Penguin’s mind-body-spirit imprint, Tarcher Books, is the latest traditional publisher to launch a self-publishing venture for authors. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that the new Tarcher Books imprint is a publishing partnership with iUniverse (also a self-publishing imprint and owned by self-publishing service monolith, Author Solutions Inc.). Hey presto!…
Book Country, You’ve Been Book-Tango’d!
When Pearson bought ASI (Author Solutions), the self-publishing goliath and owner of multiple self-publishing imprints like AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris and Trafford, we had the usual gnashing of teeth and countless toys tossed from cots—none more so than from the self-publishing community. Savvy authors don’t like to see their fellow brethren, however naïve, fork out money…
The Future of Publishing 2020: Control, Coker and ASI
This is a pretty thought-provoking post by Smashwords‘ Mark Coker. There are a number of strong arguments he makes for the control and advantage indie authors may hold over traditionally published authors in regards to ebook pricing. “One surprise, however, was that we found $2.99 books, on average, netted the authors more earnings (profit per…
Opinion: Pearson Acquisition of Author Solutions – Change, What Change?
There is certainly nothing out of place with today’s acquisition by Pearson – Penguin’s parent company – of the largest self-publishing service provider, Author Solutions (ASI). While the purchase of ASI might raise a few furrowed brows in the established publishing industry, the sale by ASI’s parent compant, Bertram Capital, has been on the back burner for…
Self-publishing books not without pitfalls | ABC7 News
ABC Local TV News carried a piece a couple of days ago on the self-publishing experience of a 92 year old airmen of World War II and his daughter who teamed up with him to help him publish his memoir, ‘Victory: Tales of a Tuskegee Airman‘. The video below does suffer from being presented once…
Berrett-Koehler Launch Self-Publishing Division with ASI
Berrett-Koehler Publishers – an independent US non-fiction publisher – has become the latest mainstream publisher to launch a self-publishing division powered by Author Solutions Inc. The new venture, Open Book Editions, is the latest in a growing list of self-publishing divisions run by Author Solutions on behalf of independent publishing houses. Publishing packages available from Open Book…
Democratization or Be Damned
Keith Ogorek is the SVP of Marketing for Author Solutions (ASI). And who you might ask are Author Solutions? Well, regular readers here will be familiar with the paid-publishing services offered by companies like AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, Trafford and Wordclay. ASI own all these companies and they also operate and provide the publishing engine for…
iUniverse Launch Book Placement and Signing Packages
iUniverse (IUV 232.56) has introduced two new publishing packages offering in-store book placement and in-store book-signing ($3999) in a partnership with Canadian book retailer Indigo. The in-store book placement program ($2999) is similar to the one sister company AuthorHouse (AUH 222.38) has with retailers Borders and Waterstones. From today’s press release: BLOOMINGTON, IN, June 28, 2010…
iUniverse – Reviewed (Updated, June 2010)
iUniverse was founded in October 1999, initially as a business print on demand service, but later expanded into full self-publishing services for authors. Originally, the company was based in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, and 49% of the company was purchased by retailer Barnes & Noble. Part of the agreement was that the top iUniverse titles would be listed…
Bowker Statistics 2009: Non-traditional Means Now The Majority Path For Authors
The latest 2009 statistical report released by R.R. Bowker today is a real eye-opener. The total amount of titles produced last year was 1,052,803, and significantly, 764,448 of that overall figure came from what Bowker describe as non-traditional channels – a mix of micro-publishers, self-publishers and reprints of public domain titles. In simple terms, 2010…