Ten Facts About AuthorHouse Publishing

When it comes to self-publishing there is a lot of choice people can make for their book.  It’s simple to go to the search engine put in the keyword “self-publishing companies” and get companies such as: Xlibris, iUniverse, and AuthorHouse publishing as companies you can choose to self-publish with.

AuthorHouse publishing is powerful and known business.

For some writers, they want a book out and they want that book out now, and for a basic fee of $899, for either a black and white or colour package, they can do this.  The problem is that without some research, and some background knowledge, a writer will have problems selling their books in the face of judgement.

There are many writers who find this company to be the best choice for them, but the ones who have done their research are more likely to ask questions and find out facts.  In this case, Google is the key to knowledge.

Here are ten facts about AuthorHouse publishing you should know before you self-publish with them.

1) AuthorHouse was founded in 1997, it was originally called 1stbooks.  Since 2007, it is a part of the parent company, AuthorSolutions. AuthorSolutions was bought by Penguin, which is now a part of Random House.

2) AuthorHouse has been at the centre of controversy for a while.  In one case, they were sued, and lost in court because, although their business model is one which is hands off, they were found to be responsible since they knew that this author had already been rejected in publishing with iUniverse, another self-publishing company.

3) They are a company which allows would be authors to choose a package and add to it as they see fit.  With some side by side research, it is easy to see on their website that none of the packages offer editing.  One can add for 0.042 cents a word, the content editing plus, which on a 10,000 word manuscript will cost $420 to a writer, above the $899.00 package. This will add up quickly.

4) AuthorHouse offers authors who publish with them to add banners or other affiliate products to their site if they join the AuthorHouse, using your affiliate program and publish a book, the referred person will earn $100.  Not bad, as long as your own blog receives enough traffic to make this worth it.

5) As with many self-publishing companies, AuthorHouse uses POD (print on demand) for publishing a book.  This means, that although they print one book at a time, there is a higher cost associated with this method.  It costs more to produce one book than with offset printing which makes a large number of copies at a time.

On average, for a mid sized book, (of about 100 pages) the retail price will be $15.95, and larger books will demand a higher price.  Depending on where your reader buys the book from, the royalty will be $1.60 (Amazon) to $3.99 (Direct from their website.  The company says this is to pay for the POD costs, and give everyone a share.

6) AuthorHouse, and its parent company are active participants at book expos.  These events and where they are located can be found on the main website.  At a glance, they are very active in their attempts at making sure the company is as visible as possible.

7) They have a presence on social media, with a blog, and Twitter and Facebook.  On Facebook alone they have a 3.9 out of 5 star rating, and have close to 15,000 followers for their page.  People like them, and use their services.  Although many author will not make back what they spent on the packages, most writers are content to have their books out there, online or being sold at book signings.

The prices are generally higher than a traditionally published book.  However, many writers have said that if they have a following and people know of them, a book will sell.

8) This being said, people who have had challenges with AuthorHouse, have made may AuthorHouse reviews, where there is much of the same theme: lack of customer service, when mistakes are made it was up to the writer to be aware of them.  Poor service if there was something wrong (such as creating a larger font when it wasn’t requested.

Yelp, an online reviewing site, has many of these common complaints. One went so far as to suggest where a writer could go to get their books self-published for less expense and challenges than they had with this company. Yelp only has three negative reviews on AuthorHouse, and while it is customer reviews, their are others who have put reviews on their websites and online.

9) Its parent company, AuthorSolutions is the subject of a class action lawsuit.  In May of 2015, The Authors Guild ended ties to the companies, which it had since 1999 when they partnered with iUniverse.  This is one of the more recent developments.

They said, on their website (Authors Guild) that they were now partnering to Open Road Media.  This is a big loss for this company, and with the lawsuit pointing out many allegations which many websites have mentioned, this can also be a loss for AuthorHouse.

10) Although many people have had poor service with AuthorHouse, and other companies who are in the self-publishing business have much the same problems.  A writer needs only to use the search term “(insert name of company)” review or “(insert name of company)” scam to see that not everything will work out the way they want it.

AuthorHouse publishing is a company which people find a lot of use out of, or are deeply angry with the business model the company has chosen to use.  It will divide many authors for a long while to come.