AuthorHouse’s earns a 1.8-star rating from 107 reviews, showing that the majority of authors are dissatisfied with publishing services.
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warning!!!
Do not use this self-publishing scam company! They advertise to be the top or best in their field, they offer deals at end of quarters, they offer so much marketing, media promises, and make themselves out to be some sort of dream company. They are not.
First, you do not control any price. They give you a minimum that you will have to be above or at---and this will nullify your chances of being in a bookstore. I had no choice but to sell my book at 30.85 hardcover or higher, unless it was throught THEIR site. They did not want to print the price on the book either, why would they? I had to fight to even get that, and they conveniently forgot it on subsequent releases.
Second, their design teams are giong to make lots of errors, mess things up, and you will only get a few free corrections---then you will be paying and paying for future corrections and errors of their own making. They are like the crafty auto shop guy who guarantees your return.
Third, get ready for no spotlight, no images of your book, it won't go to where you want it, it will never be in a big bookstore, and it will take forever. Distributors and bookstore reps do not like authorhouse, its people, or the prices. Their people change "departments" every month, so you or anyone else can not keep up or keep track or stick some blame to anyone. You will not even get placement on their site, the right category, or get any press that you achieve posted. They will sell you on their distribution power and company portfolio, but check and see if any books are truly in a store...good luck.
Fourth, their marketing is all self-owned, phrased falsely, and not what you think or they tell you. They have Radio, Mass Marketing, National Media Plans, 10 Million Email Blasts, and Newswire Plus plans...garbage handled by garbagemen who just took your money to the cleaners. Toginet Radio is not a radio station, its the internet and they pay for the programming that no one will listen to. Ever received and email blast from them? Nope, and I know of no one who has. National Plans? Funny, I paid nearly 6000 dollars and got two local newspaper interviews from people I knew, and all the book sales were local friends and family. Do not market with them, it is a complete scam.
Fifth and lastly, they will inundate you with more marketing, more deals, and give your email to others. It will never stop, and they do not care, you are a number, an author number, a book number---forgotten quickly by people who are hoping to take your money over and over. They will not sell one book, talk to any stores, or make you or the book happen. Go somewhere cheap, buy 5000 copies of your own book, sell them on the corner---you will save money and do better than wasting time and money with AuthorHouse.
submitted manuscripts and money paid for publishing
RE: REFUND OF MONEY PAID FOR PUBLISHING
On August 23rd 2010 I sent a sum of Kenya Shillings 103, 217.15 to Authorhouse Publishers in UK for the publication of two books - DYING FOR PRESIDENT and A PLACE TO CALL HOME and since then nothing has happened.
My Email messages to consultants Jennifer Nino and Demond Jefferson regarding the publication of the manuscripts has not borne any fruits at all.
I am therefore asking you and your esteemed office to help ask Authorhouse management to refund the above amount of money as soon as convenient.
I hope my humble request will ultimately meet your sympathetic consideration. I must say I am sorry for any inconvenience that my request may cause to you and your establishment.
Thank you,
Dr. Tom O'Okoyo
Moi University, Nairobi Campus, Nairobi Kenya.
theft
They stole more than $2017 from my MasterCard. Though they admitted that they received ALL the money they asked for, the book's material, and a clear statement that they will publish my book; they vanished and never published anything for me. I WISH I had spent a few minutes to read other victims' comments. Please beware and don't send them any money. I am...
Read full review of AuthorHouse and 4 commentshuge scam
Let me tell you something about author house. I am an autor myself and i made the HUGE MISTAKE of believing that Author House were a company of credit, i submitted my details and began my submission process includding giving them my card details. On suspicsions they were a scam i called my publishing consultant and i was polite however on hearing that i had decided that i was going with a different company she hung up on me! I called their finance department and they stated that they could not cancel anything without her approval as she would have to seek aproval from the company. I have rang her several times, left messeges etc and now the phone number is unrecognised. DO NOT PUBLISH WITH THESE PEOPLE!NEVER!
Has anyone been set up with a movie company to produce a movie of the book they published? Sounds fishy to Me. AlanK
theft of cash
I have written, "Acts of War: JESUS/ALEXANDER & "JFK, "" which cost me out-of-pocket over six-thousand dollars in Galley Modifications since 2003, and while I firmly believed it would sell well, (and it did), I only received mere pennies for my hard and dangeous work, with no royalty check exceeding more tha 9 dollars. I knew they were stealing from me for...
Read full review of AuthorHouse and 1 commentroyalty rip off
To my utter misfortune, I became acquainted and started to use the services offered by 1stBooks publishers now known as Authorhouse, and published my first two books in 2003. At the time, I detected no problem with their services and accepted that being my work was academic, would not sell many copies. I decided to publish my third book with them, a large 2 volume edition in 2008, and due to the reviews and publicity received, and the professors that contacted me personally, I became fully aware of the university libraries and public libraries who processed my work into their establishments, or were interested in my work.
However, I noticed the first major discrepancy in their promises was that if I turned my manuscript in within a certain time frame, I would receive fourteen free copies of my work when it was printed.
I e-mailed my text, and mailed my contract via snail-mail two weeks before the deadline, I know it arrived on time—I live in Europe, and mail does not take longer than 4 to 8 days to arrive in the US, however, they could not honour the free copy agreement as they hadn't received the contracts on time. They never mentioned the agreement included receiving the contracts, just the manuscript. I received just my usual free review copy of each volume. I decided to let the matter go.
Then, they have a very careless attitude with other aspects of their services. For example, their Press Wire program that sends your Press Release electronically to 14, 000 media outlets. Where did I find my academic books being promoted? In the financial sections of these media outlets, and not to my target audience found in the academic, history, biography, or even literature, areas.
(I also discovered my university level academic book on classical music categorised as a “children's book”.)
However, the major problems developed with royalty accounting. I began keeping a record of the copies available of my new two-volume work at Amazon US, UK, Canada, and their Marketplace vendors. (This is practically the only way you can discern how many books may be selling in the public domain.) Considering this is Print On Demand, when a number of available copies drops, you can expect it to be a sale since stores have no reason to keep raising and dropping the numbers unless they make a sale and then re-list the book. (For the record, I withdrew all my publications from Authorhouse June 14th 2010.)
Authorhouse's numbers were way below the daily tallies I kept from the Amazon numbers, they only reported between 10% and maybe up to 20% of the sales on any given quarter. Today for example, I received the worst report yet: they reported only 1 copy of Volume One sold in the second quarter (April 1 to June 14th, the time I withdrew mypublications from them), and only 3 copies for Volume 2. According to my numbers from the Amazon rankings and marketplace sellers in the US, Canada and UK: 28 copies of Volume 1 sold, and 27 of Volume 2. Therefore they have reported only 4% of the sales, and they obviously are pocketing the rest. And this does not include other sales that may have been made through other sellers like Barnes and Noble, etc.
However, there is no way to be compensated for these discrepancies, Authorhouse demands you provide receipts of all sales as proof of your claim—how on earth do you track such receipts? Authorhouse knows it's an impossibility. Of course, Nielsen Book Scan offers sales report services, but you cannot use them to reclaim royalties, or display or disclose your sales report to any third party as Nielsen deems such action a breach of trademark confidentiality and would possible incur a lawsuit.
The simplest answer would be to cancel all contracts with Authourhouse, but this is not as easy as they make it out to be. To date, they continue to reassure me my books are no longer in print, but as I have discovered today (September 7), they are still listed with UK wholesale distributors as available within 5 days asPrint on Demand, so they are technically still available by Authorhouse illegally.
1st Books / Authorhouse in my estimation is the most disreputable company allowed to carry on a business offering a sham service to the public, robbing authors of the fruits of their labours. Surely they are required to have a business license to operate as all other businesses? How can any state issue a license and continue to allow such a rogue business like this to continue? They are operating on such a large scale, and if they are doing this to every author, then one must consider the possibility they are committing grand larceny on a massive scale. They claim to have thousands of authors with their company.
Authors Beware: if you are considering publishing your book using Print On Demand, stay well away from this company. Even if they paid all the royalties, they do little or nothing to help promote your work, but expect you to pay additional hundreds and even thousands for various promotion packages that provide little if no results. For those of you poor authors who now hold a contract with Authorhouse publishing your work, my sympathies go out to all of you.
I am also in the same position as the two authors above. I published in August 2011 and have received no royalties at all! I am very interested in joining a class action suit with Karen Joan McWilliams, icexposed@yahoo.com, plainandsimple@live.ca, riskirat@att.net and any others who can join. There must be hundreds of us out there! I hear that Kamber Edelsen of Chicago is a law firm that is interested in Authorhouse. I can be emailed on nigel.lord@ymail.com
I TOO PUBLISHED THREE BOOKS WITH AUTHORHOUSE AT THE TIME THIS AUTHOR DID. I HAVE THE SAME COMPLAINTS HE DOES, SO I AM TRYING TO GET TOGETHER A CLASS ACTION SUIT FOR AUTHORS FROM AUTHORHOUSE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED LOOK ON MY FACE BOOK PAGE AND YOU WILL SEE MY E MAIL. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE ON BOARD. THANKS. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING MORE AUTHORS. KAREN JOAN MCWILLIAMS FACE BOOK.
authors beware: royalty ripoff
To my utter misfortune, I became acquainted and started to use the services offered by 1stBooks publishers now known as Authorhouse, and published my first two books in 2003. At the time, I detected no problem with their services and accepted that being my work was academic, would not sell many copies. I decided to publish my third book with them, a large 2 volume edition in 2008, and due to the reviews and publicity received, and the professors that contacted me personally, I became fully aware of the university libraries and public libraries who processed my work into their establishments, or were interested in my work.
However, I noticed the first major discrepancy in their promises was that if I turned my manuscript in within a certain time frame, I would receive fourteen free copies of my work when it was printed.
I e-mailed my text, and mailed my contract via snail-mail two weeks before the deadline, I know it arrived on time—I live in Europe, and mail does not take longer than 4 to 8 days to arrive in the US, however, they could not honour the free copy agreement as they hadn't received the contracts on time. They never mentioned the agreement included receiving the contracts, just the manuscript. I received just my usual free review copy of each volume. I decided to let the matter go.
Then, they have a very careless attitude with other aspects of their services. For example, their Press Wire program that sends your Press Release electronically to 14, 000 media outlets. Where did I find my academic books being promoted? In the financial sections of these media outlets, and not to my target audience found in the academic, history, biography, or even literature, areas.
(I also discovered my university level academic book on classical music categorised as a “children's book”.)
However, the major problems developed with royalty accounting. I began keeping a record of the copies available of my new two-volume work at Amazon US, UK, Canada, and their Marketplace vendors. (This is practically the only way you can discern how many books may be selling in the public domain.) Considering this is Print On Demand, when a number of available copies drops, you can expect it to be a sale since stores have no reason to keep raising and dropping the numbers unless they make a sale and then re-list the book. (For the record, I withdrew all my publications from Authorhouse June 14th 2010.)
Authorhouse's numbers were way below the daily tallies I kept from the Amazon numbers, they only reported between 10% and maybe up to 20% of the sales on any given quarter. Today for example, I received the worst report yet: they reported only 1 copy of Volume One sold in the second quarter (April 1 to June 14th, the time I withdrew my publications from them), and only 3 copies for Volume 2. According to my numbers from the Amazon rankings and marketplace sellers in the US, Canada and UK: 28 copies of Volume 1 sold, and 27 of Volume 2. Therefore they have reported only 4% of the sales, and they obviously are pocketing the rest. And this does not include other sales that may have been made through other sellers like Barnes and Noble, etc.
However, there is no way to be compensated for these discrepancies, Authorhouse demands you provide receipts of all sales as proof of your claim—how on earth do you track such receipts? Authorhouse knows it's an impossibility. Of course, Nielsen Book Scan offers sales report services, but you cannot use them to reclaim royalties, or display or disclose your sales report to any third party as Nielsen deems such action a breach of trademark confidentiality and would possible incur a lawsuit.
The simplest answer would be to cancel all contracts with Authourhouse, but this is not as easy as they make it out to be. To date, they continue to reassure me my books are no longer in print, but as I have discovered today (September 7), they are still listed with UK wholesale distributors as available within 5 days as Print on Demand, so they are technically still available by Authorhouse illegally.
1st Books / Authorhouse in my estimation is the most disreputable company allowed to carry on a business offering a sham service to the public, robbing authors of the fruits of their labours. Surely they are required to have a business license to operate as all other businesses? How can any state issue a license and continue to allow such a rogue business like this to continue? They are operating on such a large scale, and if they are doing this to every author, then one must consider the possibility they are committing grand larceny on a massive scale. They claim to have thousands of authors with their company.
Authors Beware: if you are considering publishing your book using Print On Demand, stay well away from this company. Even if they paid all the royalties, they do little or nothing to help promote your work, but expect you to pay additional hundreds and even thousands for various promotion packages that provide little if no results. For those of you poor authors who now hold a contract with Authorhouse publishing your work, my sympathies go out to all of you. --- E.A. Bucchianeri
I should not dignify Val Seno's post with a reply after he / she posted another advert. for thier company instead of contacting me to redress any grievances, (another indicator of how this company works.)
To Val Seno. Re: your company services...there is no point listing off eveything you do--my main problem is the service provided AFTER the book is printed. Royalty discrepancy and very suspicious activity.
You say you searched your database for my name and that I am not on it:---- strange, considering I just received a tax document from your company to file for tax withholding, I must still be listed there somewhere. And why should I file for tax withholding with your company when my books are supposed to be pulled / out of print? Is this a sign my books really are NOT out of print with you after you telling me in writing that they are? Very rude to call someone a liar when I also have all the documentation to prove my claim. I do not like being called a liar. (Another sign how this company works, the blame game, name calling, character/reputation defamation of their authors.)
Also, my books previously published with you are still listed with Amazon, Half.com, Ebay, and many other internet sites as available for order when they should be removed by now according to your agreement that we the authors hold the copyright and may remove a work at any time. (Plus, the fact my previous books are still listed on booksites with your name as the publisher show that I have dealt with your company, and that I am not some unknown entity purposely causing trouble.) I have been told by these stores that my books will not be removed until "inventory" has been sold, i.e. backstock, but how could there be backstock when a company that runs on POD "print on demand" only prints a book when it IS ORDERED? So, are you STILL trying to sell my books (possibly using an unknown printer without my knowledge?)
Another problem: it appears that my books published with Authorhouse are still listed with distributors as being "Available" which is why bookstores are not pulling my books as requested. I contacted many book distributors requesting them to please remove my booklisting from their databases as my books with Authorhouse are out of print. Neilsen in England gladly agreed after I gave documented proof the book had been pulled, with the reply this behaviour on Authorhouse's part was strange, and the you, the publishers, ie. AUTHORHOUSE, should have done this. Since my books are still listed all over the place, you still have not done your duty and pulled listings with distributors. (It is now almost a year, I might add.)
Please note about cover agreement: I discovered my book being advertised with a cover I did not "okay" in addition to the cover I did approve of, (so one of your services, control over design and choice of cover), is misrepresented)--where did this new cover come from and why? Looks suspicious to me.
Also, I discovered sales not reported for books, using YOUR ACCOUNTS that you sent to me when I raised questions about royalty payments. I also discovered you were operating a retail third-seller shop on Amazon entitled "Adelightfulbook" (that we authors had no knowledge of at the time) selling my books at a discounted price. This shop has since closed, but I have proof it existed, and that my books were also sold from this shop, according to YOUR ACCOUNTS.
Another issue: my books were being sold at Half.com in partnership with Ebay, with the price marked so far below the list price, it is a wonder how you could cover the cost of printing hte book, take your cut, and pay me my full royalties according to the percentage I chose, one of us would have to be left out, most likely me according to the percentage I chose being academic works with the amount of research involved, so this could explain why the royalty payments I received were LESS then I should have received ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN ACCOUNTS. My books "out of print" books with Authorhouse are STILL listed with Half.com! Very suspicious.
About the BBB: my complaint was NOT resolved, I have left it open until this issue is resolved: namely, that books with you be fully de-listed from distrubutors databases, and that they are truly makrd as OUT OF PRINT, which is your responsibility. To the general public: do not believe the rating Authorhouse has recieved at the BBB...people are making complaints, but since Authorhouse keeps insisting they have resolved author' s complaints, nothing gets done, and Authorhouse know authors have limited means to correct errors such as distributor listings, so Authorhouse leaves things run, do not solve anything, and the BBB is no wiser for it.
Hi "It Could Happen to You", I'm glad you saw this forum and escaped in time!
I've discovered some interesting things about my books in the meantime: one of my publications was being advertised (and possibly distributed) by Authorhouse with a cover I never authorized, while covers I did authorise were sold on other sites. Ho couls this be when we must okay all covers before they are released? Could this be proof of thier own unauthorized pirate copies being sold without my knowledge? Like I said, Possibly!
I also found out Authorhouse was operating their own cut rate Marketplace seller on Amazon called "Adelightfulbook", selling books for half the price on Amazon! I repeat, they were selling practically all their authors' books for half the price for a couple of years before this "seller" mysteriously disppeared offline a few months before I lodged this complaint. How where they paying us authors and Amazon at the same time? Not possible I say, another way to cut us authors out without us knowing by using a front shop on the Internet. They could be doing this again, but there is no way of knowing unless they slip and give the name out on their private statements like they did in my case.
Stay away from Authorhouse!
E.A. Bucchianeri
Any Authorhouse complaints should be directed to the Indiana Attorney Generals Office web site and file a consumer complaint.
I published this book in 2014 .Knowingly i sensed being hustled ..But i went along for the ride anyway..
If their illegally taking my royalties which is half the sales.Then they should be investigated and a law suit.
Should be slapped on them..Otherwise I'm only into it as an artist too..But i should be compensated for my work .
So lets keep the wolves& sharks @ Bay! Call them on their greed corrupt practices and force them to make a honest $buck.
Thank you, Guitar Jim Bourke
I published this book in 2014 .Knowingly i sensed being hustled ..But i went along for the ride anyway..
If their illegally taking my royalties which is half the sales.Then they should be investigated and a law suit.
Should be slapped on them..Otherwise I'm only into it as an artist too..But i should be compensated for my work .
So lets keep the wolves& sharks @ Bay! Call them on their greed corrupt practices and force them to make a honest $buck.
Thank you, Guitar Jim Bourke
I publish 3 book with authorhouse and I enjoy it. My books turn out Okay. I give authorhouse 4 / 5 stars. You always need to get a editor. They're a lot worse publisher out there. I publish my books for people to enjoy. I don't care about money. I offer all my books to everyone free on my facebook page. The Unknown Crystals.
https://www.facebook.com/The-Unknown-Crystals-1960582220855721/
I published my first book with them when they were 1stbooks . I made a huge mistake in the book and asked to fix it and they told me it was $25 per sentence which was 5 words. The mistake continued throughout the book so there was no way I could afford to make the changes. They would rather sell a book with the huge glaring errors than fix it because they are trying to make money off of the authors not Book Sales. Skip this company and work with newbookauthors.com. at least they care about the product and how my book looked. In fact the person I spoke to told me she would not publish the book until I fixed some of the mistakes she listed. I fixed it and was very happy with the results. They are very honest in how they treat people and they actually care about books. Its an actual publishing company like the ones from the old print days. They view their job as formatting the book and making it ready for print so they care about how the book looks. Also they actually give you real help with marketing so that when the book is on sale you know what to do next to get people to read it.
Hi Bucchianeri. Having read all your comments I am starting to agree with you and the loss of Royalties. I have to hold my judgment
until the next quarter. My book has only been published since February 2012 and I do know of sales that I have not been paid for.
I have been in contact with Authourhouse but I have to say it is like pulling teeth to get any honesty. You know that books have been sold, I know that books have been sold, however that is as far as you will get. Bad news and quite depressing to say the least.
You say that after cancelling your contract you are still finding your manuscrip being printed and sold without your permission. Can I suggest that you contact your copyright office and let them deal with the situation. I do beleive, if you have a strong case and can prove what you say then you may well be covered for Legal fees through the Copyright department. It is worth checking.You hold the full Copyright right to authorise who you say will Publishe and print your book, If either of thesetwo things are happening without your permission, then use your Legal rights. This may well be a violation of your Copyright. Check out the Copyright rules on line.
§ 106 . Exclusive rights in copyrighted works38
Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and
(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
This is just the basics you will get the rest from the Copy right Webb Site
Good luck Fionamd
I bought the One Second Needle at a local store and even though the sewing kit was a cheap plastic box with the most ridiculous items inside, I bought it anyway because I have trouble threading needles. The scissors in the kit look like something a child should use. The tv advertisement makes the whole kit look like a quality item but it's definitely not. I haven't used the needles yet and I'm sure I'll have trouble sewing with them now that I've read all the complaints here on this site. It's such a shame how these companies get away with selling poor quality items and rip people off with shipping and added fees charged to a person's account. I'm just glad I didn't call in my order. I'm taking this back to the store I bought it from and buy a magnifying glass and do it the way I always do it. With reading glasses!
This post is definitely from our competitor, posting nasty comments online to shy away our potential customers. I'm a publishing consultant here in Authorhouse and I can definitely say he is totally lying...To all of you here, don't just believe on any comments. Read reliable websites. Check our BBB rating and see there that we solved all the complaints filed to us, we are rated A+. If you have questions about the publishing process, call me anytime at [protected] extension 5880, look for Val Seno, and I can answer your questions right away. Do your research and don't be fooled by anybody who just post nasty comments here, who I believe are from our competitors. By the way, I searched in our database your name and I haven't seen it there that you published with us, so that would just mean that you invalidated everything. By the way, here's the process:
The AuthorCentricsm Process
Complete and Sign AuthorHouse Contract
You’ll begin the book publishing process by speaking with a Publishing Consultant to discuss your project goals. From copy editing to promotional press releases, you have the flexibility to create a custom project plan for the submission, production and promotion of your self-published book.
Submit Your Materials
Once you have completed an AuthorHouse contract, you will submit your materials for self-publishing. A Check-in Coordinator will contact you two to three business days after you sign your contract to discuss where and in what format to send your materials. Your CIC will work with you directly until we have all the materials we need to create the initial copy of your cover and galley. Your CIC will also send you a Submission Information Form where you will indicate any specifications you have for the design of your cover and interior.
Review Initial Book Cover & Interior Design
After the Check-in Coordinator has received all of your materials, he or she will assign your book to a Design Team and the design process for your cover and galley will begin. Within 10 to 15 business days (two to three business days for Rapid Release customers), you will receive the completed initial cover and galley.
Participate in Review Call with Your Design Consultant
After sending your cover and galley for review, your Design Consultant will call you within two to three business days to discuss any changes (if any) you want made to the design of your book. If more in-depth conversation is needed, a time will be set up for you to discuss your concerns with your Cover Designer or Book Designer in more detail.
Approve Your Cover and Galley
When the layout of your book is complete and you’re comfortable with how everything looks, you will approve your cover and interior galley. Before your book is sent to the printer, you’ll choose your royalty percentage and set the selling price for your book. Your Design Consultant and Check-in Coordinator will be able to discuss any concerns you have about what’s next in the publishing process.
Thank you E.A. Bucchianeri for logging your complaint about Authorhouse. OMG! I am so sorry you had to experience that but your disclosure has saved me from the same fate as I was seriously considering using them to publish my 2nd book .
It is sad the the Better Business Bureau comments about this company is so misleading as they have high marks for Authorhouse.
maybe going out of business
Has anyone received any information that Authorhouse is going to file for bankruptcy? They have stopped responding to any communications. I would like to know since I do have funds tied up with them.
To learn more about the Scam Authorhouse, here's some useful links:
http://authorhouse.pissedconsumer.com/authorhouse-scam-20080912135099.html
http://www.complaints.com//2010/september/8/Authorhouse__Royalty_and_Copyright_Rip_Off_241483.htm
I learnt too late that AuthorHouse is toxic, and one of the nastiest scams I've dealt with in my life.
My hell with Authorhouse started on 24 May 2010 through a misleading website called findyourpublisher.com, which is a bogus fraud site funnelling unsuspecting authors towards AuthorHouse and their partner scams. My first mistake - I gave them my contact details. I was conned into paying them around $1000 to publish my first book which I was told would be available at Amazon. The result was a shoddy, poorly produced crappy book which no reader would waste their time with. The book is still not available at Amazon or anywhere - I just get excuses.
Authorhouse is a scam, and they have stolen my dollars and succeeded in rubbishing of my work, that has left me deflated and completely disillusioned.
AuthorHouse should change their name to AuthorScam. These fraudsters have turned fraud into an artform, and it's time for government agencies to start taking a look at AuthorHouse and their partner companies, iUniverse, Trafford and Xlibris.
If you're a writer reading this: this is your wake up call. AUTHORHOUSE IS A SCAM. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY.
Close Down. Flush them down the toilet, AuthorHouse is truly excrement.
book publisher
if you are reading the complaints board then you to have been a victim of authorhouse and their scam, you can contact the attorney general in illinois and file a complaint against authorhouse.at attorney general of illinois.com its time for all us author to take a stand against authorhouse and stop them from scaming all us authors.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
There are sixty one complaints against Autherhouse yet the state general attorney has done nothing about these complaints I guess you can say one hand washes the other.
to all you people defending authorhouse are you really authors or emplyees of authorhouse? by the way to all the skeletons coming out of the closet ratterling your jawbone shut up because your not making any sense to all the real authors who have been scammed by authorhouse you can contact the state general attorney of indiana all you need to do is google the state general attorney of indiana.good luck
IS possibility received the PRIVATE ADRESS OF CUSTOMER PO FRANCOIS L NOUVION 32 _ who is a friend private who is the writter of the book ASILE HEREDITAIRE : THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JOHN O SULLIVAN
FRANCOIS NOUVION leave in philippines but i have forgot his address to philippines !
ref of shipping order is [protected]-203484UK from book sales operations author house 1663 Liberty drive suite 2002 Bloomington ins [protected] - united states - 812.339.6000 x5025
Order of 10/12/2012
Thans a lot your answer
Miss O SULLIVAN Colette st cloud FRANCE
out to get your money
The finished book is top notch but they will really get you in the pocket book. I recently was told that 28% of my royalties were being withheld because they did not have my social security number on file. This information was provided to them in December of 2009. I provided the information again last week and they now say that the royalties cannot be refunded to me. Also, when I paid the initial fees for publication I specifically asked if there were any "hidden costs" for shipping and such of books that were included in my package. I was told there were no other charges. When I didn't receive the books that were included in my purchased package I contacted them and was told that I would have to pay the shipping. They make very nice books but they rip you off any way that they can and when you question this they just write off your concerns and say that there is nothing that can be done to correct the problem.
If you are wanting to sue Authorhouse Contact Attorneys Eric, Vaughn, Flam out of
New York (evf@sovrlaw.com) they are looking into taking the case. It's about time
someone helped all the Authors that have been scammed.
theft of royalties
Hey Wes or Dave, both of you go to hell! We all know you were sent here by AuthorHouse/Xlibris/iUniverse to cause division and derision. You already know that I'm fairly well known so your arguments are first class grade A b/s! AuthorHouse is a crooked company and now that the D.A. in Indiana is investigating them, all of us need to give them all the support he needs and prevent a behind the scenes under the table payoff if that' s possible (and I'm not saying the D.A. can be bought). But I have no doubt that if AuthorHouse can pay somebody off that they will do it. Instead of planting these people online to try an explain away the theft of our monies they would save themselves a lot of trouble if they would just pay us our money then they wouldn't have to explain crap! So save your lame and stupid explanations, save your frickin' breath and just pay us the money we are owed or surely as God lives and give us life and breath He will bring you down to your knees! Without us you wouldn't have a business! Even if you paid us our money, you would still collect substantial profits per the agreements! But if we have to go to every company you deal with and turn over records and books, this thing is set in motion and we won't stop until we either get our money or see all of you in jail where you belong! Now take that back to your bosses at AuthorHouse because they have surely committed a crime by stealing our royalties!
Author PR rep
My husband is a published author with Author house we have ordered multiple times from different sites as well as the site author house made for him and we have not received one single copy. Nor has my husband receive a royalty check since February 2014 uh it is now September 2015 every time he calls they give him a date he will receive all past due royalties and it never happens we have been forced to go to an attorney. From records he is now owed over 45, 000 from nearly two years.
I just posted a response on your other complaint Daniel and I noticed you had a second complaint. I thought you other complaint was reasonably written out and this is why I responded, but after reading over your complaint here I am getting the impression that you are at fault. You seem unreasonable and erratic. I also tried to find your book on AuthorHouse and you’re not listed. Your website does also not work. Have you even published with AuthorHouse? It seems to me that you may be trying to spread false rumors about this company to try and get people to not sign-up. Saying that a representative (Wes in this case) and their argument are B.S. because you don’t agree with it doesn't give much factual feedback for someone to investigate. Also, paying off the District Attorney? Surely you do not believe in this silliness. It reminds me of the birther movement or people saying we didn’t land on the moon. You can't just stomp your feet, kick, and yell with a red face saying "pay you money." If you want royalty payments from any self publishing company then you need to market and promote your work--period.
I will go ahead and re-post my other comments below as I think it might help Mitch.
I am an author public relations rep (independently in business and I do not work for a company) and I just thought I would respond to your post. I have been working part-time in this field for about 6 years.
Lighting Source is just a printer down here in Tennessee. So, you are not being “issued” by a new company. I’ve had authors that work with AuthorHouse as they are one of Lighting Sources largest clients. If you see your book listed with Lighting Source then this is a good thing--it just means that your book is in the distribution channels. It means that anybody can find your book on websites like Amazon and any bookstore/retailer can buy your book and put it on their shelf. Did you call AuthorHouse because I am sure they could tell you about Lighting Source?
I don't know anything about AuthorHouse filing for bankruptcy and I highly doubt this as I believe their authors still sell more books than any other self publishing company. They are huge and have a lot of success stories, but they are just one POD out of many.
As for not receiving payments for your book sold-- All this means is you haven't sold any books or you just haven’t yet received the quarterly report/check. I have authors that have worked with AuthorHouse so I have looked at their Terms. It says pretty clearly that they pay out royalties quarterly as long as you are making $25 or more worth of sales. I think if you make less than $25 then they just roll it into the next quarterly check.
May I ask you Daniel—when you said you still haven’t received any payments, are you implying that you think AuthorHouse is stealing your royalties or are you saying they are late on paying you? The reason I ask if that I just got done reading over a few complaints on this website about AuthorHouse stealing royalties and AuthorHouse therefore being a scam. I thought I would touch on this subject from a PR point of view. I have had authors call me before and start off the conversation that they thought AuthorHouse was stealing royalties so let me answer the way I normally do below. And by the way, most authors I work with do not feel AuthorHouse is a scam—in fact, it’s pretty rare that someone says that…
YOU CAN DISPROVE THE THEORY THAT AUTHORHOUSE IS STEALING ROYALTIES AT ANYTIME. HERE'S HOW WITH A STEP-BY-STEP EXPERMINET:
1) Grab a friend and go online to Amazon.com
2) Watch them as they go online at Amazon.com and pull up your book
3) Ask them to buy your book and go through the process
4) Watch them go through step-by-step. Have them do it with their name, their address, and have it shipped to their home. It doesn’t matter if they pay for it or if you offer to pay for it for them. I am only spelling out this experiment so you can see there are no royalties being stolen.
If you follow this step-by-step experiment above then your friend will receive a copy of the book because AuthorHouse (and the printer Lighting Source) will fulfill the order. But, here is the key to all of this--YOU, THE AUTHOR, WILL RECEIVE A ROYALTY CHECK AND A STATEMENT OF THE BOOK SALE IN THE NEXT QUARTERLY REPORT. That's it. Period. Done. This proves without a shadow of a doubt that AuthorHouse is not stealing royalties. And the best part about this experiment is that at any point in the future if you felt like AuthorHouse is stealing your royalties—you can “test” them out. At any point in the future, just randomly go on to any retailer website like Barnes & Noble and have a friend buy the book. You will always see that sale reflected on the next royalty check and report.
So, this is why I am confused when I read that authors are not receiving royalty checks or they are claiming AuthorHouse is a scam. And I do not mean to be rude when I make this point as really I am only curious--Do these authors realize that they can “test” to see if AuthorHouse is stealing their royalties by just buying the book online?
Now, in your case Daniel—what I would recommend you do is to work either with AuthorHouse or with someone like me--a PR rep. It's not that you are not receiving royalty checks--you are just not selling books. And, the way you sell books is the same for any new author, regardless if they published with AuthorHouse or not--you need to market, advertise, and promote. You need to do this yourself and you need to get help. AuthorHouse can make sure you have a professionally designed book, they can make sure your book is priced correctly so it's not over priced, they can make sure it's distributed, and they will do the order fulfillment. But, just because the book is distributed does not mean that people know about it--this is where the marketing comes into the equation. And then there is the case of the writing. Do you have a good story, is it professionally edited, have you defined your target audience and are you tailoring your marketing to this audience, and on and on.
So Daniel, I will wrap this up but I just wanted you to not worry about Lighting Source and not worry about your royalties. AuthorHouse is just one type of self publisher and they give you tools to get a book out on the open market. At this point, it just sounds like you need some marketing assistance. I would try AuthorHouse first, but I wouldn't stop there--there are plenty of books, online sites, and people out there who can help you sell books and make a decent royalty amount. Maybe even look for a PR rep in your area (I only work with people in the Nashville area).
I hope this helped and I wish you the best of luck!
Nathan
Brenda,
I must certainly wonder about Authorhouse myself.
My first novel was published by them and within a short time I found it available through other sources, not the least of which was Google, which has published my ENTIRE novel online! I'm pursuing action against them.
I must certainly presume that Authorhouse leaked it online as I did not!
I can only guess at how many copies were sold, for which I've not been paid, or worse, not sold, because of their tactics.
I'll be following through with legal actions as much as I can though my funds are limited.
After all, if I don't stand up for myself, who will?
Mitch L. Gohman, Author of Decision Point: The Family
P.S. Brenda, you should be more careful when you accuse someone of LIABLE (not lible :) As the judge in my novel said, "Words are an attorney's business" - words are the same business you claim to be in!
Brenda,
I love that song!:) Long live Hendrix!:)
Daniel,
I appreciate your professional response (insert sarcasm here). We must be a really bad company to have the Better Business Bureau rate us as an A+ with only a couple of hundred complaints and tens of thousands of satisfied authors over the last 3 years.
To be totally honest, I have never heard of you. That doesn't mean that you're not well known in your own circles, but if you feel you're selling books and not getting paid for them, you can get a report directly from us or the multiple distributors that we use to sell your book.
I'm always baffled at all the conspiracy theories such as yours. I've researched and see no investigation of Author Solutions by the Indiana District Attorney. That would be bordering on lible, my friend. I'll leave it at that.
Wes
illegal scam
AUTHORHOUSE ILLEGAL SCAM UNCOVERED.
Last year Tony Liddicoat sacked 'authorhouse publishing company' who he had paid handsomely for publishing his book, "Five Bells " ~ Job Done. A Divers Story. During his association with them he published his book which became very well received and reviewed by over 25 major journals around the world. The RRP of the book was £9.90. For each book sold he received £1, 88. Authorhouse kept
the remainder, [£8. 11] This went on for over a year before he realised something must be wrong. When serious outlets asked to sell the book, they were told by 'authorhouse' that they had to pay the RRP, which of course meant they could not earn any money at all. He learnt about the outlets discount for new books which range between 35% and 65% of the RRP. Tony Liddicoat was informed by 'authorhouse' that if he wished for his books to be sold by major outlets then there was a fee payable, [approx £500 annually, for each outlet, !]]
He could not afford to do this and continued being paid the £1, 88 per copy, During this time he was lied to, his private mail was intercepted and opened and his requests for clarification to 'authorhouse ' were ignored.
He then re printed his book with a new ISBN number and published the book himself. He is now the only legal publisher of his book and has been for over a year, However even though he received assurances from 'authorhouse' that they would stop selling and supplying the book, his books were still being printed,
advertised and sold without his knowledge or consent. He realised this when he received unexpected 'royalties' [ in itself a rarity without having to chase them] The royalties were for books sold by 'Amazon'
who had been given the pdf file of the book by authorhouse, to print their own copies and sell them on demand or when they wanted. [Without the Authors knowledge or permission ] The 'royalties' offered were the £1, 88 per book. Which means that the cosy little arrangement between 'Authorhouse' and 'Amazon' where they print and sell their own copies and were quite happy to give the author £1.88 per copy and keep the remainder for themselves. Now this is against the law. When he contacted 'authorhouse and asked what on earth is going on. he was told that it was human error and he has no cause for complaint as I had been paid the pittance of £1.88 per book.
This information is being forwarded to the legal authorities in the UK and every blog site known, enable the unsuspecting to know just how 'authorhouse 'operate. It is a scam and if you multiply this by the 60, 000 authors they say they have 'published' then it is a huge sum.
BE WARNED ~ BE ADVISED.
dishonest scam
AUTHORHOUSE ILLEGAL SCAM UNCOVERED. Last year Tony Liddicoat sacked 'authorhouse publishing company' who he had paid handsomely for publishing his book, "Five Bells " ~ Job Done. A Divers Story. During his association with them he published his book which became very well received and reviewed by over 25 major journals around the world. The RRP of the book...
Read full review of AuthorHouse and 11 commentsbook publishing
For all the authors who have been scammed by Authorhouse you can file a complaint with the state general attorney of Indiana you go to consumer complaint form.htm do it now so authorhouse can"t scam anyone else. good luck.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
AuthorHouse is a boiler room scam operation. Random House bought them in an attempt to step into the world of self-publishing. Unfortunately, they are sinking the good name of Random House. They will promise you absolutely anything to get your credit card number. Most the reps do not even know that they are fronting such a scam. They lead you to the slaughter and don't know exactly how badly you will be treated. All they want is your money. Only someone who is serving Satan can lie so much and still sleep at night. The management is fully aware and script the calls so any new employee can "sell" you a package after a short training program. If you want to throw your money away or if you want to have them pretend to be working on your book or if you want them to do nothing more than run a spell check on your text, go ahead. As for the Hollywood Treatment package, their supposed production company (called Thru Line Entertainment) is another hoax. Oh sure, they may have a legitimate front although it too is a scam. The girl who spoke with me said that Author House and Thru Line were responsible for taking the films Proof Of Life with Russell Crow and Meg Ryan as well as the film Legally Blond with Reese Witherspoon from book to screen. These individuals need salvation. I am praying that they see the light and stop their wicked deeds. I am also praying that you find another way to chase your dream of publishing or sharing your story with the world. May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and may God Himself protect you from this scam.
I recently bought the Hollywood Treatment from Author House it cost upwards of $3, 000. It took 3 months longer than promised, plus lots of chasing on my behalf. In the end I wrote most of the screenplay and synopsis.
Eventually it got 'put in the database' and Thru-line took ownership. I got a friend of my who owns a Production Company in the UK to enquire about my project. They knew nothing about it, she left her name and contact details and so far nothing.
I believe it is a big scam and I will be getting my lawyers on it and complaining to the GA of Indiana.
Avoid, avoid, avoid, save your money.
I agree 100 %. I have published two books with Authorhouse and received a total of $2.59 in royalties. They do little if anything to promote your book. They are hap-hazzard in their daily operations and seem to be totally ignorant of what has been sent to them--i.e. manuscripts, CDs, et. Their last contact with me was to try to get me to spend $2500 to "Do the Hollywood treatment" to my book--The Last Days of Everest. Luckily, I did not bite. Good luck to anyone out there who has any of their work in the design/publishing process with this business. Dean Allen--author.
I am an author with AuthorHouse and I have received my royalities. I suspected fraud and had other people buy my book and I did receive the royalities up to date approaching $3, 000.00.
James Warden Author
www.BlacksInTheBible.Org
addressing complaints
I've read the postings about royalites and invite any author who would like more information about their royalties or number of books sold through AuthorHouse or iUniverse to contact me directly at kgray at authorsolutions dot com.
We can provide you with a books printed report which will show how many of your books have been printed. Sales through retail channels, other than through the iUniverse or AuthorHouse Web sites, can take several months to be reported; but they are all reported.
We have no interest in "keeping" royalties from our authors. Our interest as well as our authors' interests are best served when they are satisfied with their publishing experience. We certainly would not sacrifice this satisfaction for a few dollars.
I would caution anyone from putting too much stock in complaints submitted by posters with anonymous or false surnames. We will investigate any issue from a author who submits their name, publisher (AuthorHouse or iUniverse), title of book and specific issue. Thank you.
Best,
Kevin A. Gray
PR Manager, Author Solutions, Inc.
kgray at authorsolutions dot com
hi, my name is vyankatesh.i have spoken from my heart as above.
regards
I HAVE BEEN DUPED BY AUTHORHOUSE IN LAST THREE MONTHS. THEY TOOK ALL MONEY(ABOUT 900 USD), MY MANUSCRIPT ETC. EVERY WEEK I WRITE MAILS TO THEM ENQUIRING THE STATUS OF BOOK, AND TO MY DESPAIR, THERE IS NO RESPONSE. I HAVE WRITTEN TO ALL CONCERNED PEOPLE. MY BOOK IS ON AMMONIA, AND MAY NAME IS VYANKATESH. I HAD A RESPECT IN MY MIND AFTER READING WEBSITES EARLIER, BUT NOW IT IS NO MORE. I AM COMPELLED TO STATE THAT AUTHORHOUSE IS A SCAM PUBLICATION.
VYANKATESH
vc_bela@rediffmail.com
You know what; I also purchased a press release package from authorhouse. They sent that press release to quite a few newspapers, tv shows and other media outlets. I even have the list of the companies they sent my press release to. But guess what, none of those companies got in contact with me. I called authorhouse about it and they told me to check with those companies to see if they received my press release...why should I have to do that, when all of that work was paid for?
But I did it anyway, and coming to find out...quite a few newspapers doesn't deal with outsiders; meaning they do not deal with individuals from outside their range.
No tv station has ever contacted me. To be honest, I don't really have money for any advertising--I am on a fixed income, receiving $800 a month. I have starved for misc months to save money to advertise, and when I was abled to advertise, no book was sold. I wanted to curse out the marketing consultant one day cause he kept pressuring me to advertise even more. I tried to explain my situation to him about not one book being sold prior, but its like he didnt care; he had a bogus story about me not picking the right marketing plan, but i previously spoke to him about what would be the best marketing plan or strategy to use, so what he said was total crap. I want all of my money back, but I still want the book to be with authorhouse, because I like my book being displayed on the internet.
By the way, the name of my book is called Cypher Key.
My name is Artice D. Upchurch and I published a book with Authorhouse in 2007. About 2 years later I was abled to invest into marketing packages with Authorhouse. I spent almost $2, 000 with Authorhouse, but have not sold 1 book from the marketing packages. Kevin, I really would like to know how many books have been sold. Contact me please: adu@adupchurchbooks.com
Mr. Kevin Grey, I strongly disagree with your crappy statement. It's not the authors responsibility to contact your lazy behind. With request or not, your company should send monthly book sale reports to an author via his/her email or mail. What kind of company is this? You have several subdivisions, why? This company is not even a member of the BBB! You totally turn me off from making any business with you. If you want authorhouse, iuniverse, worldclay and the other crappy worthless sites to stay in business, you need to learn a thing or two about honesty. Stop stuffing your stealing mouth with donouts and do your job right at least once! I like to give rebellious companies a second chance, so change or get out! LOL!
author house rip off
I know my book is selling good, I'm just not making any royalites off of it. I see where lots of people have bought it but I don't get anything but about 2.30 off of each book. I don't know why someone doens't do something about this. I've complained to the BBB and the Attorney General and they have done nothing. They say the author gets 50 percent of the royalties, but that's a lie. They also say what you see there on your sales does not include sales from bookstores and amazon. Well that's a lie. I know many are making money off my book that I NEED to live on. I'm on social security disability and I NEED that money. Do they care? NO. DON"T DO BUSINESS WITH AUTHOR HOUSE OR IT"S SISTER COMPANIES. Word Clay. Author Solutions and other. They will take your money and act like it's your fault that you don't get more. They know how to legally cheat you. They can change those documents in their favor.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Wake up authors, this is an across the board, all out scam, EVERY author from these companies is being stolen from:
Author House
Author House UK
iuniverse
Trafford
xlibris
Book Surge run by Amazon.com
Wordclay
If you are an author who thinks their royalties are being stolen, send brief story plus a stamped self addressed envelope to Edelson/McGuire law firm of Chicago...enclose a paper that says they acknowledge receiving your info & the date, notarize this paper...when it comes back in the mail, SAVE IT like gold, lock it up in a safe deposit box
dont worry if they dont answer or acknowledge otherwise, they are compiling names...be patient, be polite, lots of eyes are on these companies right now and its being solved, in the author's favor
also, type out a brief form invalidating your contract with these rotten businesses, sign, date & notarize...make three copies, send one to Author House or whatever company you believe is cheating you and send it in a letter they have to sign for, one of those green cards, when you get this card back in the mail SAVE it, put in box...if you voluntarily cancel your contract & notarize this paper, legally, they can't go on printing your book...if your book shows up on the internet AFTER you cancelled your contract, then this is hard evidence, these guys are going to be got, but good
save every email, every scrap of paper evidence you have from the company & copies of supposed "royalty" checks, also print outs of all the websites offering your book & at what prices, research this, there may be far more than you think
just remember a rule of thumb about the internet...the more websites a product is offered on, the more sales for that product, look at Harry Potter for instance, we all know how much that book is selling
if your book is popping up on websites you never contracted for like Books a Million, it's a sure bet it is selling a lot of copies, multiply that by the slightly over a quarter million authors who signed up with these rotten companies and you are talking about a LOT of money
they used crooked Intellectual Property lawyers, altered ISBN numbers(((among numerous other methods, there are a lot of big players in the game, including Amazon.com)) and the only possible way to fight and win is through lawyers who are not crooked...check them out on the internet, Edelson/McGuire is one of the most successful litigation firms on the planet and has fought internet crime before and won
another thing to do is PASS THE WORD & also, this may be theory but it looks like it must be true to me...check your rankings on Amazon.com, they list rankings on POD books ONLY on country of origin, where it was first published, not on their foreign sites for POD books, not regular books...a theory I heard was these rankings are really amazon.com's way of tracking the sales of your book worldwide, each day the rankings are wiped off the computer and each day...if you subtract todays rankings from yesterdays, for instance, you will get the total book sales for that 24 hour period...
if you want, print off these rankings for your book for a consecutive ten or 30 days...check these numbers, they always go UP...if you keep hard copies of consecutive days of rankings, this might be possible evidence in a court
also, examine the ISBN numbers on your book, they change them all the time, often by one digit, this is so they can put the real number of books sold under a false ISBN and use the real ISBN to give you royalties ONLY off the books you buy yourself, Bowkers LLC (crooked lawyers again) is the ONLY company issuing ISBN numbers worldwide so they have to be in it, thick as thieves
Ingram's aworld wide book printing company, very successful, super wealthy are in on it too...the pie is sliced many ways and none of it is going to the author(s)
Author House & Author Solutions are one and the same company, same street address...they were bought out in 2007 by Kemper Investments LLC(crooked lawyers again)...this firm is worth 350 million dollars & based in Calif, why would they want a company like Author House if it were not making some big bucks
every author is told they are not selling and most of us don't have contact with each other, that's how the scheme works, lies and intimidation...Author Solutions recently bought out Harlequin Romance so now they can begin to rip off romance authors as well
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have to know about it and be in on it, how do you think B & N keeps their big fancy stores open when nobody ever buys anything except at Christmas...stolen royalties are giving them a free ride
I agree with Toby20. Also, if you're only getting $2.30 off every book then that means that that is the percentage that you have agreed upon. AuthorHouse offers royalties UP TO 50%. They didn't say that you will get 50% royalties for every book. It will depend on the price that you chose for your book and the number of pages that your book has. If your book is selling, you will know because you can get an idea from your page at the AuthorHouse website. If it doesn't show there then that only means that your book doesn't sell.
Don't start throwing around accusations if you don't have evidence. If you already went to the BBB and AG and they didn't do anything then that might mean that you don't have enough proof or ground for the so-called accusation.
You're an author. You're smart. Think like one.
How do you know your book is selling? What proof have you got?
publication of my book
I HAD A BOOK PUBLISHED WITH AUTHOR HOUSE IN 2008. I WASN'T EXPECTING BIG THINGS BUT HOPED TO AT LEAST GET SOMETHING BACK FROM IT. AS IT WAS ABOUT BATTLING BAD HEALTH TO RUNNING MARATHONS AND TRAVELLING THE GLOBE DESPITE THIS.
TWO LOCAL NEWSPAPERS IN LONDON DID A SPREAD ON MY BOOK SO I WAS VERY HOPEFUL;
I ALSO PAID AUTHOR HOUSE £1, 900 TO PROMOTE IT BUT ONLY HAD ONE EMAIL AND ONE PHONE CALL FROM THE AGENT AT AUTHOR HOUSE DURING THAT 2 MOTH PERIOD THAT HE WORKED FOR ME.
IT IS NOT SOUR GRAPES BUT I CANT BELIEVE THAT IT ONLY SOLD ABOUT 40 COPIES WORLDWIDE AND I KNOW OF MORE THAT 60 WHO BOUGHT IT.
HARD TO PROVE BUT SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT AT AUTHOUR HOSE BASED UN USA & GB
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I live with four room mates in a small apartment...
"I WASN'T EXPECTING BIG THINGS BUT HOPED TO AT LEAST GET SOMETHING BACK FROM IT. AS IT WAS ABOUT BATTLING BAD HEALTH TO RUNNING MARATHONS AND TRAVELLING THE GLOBE DESPITE THIS."
This sounds stupid. I just asked my three room mates if they think it sounds stupid. They think it sounds stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
But just because four people wouldn't pay one dollar for your book doesn't really say anything about it's potential, does it? It's a big world.
"TWO LOCAL NEWSPAPERS IN LONDON DID A SPREAD ON MY BOOK"
Uh... So?
"SO I WAS VERY HOPEFUL"
Oh! I see!
Four years ago, during my first semester of college, I had a book published by PublishAmerica. It was a crappy, crappy, crappy piece of crap and only got "published" cause they will take anything. My writing is alot better now because of school, but I think my improvement had more to do with that book. A year after it was published I tried to re-read it and was thinking "Oh my God... This thing has my name on it... and I actually gave copies to people I knew..." so I felt like I needed to write something much better, and quick, to prove that the turd wasn't an example of my talent. Anyway... What was I getting at? Oh yeah. With the help of my mom, grandfather, and a family friend, I got alot more publishing than "Two local papers" doing a "spread", I didn't get much word around but alot more than "Two local papers, " dude. In fact, I got more publicity from work that I did MYSELF - and I was a God Damn teenager at the time! Your lack of dedication implicates NOT ONLY is your book probably really bad, but even if it rocks, YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT IT!
"I ALSO PAID AUTHOR HOUSE £1, 900 TO PROMOTE IT "
Why is it that the people who pay their self publishing company to promote their book are always the ones to make "rip off" accusations? I know. Because they are stupid. With that kind of money you could have: 1. Had a small and simple website made for your book, 2. Bought a very small spaced ad in a successful mags, 3. Bought some copies of your book to give away to some 'Used Book' stores.
These are three of the things that I did when my third book (first good book) was published by AuthorHouse. Of course as soon as it went live I was getting e-mails and phone calls from their people trying to persuade me to pay more for publicity and promotional materials, and I kindly refused. They have the printing equipment, they have the ability to make it avalible as an E-book, and they have the connections to Amazon and other major online markets. Other than that, what the hell can they do that I can't? Nothing. But why give up one meal a day and three hours sleep every night when you can just give all your money to some stranger who claims that they will do it? Right?
"BUT ONLY HAD ONE EMAIL AND ONE PHONE CALL FROM THE AGENT AT AUTHOR HOUSE DURING THAT 2 MOTH PERIOD THAT HE WORKED FOR ME."
Well you can't expect anyone in that business to work for less than ten dollars an hour, can you? He has to eat at least once a day... A total of 1900 dollars for 120 days, ten dollars an hour... Yep, he's obligated to work about three hours a day for you. When my book went live from AuthorHouse I dropped all the classes I was taking, quit my full time job at the computer store so I could work at Burger King during lunch rush (two hours a day four days a week) and begged my mom to pay my rent for a few months so I could get my book around. I pretty much never quit working. I slept from about three in the morning to six in the morning. When I ate I usually had the burger in one hand and in the other I had either the computer mouse, the phone, or a copy of the book. (A copy of the book, because I was using the money I made from Burger King to buy copies of my book; I would neatly write the website url on the inside of it before hitting the road and giving it away to those Used Book stores all across the state.) I went through all of this for about THREE months before I even made my money back and I never stopped working. You think someone will go through this kind of crap to promote the book of a complete stranger for 1900 dollars? NO. Is doing all of this crap nessesary for an unknown author trying to publish a book? Usually. Can you STILL do most of this? Yes. Will you do ANY of it? No.
"IT IS NOT SOUR GRAPES BUT I CANT BELIEVE THAT IT ONLY SOLD ABOUT 40 COPIES WORLDWIDE AND I KNOW OF MORE THAT 60 WHO BOUGHT IT."
Believe it or not, dude, you are not unique in the fact that you are flawed as a human being. When these people are working for someone who claims that he/she wants to SELF PUBLISH, they are not expecting to only sell sixty copies. They expect YOU to buy more copies than that, and doing such would likely lead to many more copies sold. You aren't paying them by the hour therefore they are not going to spend all their working hours on your book, especially if you aren't doing anything for them. You paid them a few thousand and now your book is professional looking and it's on Amazon. They aren't obligated to do much more for you and I don't blame them. Maybe you should give them CAUSE. Make profits that are actually noticable. Remembering to send you your fifty bucks a year can't be their main priority.
"HARD TO PROVE BUT SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT AT AUTHOUR HOSE BASED UN USA & GB"
Look at that sentence... I can see why you are so desperate to get rich from writing a book. You aren't smart enough to work as a janitor at The Goodwill.
I spent a little over 3000 dollars on the book I self published with AuthorHouse. I spent about 1000 more on buying copies, and 1500 more on other things relating to the book (since you're dumb I will clarify: I spent fifty five grand on the thing and four thousand of that went to AuthorHouse) I've made about eight grand on the thing. It isn't much at all, but I sold a hell of alot more than a measley sixty copies an I never got jipped on my royalties because I gave them sales that they could afford to pay attention to. Make an effort, you tool.
scam and fraud
BEWARE OF AUTHOR HOUSE: I spent $1, 250 to publish my book with them PLUS $2, 500 for a "National Marketing Package". Four months later, not a single paperback nor e-bbok has been sold. Unless you like to throw money away, AVOID AUTHOR HOUSE ENTIRELY!!! Michael
Read full review of AuthorHouse and 19 commentsstealing royaltie's
I published with Author House in November, 2008. I wrote "The Chip Hustler, " by Barbara Lee. It has a 5 star rating on Amazon. Com., Alibris.Com and many websites. Since my book went live in November, 2008, I have only sold one paperback bought by a friend. I got $9.68. There have been 10 books bought by a book vendor. The print report doesn't say which book vendor. With everything included, I have received $70.00 in royaltie's. What a fraud? My book is on hundreds of websites and I know that it is selling. I know of six other people that have bought my book. I haven't received a penny for those sales. Author House steals royaltie's from it's author's. I know this is true. There are too many author's complaining of the same thing.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Author House published my 'LOVE FOR EVER' by Clara Eminue in 2012 after over a year of paying the agreed fees which changed several times! After publication, I presonally bought 100 copies of my book and i have seen my book being marketed on Amazon etc and up until now no royalty has been discussed talk less of payment! I sent my bank account yet there was no reply! Someone recently called requesting me to pay some money for marketing ! I dont really understand what they are doing! My mails are not replied anymore!
I'm not with Author House, but Trafford is just as bad. They're all crooks with different names.
I agree with this complaint and it also backs up my issues. This losing everything is out of control! It's not just one employee either - it's every department (almost) that I have been in contract with over my book. They even lost a positive review on their page and tried to tell me I did it. How in the world could I have done this? It's their web pages. It was posted for 7 months and poof it was gone. I had to send them a copy of the review that I made from their site to get it back on. Then they had the nerve to tell me if this happens again they won't post it.
I'm in!
stealing royalties
I published my book as a paperback in 2003 when this company was called 1st Books. They have been stealing my royalties ever since. The book is on close to one hundred websites, world-wide and is selling in euros, canadian dollars, Japanese yen and regular dollars.
Amazon.com will not release sales figures on any book coming from AuthorHouse without a subpoena from a lawyer representing the author (even for one copy). This does not make sense unless Amazon.com were in it up to their necks with AuthorHouse and hiding this fraud, both from the authors and the taxes rightfully due the U.S. government. In addition, Ingram's, which distributes these books, is also in on the scam.
It is extremely paranoid for a multi-billion dollar company, one of the world's wealthiest companies today like Amazon.com to demand a lawyer in the matter of one single copy of a book when the royalty due the author was under twenty dollars . . . which, by the way, she has not gotten from that lying company, AuthorHouse.
Surely a lousy twenty dollars would not bankrupt this extremely rich company, but, if thousands of sales were being stolen, it would make sense for them to try to cover their backs by demanding a lawyer. Their reasoning is that the average author would not have a personal lawyer.
I cancelled my contract two years ago with AuthorHouse and my novel is still selling everywhere on the internet. There is no need for more than one website offering a product of any kind unless that product were selling.
The name of my novel is April is the Cruellest Month: the Praetorium.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
My book is called Memories of My Grandfather, I paid them 2300.00 to publish it and I make less than a dollar on each book. They have this fixed so it is in their favor. I've complained to the BBB and Attorney General. They've done nothing. I know my book is selling well. I just don't get the royalites and they are lying about it. It says sellers get 50 percent, and your sales don't reflect those sales from Amazon.com or other book stores. If they don't then where are the ROyalies from those other book stores. I sale nation wide, you can't tell me that there have been no sales. THey make it sound so good, but it's only good for them. They don't give a rats ###. I wish them all bad luck. They are stealing millions from poor people. They can fix the document after you look at it to be in there favor, but when you are looking at it it appears to be in your favor. They can fix (doctor documents) anything. They are a publishing company. THey must be good they even passed the muster on the BBB and Attorney General! WE NEED A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGASIN'T THEM. IS ANYONE BRAVE ENOUGH TO TAKE THEM ON? E-MAIL ME AT CLCY@ATT.NET. MY WEB PAGE IS HTTP://WALKERTHEWALKER.GOOGLEPAGES.COM/HOME (LOWERCASE)
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Hi Authors and Readers of Author House, I am an emerging writer in India, I have written three poetry books in English and one in history which is a small book. I wish to make my books to be published in Author house, in spite of my effort for self publishing. Is there any other publishing house to make my books published free of cast? Dewan V. Selvam.