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jd2000

A question for Iuniverse authors

Hi Everybody,
Has anybody here published a book with Iuniverse? Have you had any problems collecting royalties due from sales made on the internet?
 

wardmclark

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I did one in summer 2001. Honestly, I wouldn't use them again now. My reasons don't involve payment issues; I've just learned more about writing and publishing since then.

I've never had any problem being paid. I'm still selling a few books here and there, my statements always match up with my own feel for what's happening, and I get my quarterly checks all right. They delivered exactly what they said the package involved - no more, no less.
 

edfrzr

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Is there anyone her on the iUniverse train? If so, why? I have done some research and they seem to stack up pretty well. I've got one getting ready to go to press. Before I make a final decision, any thoughts?
 

veinglory

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Have you visited the websites that compared all the POD services? I don't feel iuniverse is anywhere near the best value or services.
 

PVish

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On the iUniverse web site, you can read any of their books. I've read a couple all the way through. Tedious, but doable. Is this a positive or a negative? I haven't bought any of iU books, but I've read some. I've heard that iU can keep selling book for a year after returning rights to an author. Anybody know anythig about this?

IUniverse books look very nice. I've known several people who used iU.

Check Infinity Publishing. Set-up fee is less; customer service is good; toll-free number answered by a live person. Cover price of books is reasonable and--if you order 20 books--you don't have to pay shipping. Authors receive a monthly royalty statement (are paid each time they accrue $20 in royalties). Authors can get rights back on a few days' notice. Infinity does its printing in-house.

For whatever POD you select, all you want is the basic service. You don't need to buy all the promotional items, press releases, etc. Compare cost of set-up fee, author's price of books, cost of shipping. Also consider royalty, how often you receive a report of royalties/books sold, and how easy it is to get in touch with the company. And can you actually visit the company--do they have a street address?
 

edfrzr

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hey PVish. I checked out Infiinity. The only downside I found was they don't do hardback. Everything else looked good.


thanks for the tip
 

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iUniverse so far

Hi people. Thought I'd share my iUniverse experience thus far with you. I've found that the editorial evaluation output is superb, and the most valuable element of the process thus far.For me, it served as a writer's finishing school and was worth every last cent.

After the 1st review, I re-wrote my manuscript, taking on board the advice from the iUniverse reviewer - note - I did this myself and did not use their editing services.
The result was acceptance into the Editor's Choice program (after the second review).

Now this doesn't get me into the stores, but it is the first time I've benefited from a professional, objective review process and as such, it's provided me with a quality stamp to take forward into my marketing and sales plan.
In general I've found iUniverse really accommodating and easy to work with so far.

Incidentally, I've taken the POD route due to my own enormous impatience in soliciting an agent - we're pretty remote here in South Africa, and life's too short to wait for the many agents who still require snail mail - will they EVER arrive in century 21?

I wish you all success.
 

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If I self published...

If I were to self publish and I almost did...I would use LULU.com because its free to use.

You may have to format and get your own cover, but by the time you've paid for these services and "setup fees" which is fancy term for free money to the vanity press (LULU.com has no such fee)--then you have paid a lot of money for something you didn't need to.

I investigated IUniverse, Infinity and a host of others and they all seemed to charge for things I wouldn't have had to pay for at LULU.com

So I could never justify paying the money...and do they really do the editing they claim at those other places?? head over to publish america's never ending thread and you may learn something about what they really do at vanity presses.

Or you could put off self pubbing and continue to submit your book for traditional publication--I'm glad I waited!!

--James :D
 

Film Writer

Hi,

I can't get that Booksandtails link to work.

As far as Lulu goes, I looked into them. While it is free to use, you don't get an Amazon or Barnes and Noble listing for free. You have to pay extra for that, and most other services that are included in the basic Iuniverse listing.

Plus, I recently got a book that was published by Lulu, and the cover was crooked. It was one that I had ordered from Amazon. So, I don't know how their quality control is.

As for Iuniverse, it SEEMS like a good deal. For $500, it is set up, you get 5 copies, listed on all the sites and then you get a cut on each sale. That doesn't seem like much of a rip off.

If you think about it, all the time, and all of the postage you would use, as a writer without an agent, or any contacts, trying to get an agent, or a publisher interested, it makes you wonder why you should even bother going the traditional way. In five weeks, you can have something published.

I'm still working on my project and when it is finished, I was thinking going the self publishing route, rather than even attempting the traditional way.
 

veinglory

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The link should be back soon, it's still in google cache

Lulus ISBN-plus is thirty dollars--you could buy your five books and still have a lot of change form $500.

If you are going to the trouble of paying a fee it should do two things -- 1) get you a much lower cover price and a larger profit margin if you sell well (like over 75 copies), and 2) get you a name that not every man and his dog knows is self-pub/vanity.

Iuniverse, borderline on 1) fails on 2)

Try Aventine. Do find a good side by side comparson site.
 

Kate Thornton

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I have a friend who published her first books with iUniverse and was very pleased.

Sue Ann Jaffarian, author of 'Too Big To Miss' now has a traditional publisher (Midnight Ink) for her next book 'Curse of the Holy Pail' and for reprinting 'Too Big To Miss' and for the third book in the series. TBTM was recently optioned for TV, too.

She has only good things to say about iUniverse. I have a copy of TBTM and it is of very good quality. Good story, too!

Here's her website if you want to check it out: http://www.sueannjaffarian.com/
 
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Beast

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Hi Guys and Gals,
I promised I'd keep you posted.
I've just completed the author proofing stage on the book block. The proofing form was functionally professional and usable, and the corrections were made promptly and as specified. There were a few errors introduced by iUniverse, which they also corrected (free).

I also received the Author Marketing Toolkit, with which I'm pretty impressed (PDF posters, bookmarks etc as well as html coded 'buy' button and icon for my website).

Now the work begins! I investigated South Africa's major book chain, 'Exclusive Books,' and to my surprise found that they do have 1 (and only 1) iUniverse book listed for their stores - maybe this can be a starting point.

Best wishes to you all in your endeavours.

Beast
 

MOON GODDESS

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I know someone who published with them, and although I've never asked her about sales and such, she seems happy with them.
I received some of their literature, and they seem OK to me, too.
 

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Thanks Uncle Jim - wise words indeed.

In keeping with the spirit of this forum, and to prevent unintended encouragement of others on this difficult road, I'd like to reiterate a few key points:

1) Printing your book via any POD or vanity press does not equate to being published - if you go this road, keep right on looking for a bona-fide publisher - the rewards and achievement are immeasurably greater. Keep your eyes open and don't take your eye off the final goal. The iUniverse contract permits this.

2) I am fortunate enough to be able to afford this experiment without worrying too much about the loss of a thousand dollars or two - if this is not applicable to you then hang back - you are more than likely going to be tremendously disappointed and resentful of the financial loss.

3) The number of real commercial successes achieved by this method are miniscule, and occur mainly through an aspiring author grabbing the attention of an agent or bona-fide publisher - and this will only happen if you have the time and resources to market and sell your work in the face of tremendous (and justifiable) resistance from retailers and reviewers.

4) Do the sums - there are many examples on this site. Include not just the cost of book purchase, web-site establishment and maintenance, travel, printing etc, but also the OPPORTUNITY COST of spending your time and money in this way - you could be using that same time to pitch agents and publishers, so you are diminishing your chances in the bona-fide publishing world by spending your time on this.

4) Having said all of that, the following points are worthy of consideration:

a) If you can achieve the iUniverse Editor's Choice award as an initial step with iUniverse, it MIGHT (and I'll tell you how it goes) enhance your crediblility in the market. It might also assist you in improving your work - remember, if you are struggling, then it might just be that you are simply not publishable - YET. iUniverse (as far as I know) is the only POD staffed by publishing professionals that provides quality controlled programs for authors. But this alone is certanly NOT guaranteed to result in success - it's entirley up to you and the odds against you are high.

b) In my case, the iUniverse editorial review process was invaluable. Email me if you would like to discuss this point. I honestly believe that I benefited sufficiently from this to justify the cost, no matter what else might happen. There may be other, less costly ways to achieve this.

I wish you all every success, and thank you for the privilege of being a part of this forum.

Beast
 

maestrowork

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Film Writer said:
If you think about it, all the time, and all of the postage you would use, as a writer without an agent, or any contacts, trying to get an agent, or a publisher interested, it makes you wonder why you should even bother going the traditional way. In five weeks, you can have something published.

But how many copies can you sell? iU is not going to sell books for you. Being listed on Amazon or BN doesn't mean it's going to sell. You will have to do the selling. Also, if you pay iU $500 and you only get royalty (I think with iU you can get up to 20%)... but without the ability to get books into book stores, how many copies you need to sell before you can recoup your cost?

Yeah, getting it "published" is the easy part. Getting it distributed and sold is the difficult one.

If you do want to go this route, like Vein sald, why not get Lulu's ISBN-plus for cheap instead of paying iU $500?
 

huw

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James D. Macdonald said:
Please write down your goals and objectives now, so you can see in a year if you've achieved them.

Don't forget to itemize costs as well as income.
Excellent advice, though I would make it more time-general: Write down your goals and objectives, including timescales, so you can see at the appropriate time if you've achieved them.

With that tweak, it becomes applicable to just about any enterprise you can imagine--including the pursuit of any type of publication success, not just vanity.
 

GHF65

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I went iUniverse with my first book. I won't say I totally regret the decision. The quality of the finished product is excellent, and the process was simple.

BUT . . . though iU does, as promised, get your book to Amazon, B&N, and on a page of your own at the iU site, I have had no luck at all getting brick-and-mortar stores to carry the book. I was offered signings, and the stores backed out when they discovered it was a POD title. The discount isn't low enough for them. I've had enough luck selling the book myself (at a significant discount below the cover price) to have covered my expenses and a little more, but that's only because I have good friends who loved the book, had lots of contacts and literally took it on the road with them in batches to sell to their clients. It also helped that I had a platform at the time it was printed, so I sold a bunch right off the top.

Would I go iUniverse again? No. I wouldn't go POD again unless I had some overwhelming need to throw money to the wind. I'd just go directly to Lightningsource and self-pub before I'd POD. The end result is cheaper and the profit higher, though sales would probably be just as difficult. If my price comparisons are accurate, I could offer a better discount if I self-pubbed, and with my own imprint on the cover could possibly wind up with books on the shelves of actual stores.

On the up side, if you're sure you've got a hit on your hands, iU does offer all sorts of co-op advertising opportunities in the NY Times. It's not cheap to go that route, so the book had better be good. A co-op ad can run $2500 per author. It's tough to make that back if most of your sales are to family and friends.

They also put out a monthly newsletter that lists current contests for which POD books qualify. There are sometimes cash prizes or publication contracts awarded, so there is a little bit of opportunity there for making back some of the initial cost.

My final word: Think twice, publish once.
 

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Schoolmarm said:
Would I go iUniverse again? No. I wouldn't go POD again unless I had some overwhelming need to throw money to the wind. I'd just go directly to Lightningsource and self-pub before I'd POD.

I understand the distinction you're making and agree with the sentiment 100%, but technically Lightning Source is a POD. The difference is that you're closer to the metal with LS, meaning more skill and work is needed, and you have more control over every aspect of the process including pricing, discounts and returnability.
 

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i'm using iuniverse to publish my book. yes, they do cost, compared to LuLu, but if you READ the lulu site it says even with the global distribution it doesn't guarantee listing on amazon or bn.com. and yes, that doesn't guarantee sales, but i'm trafficking people to those sites and i need my book there. i wouldn't risk not having it there, since i'm doing a lot of marketing online for my book. at least with iUni, a BN shopper can order my book in store, too.
 
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huw

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acousticgroupie said:
i'm using iuniverse to publish my book. yes, they do cost, compared to LuLu, but if you READ the lulu site it says even with the global distribution it doesn't guarantee listing on amazon or bn.com. and yes, that doesn't guarantee sales, but i'm trafficking people to those sites and i need my book there. i wouldn't risk not having it there, since i'm doing a lot of marketing online for my book. at least with iUni, a BN shopper can order my book in store, too.
Is iUniverse associated with Amazon in some way, for them to be able to offer such a guarantee?

The reason I ask is that Lulu books get onto Amazon (and BN.com, in my experience) via the Lightning Source/Ingram route. The arms-length nature of the arrangement is, I think, the reason they don't offer a guarantee: they don't have their hands on the levers, so they can't promise the desired outcome. Worst case: Amazon could even pull out of taking POD books from Lightning Source/Ingram altogether (as they have recently done with ebooks).

Unless iUniverse has some iron-clad deal with Amazon meaning the latter _must_ list the former's books, then their guarantee is moot--they're in a similar position to Lulu, but with less clarity.

I would have thought that Booksurge is your best bet for guaranteeing a presence on Amazon. As an "Amazon Company" they are less likely than any of the others to be dumped.

I would certainly query the real nature of iUniverse's arrangement with Amazon before using this as a basis to decide between them and Lulu.
 
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GHF65

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iUniverse is owned by Barnes & Noble, so you're guaranteed to be on the B&N site. You get Amazon as well as part of the package. My book hit Amazon within a day or two of my receiving my first copy. It's still there three years later. I check periodically. It hit B&N a few days later. I have no idea why they were slower in getting to their own bookseller, but they were. It has continued to be offered there as well.

I've had no problem with the online distribution options iUniverse offers, including the fact that my book is available on the iUniverse site in its entirety for reading by the general public. I've been told by several people that the print was so small, they opted to just order the book. That works for me.

Here's something new I learned, and everyone considering iUniverse should be aware of this: You sign a three-year contract. I was under the impression that at the end of the three years, the contract automatically expires and your book is no longer available. As my book was published three years ago this November, I contacted iUniverse for clarification and to make sure I had the details of the process right. As it turns out, I didn't. I haven't checked my original contract yet, and I don't remember this being in it, but they told me that unless I write in and cancel the contract (30 days' notice required) or they write to me and cancel (same notice required), the book will be available indefinitely.

Now to some people that may not be a positive. For me, it is. It means I can just leave it alone, not have to change the info on my business card or website, and continue to sell my book. I was concerned that I would need to buy 100 copies before it went out of print so I would have a few for the folks who wanted them. I only sell in dribs and drabs--just sold one on Tuesday, in fact, but before then the last sale was through Amazon in July--not in big chunks, and I really didn't want to invest any more in the process while I debate what to do with that book and try to find out what the mainstream publisher who has my second book is planning. I feel as if I got a bit of a reprieve. POD was a mistake, but I intend to make the most of it that I can.

I still will not go POD again unless something in the status of that printing method changes or I find a dead-sure marketing scheme. A niche non-fiction book is difficult to sell under the best of circumstances. At least a mainstream publisher would (hopefully) have a plan for gettng it into the stores where it's most likely to be seen by the people most likely to buy it. This focus on availability at Amazon and B&N is a little skewed. Unless someone is looking specifically for your book, a search for, say, "The Psychology of Sock Colors" may turn up hundreds of titles, and yours may be near the end of the list. Unless it's a small niche or your book is really special in some way, no one will find it. I couldn't find my own book until I searched the actual title with my name, all in quotes. How many buyers do you think will know to do that with your book? If you're counting on hitting it big on Amazon, you're going to be disappointed. You need a platform from which to hawk your book. The end. :Shrug:

Would I go with Lulu and self-pub? No. There's not enough difference between self-pubbing and POD. Distribution and Marketing are two completely different, though interrelated, parts of the sales puzzle. You're going to do your own marketing no matter which route you choose. Acousticgroupie is right. At least with iUniverse your book can be ordered through B&N stores, but don't count on people not getting frustrated with the waiting period. Only one of my friends tried that, and it took so long for the book to arrive that she canceled the order and I sold her a book through my website. You're actually better off financially buying copies of your book and selling them directly than you are if the buyer goes through Amazon or B&N. The royalty is far lower. You can resell your book yourself at a significant discount and still make more than you will if the buyer goes through any site other than iUnverse.

Just a word to the wise. If your book is good enough to be in print, you really should think about sending out more queries and finding it a mainstream home. You put in the work. It would be a shame to see it languish, and POD or self-pubbing barely count as publishing credits.
 
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