Is There A Reason to Complain About AuthorHouse or Any Vanity Press?

So, you want to self-publish your book, and you really don’t have time to go and do a lot of research. You figure all you will need to do is to work with a bit of information and then you will be able to find a good company who will self-publish your book.

Good beginning.

Except that you go to Google or Yahoo or the search engine of your choice and you come up with a lot of websites for a self-publishing company.  One of them is AuthorHouse.  They seem good so you write in your information and wait for a call.

This call comes from a customer service representative for AuthorHouse.  You tell them your information and they tell you it’s great.  Your book can be published.  Then they suggest that you get this package or that add on, and pretty soon you are spending a fair bit of money. This cost money, and then you aren’t getting the sales for your book to cover your expenses, which were a bit higher than you imagined.  Okay, a lot higher.  Should you complain about AuthorHouse?  Should you complain to them?  Would you want to complain to them?

Is there really a reason to complain about AuthorHouse or any vanity press?

Because of their long standing challenges with authors and with booksellers, there is a reason to complain.  You did spend money and you made the mistake of seeing too many stars, of listening to a representative when you should have taken a moment to figure out what would work for you.  Or more importantly for your book.  The reality is not when you get the book back and you find out that it’s not what you wanted, or what your readers needed.  You’d like to go back and get some money back, because you didn’t use this part of the package or that part of the package.  Unfortunately the contract says you can’t, when you give them the go ahead, you’re giving them the money.

Should you complain?

Yes you should.  You should make you views known, but you should also admit this was a mistake, and you are doing this to warn people to think about what they need for self-publishing.  The thing about complaining is that while therapeutic, if your points are not good, you will not get people to tell you their story.

You are one of many.  You have a right to complain, and you need to let people know that there are choices out there.  Maybe it’s more the need to tell them that you’ve done that, and why you won’t do it again.  Writing can change your life, but you want that change to be positive.  Helping other writers avoid the same problems as you faced is a good thing.