Customer ReviewsforAuthor Solutions, LLC

DO NOT do business with this company. I have published two books with them and they STOLE all of my book sale profits that I made from ******, Kindle and barns and Noble. They said that I had no sale from any of these organizations, but when I confronted them with the actual sales from these companies they said that they would put them in the next sales quarter, by passing the fact that they told me that I had no sales. I ask them to see the ****** reports so that I can verify the sale that I have proof of. They refused to show me. I have the actual email of them refusing to show me my own sales from ******. However when the second quarter came and went, they still had not given me my money from the sales. I had thousands of sales from radio and podcast interviews. I have the proof and they ignored it. So Im filing CRIMINAL CHARGES against this company for FRAUD,THEIFT AND EMBEZZLEMENT. Im contacting the local DISTRICT ATTORNEY, The STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL and THE **********************. This company is committed CRIMES. So if there are other authors who has not received any payments you need to join me in my filing of CRIMINAL CHARGES against this company so that we can shut them down for the FRAUD,THEIFT AND EMBEZZLEMENT that they are doing on the authors. They are fraudulent people stealing authors profits. So for people interested in publishing with this company you have been WARNED NOT TO DO SO! Author who have been scammed out of your money you need to join me in the prosecution of this crime ridden company.

The reviewer was asked to provide proof of sales from Amazon so that we could verify if sales had been missed. The screen shots that were provided to us showed that the print book sale would reflect in the second quarter 2024, not the first quarter 2024, based on the order date and the two month lag time in reporting by our printer. We do not provide the reports from retailers or our printer to authors. Those reports include other author’s book information, which is proprietary information. Also, in this case, the order from Amazon was not printed by Amazon and therefore would not reflect on a report from Amazon, meaning even if we did provide reports to authors, the reviewer’s orders would not be on an Amazon report. The orders for which the reviewer provided screen shots are reported on his royalty report. Again, the print book was not printed by Amazon; it was printed by Lightning Source, which is how the order will reflect on the royalty statement. The 2024 royalties were directly deposited into the reviewer’s bank account that was provided so those sales have been both reported on the royalty statement and paid.

They have little to no marketing abilities. I have paid this company nearly $60K. This is my 2nd time reviewing them negatively. The last time they called to say how much better they will do in the future. I fell for it and paid them another $1,900 to re-publish a past novel. Now everybody has disappeared including the woman who called to say how much better they would do. Marketing, author experience, and management have all ghosted me. The people I used to deal with have all left the company. Nobody will communicate. Never again. My next book will be published with Kindle.

We cannot find that the reviewer has paid $60,000. Our records indicate that the services purchased total $38,783.80. The reviewers point of contact for the marketing fulfillment is **** ******, whose email address is *************************************** For the published book, the reviewer has three book reviews with the vendor and the Miami Book Fair in November. The reviews can take about 90 days to be completed. All other services have been fulfilled. The reviewers point of contact for the fulfillment of the second book publication is ***** ******, whose email address is **************************************** The reviewer was sent the interior and cover files for review in July. In August, the reviewer emailed that the outside editor was still reviewing the files. When the reviewer spoke with ***** in August, there were no issues with the production fulfillment mentioned.

I asked this company to stop calling me. They instead started to call me even more. I have received over 30 calls from this company in the past month and a half. When I did ask them to stop calling me, I could hear what sounded like a coiler room in the background. All I want is for them to leave me alone. I have contacted my phone company, and they said I had enough to show stalking. Later this week I will be going to my local police station and filing stalking charges.

Our phone records indicate that the reviewer has not had a single phone conversation with us based on the phone number on file. We have tried to call multiple times but her voicemail has always picked up. Our only interaction has been by email or through online chat. Additionally we do not have a record of the reviewer requesting us to remove her from promotional campaigns or to be placed do not call list. However, the account has been set to do not contact as of September 11, 2024. We apologize for any misunderstanding.

I published my book in 2010 which is still selling 14 years later.I am based in ******* and can attest to the fact that iUniverse does not look after the interests of international-based authors. It refuses to pay royalties directly to my bank account even though ******************** now makes it mandatory for all its US based authors to provide bank details to enable the electronic transfer of royalties.Instead, they insist on posting cheques. This is inconvenient because it means that I have to pay a foreign cheque transaction fee. Additionally, the cheque takes a much longer period to clear than would one of local origin. I have not cashed in any cheques since 2017.I decided that short of iUniverse doing the right thing by transferring the money to my bank account, I would allow my royalties to accumulate to what I consider an acceptable amount before putting the foreign cheque into my account. I was informed by iUniverse that they had a procedure which they call a re-cut. This is supposed to consolidate a series of royalty payments into one. I did not receive a payment for the first re-cut. I requested a second re-cut in 2022 and removed the hold at some point in 2023. This meant that I was expecting payment for all my royalties accumulated since 2017 during the first week of December 2023.But there is a catch iUniverse spring on you after the author removes the hold. They claim under a rule of theirs that payment of the sum owed to the author is not guaranteed. In other words it permits them to withhold payment even when the window for payment arrives.The implications are clear: It means that they can keep on deferring paying the author the debt owed him indefinitely. This is an intolerable state of affairs.I have since cancelled my contract with iUniverse,My assessment of the aforementioned is that iUniverse have employed the use of unreasonable terms and procedures which breach my legitimate expectation to acquire royalties due me.

iUniverse pays royalties to foreign authors via mailed check. We have no control over the time it takes to reach the author, the fees assessed by foreign banks, or the time it takes to clear the bank. Royalties are only paid in the scheduled four quarterly payouts each year. They are not paid outside those times. The reviewers royalties will be paid via mailed check, as he has been told many times. He has received the recut royalties issued in May 2018. That check cleared our bank. The remaining outstanding royalties are an open balance to be paid to him via mailed check in the second quarter 2024 payout, which occurs at the beginning of September. This will include royalties earned in the second quarter of 2024, when he cancelled his project

I agreed to move forward with Archway Publishing. I sent them a copy of my book and indicated the markets that the book addressed. Once they sent me the general information of the book categories (genre) my markets of *********** Dementia and Caregiver were not in any of their offerings. I spoke to the ******************************* and ******************* about my concerns and my market for my book and there were no solutions to enter those markets. I decided to cancel this agreement and request a full refund of $5,999.00. As of this date they want to credit my account $5,299.00 and charge me $700.00 for cancelation fee. They have presented marketing in my genre during the sales presentation and assured me that Archway was in that market place. I believe that false advertising was used to get me to sign up with Archway. I am requesting the $700.00 refund be credited to my credit card account.

When the reviewer decided to cancel the project, he was held to the agreement that was signed and returned. In that agreement, it states that for publishing packages, when no work has been completed, 10% of the purchase price or $150, whichever is greater, will be held. The reviewers package was $5500 so $550 was withheld. The reviewer also purchased an add-on service for $499. As stated in the aforementioned signed agreement, for add-on services not included in the publishing package, 10% of the purchase price or $150 will be held so $150 was withheld. Therefore, $700 was withheld from the amount paid. This information has already been provided to the reviewer last week.There does not appear to be any false advertising on our part. Just because a BISAC (genre) is not included in a list does not mean that the book cannot be marketed in the way the reviewer would like.

I published my book Alive! And Unstoppable with Balboa press in 2017. About three years later they changed the terms on receiving royalties from a check to direct deposit supposedly. After I refused to give them my bank information they stopped sending me my royalties. I have made several attempts to reach out to them regarding this issue but I have not been successful and as a result I have not received any royalties for since 2021. I am seeking legal assistance for this issue.

The reviewer is correct in saying that we did change our royalty payment method. We have transitioned from issuing check payments to direct deposit payments only. This is a safe and secure method of payment that improves the security, efficiency, and environmental impact of our royalty payment process. Per the Services and Distribution Agreement, we reserve the right to determine or change the method of payment, in our sole discretion. Direct deposit information is accepted via the author center or by a paper form. As discussed with the reviewer previously, checks issued in the years 2021 and 2022 cleared the bank. The reviewer currently has royalties due for the years 2022-2023. The royalties will be issued once the reviewer provides direct deposit detail at the following quarterly payout.

I am an author who published with Author House whose book is ranked in the top 15 best-selling all time in its category. Note that the title of the ranking says best-SELLING. Yet, my royalties from Author House come nowhere close to squaring with this seemingly large success. Author House stated that views can also be counted as sales. Why can't the company just 'fess-up if a mistake was made? They want me to prove the sales exceed those for which they have paid royalties. I put this all back on them to do an internal audit, and I provided multiple reasons to them as to why their royalties estimate might be flawed. I have read the reviews here and see that Author House blames the authors and not themselves for any of it. I believe an EXTERNAL AUDIT is necessary to ensure that Author House is providing what it should to the authors, including international sales as justified. My book was laid out and printed well by the publisher, and I marketed it well myself not via Author House or their partners to achieve the high ranking for books SOLD. I have contacted the company and gave them a second chance to explain this disparity, do an internal audit, and reply accordingly. At this time, I cannot recommend the company, but if they find their errors as I requested (hey, mistakes do happen), stop making excuses, think their excuses are acceptable when they are not, stop to realize that so many negative reviews can sink their entire company, and be fair to the authors - without whom they would not be in business - then I might increase my rating. My three stars consist of 5 stars for book layout and printing, and 1 star as of now for royalty payments which gives Author House some benefit of the doubt. Their response on BBB should not focus on the layout and printing I mentioned, but the royalties audit I am requesting (I guarantee they will not find any more royalties due, for which I will dispute this). There are so many complaints on BBB with 1.33/5.0, so one must wonder

The reviewer says he is ranked in the top 15 best-selling in his category. The reviewer failed to mention that it is on the Book Authority website, not Amazon or another book selling website. Book Authority, according to their website, is a book recommendation website. It is actually an affiliate marketing site, each book with an Amazon link. This means the site makes money for clicks to Amazon. The ranks are based on a proprietary algorithm with no further information than that. There are many articles available that explain that the ranks on Book Authority are not based on sales. The reviewers current rank on Amazon is ********* in Books and the best ranking in the travel categories is 12,597.An audit was done on the reviewers sales and all sales reported to AuthorHouse have been reported and paid to the reviewer. The reviewer claims more sales than what has been reported but has not shown proof otherwise.

They are thieves! They keep taking money from my bank!! They dont send emails they dont send receipts they just steal my money!

The reviewers complaint is in regards to the Author Learning Center (ALC). This is an online program offered when a publishing package is purchased. Once an author signs up for the **** there is a one month free trial period. Per the Terms of Use, once the trial period ends, the credit card on file will be charged for a monthly fee. There was no correspondence from the reviewer that they wanted to cancel until last month. At that time, the subscription was cancelled and the reviewer was refunded in full.

I am very pleased as an Author/Illustrator with the services of ******* Press and Author Solutions. I published two books last year, 2023. Both are non fiction. The first is called Rainbow Children and the second Banners for the ***** One of the biggest challenges as a Christian artist and author is the opportunity to share my story and faith incorporating all my skills. The challenge is that most publishers will pair an authors story with an illustrator or an Illustrators story with an author. Another publishing challenge is finding those willing to invest in an author/Illustrator who does not have millions of followers and no promise of return on investment. I am nearly in my 70s. I have spent decades attending workshops, conferences, meeting with editors and publishers, participating in writing and art groups. Since I have joined ******* Press and Author Solutions and worked with the multiple departments I have learned what I needed to know to get my books published with quality and affordability. I have many more books in the future that I will be producing. ******* Press and Author Solutions has given me an opportunity to publish as an Author/Illustrator that I did not have elsewhere.

******* Press is pleased to hear that the reviewer had a great experience publishing their two books. We strive to ensure a smooth publishing process that makes the authors aspirations become a reality. We look forward to publishing any future projects.

I have two books published with Xlibris and another one paid for and in preparation. I generally find them good to work with. Today I received a call from someone calling himself ****** to discuss marketing for my existing books. I took time to explain that I write books for my own satisfaction, to give me some credibility in retirement academic activity and that I wasn't really concerned about sales.****** was very pushy. He constantly interrupted, refused to believe what I told him. In the end after he refused to stop interrupting I terminated the call.I have goodwill towards Xlibris but I do not wish to hear from ****** ever again. Always willing to take time to talk to someone who is polite and constructive and will listen. ****** needs some counselling or to be moved to a non-customer facing role.

We are pleased to hear that the reviewer has had good experiences with Xlibris with their past books. In an effort to serve our authors, sales representatives sometimes reach out to offer services for books that have been available for sale and are not newly published. We apologize that the reviewer had a poor experience with their assigned representative. We have added a do not call notation on the reviewers account, which will stop calls from sales representatives. We would like to thank the reviewer for bringing this matter to our attention.