AuthorHouse
Reviews and Complaints

I signed a book publication contract with AuthorHouse in 2012.
Since then, problems have been dogging the project.
Micheal Pyles, who is in charge of sending me free copies, has never responded to my emails when I asked him why I could not have a say on how the copies are sent if I have to pay about $200 for the mailing costs.
I filed a complaint with AuthorSupport, which took weeks to respond to my emails. It often took weeks for AuthorSupport to give me a reply.
Merly Delicano, my coordinator, took weeks even months to respond to my emails.
I pointed out the problem to manager Headley-Jerome, who said: “We are not sure how we could have acted more appropriately.”
My new coordinator, May Alvarez, suddenly ignored my emails.
I pointed out the problem to Tim Mendoza, production supervisor, who avoids addressing my complaint.
AuthorHouse employees are unabashedly shameless. Instead of offering an apology and trying to improve its services, a senior employee, Adrienne Scherschel, senior Author Satisfaction researcher, asked me to not rehash what had happened and to move on.
I finally reached the point where I said enough is enough. I took the monetary loss and moved on.
The USA has some of the best business schools in the world. The Authorhouse employees do not even have an ounce of business etiquette. They do not even know that before they are businesspeople, they have to be decent people.

AuthorHouse was suppose to publish my Manuscript, a Book of wonderful poems a three part...They took my work and my money in May, I pay my first payment, and then I pay the second payment...They said that they want the last payment but everytime they call me I ask about the book and they said that the book have been on hold since July...I have no proof that they are working on the book I also sent them a copy of the cover page but I have not rec;d any information on the book. It is December and they won't return my calls or e-mails, I need help with this company.. I would like to have my work back as well as my money. How could they do this to people I trusted them to do the right thing...

The rogue, predatory, fraudulent publishing company called Author House based in Indiana will steal your money and not publish your work. Please, do not deal with them for your peace of mind., They collected money from me and refused to honor the contract and all I did is contact the Indiana Attorney Generals Office (The Consumer Protection Division) - [protected]. They refunded my money in full. I wonder wow or why these thieves continue to stay in business in a lawful country like the US. It is terrible. I am willing to join anyone to file a class action suit.

John Barnes

Sherman Wright, my service representative, from AuthorHouse said for $3, 245.37 I would be sent 390 books After a revision and 2nd printing with the revisions were done. I talked to the printing and billing offices and was assured that they would not be printed until after the revisions had been done. Now about 2-3 weeks later 390 books with no revisions have been shipped to me. I am suppose to take these on book signings with errors in them. I do not want to pay for them as that was not the deal. I still want to do the revisions and then have them printed. They need to be returned at AuthorHouse's expense.

Author House keeps the royalties (in which I'm now gathering receipts from some buyers) and they also have the problem of losing everything including a royalty check from a year ago. They won't re-issue it because they have said for months it's still live. I told them to cancel the check and just issue another one. They avoid answering that with blaming the post office to even me. They motto is "We didn't do it - you did." I'm still waiting for the check for the 4th quarter of 2011. The stupid part about it is the check is only $7.26. We are fighting over chump change. Do they need money that bad? The losing of items, began the first few months when they lost a picture. Then checks from me to them with tracking devices on them. They arrived at AH but never got past the lobby - apparently. Never were cashed either. By the tracking devices it was proved AH did receive them and signed for them. I went to the top on this one and received the books I was ordering anyway. The checks have never susfaced. I never replaced them because they received the checks. They are constantly losing e-mails from me to them. I have to re-e-mail and then they seem to not be able to answer but one question at a time. Another e-mail for another issue. Another check was lost for five days for the S&H of books for a book signing and caused the book signing to start a waiting list due to the problem of not shiping the books until I re-issue the check. I said for them to honor the check they already CASHED. It goes on and on... The issue about lack of royalties is another problem. I'm selling books right and left and the people who have bought books over the Internet are apparently not recorded. Here's a book that a movie company is negotiating with me to sell them the story for a movie. Go figure...

not paying royalties after giving them thousands in marketing strategy, supposedly performed by them, for instance 2, 000, 000 emails for book, result they said, no sales, media press release all across u. s a. and so they say, etc, etc book published 2010 dec, i own copyrights, amazon.com shows book high seller, but they still are not paying me.

Last year in 2011, I paid AuthorHouse thousands of dollars to publish my book. Unfortunately, I found out too late about the scam. I have received approximately $10 in royalties since my book was published in 2011. I bought books myself, and wasn't surprised when I never received the royalties. I can only blame myself for choosing AuthorHouse, but I learned a valuable lesson.

My novel writing partner and I had high hopes when we discovered Authorhouse (originally 1st Books). We have discovered they are in business to publish novels and charge a fee, as well as to distribute the works to bookstores around the world (some long established), not to sell books to consumers. Although both our novels were picked up by Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, along with numerous well established online booksellers, they claim our royalties total only $6.17 or some absurd amount. It is the ultimate nonrisk money making scheme. They make profits on the publishing fee, as well as by selling them to online booksellers, pocket the money and do nothing thereafter. My writing partner is a member of the Screen Actors Guild of longstanding, in contact with many creative people, including authors. He is telling them to avoid Authorhouse at all costs. There also is a lack of communication amongst Authorhouse employees. Over the past several months I have had calls from Authorhouse representatives totally unaware we had published two novels with them, or even of the fact I had a writing partner. Then just recently one woman called saying they were offering to publish our third novel free (huh?)

Since March, 2004, all I have received fom Author House from my wildly popular book; Acts of War: JESUS/ALEXANDER & JFK, are pennies, with my last check, in May, 2009, was $2.24. When I would check with Author House about my sales, the mantra, "You haven't sold ANY books in the ? quarter, " was the norm. I called in February, 2010, and it was a new girl: "Well, you sold nineteen books in October." "Nineteen?, " I said. There was a distinct whispering, and she said, "You haven't sold ANY books in the 4th Quarter!" "I thought you just said I sold nineteen books?" "Oh, that was just a computer glitch, " she answered. I was blind with rage, especially after a friend called me ftom Pittburgh, and said, "The whole city is going crazy over your book!" Other sources have told me it is a hit in the U.S, , Canada and the UK, where the Queen is 'disappointed' in me. I have been told that my book is like gold in the UK, and Spain is bowing down to me. I have sold millions of books, paid over 8, 000 dollars in 'fees, ' and received virtually nothing in return for my efforts. They continue to sell my book, (with up to 10 online vendors), while I recieve nothing.
RSVP g.[protected]@comcast.net Author House Book ID# GD20138

Gary Reginald Dodge
141 Leland Avenue, 107
San Francisco, CA., 94134

[protected]

Cancelled Agreement 9 1/2 years ago - they claim I didn't. Have have 2 checks -one on 08/07/02 $4.49c & one Jan 16th 2012 for $8.96c - yet they claim 'on the www "Very Good. Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 00 Orders Filled". Send your complaints to [protected]@yahoo.com - with E-mail - to gather evidence for a Class Action - Alfred Campbell 'The Soul of a Poet'

Paid author house $600.00 to "publish my book" - it charged me $10.75 to make each book which was only 52 pages! I was informed that they were "expert professionals" and that my book would be sold in hundreds of book stores and retailers. When I put in "sand storm soldier" by Paul A. Borowski into my browser, it brought up dozens of different book sellers and it showed that there were literally thousands of hits since it was listed in June, 2011 on these various web sites. Despite this I was informed by author house that there had been absolutely no sales of this book which I find hard to believe.
I and planning a class action law suit against these scam artists so if you would like to join me in this please contact me as soon as possible accordingly!
Paul A. Borowski
[protected]@yahoo.com

TO WHOM MAY BE INTERESTED:
APROX MARCH OF 2008, AFTER RESEARCHING A PASSION OF MINE, DECIDED TO PUT TOGETHER A BOOK, A BOOK THAT EXPLAINES QUITE A BIT OF INFORMATION MOST PEOPLE LET SLIDE BY, NOT EVEN MENTIONING A WORD OF WHAT THEY MAY HAVE SEEN NOR FEELINGS OF WHAT THEY FEEL IS PROBABLY FACTUAL!
WELL, AFTER I HAD PUT TOGETHER MANY IDEAS I HAD, NOT ONLY SEEN, BUT WATCHED ON T. V. AS WELL AS WHAT I HAD READ IN MANY PUBLICATIONS OVER THE YEARS. IN TALKING TO MANY OF MY FRIENDS ABOUT MY FINDINGS, SEVERAL HAD QUITE A BIT OF THINGS THEY HAD EXPIERENCED AS WELL AS READ OR SAW ON T. V. HISTORY CHANNEL
TO BE PERFECTLY "FRANK" MY FEELINGS ABOUT WHAT ONE MAY OBSERVE, WATCH ON T. V. OR PICK UP IN SMALL PUBLICATIONS, CAN, FOR THE MOST PART, SIMPLY, CAN BE DISMISSED, LEAVING THE PERSON THAT HAD JUST OPENED UP REGARDING A CERTAIN SUBJECT, WISH THEY HAD NEVER MENTIONED ANYTHING AT ALL. USUALLY THE PERSON THAT HAD OPENED HIS OR HER IDEAS TO ANYONE, FRIENDS, FAMILY ETC. WALK AWAY THINKING, FROM THAT TIME ON (LIKE FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE) WILL BE A LIVING JOKE TO ALL THEY HAD CONFINED IN (FAMILAR ?) WELL, AT MY AGE, BORN IN 1938, FEEL, IF I HAVE PEOPLE AROUND ME THAT RESEMBLE THE ONES MENTIONED ABOVE, IT IS DEFINETELY TIME TO RE-ESTABLISH A NEWER ENVIRONMENT OF PEOPLE. (DON'T CHA THINK ?)
REALLY FEELING I HAD SOMETHING, WANTED TO SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH THE WORLD !
NOT KNOWING THE FIRST THING ABOUT DOING THAT KIND THING, A LIGHT CAME ON IN MY HEAD, WHY NOT WRITE A BOOK ?
AGAIN, JUST AS TRYING TO TELL THOSE THINGS I HAD BUNCHED UP INSIDE OF ME, HAD THE FEELING I MAY BE JUDGED BY MANY MORE PEOPLE THAN JUST A FEW !
BOOKS I HAVE READ IN MY LIFETIME ARE CRAMMED WITH SO MUCH "CRAP" THE MAJORITY OF ITS READERS, USUALLY, ROLL THEIR EYES AND SET THE BOOK ASIDE, NEVER TO BE OPENED AGAIN. (RIGHT?) ALSO, ANOTHER THING THE AUTHORS DO, IS ADD A LOT OF FILLERS, THINGS THAT REALLY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MESSAGE THEIR TRYING TO MAKE, BUT THE AUTHORS FEEL IF THE BOOK, SITTING ON THE SHELF OF A BOOK STORE ISN'T "A FATTY", THE POTENTIAL CUSTOMER WILL CHOOSE ONE THAT IS.
THE NEXT DECISION I HAD WAS, HOW IN THE WORLD DOES AN AUTHOR SELECT AN AGENCY TO GET THE BOOK "OUT THERE ?"
WHAT I DID, WAS GO ON THE COMPUTER, SCROLL THROUGH PUBLISHERS ADDS TILL I FELT I HAD CHOSE THE RIGHT ONE !

SO, HERE IS THE PLACE WHERE I FEEL AS IF I HAVE MADE A MISTAKE !
FROM THE GET-GO, I WAS TOLD THINGS THAT ON THE SECOND CONTACT WITH THE PUBLISHER, HAD CHANGED COMPLETELY.
TO START OFF, . I WAS LEAD TO THINK, THE PRICE THAT WAS QUOTED, AND "PAID" FOR, WAS ALL I WOULD EVER NEED TO PAY! WHICH WOULD INCLUDE, THE COVER, PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION.
WELL, SHORTLY, THERE AFTER, ADDITIONAL CHARGES WERE ADDED TO THE ORIGIONAL, ( I THINK, ONE PRICE AGREEMENT). IT HAS BEEN OVER THREE YEARS, OF GETTING THE RUN AROUND, NEVER ABLE TO BE SPEAK TO THE LAST PERSON IN WHICH I WAS TOLD WOULD BE THE ONLY PERSON THAT HAD BEEN ASSIGNED TO ME AND WOULD BE TAKING ME THROUGH, FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE TIME MY BOOK WOULD BE PLACED ON THE BOOK STORE SHELVES !
SOMETIMES, AFTER CALLING MANY TIMES TO SPEAK TO THE LAST PERSON THAT I HADE SPOKE WITH WOULD TAKE WEEKS, EVEN ON A FEW OCCASIONS, I WOULDN'T HEAR BACK FOR WELL OVER A MONTH. EVEN THE COVER, I HAD ABOUT A YEAR OF HEAD ACHES GETTING THAT DONE, FINALLY AFTER I DESIGNED IT ABOUT 90% MYSELF AND SIGNED OFF THE FINAL SKETCH, THE SO CALLED ARTIST IN WHICH I WASN'T ALLOWED TO SPEAK WITH, CHANGED THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, WHEN I QUESTIONED WHAT HAD BEEN DONE, THE RESPONSE WAS, "YOU SIGNED OFF, (REMEMBER) SO NOW IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE ART WORK IN WHICH YOU SIGNED OFF ON, WILL COST YOU $70. AN HR. (ADDITIONAL)
WELL, I WAS INFORMED, MY BOOK WAS AVAILABLE (FOR SALE) AT THREE PLACES, AUTHORHOUSE PUBLISHING, AMAZON.COM PLUS BARNES & NOBLE AND TWENTY OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD. THE KICKER TO THAT WAS. I WAS TOLD ADVERTISING WAS ANOTHER EXPENSE COMPLETELY, (THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS) THE TOLD ME THAT THE HAD SAID, THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE THE BOOK AVAILABLE TO ALL THOSE PLACES, GETTING THE WORD OUT TO THE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS WAS SOMETHING THAT I WAS GOING TO EITHER TAKE CARE OF ON MY OWN OR THEY WOULD ASSIGN A SALES PROMOTER TO DO THE ADVERTISING! NEXT THING I FOUND OUT WAS THEY CANCELLED MY HARD COVERS, LEAVING ONLY PAPER BACK. WHEN I ASKED WHY THEY CANCELLED MY HARD COVER, THEY REALLY DIDN'T HAVE AN ANSWER, I WAS TOLD TO CALL BACK AS THEIR COMPUTER WAS DOWN AND THE PERSON IN WHICH I WAS ASSIGNED TO WAS GOING TO BE OUT OF THE OFFICE FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS. FINALLY AFTER MANY PHONE CALLS, WAS TOLD, THE REASON THEY HAD CANCELLED THE HARD COVER WAS, FIRST THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE EXACT SIZE THEY HAD GIVEN ME DIMENSIONS FOR . NEXT TIME I SPOKE WITH THEM ABOUT TWO TO THREE WEEKS LATER, (AFTER E MAILING AND CALLING THEM, SPEAKING TO AY LEAST FIVE MORE PEOPLE THEY CANCELLED IT AGAIN AS THEY TOLD ME, I HADN'T INFORMED THEM, IF I WANTED A DUST COVER OR PICTURE ON THE ACTUAL HARD COVER ITSELF!
IT STILL ISN'T READY TO BE PURCHASED YET, NOT FOR ABOUT A MONTH ? WHEN I ASKED THEM ABOUT THE 20 COPIES I WOULD BE RECEIVING, THEIR ANSWER WAS, IF I WANTED COPIES, I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM ! I TOLD THEM THAT THE 20 COPIES WAS WRITTEN INTO THE ORIGIONAL CONTRACT, THE RESPONSE WAS, WELL, WE FINALLY FOUND YOUR ORIGIONAL CONTRACT, HOWEVER THINGS HAD CHANGED SEVERAL TIMES AND THAT CONTRACT WAS NOT IN PLACE ANYMORE. WHEN, THEY REALIZED, BY THE TONE OF MY VOICE, I WAS GENUINELY PROVOKED, THEY SAID THEY WOULD BE SENDING ME MY 10 PAPERBACK AND 10 HARD COVER, (BUT) I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO FOOT THE DELIVERY CHARGE !
AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, I RECEIVE A PHONE CALL FROM SOMEONE CLAMING TO BE ON THEIR SALES TEAM WANTIMG TO PROMOTE MY BOOK AT A MAJOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSE. I HAVEN'T REPLIED TO THAT OFFER AS OF YET, HOW EVER, I DID ASK FOR THE AMOUNT OF BOOKS THEY HAVE SOLD AT THIS TIME. THEIR REPLY WAS, WE DON'T HAVE ANY WAY TO GIVE YOU A NUMBER, BUT I WILL BE RECEIVING A ROYALTY CHECK IN THE FIRST WEEK OF FEB. 2012
I TOLD THEM HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO PAY A SALES PERSON TO PROMOTE MY BOOK WHEN I MUST HAVE TO WAIT 3 MONTHS PLUS TO FIND HOW MANY SALES CAME FROM HIS SALES PROCEDURE. I SAID WHAT IF IT WAS A BAD PROMOTION AND VERY LITTLE SALES CAME FROM IT. I WOULD BE TOTALLY OUT OF ALL THAT FOOLISH MONEY SPENT, THE LADY ON THE PHONE PRETENDED NOT TO UNDERSTAND MY LOGIC, I SAID, DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU HAVE ABSOUTELY NO IDEA HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE BEEN SOLD AT THIS TIME ? SHE RESPONDED, NO BECAUSE THEY GO TO OTHER DISTRIBUTORS AND THEY WONT BE ABLE TO TALLY UP THE SALES FOR THOSE SALES. I SAID, WAIT A MINUTE, YOU HAVE TOLD ME NO BOOKS COME OFF THE PRESS TILL YOU HAVE SOLD ORDERS, I DIDN'T ASK FOR MONEY FROM THOSE SALES AS I'VE BEEN TOLD, I WILL BE PAID QUARTERLY, WHICH WILL PUT ME INTO THE FIRST WEEK OF FEB. 2012, I'M JUST ASKING HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE GONE THROUGH PRESS AT THIS TIME. STILL, SHE SAID SHE HAD NO WAY TO FIND OUT. SHE DID SAY ONLY THE BOOKS THAT HAD ORDERS PLACED AT THEIR LOCATION "AUTHORHOUSE" I SAID, O K THEN, TELL ME HOW MANY DID YOU TAKE ORDERS FOR ? HER ANSWER, NONE
NOW, I COULD FEEL MYSELF GETTING HOT. I SAID, HOW CAN YOU TELL ME THAT ? IT ISN'T TRUE, THREE PEOPLE I KNOW PLACED ORDERS WITH AUTHORHOUSE AND HAVE RECEIVED THEM, I ABSOUTELY KNOW AS FACT AS I HAVE AUTOGRAPHED ALL THREE !
WELL THIS IS THE END OF MY CONCERN WHICH LEAVES MY VERY WORRIED, ABOUT 4 MO. AGO, I READ ON THE COMPLAINT BOARD AGAINST AUTHORHOUSE. A MAN WAS VERY ANGRY, HE CLAMES HIS SCHOOL HAD PLACED AND RECEIVED AN ASTONISHING AMOUNT OF HIS BOOKS IN WHICH WELL OVER 4-5 MONTHS HAD PASSED AND AUTHORHOUSE CLAIMES NO SALES WERE MADE FROM THEIR AGENCY, EVEN AFTER HE SENT CONFORMATION THAT THEY INDEED HAD MADE THE SALE. WHAT HE CLAIMES HAPPENED NEXT WAS AUTHORHOUSE CANCELLED THEIR BUSINESS WITH HIM, TELLING HIM TO TAKE HIS BUSINESS ELSWHERE . SO YOU CAN SEE MY CONCERN, BEING 74 YEARS OF AGE, I CAN'T AFFORD TO GO TOE TO TOE WITH ANYONE

If you are thinking of using this company - think again. When they shut their UK offices, warning signs should have gone up. As we got rather tiny royalty cheques, we were surprised but thought that may be our book is not selling - er, thats strange as it is ranking 33 in the top 100 best selling health resource books in the UK (on amazon) and doing almost as well in the amazon.com site? Trying to seak to anyone with a brain is impossible, they change access to your own author sites on line and as for corrections - if you don't do your own and triple check your instructions...forget it. I just found the number of compaints listed for fraud against them on this website and will never use them again. We are stuck with a book whose royalties are supposed to got to charity and I am ashamed to let them see the cheque - yet we know the book has been selling everywhere. Medical libraries worldwide have bought copies - yet we have £33 to show for it. Something wrong somewhere and unless we can all get together with a class action suit...

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.

Time to call in the FBI. I have amassed 70 pages of eveidence against this company and intend to bring charges through both the FBI & Copyright Enforcement Office. I began with this companyin 2001, and have secured boks through friends - yet have had under $5 for forty years hard work. I am also adressing my case the The President of the United States - who said he is adamant that this kind of company is stampped out - time to give them some real jail-time. Alfred Campbell.

It has taken over 10 months and no book. Hundreds of calls with no answer. Just a message.
It takes weeks to get a single change done. You can never talk to the people who design your book cover
you must go through an intermediary. They charge you for every change $50.oo to $75.00. You cannot publish yourself you have to use them at greatly inflated prices 300% over market prices. They will not give you your book and cover so you can print it yourself even thought they assured me that they would. This is the biggest bait and switch scam I have ever seen.
If you use Authorhouse you need your head examined. The turnaround time was supposed to be 8 to 12 weeks and now I am at 40 weeks with no final product. The design is incompetent, they just photo shopped one picture from istock on top of another and added some text. My 12 year old daughter could have done a better job. Beware.

I don't know about AuthorHouse filing for bankruptcy but I do know that my book Mound Bayou is being issued by some 'new' company called Lightening Source Inc. I did not give anyone permission to do as such and I still haven't received any payments for books sold yet!

Beware authorhouse are scam artist class action lawsuit, need people
Hello, i want authorhouse/iuniverse. Why is the complaints board advertising for self pub companies. I have solid evidence. Since i posted a last week a class action law-suit has been initiated. Is it real please check out the law firm this could be a tick from authorhouse. Now if it is join me there is a 2 year statute of limitastions. I have prof they are still selling my book if you are sincere and not one of there flunky's trying to derail my efforts i will tell you where to go and under what company they ayre illegally selling my book... Contact me @ [protected]@msn.com

Let me start by saying that I am a former employee of Authorhouse. My position was terminated because labor is cheaper elsewhere (not their stance, but it's the reality). Therefore, if anyone has a right to dislike them, it's me.

Many complaints I've read range from royalties to "they want me to buy other services". I read one complaint that was valid and that involved an employee going to a "casual dinner" with a potential author. That's a legitimate complaint. To the rest of you, you have yourselves to blame for any issues you may have. Perhaps you should have asked more questions.

Authorhouse is a business. Do you really expect them to care if your book does well? Granted, there are several employees that actually care. And let's be honest, if your book sells, Authorhouse still gets a portion of that. But, the bottom line is THE BOTTOM LINE.

One of the things you're told is that, unless you pay for editing, Authorhouse will print exactly what you send them. Judging from some of the complaints I've read, you should have paid an editor or Authorhouse to edit your book. I'm no grammatical genius. But, if I was going to have a book out there with my name on it, you can bet I would have had it edited. Authorhouse is not in the business of telling you if your book is any good. They're in the business of giving everyone a chance to be published. Do you really think Sarah Palin teaches English on the side for extra cash? NO! I'm sure she had a whole team of editors go through her book. Having said that, even an english teacher has someone else edit his/her work. If you don't believe me, shop your book around for 6 months. Better yet, make it two years. IF you get someone in the industry to read it, CONGRATULATIONS! They'll be sitting in their office laughing at you because you don't know the difference between two, to and too.

At Authorhouse, we were urged to "sell the dream". Do you know why that is? 2% of authors are successful. 2%! If your book really is that good, you will be in that 2%. It will take A LOT...I'll say it again...It will take A LOT of effort and money on your end to make this happen. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

I know I haven't addressed all of the complaints. That would take forever. And, let's be honest, nobody would read this entire post if I did. If you feel you have a LEGITIMATE complaint, I urge you to comment on my post. I promise I will answer you.

If you are looking to publish a book, please ASK QUESTIONS regardless of how silly you think they are. You don't want to be that guy who gets proven wrong.

In closing, Authorhouse is the best of what's out there. You have no idea how much it pains me to say that given how I was treated. Happy publishing. I wish you nothing but the best.

P.S.
Here is a little sales 101 for you. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gump

in 2006 i had a book publish from autorhouse. i pay them about 600 dollars for my book to be publish. i thought i was going to make plenty of money for my book. i got my first check from them and my pay was less then 3 dollars. i only had one book sold. the sell price of the book was about 17 dollars and i only got back less then 3 dollars. i was very disapointed. i had 2 more books sold. i didn't make 10 dollars. last year i invested about 700 dollars for interviews and on line reading. i had only 4 interviews. i haven't seen a cent from them. they told me that i can do an infomercial for 10000 dollars. i was pressure to pay them 1000 dollars. i was to pay them by installments. so i slam on the brakes. i went to the bank to stop the payment to them. now that money is in dispute. they have employees that are better sales people than me. that is if they use that talent the right way. i am not a sales person. for my last place of employment i was sent to work at this place by manpower. i work with them for about 7 months under manpower. then i was hired in. i got my job by my performance not my salesmanship. right now i am retired and don't have the money to waste for these investments and get nothing in return.