I have a friend who works on campus here. I did some work with him when I was in IT. About a year ago, he wrote a book. I saw him in front of the University bookstore today selling books, t-shirts, etc and of course signing books. I thought, what the heck, I know the guy, might as well help him out a little and buy one of his books. So I bought a book, had him sign it, and got a couple t-shirts (The perks of splurging for the hard-cover version). I started reading the book and I was instantly lost amid the number of errors that were left in the book. You see, my friend made a major mistake. He chose to be a self-published author. He went with a publisher that also offers editing services for anywhere from 1.5 cents to 2.2 cents per word. Now, I don't know if he got the editing package as well as the publication package. But let me tell you, if he did, he got ripped off. I was just sitting there reading this book and thinking, "Man, I could do a better job of editing than this, and I just started taking editing classes." So the moral is, if anyone has the undeniable urge to self-publish, don't go with iUniverse. They suck.
On a side note, about the book. The first scene would be great if it weren't for the fact that the editors just didn't do their job. I haven't gotten much further, in part because I know I'm going to have to fight the urge to go grab a pen and mark this book up.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
For anyone who's curious (Might as well help my bud out more and plug his book, errors and all)... His book Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
Can you describe the T-shirt?
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Actually, two T-shirts. Kinda nice, actually. One just has the book's title on it, the other is a kind of Japanese style drawing of the main character.
Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
Even the book description on that website has horrible grammar. Also, the book's plot sounds pretty cheesy.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Actually, it looks like the self-publishing house did a pretty good job on the portions of the book it would be responsible for -- unless, again, they were also paid to edit it.
Posted by solo (Member # 3148) on :
Yeah I agree. You shouldn't be bashing iUniverse as it looks like they put together a pretty nice looking genre book. If they did edit it then I can see the complaint but if not then I don't think they did a bad job at all.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
iUniverse does a nice job. Decent binding, the hardbacks are really nice, and the reps you get work with you every step of the way. Reports on your sales are easy to get in several formats. A friend of mine let them design her book cover and we were a bit creeped out that the picture of the woman they chose looked an awful lot like my friend (whom they had never seen)
I don't like the fact that they raised their rates last year so that inclusion in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc, which was originally included in their basic plan now costs an extra $99, but no complaints about their service. You get what you put into it, which is why getting someone else to edit your work is so very, very important.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Okay, I just checked out their offered packages, and it looks like he paid for their "Select," "Premier" or "Premier Plus" series. These cost $459, $699 or $748, include five to ten copies of the book, and provide professional graphic designers to lay out your copy and produce artwork for your cover. The latter two also include an "editorial review" as described:
quote: A manuscript checkup that assesses your work to be sure that it has fulfilled the basic requirements of a published book
What I imagine this means, in the world of self-publishing, is that their "editors" check to make sure your book doesn't have, like, thirty blank pages or something -- but do not bother to actually proof the book or do real editing. The "Premier Plus" package includes real editing and proofreading of the backsplash copy (which is also available for $99 separately).
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
I liked the book cover, it's very professional looking. The plot seems a little thin, but that's not rare for self-published books. I hope your friend will have lots of sucess in his career.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
My sister's fiance runs an independent publishing company called Invisible College Press. It's very small, and focused on "UFOs, Conspiracies, Secret Societies, the Paranormal, Anarchism, and other non-traditional, subversive topics."
Though I think the best offerings they have are the non-fiction stuff. There's a reprint of an old surveying book from 1725, treatise of mathematical instruments from 1775, rosicrucian manuscripts (!). and some more.
Posted by Lost Ashes (Member # 6745) on :
Many times these are referred to as "Vanity Presses" or "subsidiary presses." One has to be very careful when approaching these places.
Here's how they work, in comparison to traditional publishing:
You pay them to put the book together. Boom. They take your manuscript, typeset it. They work up a cover for you (at an additional fee for artwork) and send it out to a printer. They'll do a print run equivalent to how much money you're willing to pony up (there are some batch printers that do it on an "on demand basis").
Some, for an additional fee, will provide some basic marketing help, such as getting it listed at Amazon or whatever. Some will also send it out as part of their library marketing (one company I know does this almost exclusively).
Basically, you pay them, they produce a product for you, hand it over and thanks very much, see you again down the road maybe. Many of these work on the fringes providing a good outlet for niche genres. A number of them work on the purely academic level, helping college professors meet their publishing credentials needs (these make for some dry and off-the-wall books).
And then there are some sharks. They get you in at a low fee and promise the moon. And then they hit you with more and more fees, all tied to "marketing" and "printing necessities" or a grand one "storage fees."
It is a rare author who goes from self-published to the best seller lists. And let the buyer beware.
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