iUniverse
Reviews and Complaints

I published two books through this company entitled "The Power of the Gift, 1st and 2nd editions." Honestly speaking, with Iuniverse it's All about what they can get financially! The first book, I poured my heart into it. I spent a lot of money with them and even then they continued to call me trying to get me to buy "Marketing Products." I didn't bite. Low and behold, I search the Internet and find my books are being marketed All Over The World! However, mind you, I haven't seen a royalty check in years. The 2nd edition of my book is bursting with Errors, they didn't care. They published it, ERRORS and All. DON'T USE THEM. SCAM COMPANY!

We are at the last hurdle, having been collaborating on this project for almost 10 years. I completed payments for the selected 'package' and my book is almost ready for publication having completed the editing process, with insertion of images been the only outstanding task. Its months now to get through this process but nothing seems to be moving. Its now several months waiting for confirmation of the receipt of the last images sent to via Gmail to my dedicated consultant. I had to switch from my gmail and to yahoo account after getting no replies on the former. Emails were directed to my dedicated consultant including the email with images for publishing and several emails requesting feedback but my emails are not acknowledged and are completely ignored or perhaps are been intercepted by a third party. I have carbon-copied several other staff members that I have coordinated with during in the past hoping I may get a response and that assistance may be expedited, but to no avail. These employees have been helpful in the past, though. As it stands, it appears that iUniverse has scammed me or they have decided to stall publication of the book for reasons unknown to me.

This is a multi front, complete scam. $900 from someone on disability pension.

Police are getting involved

On April 20th 2021 I ordered the colorful package from iUniverse Publishing on April 27th I received an email from a coordinator Jeremy Carey that iUniverse Publishing could not do that Editorial Evaluation of my Children's book at which time I Cancelled my Contract with iUniverse Publishing verbally over the phone. I also sent them a letter of Cancellation and which I have a certified receipt. I spoke with Kelly Allison and was told I would receive a refund within 30 days. After the 30 days I spoke with the manager Mike Collins and he sent me an email saying that I owed iUniverse Publishing $500 for Canceling my Contract. The Editorial Evaluation was a part of the package that I ordered. The contract said I had 10 days to Cancel. If someone can help me get my refund and resolve this situation I would greatly appreciate it. Because I'm feeling like I was scammed. I have all the emails that was sent to me. You can reach me at [protected]@gmail.com

After cancelling my contract which was acknowledged by Iuniverse, mentioned refund but did not send a refund, highjacked my book and published it without my permission. Amazon accepted the book, processed it and advertized it but it was published by Iuniverse. As far as I know, I have no recourse. I am ninety years old and have worked on the book for many years. Bill Wellman DVM
[protected]@gmail.com

I signed up with iUniverse and the sales team was friendly and promised to always be around. But that did not happen when mistakes were made with editing and final publishing. Further more, the marketing consultant gave different information for sales and royalty reports while customers service gave something different. After a deep dive, this information is not listed on the web-site. Calling customer service is no help as they talk down to you and degrade you by referring you back to the web-site that does not have the data.

Leadership does not care as contacting them will get you an email back and an apology but they go back to their habits.

I want this company to provide all necessary information to the author before they sign anything. If the company holds author royalties than it needs to specify why. There is no reason why sales report is over 3 months behind. We are living in the world of high technology and on the crust of blockchain and crypto while iUniverse is stuck in the 1960s.

I want customer service to be overhauled and I want to see entire leadership on the website with contact info.

DO NOT EVER DO BUSINESS WITH this place can't say business because no one is professional. Their reps laugh at you when they feel you know more than what you should. No one returns calls not even the Executive director. I took my files from this company and dont you know they still published my book anyways? Yes and then had the nerve to build a website for their company page and didn't have my custom page built like I pay for them to been have done. So if somebody buy my product from them funds go straight to them and what do I get? NOTHING! Self publishing is all about you keeping 100% of your royalties with them you only get 25. LOOK CHECK THIS OUT, I asked for my money back since the site wasn't ready and I had already pulled my files and what do you know NO ONE returned my call but you better know when I called back to get my money they're telling me it's in process. They also made me pay for a design service that was already included in my package and then gone try and put a skirt on it by giving me a discount on it. This pissed me off PLEASE dont ever work with this company and I hope my influence carry enough weight to stop their place COMPLETELY! @Iuniverse NOW LAUGH AT THAT! DONT RETURN A CALL TO THAT!

Since speaking with Eugene Hopkins, no one in the Phillipines is taking my calls. So, evidently what he dictates is a message to all those received as gospel.
I will also be taking my complaint to AUTHOR HOUSE hierachy

My book was advertised on their website. I had gone over the back cover with a fine-toothed comb. My editor and I were very pleased with the results. I gave approval for that back cover. I looked at the book on-line and couldn't believe my eyes. There were typos, grammar errors, punctuation almost non-existent. I have e-mailed everyone that has worked on the book with me and no response. I've called re-submission and no answer. They want me to pay another $200.00 for resubmission and I didn't make the error; they did. I put my lifesavings into this book. I live in a nursing home and am on a fixed income. They used me for the money. I can't believe I fell for their scam even though I did the homework or I thought I did.

Iuniverse.com I feel is ripping me off when it comes to the royalties of copies of my book in the ebook format. I also wonder whether the count of paperback books is accurate. I know of 7 (seven) close friends or family who have purchased my novel, what should have been by joni berry and iuniverse says I have had no such purchases. This only amounts to $7.00 but how many other "would be" authors are they stealing from? Joni berry. [protected]

I had an agreement with the Marketing Director to postpone my marketing/publicity campaign due to a circumstance beyond my control - litigation with a branch of the Canadian Provincial Government.

My manuscript was completed in December 2015. Without my authorization, someone from iUniverse released it into the market in January 2016. I wasn't ready. Since my project was live I signed up for the 3-month Online Newsmaker Program, to be paid in monthly installments. The MD knew my situation in Canada. We agreed that I could put my payments on hold until I was able to return. I am not in breech of a service agreement with iUniverse.

In the interim, I maintained a monthly subscription for Author Solutions; I paid for that subscription for about 15 months.

I recently cancelled my project with iUniverse altogether, as my situation has not changed. Unfortunately, the unauthorized release of my project went dead-in-the-water, because it was not promoted. I don't hold the marketing director/department responsible for that piece. Only the individual that released my project without my authority. I don't know who was responsible for that.

I have contacted the MD, but have not gotten a response; however, I have had correspondence form staff at iUniverse that have informed me that my situation is known to the marketing department.

I Know how they steal hard earned Royalites, from Authors, I'm getting Ready to sue... them ubeknown to them, it's a shame you can't trust these publishers today, as the saying goes I "Gotcha" you havent... changed not one bit. I have been receiving royalties for years then all of a sudden, I stopped getting Royalties, since 2015, then I checked to see why in 2018 after resetting a new password with them, I discovered they had gotten rid of all my direct deposit payment information, so where did the money go? So if I had gotten any sales, they had no where to send the money getting rid of all records of their stealing, so they kept it in a scam, I don't know how much I've been ripped off for, but that's why you go to court, I'll see your [censored]'s soon trust me. Sincerely Yours, I'm coming for you Your [censored]!

My name is Trung Ha and Mike Crider was my sale person. After submitted my manuscript, the project manager told me the book can't not be published if I don't change my name, the names of the characters in my book and the locations, it concerns of the lawsuit. I explained to them the characters in the book are no longer I that positions and my family in Vietnam can't locate them and I suggested to use the nik name instead of the real names but the publisher will not accept and I did not want my true story became a friction. I decided to cancel the process. After many moths they returned the money with $400.0 less and no invoice or description of what the $400 was for. Please help to review the case and let me know what was the $400 charge for where there is nothing indicate I the contract I entered.
Thanks

I published with IUniverse as I was very ill and did not think I had time to wait for a real publisher. They did the book (cover bad) and in 12 years I have not received a penny in royalties. They also hang on to the rights to the book. They are scammers and I would advise everyone who is thinking of going to them...think again. When I phoned about royalties they said I had $28 coming to me. I know of several people who bought the book and Amazon always had several used copies on their site. Run as fast as you can from these bloodsuckers. The woman on the phone told me I would get the $28 when they decided to send it.

In 2009 I published a book with IUNIVERSE (or some universe). Never heard from them since. Then, a month ago I received a call from someone stating they were from IUNIVERSE indicating that they noticed my book was not selling and for 1500.00 they could promote it . I told them I have never received royalties from IUNIVERSE and they ignored my complaint and continued on with their immoral and despicable sells shakedown. I have received repeated calls each day until I had to place their number on call block.

Dear Diana, iUniverse Representative

I'm writing to you now after our most recent conversations and after receiving your email dated April 12, 2016, on the subject of: PD: 470384 – Content Evaluation Results (second round). I would like you to pass this on up the chain of command.
I want to start off by telling you that when Jean, the previous check-in coordinator, sent me the first review results from the content evaluation department I submitted to her, it took the wind out of my sails and put me under more stress than I can physically and mentally handle. I am an aged, disabled man, and I'm dying. I'm in a hospital bed in my living room and only have about 6 to 8 percent lung capacity on a seven-liter flow of constant oxygen 24 hours a day just to breath. Every day and night is a challenge just to stay alive now and I'm losing sleep. Even though I have lived with PTSD for most of my life, the emotional and physical strain I'm having now by facing nitpicking demands with iUniverse by wanting me to drastically change my life's story makes me feel that they're moving me quicker to my death. I am now more concerned if future dealings won't put me there. My life is not a lie and I do not want to be forced into changing things because of the litigious fears of iUniverse.
One of the major contentions was the use of my pen name and I was flat-out lied to about why it was necessary that I had to change my pen name. No one living other than close family members would know me under the pen name I first submitted for my manuscript; there is no proof that could identify that name with my real name. If there was proof (as I was told), then why wouldn’t you provide me with that proof? And so I was forced to make changes to my pen name (which I did, might I add objectionably).
Concerns of Libel/Invasion of Privacy, etc. are referenced, so let’s look at an example of what might be libel. Say someone wrote a comment about another person’s book revealing that the book’s author had been given a dishonorable discharge from the Army; that certainly sounds like a defamatory statement, but only if it is false. The law states that truth is an absolute defense to libel. A defamatory statement must be false and has to be proved by the party who claims to be defamed, but as I state above no one in the story could prove that my story is false. Besides, the genre chosen to publish the manuscript was Bio-Fiction maybe the genre should have been Autobiographical but you should advise the writer as the publisher if this would be better but you have not given any constructive input to the author, what is your job?
When I sent the first submission to Jean I told her the names in the manuscript were fictitious, with the exception of a few names, but those people had died well before my manuscript was submitted. I'd also point out that all names are first names with only a couple of those having last names. Weeks after that I received the results from the first content evaluation review. Also at the beginning of my manuscript I added a disclaimer stating that names were changed to protect family members as well as the innocent and the guilty in order to maintain their anonymity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. No matter, I made the changes anyway because I was told by your company that I HAD to and I just didn’t have the fight left in me at that time. I removed the few things that were requested by her in that email, but the evaluation results were not conclusive nor were they explained completely and only gave a few examples of what they wanted changed; they were vague with no real direction other than the statement that some things may be Libelous or an Invasion of Privacy. What things? Without any other direction or specifics I made the changes including agreeing to the removal of the author’s picture on the back cover.
There is no intended actual malice in the telling of my life. The story and what happened in my life are true; my family knows the real facts. The things you want changed make my life a lie, and as close to death as I am I will not do that for your company. I would have written the book with my real name, but I do not like the limelight.
I have stated, all but a few people in the book are deceased. Those who are not would not know about and more than likely would not be reading my book. But if they were it would not matter because what was said was true and could be proven true. Even if they somehow were to believe they were in the story, they would only hurt themselves by their own doing in pointing it out to anyone. The thought that a person would bring their bad deeds to light on their own is preposterous, particularly when those deeds are true. It would not be by me telling my side of the story, which is the truth. I know they would not want to bring shame upon themselves then, nor do I want to shame them or hurt them, but what has been said in the book is true. I bring my life to the story because I wanted to help people realize that they really have to be conscious of their choices in any given situation to prevent bad consequences from happening in their lives and to show that a person can turn their life around and do good.
Your second review is the same as the first review with no clear instruction or stated changes and unexplained examples. Your demands are unrealistic and go beyond the law of libel. Examples: Change the location where the story takes place, because the story is worldwide, do you expect me to create an Earth # Two? That seems a bit unreasonable. As for the comments on the name Jerry/Terry, both were fictitious names so changing the name again seems to be nitpicking, to say the least. If you have read my manuscript you know I have a very good understanding of the law. I would expect your company to provide to me your customer with what I payed for which was stated in your E-Mails when we payed your company the funds too publish, copyright, and get the ISBN number for the manuscript, as well as marketing and placement of the manuscript.

If you do not want to publish my work then cease and desist with any further work on my manuscript and return my money and delete all copies from your computers; I'll deal with getting my book published with another company or on my own. I want to see it published and do some good before I die and leave this Earth. But so far in my dealings with iUniverse I am realizing that this wish is more than likely fictional. This manuscript is one of the last things on my bucket list and a story that I believe needs to be told. Dealing with your company I do not believe that will be a reality.

In closing, thanks for the LEARNING experience like I say in the title of my book; TROUBLES life is about SITUATIONS CHOICES CONSEQUENCES
THANKS AGAIN FOR NOTHING PD: 470384

I paid my money to IUniverse; theysaid they would produce my book. They said they needed me to change the cover because it was controversial and showed a parody depiction of a public figure. They provided me with a new cover I said cool. The new cover they provided included the controversial title. However they kept saying I had to make little changes to my text a little at a time. My first contact and payment was in September. They kept stringing me along for two months. They suggested I was going to need editorial services for another fee. I told them I did not need editorial services. They said ok we need you to change the cover and title in early December. They could have and should have told me in the beginning they could not produce my book because of the title of the book and the cover but they wanted to take my money and attempt to exploit more. They took my money and wasted my time before telling me. I have asked for a refund but they refuse to respond. They are very disreputatable and the worse thing is their intentional misleading.

I published three books with iUniverse in 2000 and felt I got a great deal out of it. I know that my books are not commercially successful, but I am glad that they were published. Now all of a sudden 15 years later I am suddenly getting calls from what sounds like a boiler room trying to get me to purchase all sorts of new promotion material for the book. I was then sent a list of contacts that my release was sent to -- the major media outlets in my area were not listed. I also have not gotten one media contact in three months. The book was written 35 years ago and published 15 years ago, and all of a sudden it becomes marketable? I first thought there was something to this but now I am suspicious. I will go with the book fair that I am supposed to be at in September (in Canada nonetheless - I live in Mississippi so there's no way I can check it out), but after that I am not taking any more calls from them. I honestly am not sure about how they work now.

I paid $1000 for my book to be published by iuniverse. I spoke with an agent by the name eddie wright who told me I can take my time on whenever I am ready to start the book, he said even if it takes me more than 5years I can still come back and continue anywhere I stopped and if I decide not to write the book again, I will have my deposit refunded back at any time. I have never sent a manuscript to them or even a book title. Now, I am ready to start working on my book when they told me eddie wright is no longer in the office and I am attached to Denise Benefiel who told me they cannot publish a cookbook in colored formats. in my cookbook I have all full colors and full image of my catering. since they cannot publish a real cookbook with real photos instead of the black and white images. I asked them to refund my money back as stated but denise told me its more than 6 months and I will not be getting any refund back. this is not what I was told when I made my $1000 down payment. I need my refund back as promised. please help me

I have been away for a while now I'm ready to take down self publishing, it's legal and brilliant. Join me if you got screwed by iuniverse/author house... I will provide you with all the details. You are not alone I have a seizable following. All of their tricks on screwing people will be exposed! Let Eugene Hopkins know what it is to live from pay check to pay check...
Thank you so much C.D. McLeod

[protected]@msn.com