Actually that's interesting, because according to my former student, they're still up to the same practices a year after being sued for them: hard sell of unneccessary services, failure to respond. It's absurdly naive to be surprised, but I'd hoped for a huge house-cleaning by their corporate owners. But I guess that they bought the company for its profitability, most of which comes from writers, not book buyers.

Book Publishers UK

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with these people.
http://www.bookpublishers-uk.com/

I'm not sure if there is a thread about them here, I checked but couldn't find anything.

I'm on Wattpad and came across a thread with an author thinking about hiring them to do an edit for her.

Something just doesn't feel right about it, I could be wrong of course.

According to their privacy page (http://www.bookpublishers-uk.com/privacy_policy.htm) and the little "powered by" note at the bottom of the website it's part of Author Solutions.

That's all I could find.

And that should be all you need to know. There's a whole thread on them here. Not a complimentary one.

Thank you.

I think someone already talked her out of it.

I've just noticed a Google ad for 'Poetry Publishers':

WHY PUBLISH YOUR POETRY BOOK WITH US?
Poetry Publishers specializes in publishing genre-specific poetry.
We give you free creative rein along with full control over the text layout, the ability to customize your cover design with an unlimited number of interior images appropriate to your theme.
With Poetry Publishers, you also get full customer support throughout the entire production process. You even get a free consultation with a book cover and an interior designer to ensure your exact vision can be shared with the world in beautiful bookstore-quality paperback format.
Plus, your poetry book will be available for order at more than 25,000 retail outlets worldwide; on the Internet via Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and more than 200 other major online retailers and bookstores with 24-hour book orders hotlines.
Other benefits
Money-back guarantee
Experience and expertise
We wait for your approval
You retain complete control
Around-the-clock customer support
Publicity and marketing support
Leather-bound editions
We support self-published authors
http://www.poetry-publishers.com/wh...ofGaWnYz4mC36qJPP4Ugvyo9dgVU_wtuFxhoCoyLw_wcB

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In small print at the bottom: Author Solutions LLC.

The other day they emailed me asking when they could ring about my online query, they included my phone number in the email.

I have never willingly given them my phone number OR email, so I don't know how they got their hands on it. I'm assuming some service I'm signed up to has something in their small print about sharing my details, but I don't know who and AuthorHouse refuses to tell me how they got my information, insisting over and over that I queried them via their website. This is completely false, I'd rather burn every page I've ever written than work with them.