Intro to Xlibris and Backstory
Xlibris and other unethical/author unfriendly companies do an outstanding job of luring people in with their publishing deals and their seemingly friendly approaches to even the wariest author; I speak for myself. They can be very convincing when you ask questions. They rank high on search engines when you plug in “self publishing” so they come up above some of the more reputable companies and they camp out in author portals so they are very easy to find for the obvious reasons. In their websites and publishing brochures they act like they are your friends and understand the challenges of being an author and the publishing industry. Once you go in so far in there is no going back. There is a point of no return, and that is after you sign off on your physical proof. I can tell you this because I have been here. They make sure you get there with a seemingly smooth publishing experience with as few bumps as possible. I had problems here as well, but it pales in comparison to what I will write about. The marketing phase is where everything comes apart, and they show their true colors, and the good experience nosedives into a nightmare full of misery. There are thousands of other stories like this out there, but differing from person to person. This is the purpose of this article: to tell my story.
The Worst Marketing Consultant Ever
Here enter the Marketing Consultant from hell, Miguel Guzman. I hear from him after my marketing services from my package are ready to launch and after my book is ready to be released. My mother gets a message from him for me to call him because I am at work and I left my home number for the publisher to call. She gives him my cell number, and we chat as I am travelling in rush hour traffic because I had a long hard day in the lab that day. I still took most of my calls at their house and not giving out my cell number. Our first chat was pretty pleasant, and I told him I need advice on marketing because I didn’t know anything, and I was a bad salesman. I also said I have a tight budget to work with so I need services to fit it. “I’ll be glad to help,” he said, and little did I know I just opened myself up for punishment. I thought he would be honest and helpful and follow my budget wishes; I felt that people who are in the publishing industry are professionals. I could not have been more wrong.
The next day he calls me and has all this “awesome” information after scoping out my book’s electronic proof. He was talking about it being Hollywood movie material, and I should do a Hollywood movie trailer, author video on location, and on and on while I was having a very busy day at work, and I was trying to pay attention to what I was doing more than what he was talking about. I needed more time to process it properly. I was doubtful because I am freshly published, unknown, and my book wasn’t even out yet. Wouldn’t a book need to be widely accepted and raved by the public to be a movie? Every book to movie example I could think of was the case, and I didn’t think it was so easy. I did have thoughts of my books being a movie run across my mind as teen and young adult–a daydream. That’s a child’s dream and extremely unlikely to happen. I need to be realistic; I need readers first! Time for a reality check!
He was insinuating he could help me get it into a movie if I followed his advice and my original thoughts of how movies were made were not so. I didn’t tell him about my kid fantasies of seeing my characters on the silver screen. I was wary; there ain’t no way it’s as easy as 1-2-3. I told him I was at work and could we talk later since I was really busy. I was excited, but I couldn’t do this right now—let people read my book first, and let them tell me what they think. He wouldn’t let me off the phone.
I asked about the prices for some of this stuff. When I started hearing these prices of these services: $20K…$5K…I start saying whoa, whoa, whoa! My meager budget can’t support this! Can we do something else first? I bought the executive package so I didn’t have to have any marketing services for a while, and I mean for the first 6 months or year. Show me that we can sell books. If we sell books, then the royalty money can pay for this. Until then, I can’t do it.
He also talked about me as an artist as well as being an amazing writer on this same conversation, and still keeping me on the phone. I said I had another book on board too. After hearing how young I was, he was comparing me to the person who wrote The Informant!, Eragon (Christopher Paolini), and even J.K. Rowling—no way! You can’t compare me to Rowling because I have no wizards or wizarding world, and my book is a lot different than either Eragon or The Informant!. I felt like he was hooking up a bellows to my ego and trying to pump it up, it worked—sort of. I began to think regular people must also think those thoughts—the books must be reader tested, reader approved—not Miguel approved. One person’s thoughts aren’t going to cut it!
I had to back up a minute and make sure I examined myself before I did something dumb. He seemed to be lying on the sweet-talk very thick, and I was waiting for a side swipe, but it didn’t happen just yet. I knew it was going to happen eventually, and I was ready for it—call it intuition. Was he showering me with praise to inflate my ego so he could slip something in? I asked, “How I can be sure that you don’t say that to every author you talk to?” He had something slick to say, but I can’t remember what it was, but I still was a little wary. I also think that when he found out young I was that I was supposed to be stupid. So he automatically thinks young + college grad =stupid. I may be young and inexperienced, but I am not stupid! I am here to learn and gain my experience.
On a later and different conversation he started getting flirtatious when he saw my author photo. He looked it up so he could see what I looked like and talked about some of my other interesting background. I was quick to say I’m married—but wait for it—he side swipes me about this “targeted” email marketing campaign for $10K to build me up so I can buy the big stuff, and this is his big crescendo to get me to Hollywood. I said I can’t afford it; it was multiple times outside the budget. He also made a comment that I should be getting ready to spend lots of money to have a successful campaign. But, what if I can’t? Am I going to fail? The dummy email did look cool and everything, but I didn’t think it was worth the price. $10K to create and send out emails? I asked him, “What’s the difference between this and the other campaign I got?”
He gets all cocky and miffed about my question. By the tone of his voice it told me, “You moron! It’s so simple. LOOK at it, stupid!” He actually says, “You wanna know the difference?! I’ll SHOW you the difference.” When he spoke to me with that tone I was taken aback, and I did the angry cat’s meow in my head. He attempts to ‘show me’, but there wasn’t that much of a difference to justify the purchase for that much money, which I couldn’t do anyway and didn’t want to if I could. I wasn’t very convinced. He acted this way other times I had asked a simple question—just plain rude. You’re the professional here (or supposed to be). I am asking the questions because I don’t know, and aren’t you supposed to answer them with PROFESSIONAL and educated answers? I want intelligent answers not to be treated like an idiot who has no capacity to think for herself. Other times he flat out lied about stuff and treated me like I should have graduated from the special ed class and not be a biology honor graduate. Sometimes I visualized a mean and cranky Bill Engvall (Bill is not this way in his comedy act) saying “Here’s your sign!” and throwing it at me for a response to a seemingly intelligent and thought out question.
The Harrassment Begins…
He calls me again one night when we had guests over at my parents’. This was on a Friday night. Miguel called me so many times that night during their visit and interrupting the evening. I told him don’t call; I have company. I thought he would have respected my privacy and would have called back later. Any normal human being would have done so and so would any normal business professional. Then he called back five minutes later after I had specifically told him not to. He kept trying sound cordial and the “sorry to bother you” hype, but then call back after hanging up. This happened like three more times. I was thinking “Are you serious?” I felt like this was on the verge of harassment, and this is the beginning of the harassment I endured. I finally had to cut the phone off so I could enjoy my guests. After they leave, I check the phone later he leaves a voice mail. OMG!
He called me back the next day on Saturday morning because I had told him to. He comes up with this “great” deal where I could get 20M email campaign featuring both books, and I get the author video for “free” but it will still cost me $10K. I said I couldn’t afford it, but he kept pressuring me and acted like he didn’t hear a word I just said. After five minutes of repeatedly saying “I can’t afford it”, he says some other things that were off color and unprofessional that also made me feel VERY uncomfortable. That threw up a big red flag in my mind. I also felt like I was dealing with a bill collector who was trying to collect money on a bill I didn’t owe. The tactics were exactly the same! It was a combination of that with a bad used car salesman. Other heated verbal exchanges were made during this conversation, but not very important to mention.
After getting off the phone—FINALLY—I was thinking: the reason why I published my book was because I wanted to and because I had money set aside for this, and it was my time. I felt that this was MY marketing campaign and not his, so who was he to tell me what my budget is, what to spend, and what I should do? Whose name is on this book? Whose money are we spending here? He acted like he was running the show like he was my agent. It’s his way or no way, and the highway is not an option—with a machismo (narcissistic) attitude. I had a budget for marketing, and I was sticking to it—no if, ands, or buts. I thought all his only purpose was to offer me advice and I take it or leave it, or to tell me about the services and answer questions and help me buy the service that I want and set it up. He shouldn’t be harassing me about something I don’t want and acting like a bill collector. Why is he trying to force me to buy something I don’t want?!
Other confrontations after this last one looked like this: after 10 to 15 firm no’s, he would hang up and call back five minutes later…and again…and again, and this went on for a while. It didn’t take me too long to learn his game, and I felt like I was being harassed nonstop. I start talking to people for advice because something doesn’t seem right, and I was becoming a very stressed out. I normally don’t stress out too much. Everyone had some raised eyebrows and warned me to be careful. They tell me something is not right from a business standpoint, and my dad was one of them because he has been in management. Good business practices don’t include harassing people, and it doesn’t take rocket science to figure that out.
The Phone Wars
I was beginning to wonder if this is what book marketing and the publishing experience is like, and was this another reason why I was reluctant to publish aside from not getting in the gate at a traditional publisher? If so, then I need to toughen my skin or something before I go mad. I had no idea that publishers were pushy people, and I don’t like pushy people, so now am I supposed to deal with them and stuff like this to go on with my publishing career?
A few days after another powwow, he calls me again about this stupid combo with the campaign and video, but this time I was at work and very busy, but he wouldn’t let me off the phone no matter how hard I tried. I said I would get in trouble, which may happen, but I kind of stretched the truth a bit so he would leave me alone. I had to tell him to hold on because my supervisor had something to tell me. We are allowed to talk on the phone at work, but I didn’t want to abuse this privilege. Just to make him shut up and get off, I went along with his scheme, but I had a plan.
I had already planned to go back and cancel it or once he forwarded me to the collection department, I would say I just changed my mind and I get off…no—didn’t work. She wouldn’t let me off till I did a transaction. What is with these people? Why can’t I get off the phone with them when I want/need to? Don’t they know I have a life? I apologize to my supervisor and she was cool about it, and she had overheard me trying so hard to get off. I had never been hung on the phone before. I am usually able to get off the phone when I want to with normal people and people aren’t forcing me to stay on. I usually am never on the phone at the job even though it was allowed, so they knew I had legitimate reasons for being on the phone. I almost hung up on him so I could get off, but I thought that might be unprofessional.
I call Miguel back to cancel the service a couple hours later, and it seems like the services were cancelled because he said it they were, but I had a gut feeling they weren’t. I check back and it’s not cancelled. I am mad—I’m not mad—I’m ticked off! I couldn’t believe he lied to me straight up! After a few phone wars, the services are still not cancelled. It’s getting close for another payment. I try to go around him to cancel it, but I don’t succeed. I write him an angry email to cancel the service right now and not to call me at work. He’s lucky I didn’t pepper it with cuss words because I wanted to so bad, and this is saying something because I normally don’t cuss people out. I do have after I blow up, and I was just about there. The services still don’t get cancelled!
A day later I call and try to nail him at work because he was dodging me, and I knew it. This lasted for almost a week. I also find out they have caller ID there, so he would see my number come up and not answer the phone. I leave voice mails without any response. I call and try to find out when he’s there or is coming in. I called him a lot and gave him a taste of his own medicine, but then he turned my email around on me saying that is why he didn’t call me back. That was a load of bull; he didn’t fool me. Somewhere around this time I dubbed him the “Email Nazi” because he was always trying to shove this email campaign down my throat with a crowbar. My parents had a sarcastic comment saying “It’s your buddy” when he would call which I didn’t find very funny at all.
When “Xlibris” showed up on my caller ID, I didn’t want to answer the phone if I didn’t have the strength to deal with him. He would leave a message, and I would have to deal with him sooner or later. After a phone war I would feel worn out, nervous, irritable, and seething, and it seemed like my nerves were exposed and raw. I usually had to find something to hit or kick—I made sure it wasn’t the dog, cat, or my sister. Sometimes I almost threw my cell phone across the room or crushed it in my hands with an angry growl because I was so angry after hanging up. If we didn’t live in a subdivision, I would have stepped out side and screamed at the top of my lungs.
There is one night he calls and tells me he finds out that I had been checking up on him and he scolds me for it. He’s also wondering why I want to cancel the services, insinuated that I was off my rocker for wanting to cancel them. He said everything comes back to him; so in other words, he indirectly told me he was the source of the problem why my services are not cancelled when I want them cancelled. He talked down to me like I was 4 and not 29! He indirectly insulted my intelligence and my age for the fifth time since we had met. I am a young author, but I am not stupid or two years old! I am an adult! “I can’t afford it! How many times do I have to tell you that!” I say nearly screaming and gnashing my teeth. He even told me that need to go to the shooting range to cool down after I said that last hot sentence.
Visualize a mushroom cloud going off behind me like that from Hiroshima at that very second. Can you believe that!? I was like—are you kidding me? Can you say things like that to a customer? If I did that at my job at Chick-fil-a or Publix I would have gotten fired! This and everything else he had done went against everything I had learned about customer service at any job anywhere. I am smoldering after that, and you could have fried eggs on me I was so hot and furious. I thought to myself, “Alright, that’s it—I wouldn’t have to go unload some lead or arrows on a target if you weren’t doing this to me!” He knew I liked shooting and archery from the small bit of small talk and from my author bio. You could imagine what I would have liked to do when I went to the range. I also wished I had a punching bag. I was so stressed out, and I was also sick from a stomach virus about this time. That was it; I’ve had enough. This means war. I was in war mode now.
I call the front office and ask for his supervisor’s name and contact info. I also file a complaint against him. It takes forever for me to get in touch with his supervisor. The supervisor still talks me into that stupid video, but I am able to get out of the original engagement…FINALLY. I also demand a new marketing consultant who wasn’t rude and overbearing. After this I didn’t hear from Miguel again so that was a big relief.
Doubts About My Publisher and Publishing Experience
I do the video and it was okay, but I had second thoughts about it, and none of the other services were selling books either. All the books I sold were direct sales, but my other channels were still zip. I try to set up some stuff on my own, like book signings, but I got nowhere. I almost had a book signing one time, but when I said who my publisher was that’s when it fell through. I knew I had a problem. I also had trouble selling to family and friends. I was not the problem nor was the book; the publisher was the problem. I had to either get out or find some outside help for marketing because this isn’t working.
At this time I do some distribution research to widen my channels. I run across Mill City Press who offers traditional channels to self published authors. I go by and check them out and while thumbing through their website, I discover they offer a free phone consultation for marketing help to outside authors. I fill out the questionnaire and set up a talk with Rosey Cashman the Marketing Coordinator for MCP at the time. She gave me some tips and told me about their website exposure and Amazon exposure programs. She even told me about the book trailer service that they were working on then. The prices of the services were much lower than what I was used to seeing at Xlibris by about 10x. After talking with her, I read more about their Expanded Program and while I look for it I find a valuable piece of treasure and a bombshell that I will talk about in the next post “Looking for an Out”.
Guess Who’s Back and More Doubts
One day out of the blue, Miguel calls me. This was sometime during the time I was investigating marketing, Mill City Press, and other publishers at the time. It had been months since our last powwow. I am surprised to hear from him because I thought we were through. He acts surprised that I cancelled out all these services, and he acted like he knew nothing about it. He tried one more time to pitch that stupid 10M Email Campaign at me again and this time for $2500 with his old tricks and a ‘guarantee’ to boot.
This guarantee stated that I would get my money back, if I didn’t sell any books which I thought may be unlikely. The opt-in campaign was a failure, so why would this be any better? Everything in general was a failure at this point. He says my prior cancellation was a ‘blessing in disguise’. “Humph, yeah…whatever,” I say in my head. I tell him no and put my foot down firmly. He lets me off easy this time. I thought I would have a different marketing consultant at this time, so why is it him again? Did that supervisor not hear me? I almost hoped Miguel had gotten fired by treating people the way he did, but no dice.
He calls again a few days later and tries again, and he wouldn’t even give me room to think without the bill collector/used car sales tactics, haranguing, and begging. I put him off for 24 hours. He had the nerve to call back one time and pressure me some more. I am getting ticked off, and I’m about tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine if he keeps roughhousing me. I get off, and he calls again at about five minutes later on the dot, and my parents say it’s Xlibris. I say, “I’m not answering it…it’s just Miguel playing his old phone game again. If you answer it, then just say I’m busy, or I just left.” He has the nerve to leave a message with the exact same message as the last live talk like I am that absent minded. We talk the next day, and I cave in because it is much cheaper than $10K, and I was mentally exhausted with deductive reasoning, so I second guessed my reasoning. I ask a few questions before caving in, but he lies to me and gives me some more ‘here’s your sign’ treatment and ‘Duh!’ responses. I began having second thoughts and at this point I have had it and begin looking for a way out.
This right here is what broke the camel’s back and leaves this part of the story. The next story marks the turning point from here and the road to my new publisher Mill City Press. I will also share the bombshell I find in the MCP website.
Next post: “Looking For an Out”
🙁 you can block the number through your phone…i just did it
That’s a great idea for anyone who is being harassed by Xlibris or any publisher. Thankfully they are no longer a problem since I terminated my contract with them
Hi backwoods author, First time commenter/replier here: First of all, how did you terminate your contract from them? Did they charge anything? Anyway I (very regrettably) self-published a book through these #%@!*#!s, The publishing process wasn’t so bad, but as others have said, it’s their marketing deals. They have been ‘considerate’ enough to give me discounts and let me pay in monthly installments (w/a one time $30 fee, personally I think that should be lower)–but sometimes I (or any other author) may not be able to make every payment every month. There are things called rent, bills, groceries, etc. Of course in the winter there’s also something called heating bills, which I don’t think the workers at Xlibris understand the concept about. Anyway I think authors should have the right to skip a payment if they’re not able to afford it, but apparently it seems they cannot. And the prices on the books–mine is an approx. 300-pg. juvenile paperback and they put a round price of $20 on it! $20!!! Ridiculous! Who’s going to buy a book like that for that price, let alone a book seller buying more than one copy (ex: 10 copies=$200+any shipping)??? And it’s true, of all the $$$ these authors (including myself) have paid for these ‘marketing services’, hardly any, if none at all, of the media outlets have received any of the promotions sent out to them. Or they did, but they were deleted, because it was most likely sent out as Spam. I really want to promote my book more, but not at these prices that are sucking out my checking account and sadly there are hardly any bookstores in my area anymore. I have a feeling that maybe this company has been sued before but perhaps they need to be shut down period.
Hi Kristina,
First of all, welcome to NAG, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. I also know about what you are feeling right now and I will try to do what I can to help you. It’s my goal to help other authors who have dealt with these people to try to get back on their feet. I had to do this on my own to some extent until I met Mark Levine and read his book.
To answer your questions, I left Xlibris in early 2010, so it’s been quite a while now, and no they don’t charge you when you leave, unless you want your book files. I am unsure if they will make you finish paying your publishing fees if you still owe them–I would try to get out of it, if so. Do check your contract/agreement to make sure since they change it periodically. If you have any marketing services that haven’t completed or in their terminology “fulfilled”, cancel them and get a refund. You will also need to terminate the contract in writing. You can send it via certified mail or email, but if you do it that way save a copy and note when you sent it in case they give you the runaround. You should receive a form email notification. Archive or print it or both for your records. You won’t be able to get any money from your publishing services back. I would cancel your services and get your things (if you want them) before sending this letter just so they don’t try to stop or hinder you from leaving. That’s what I did.
A note about your book files. They will charge you a king’s ransom for them and they may not be worth your time maybe except your cover file which would cost $150 if it is an outstanding cover. If you have ebook files, they are poorly formatted, so don’t bother. The interior files are worthless since they are probably incorrectly formatted and cannot be used at a printer. If they are still offering the CD archive with their packages, and it came with the one you bought, request for it if you don’t have it. You may or may not get your cover file, but make sure they are high resolution.It should be marked since they have both high and low. The CD archive will have a word doc that you can send to an editor and make changes to. If you didn’t purchase a package with the CD archive, then use you last draft that your probably have saved. I was able to get my cover file free of charge since I requested mine before they started charging people. If you had their “editors” edit your book, you will need to have it reedited without a shadow of a doubt. I had to do the same, but it made all the difference. My books became award winners from POSs, and this is just to show you how much of a difference a better edit makes and it will also show up in your reviews. Even when you start over, you want to put out your best product. If you must begin with the edit, and if you have to save your money, start building your platform and constructing a marketing plan. You don’t have to be idle while you wait. This is what I wish I knew when I had to start over, but this is why I am helping others. But for more intensive one on one or social media construction services I do charge for those. I also do custom quotes depending on your needs.
I didn’t really talk much about the publishing process part in this post, but I did have problems here as well. My YA books are illustrated (we have that in common) and it was like pulling teeth for them to get those right in both my books. My second book had hieroglyphic chapter headers and they tried to push me through without them, but I wouldn’t budge. They finally put them in.
Yes, this marketing services are crap and grossly overpriced. You can start a mailing list (you have to build it) for free to low cost and send it to people who are truly interested in your book. Their PR campaigns are really spam campaigns. You can do the same or better marketing on your own and with some of the professionals I know for a fraction of the cost of what you pay them. You’re right about the book price–it’s inflated by 150+%. If my first book was properly formatted it would have been 300+ pages for $20 (just like yours), but the second one was worse still–it was 182 pages for $20 and also improperly formatted. No way was a bookseller going to buy it at that price regardless if it was returnable. Booksellers need a trade discount of 40-55% before they will consider buying. They also inflate the printing cost so they are really stealing your money when you buy author copies or when you sell a book. That just the beginning. Their returns program is ridiculous in how much it costs. And, of course, they (booksellers) are keen on quality. BTW, most booksellers know who Xlibris is, so they won’t touch it, and it’s not necessarily because it’s self published. Case in short, you will need a better product to work with.
I know publishers and professionals who can help you edit and republish your book for fraction of the cost of what Xlibris charges and you get a better product, plus you will get more money and you can get your books at wholesale cost in some situations or a better rate. You don’t have to settle for a 10-25% royalty. How does 70 or even 100% sound?
When starting over do keep in mind your budget, your bills should come first. The people are talking to live in the Philippines so they don’t know jack about cold weather (unless they moved their from somewhere else) and heating a home in the winter. They probably have never seen snow–at least the people born there.
I know I didn’t learn squat about marketing from Xlibris reps. I had to teach myself a lot of it and then find people to learn from, so it set me back a while. I know your pain about the bookstores–I live in a remote area and there are hardly any around and I have to travel 20-30 miles to the closest one. There are other opportunities too. You can ask your local bookstore if you can place a few books on the shelf on consignment. A lot of bookstores do that, especially for locals. Ask for the CRN or the person in charge of that, and see if they will allow you to do a signing. You may get lucky.
If you want to find out ways to market your book and yourself on a small budget you can check out my book The Newbie Author’s Survival Guide. It would be a $3 investment toward your future. There are links in the sidebar and on the page marked “Survival Guide” and there is free info and stuff on this blog.
These people have been sued by a couple authors, but they have the $ to afford some high powered lawyers so you would have to have a rock-solid case. I do hope they are shut down too, but they are just one legion out of the Author Solutions Empire.
Feel free to contact me if you wish. My contact info is on the about page and you can send a message on my FB page (sidebar). Hang in there!
MIGUEL GUZMAN is NOT even his real name!!! such an evil scammer!
Now THAT’S interesting! Would you mind sharing where or how you found that out? I’m working on a post of other things I found out about Xlibris and its parent company Author solutions. That is something good to add to it.
Hi I am very nervous now I have a first time publishing deal with xlibris and have only just seen these blogs! I have just signed off approval on the finshed book-publishing. That part of it has been satisfactory…so far but as yet it will be a while before i get the sample paperback. I am worried now that it will actually be launched. That I guess I will be on tenterhooks! I have also realised the level of harrassment from their marketing dept. I have not agreed to any marketing packages which I already told them I could not afford and now they are insinuating my book will go nowhere if I dont market it. I have told them I understood the publishing package included some marketing which they now tell me was only basic. Not the way it came across at the very beginning and the only reason the publishing package sounded worthwhile. Is it possible they can take money for marketing that I have not signed for? Dont know what I should do next. HELP!
Hi Susi,
Thank you for reading and reaching out. I will email you instead of leaving a lengthy comment here and if you have any further questions it will be best to converse there. I am glad that you found my story and found it helpful even if it may have come at the midnight hour. It’s not the end of the world though. Talk soon 🙂
I’ve heard about Miguel. Xlibris is just a stone throw away from where my family lives. He is really earning a lot to do the scamming. But ive heard his out from that company.
i have a friend who knows him pretty well. he showed me some of his photos.XLIBRIS is paying him so much to do the scamming
this guy is such an idiot..never trust XLIBRIS!!!this bogus company has to be closed!
here is the complete address: Xlibris Corporation 6/F TGU Tower (across i2 Bldg) Asia Town IT Park, Lahug Cebu City 6000.
Hi Reign! Welcome back!
Thanks so much for more wonderful information. I had wondered if Xlibris had to be paying him a truckload to be a jerk. Makes perfect sense for him to be able to pillow his head at night after bleeding authors all day. I’ll be posting my post about what else they’re doing a week after next.
Xlibris has partners in crime that are just as bad or worse!
it is not easy to be fooled by fools.one story said that he wanted to leave the company for some reasons but he was lured by a huge pay check that he stayed.
And so if one of the folks from Xlibris calls you again,better tell them take me off from your calling list or maybe the RULE OF DO-NOT-CALL-ME List…so we can be protected by FCC…
Wow how much money talks! Are they still calling you? I haven’t heard a peep from them since I terminated my contracts with them–thank goodness. Have you terminated? Also, you can send them a certified letter demanding they don’t call or you’ll report them to the FCC and press charges for harassment. Get your lawyer to send one if you’re that ticked at them. They should have no reason to call you. Document everything you do and save copies and emails, who you talked to, everything. If you have an author account in their system remove your phone number or change it to something bogus if you can’t leave it blank. I hope you get this cleared up soon, Reign. If you have problems please let me know and I can ask friends for help in how to help you. Do you have the number for the National Do Not Call List? Still it may take some time for that to kick in.
They’ve stopped calling me. I’ve asked legal advice from good friends about harassment about telemarketers and I thought it helped because they’ve already stopped calling me. I’ve requested my number to be on DNC list. But this is not over yet for me and for those aspiring authors who were fooled by Xlibris and this bogus-Miguel Guzman.
Phew! What a relief (well sort of). I really wish you the best of luck in grappling with this problem and can make it out. One thing would be to document everything (if you haven’t been already, and get nasty with these people (as much as you can without breaking the law). That’s what I had to do. I am normally an easy-going person, but if I am pushed beyond my breaking point it isn’t pretty.
It’s important that we share our stories with others, and there are hundreds more stories like ours out there in cyberspace. If you need more help I can let you speak with Mark Levine–he knows a lot about these people some legal advice too–I know him very well. Let me know.
It is indeed a relief! 🙂 but thank you so much. I will reach out to you when they bug me again. 🙂
Great! I’ll be here!
I blog quite often and I really appreciate your information.
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I subscribed to your Feed too.
Awesome! Thanks!
Miguel Guzman is indeed the salesman from hell. I felt so angry for what he has done to you. Let me tell you that Miguel Guzman is not his real name. I hired someone from the Philippines to find out who this person really is. He is a not an American as you can detect from his poor accent. In fact, he is a moslem from lanao del sur in mindanao island with a muslim name that starts with the initial letter B. He is known to be a legend salesman for always pulling off to around $150,000 sales qouta per month with his dirty tactics. He stands about 4.9 feet midget, flat-nosed and his face closely resembles like a human duck. He is Xlibris highly paid employee and his filipino supervisor Robert is backing him up with fraud sales.
This two people are now marked. They are still running xlibris like a circus show. There has been a lot of case about this guy.and sooner or later, someone or something bad will happen to them.
Hi Kathy,
Thank you so much for contacting me and sharing this information with me and for caring enough for my story to read and comment. I would have never guessed that he was a Muslim–he did seem like he was from Latin America unless that accent was fake too. Robert was the supervisor I spoke with, and that is also interesting.
I certainly agree that I hope they get their comeuppance soon. It would be nice for all the authors they stole from to be paid back the money they took, but that would be a miracle if that ever happened.
Go see this link to see who Miguel Guzman really looks like. The salesman from hell and I sure hope he will pay for his sins for ruthlessly fooling all his xlibris authors.
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http://i.imgur.com/kAJyI.jpg
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http://i.imgur.com/FcDEb.jpg
Go see this link to see who Miguel Guzman really looks like. The salesman from hell and I sure hope he will pay for his sins for ruthlessly fooling all his xlibris authors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTQuhllDPDk
Unfortunately, I too published with Xlibris. It has been a pretty terrible experience. I was suckered in to some of their packages. The e-mail campaign must be a scam. An e-mail about my book is supposedly sent to over 200,000 recipients, and not a single one decides to buy it. It seems unlikely. I wasted money on two other things with them as well. I feel really foolish.
Two days ago, a new employee from Xlibris named Joseph Cabs calls me with another “great” deal. Except, this time I know that all of their programs suck. He kept trying to convince me to join this new program to help sell my book. I told him to e-mail me in order to get him off the phone. He e-mails me the details, and it shows that the program costs $2,700. Getting royalties of $5 per book, I would have to sell 540 to break even. He calls the next day, and I don’t him that the program did not make sense financially. The chances of a self-published author selling over 500 books is VERY slim. The chances of selling over 100 is slim. I told him that I saw the statistics, and that the chances of me even breaking even are so slim that this program isn’t worth it. He was absolutely furious!! He screamed at me saying “We are professionals in publishing! Do you think we don’t know statistics? We know them better than you!” Keep in mind, he never contradicted my numbers. After adamantly telling him no, he screamed some more and then hung up on me.
My guess is that they get huge commissions from Xlbiris each time someone else buys one of their scam packages. But it doesn’t take long for someone with Xlibris to see through their BS. So the anger is probably frustration with people that keep saying no to these “wonderful” offers.
Hi Gary!
Yes, your situation sounds all too familiar. These packages are a scam. Xlibris makes money on each and every thing you do with them. They make money on these marketing and publishing packages. They make money on each and every book sale. They make money on your book printing orders. Yes, these people do make big commissions off of these scams. The person selling and the head supervisor do.
Email marketing can work, but not by the way they do it. You must build your list yourself and have a newsletter which is free to low cost. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars.
After being burned by these people I was able to learn how to market my book by free and lost cost methods. I didn’t become a bestseller, but I was able to sell books and keep most of the money from each sale.
I hope you have found a new publisher or found professionals to hire. If not, I’m here to help!
I really appreciate you sharing this story. I will read your other posts.
Great! My other posts aren’t such a downer! 😉
Hi AK,
I haven’t found a new publisher because I haven’t bothered. Since it was my first book, I feel that the writing is not as strong as it could be, so I’m basically just chalking it up as a loss.
But I just started another book, and when it is finished (which won’t be for a while), I am certainly going to steer clear of Xlibris. I appreciate your offer to help. I may take you up on that when the time comes.
Hi Gary,
BOL on your new book. Maybe when you grow more as a writer you can revisit this first book and make it into what it can be. But that’s fine to put it aside for now.
Of course I will try to help you when you are ready. Take care!
Well, I’ve finally put my foot down and e-mailed them that I cannot afford their marketing services any longer, as it’s really taking its toll on my finances.I told them my exact account balance and how much I’d have left if what they’d normally take was taken out, Their reply was pretty much, “Our finance team will get the exact figures; we’ll get through this just fine.”
This morning (when their payment was due) I went to the bank and they recommended I cancel my debit card. E-mailed Xlibris about this and told them that their marketing services just weren’t cutting it. Also requested (oh yeah this is for the second time) my book files to be e-mailed to me for further revisions.
I replied:that the best way to manage things was to just send me the files for further revisions (I told them I could make them myself right there on the files). I told them if I want to enter my book in these book fairs and festivals into which they’ve been so gung-ho about me entering it (sorry if that sentence is grammatically wrong), I could probably just as well enter it in one in my area rather than one in L.A. or Miami. Again, I made it clear to them that my monthly budget of $730, which includes my rent and bills, cannot take the deductions of these marketing campaigns they’re charging me. I told them I realize it doesn’t happen “overnight” but I can’t afford to pay those sky-high amounts over and over with the 99.9% odds that this marketing campaign is even going to get any responses.
Their reply: Next month finances might be better. Let’s just not rush things. We’ll take care of the correction. Let me know once you’re ready with the final list.
Replied to them that I was not “rushing” things and that I have made my final decisions, once again requested the files for my book. Also said that I doubt finances would be better next month.
Their reply: They’re on my side and here for my best interest, They reassure me they will take care of the revisions.
My reply: No, send me the file, I know what revisions to make.
(Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to tell them? I almost wanted to put an expletive between ‘the’ and ‘file’)
Hi There,
Yes, keep sticking to your guns! These fairs they want to put you in are also a waste of time. You are much better off going yourself or going to your local bookstore to do a signing. Chances are you won’t sell any books.
This is the crap they play with you, but don’t give in. They tried all that and pretended to be my friend and all that, but you know as well as I do that that’s BS.
The stuff they want to do for you you can do on your own for a fraction of the cost. My $3 book has more information and this blog has more information than they could tell you in a decade.
Exactly, I don’t have the $$$ to travel (I don’t think I’d want to anyway, with all the touchy-feely TSA agents, lol) .And as I also told them, there are local places I may be able to get the book reprinted/republished (I own the rights to it, not them) for probably a more sensible fee. I just wish it didn’t take me so long to realize this.
. If these charlatans at Xlibris refuse to give me my files back, I may decide to retype the whole thing. Yeah,it’ll be a pain. But I could probably do better than they could. It would.save me a lot of bother by just sending me files. On the other hand, they’ll probably try to charge me for it, which I also don’t want. I did have my manuscript on a CD, but I believe it may have been inadvertently tossed out a couple years ago when my older sister invaded my apartment while on one of her cleaning jags (very long and completely different story, but to summarize it we’re both in our forties and sometimes she likes to think she still runs my life)
That’s perfectly okay to start over from scratch with your rough draft if you can’t get your files back and you may want a new cover, or you can use a free tool on the internet to convert your pdf (if you have one) into a word or rtf. Some of the formatting may look kind of wonky, but it’s another alternative. If you are starting over you can fix the formatting to where it’s readable while you are doing your readthrough and proofread. There are ways around this. Who knows? You may get lucky and get your files. Only you can determine when you wish to call it quits. I know it would be easier, but that’s what makes these people such a sucky company!
Before you publish do save and do a professional edit you don’t want to have another setback. It’s one of the 3 most important things when starting out. I know people who do good work for a fair price. After the edit always do another proofread.
I’m sure I can handle doing it over, after all, I’m a Taurus, I’ve got that stubborn streak, lol. Anyhoo, guess what, those b@$t@rds at Author Solutions/Xlibris are at it again! I cancelled my debit card Monday, right?–right. Okay. Got an email Tuesday from Author Solutions (Solutions, My @ss) saying my payment has been declined; I replied the reason was because it had been cancelled. Checked my balance and what do you think I find? My “monthly dues” to Xlibris taken out of my checking account. I emailed them back asking them if they understood English.
This is the game they play–they will hound you and hound you and hound you and hound you some more. They also play the “selective hearing” game. They do this to annoy you into giving up.
Seems to me your experience here is so much worse than mine :(. I’m doubtful that I would stick around about my files if they have already gone into taking money without permission. Or, for spite, you can try saying that they owe them to you after your bad experience.
I hope you can get this sorted out and be able to have a peaceful, fresh start!
Okay, ’tis moi again. I still don’t get this–Went to my bank website, apparently XLibris still used my debit card to get my monthly payment–the date was yesterday (3/4, not sure of the time). Today I get an e-mail from that same night around 11 p.m. (may have been 10 pm their time) that my card was declined. I am assuming that this was after the transaction went through. I just don’t know–apparently my card wasn’t technically cancelled at that time(?). I’ve actually had two payments with them (they’ve emailed me twice to tell me my card has been declined and I told them it was cancelled. All they want to do is “satisfy the balance including fees” and “I will continue to receive courtesy calls and email until the balance is rectified”.
I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to figure out what crooks these people are!
You can definitely ask what measures you need to take with your bank. Tell them about the problem that these charges are not authorized and see if you can stop them. Treat this as you any other scam 🙂 (that’s basically what this is) Do make sure they don’t have your routing # and account # and make sure you have no card in your Xlibris portal account account. See if the bank will credit the money back since the card was supposed to be cancelled and Xlibris still took money. This was the kind of thing I tried to avoid with my jerk-off marketing consultant there.
Do you have caller ID on your phone? Don’t answer their emails or calls about money after you can get your bank to block them until you are ready to grapple with them. Don’t worry about getting mad here. Dealing with these people taught me how to play hard ball with jerks. Save everything and make a log about when you called etc just in case. They will make “threats” about pulling your book and stuff, but obviously you don’t care at this point, and you won’t care about any royalties (like there were going to be any at all).
After it’s all said and done you are more than welcome to share your experience with these people as a guest 🙂
See, the problem is I have two payments–one for marketing and one for the Book Fair (Woohoo) The marketing payment “supposedly” had gone through (that was Tuesday 3/4, I don’t know the time) before my debit card was “officially” cancelled. So I guess that’s how they managed to get that payment. They didn’t get the other payment because my card had been cancelled by then. But they notified me that their system “will run installment payments as scheduled regardless if I informed them that the card on file is cancelled”. Oh, so they can still use my cancelled debit card number even after my card has been cancelled?….This is because they are not able to move, skip, or stop scheduled installment payments…..”Seriously? You can’t?” They can update/change card details if the card on file is no longer active. And they would like to get in touch with me to satisfy this balance including fees, and to ‘please be advised that my account is currently placed on hold status until balance is rectified,” So I’m not sure if they’ll be able to do next month’s payment or not (one good thing is that it’s the last one). I talked to someone at the bank (via phone) but all she said was that I gave them (Xlibris) permission. I suppose if they’re still using my cancelled card number within the next month I may have to take action.
Continuing here–(Sorry): So I reply to them again, inquiring that they can actually use my cancelled card number to make the rest of my payment. Okay, I’ve got one payment left next month. Told them if they get the payment through, fine (for them). If it gets declined, I don’t know what to tell them.
Their reply: The system will run the 3rd installment payment in April using my cancelled card on file (since they don’t have my new card yet) Since my card has been cancelled, payment will once again be declined. Then my account will continue to be placed on hold and a total of $60 be assessed to my account on top of close to $400 remaining balance. (are they %#@#!) Then a couple minutes later I get another message saying they’d like to recall the message–interesting.
Wow–that’s, I dunno. Then makes you wonder what you bank would do in an identity theft case? This is just another reason why I hate these people. I suppose they will get their money one way or another if you owe them if don’t cancel out ahead of time for anything. We want to avoid penalties, but you don’t want them to have your new card either. So after you get out of this part of the crud, then (if you haven’t already) pull your book from their catalog. Do go into their bookstore to make sure you can’t find your book. Amazon and B&N, etc will display as (out of print) or limited edition–that’s the retailer’s thing. But once you get out your new version it will knock their version off–it still will show, but it will only listed as some change. Ebooks (if applicable) should be gone entirely.
But, when you have your new version you will be listing that on your website and be handing that out to book bloggers and such so if someone does a book search the new version will be more discoverable than the old one. Your listing on Goodreads can be a bit of a pain, but I know how to handle that :).
Allll righteeee, if you had been here in Maine, you would’ve heard some screaming and swearing (from my older sister) and crying (from Yours Truly). My sister found out about me getting duped by these jerks and went apesh!t. Kept calling me a f#cking idiot and how could I be so f#cking stupid, how could I throw away Dad’s hard-earned money and the money from the State that I get every month, what would Dad say? What would our local Pastor say? What would God say? She had wanted me to tell her what bills I had every month and I had a list, and I never told her about this publishing operation. I’ve never liked to, because I don’t want my folks telling me I can never get published without getting taken advantage of. I believe my book that I published w/Xlibris still has potential as a self-published book, if I could only find a reputable self-publishing company. My sister did appoint me a lawyer who helps people who have been scammed and advised me to contact her before doing anything like this; I suppose that’s sensible advice. Oh yes I mentioned to my sister that there were online message boards like yours (I didn’t specifically mention your site’s name) that were speaking out against Xlibris, and she screamed at me that they could be scams too.
I’m kind of thinking of e-publishing (like Createspace) but I don’t know, I’m not that tech-savvy, lol. But I don’t want to give up on my writing and publishing just because of my stupid mistake and what Xlibris did!!!!
I know you’re not stupid and neither was I (I just felt that way after finding out the truth). These people rip off authors by the THOUSANDS every year around the world among their empire. I am usually very cautious and they just happened to tell the right lie to get me.
Self publishing your book can be a worthwile venture–that is if you hire the right people and put for the marketing effort and produce a great product. That is super, super key. Once you have a quality product then you focus on the marketing and the “getting out there” part. Unless you want to start building your platform which is free/low cost.
That’s step one in turning this thing around–believing in yourself and your work (no one else is going to) despite the setback. Your family yelling at you like that isn’t going to help your situation, so sorry you had to deal with that, but maybe she can help you after she simmers down with the lawyer. God is not going to disown you–he picks us up when we fall and puts us back on our feet if we let him. Well your pastor, let’s hope he offers support.
Createspace is a pretty good publisher and you can have your books printed for yourself at cost, but the only drawback is that they don’t offer bulk discounts for large orders (which may not be a concern for you right now). I know people who can help you format your book for Createspace and upload it where it will look good and it not be expensive. I would hire a cover designer, since the templates on CS suck. Cover is another place not to skimp. Fortunately, the couple folks I usually recommend for this offer cover design in addition to formatting and upload. I know others who offer premade covers for even lower cost, but they still look good, but they may have to be formatted for print, or you can do your ebook for lower cost or wait on print. Up to you. Any way you go it will not cost you nearly what it did at Xlibris.
I’ve been where you are with trusting people after such an experience. I can point you in the right direction if you want to trust me (which is up to you). I can do some of the formatting, but there are places where I still don’t get it “exactly right” so I leave it to professionals, and I know who they are and I have seen their work. Formatting is super important!
The two books I had at Xlibris were once hot messes (editorial and formatting nightmares, but the illustrations and covers looked good, but the printing quality was abysmal–I left before they stated ebooks but I heard they suck there too), and after hiring the right people they became award winners and able to compete with traditional books in regards to quality, so yes, I know the right people (several). I am also making money with my books. It’s not bookoos, but I can tell you it’s a heckuva a lot more than at Xlibris. I made $4 at Xlibris which they took out 30% “taxes” for a grand total of $2.88 for two books–one sold a copy at Amazon and B&N, and the other didn’t sell squat online and that’s negating my direct sales. It took them 2 years to report those royalties and pay them to me after I had been long gone. A sock puppet came by trying to discredit me on the post I made about that, but I simply deleted it, but I did talk about it on social media and I showed the comment to Mark Levine, which he found hilarious. Now, I make many times that amount now with three books.
Like I said, if you cannot or want to wait on your republishing, you can start building your platform and talking about your books as a new, aspiring, first time author of “Name of Your Book”. Determine about when you would like to release it (be realistic) and start your pre-release work. I didin’t do this for the republication of my two YA books and so my sales suffered at the beginning. So, I have plans for stronger campaigns for other books in the future and I still do small things each day and some event or something once in awhile.
Most of the time I don’t even bother to count my tenure at Xlibris when I market myself with my YA books. I mostly talk about it to help others like you where I have been. You don’t have to either unless you want to and material for this blog.
Thank you for your kind words; I do feel bad for what I put my sister through though, she really was scared for me. She told me not to have anything more to do with Xlibris but I am soooo tempted to get a hold of them and let them know what they’ve done!!! Like I’ve mentioned, my original plan has been to start my book from scratch, revisions and all, and save it on a CD-RW. Only thing is, I’ll have to check if my laptop has that type of disc drive. (Just checked another disc with some documents; a tag popped up saying “Tap to choose what happens with removable drives”) Other problem is: I have a desktop with both types of drives—but the monitor is a hunchback and my sister is gunning to get rid of it (She does not live with me Thank God). I don’t know what she has against it, it is kind of bulky but it still works fine–and if my laptop won’t accept those types of discs, eventually I am going to have to have an alternative….maybe in the next year or two I will get a new desktop but something a bit more modern and not as cumbersome.
You laptop should take a CD-RW–rewritable are the best. The laptop I am using now is now 9 years old, but it works beautifully. It has survived part of college and a whole lot of other. I’ve written so much on it the keys are worn smooth. When I am finally able to retire it, I’ll still keep it as a back up when I get a new one ;). Too, you can try a flash drive that plugs into the USB port. These are more effective and can store a whole lot more data. I would recommend getting at least a 1 or 2 GB to be able to store copies of covers and interior files for the future. You can use the CD for a second backup. You can get flash drives at any office store or Wal-mart for a decent price. Floppy disks are now a thing of the past. While you still have your old desktop I would tranfser anything you want to save onto a CD or a flash drive or both. Either one can be transported between your desktop and your laptop. Or, you can email it to yourself and download it. Any of these should work. A flash drive will work fine on any computer that has a USB port :).
I can identify with the old monitors for my old desktop (my mother and sister finally killed the desktop after I had it for 9 years and I have been without one since). I had a one with a 17″ screen that took up most of the desk, but it was my desk and no one complained since I let them use my computer. I got a LCD flat screen after it finally died. It was awful to move. When you do buy a new monitor if your desktop still works, just get an LCD flatscreen and skip plasma–plasma is expensive and doesn’t last, so replacement or repair is expensive too!
Hi again,
I’ve been having some trouble with a document: As soon as I add more to it (or revise it or whatever), each time I click “Yes” on the “Do You Want to Save Changes”? the “Save As” Window pops up. When I click “OK” or “Yes”, another window pops up telling me it’s “Read-Only” and cannot be changed. Someone suggested that I click on “Save As” instead of “Save” or closing the document (accompanied by the “Yes” or “No” prompt). I’ve tried this but still get the “Read-Only” error. I have this same problem w/a document I have on a CD-RW. (I thought you could revise/edit documents on those?) I uncheck on Properties where it says “Read-Only”, but then it denies me access to the contents on the disc. I’m wondering if this is a problem with MS 2003? Anyway it’s obvious that I’m not going to finish my upcoming project in one sitting–I’m going to have to Save it as I resume each day, and of course Save when I proof-read/edit. This is going to be quite a project, I want to make it look as professional as possible and I don’t want it to not let me “Save” any changes which will prevent it from being so.
Thank you for any insight–this has been driving me crazy!
Hmm, from what you are telling me, I am guessing that you have MS Word 2003 and your documents must be from a newer version of Word. There are a couple things you can try to do:
1. Put Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2003 in Google or Bing or simply download the pack for Word. You should go directly to the microsoft website. It’s a free download and then try to put in your changes. If you make changes it may tell you that some alterations may occur, but you shouldn’t get a Read Only Error.
2. Copy and paste the entire thing onto a blank document which will be the version of Word you are currently using and Save As. Then make your changes as you normally would. Adjust formatting if and where needed.
Hope this helps!
I have self published 5 fiction books and it’s VERY important to remember that these companies are BOOK PRINTERS not publishing houses in the traditional sense such as Harcourt, Prentice Hall, etc. When you self publish, the marketing is up to you. Stay away from ANY self publisher “deals” to promote your books. These are expensive scams that result in almost no sales.
Agreed. That’s why these people are such a threat to new self publishing authors who don’t know who to ask or where to look. Also, a lot of traditional publishers are leaving the marketing up to the first time author in a lot of cases (not all). For the reason that Author Solutions and their empire are a threat to new self published authors is why I dislike this company. I have first hand experience about what these people can do. The expense and no sales are the tip of the iceberg. That was five years ago now. I hired professionals to fix what they screwed up and now am able to do a lot of things on my own.
I’ve been employed to Xlibris for about almost a year, yes indeed they sell you crap. That’s why it didn’t take long for me to process my resignation. I can’t take it as one of their publishing consultants, to harass my authors. My superior said its a way to close a deal but it didn’t work for me. About Miguel Guzman, yes that is not his correct name. We have phone names their, from what I’ve heard that guy earned a lot of money to self published authors and was able to build a church for the muslim community that he’s residing. He even bought these fancy cars from the money that he have scammed on these authors. He have been terminated from the company and the BIR (Bureau Of Internal Revenue) is chasing his ass. By the way that guy is here from the Philippines, specifically here in Cebu City. For those who have friends that’s planning to self publish their books, please do not select Xlibris. They will eat all of your money and would eventually harass you. Good thing I’m no longer connected with the company, that was a bad decision though. landing a job on the company that would do whatever it takes to sell services to earn money.
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing! You aren’t the only person I’ve talked to or stopped by who has worked at this sleazy company and lived to regret it. Well, I am certainly glad Miguel Guzman or whatever his real name is is getting his comeuppance. You truly reap what you sow.
What I don’t get is why such a well-known traditional publishing house like Penguin bought Author Solutions (the parent company of Xlibris and other equally shady companies) then merged with Random House, another well-known traditional publishing house. Author Solutions is probably thinking, “Hey, a merger of two popular publishing houses owns us now–we’re the bees’ knees.”
That’s exactly it. For a lot of new authors that will make them appear more “credible”. Plus, AS is in charge of their “self publishing” imprints like Book Country. So, basically if Penguin rejects your manuscript then they will refer you to BC. Some authors will be tricked into thinking they are “with” Penguin.
When that merger happened last year I and a lot of authors were stunned and very furious. As far as I am concerned, the Big 5 have lost their credibility. I will continue to self publish, and if I do anything traditional it will be with a small or hybrid press.
Before long I will be starting my own self publishing imprint and I will offer services to others to help them get into Createspace, Lightning Source, and ebooks.
Just got an e-mail from them singing their praises on “how successful the LA Times Book Fair was”–I replied that “One of the happiest times of parents’ lives is a baby’s first bowel movement. But a sh!tty diaper is still smelly and disgusting.” (Meaning as successful as this event is, it’s still a fraud. ;))
Lol! That’s about right! The event is successful for them, but not so much for their authors or very few at best!
🙂 They’ve also e-mailed me to settle the payments I haven’t made yet. At first I replied, “I don’t think you understand the concept of a cancelled debit card.”
The next time I got more assertive and replied that I would be more than pleased if they stopped e-mailing/calling me about this, and I would not be giving them any more information. They and the other companies under Author Solutions are, dare I say it, a bunch of scam artists and I wished I had known about it long before. Told them I couldn’t fathom why Penguin was possessed to buy their company, let alone merge w/Random House. My personal experience w/them has caused a rift between my sister and I (not that we were ever close, being as different as night and day), but I don’t think she’ll ever trust me to make any smart decisions with publishing/money.. I know there must be some LEGIT self-publishing companies out there somewhere that don’t charge ridiculous fees and do what they say they’re going to do (market your book, etc), but because my experience w/Xlibris, my sister is skeptical even about that. She’s advised me to go with traditional publishing, but as even a lot of those are now in cahoots w/a lot of these vanity publishers like Xlibris and others, I’m hesitant to go with a lot of them. They (Xlibris) have ruined a lot of people and again are not going to get any info or money from me. They deserve every lawsuit/bankruptcy they get!
My sister told me to tell them to “**ck *ff” next time they contacted me; I think my above response is basically the same thing 😉
I hope that you get this sorted out soon! I think Penguin saw dollar signs with that scammy company and nothing more. They didn’t do their homework. Another gentleman has contacted me and they threatened to do things to him as well about charging him a bunch of money he didn’t owe. I daresay they have become a lot more brazen since I left ;). Just keep track of everything!
I can say that the traditional publishing waters are not shark free. In some ways you could end up worse off, and you will still have to spend your money on marketing and there are much more deadlines involved and a lot more perils.
I know who the better companies are and I am probably going to start my own soon since I see a need and I am many seasons wiser :).
Yeah, they probably just saw the $$$$$$$$. They threatened to do things do some guy? Geez! (Nothing Mafia-related, I hope?)
I agree that the traditional publishing companies have their disadvantages, as do the legit self-publishing ones. And yes, the scammy publishing companies will tell their potential victims, “Don’t trust those traditional publishers, or don’t trust (name of legit self-publisher here)–publish with us!” Mainly because they want to reel in more victims. But every publishing company has its pros and cons.
Look at it this way: Even if you’ve had a perfectly healthy nutritious meal, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of your teeth afterward any more than you would after you had something sweet and sugary, right? Right. 🙂
The threats to the guy were going to try to force him to pay money he didn’t owe because he told them off after interrupting a family meal after he found out he had been stuck with a lemon. No, there wasn’t any Mafia stuff–as far as I know there is no Mafia involved with that company, it’s just a huge fraud. Even if they were I wouldn’t be afraid of them. There are things a lot scarier than some thug.
Generally speaking it’s a good idea to comb through your contract no matter who your publisher is so you don’t get screwed–all publishing waters have sharks. If you want to try your hand at traditional publishing you can! It’s just harder than ever to get in and be sure you know what you’re getting into.
If I were you and decided to try traditional publishing I would probably start looking for agents and for some small presses or hybrid presses. Sure the advance may not be as much, but you may have more room for negotiation and possibly more favorable contract terms. If you don’t like it and can’t make a deal, you don’t have to. You can always fall back on independent publishing or assisted self publishing.
It all boils down to what you can live with and what you think is fair. What pros and cons are comfortable with you. What may work for you may not work for me and vise versa.
Wow, this was a really enlightening read. Thank you for this.
I have a book with them. As with you, the actually publishing experience was fine and it was the marketing phase that made me uneasy.
I paid 4 installments, got my book published and I was very happy. I was selling books just fine on my own and then I got a call from my marketing consultant. I forget their name. They weren’t nearly as rude as your’s was, but I couldn’t afford what they were offering. I asked them to email me the details so I could look over it all, yes this was because I wanted off the phone, but frankly, there was so much information to take in, I would’ve asked that even if I was filthy rich. They said they would send it all via email, but then carried on anyway and it was clear they weren’t letting me go until I’d said yes to something. Prices came up and my response was very similar to your’s. I said I couldn’t afford it. I said we’d just bought a new house and there was absolutely no chance. Of course they wouldn’t take no for an answer. Started offering me installment plans which changed absolutely nothing. I did eventually hang up. Even if I had been able to afford it, I probably still would have declined. They talked about New York Times and interviews and fame and yada yada yada. I’m young too and I guess they thought all this would appeal to me, when in fact it’s not what I wanted to publish a book for at all.
I emailed this caller clearly stating that I wouldn’t be taking the offer as I couldn’t afford it, no ifs, no buts. He replied with yet another sales pitch, which I ignored.
Since then I’ve had countless voice mails from a few different marketing consultants. I guess they must move you on to someone else if the first one fails. I check my emails regularly, because when going through the publishing phase, if I missed a call and it was something important, they would email. This was often the case since they almost always called me when I was at work and I’m in a job where I can’t answer my phone the majority of the time. However, for the most part, they have stopped sending me emails and I know full well this is because they know people are more likely to cave in to pressure over the phone. Fortunately, they don’t have my home number and if I eventually get so sick of voice mails, my mobile phone is a cheap, simple one which will probably need replacing before long anyway.
Anyway, reading this makes me glad I stopped answering when I did, because I was stressed with it then. If it had escalated to the level of hideousness you had to contend with, I’m not sure how I would have handled it.
Hi Kristian,
Thanks for sharing your story and coming by. I’ve had other visitors that have had worse experiences than I have had–It’s downright shameful. I hope you find a better publisher or learn how to do it yourself the right way. You may want to go back and pull this book you have with them out and republish it. It will be a better product and better priced.
The bad customer service is just the tip of the iceberg with this company and its parent Author Solutions.
Hi again,
Hope you had a good holiday and enjoying the new year so far. I was wondering what your thoughts on the Writer Beware! section of accrispin.blogspot.com. It’s helpful to some degree in that it does list a lot of the truly “scammy” publishing companies, but reading the forum I think there’s some members that just don’t like self-publishing companies–perhaps they had a bad experience like I did–or some just think they’re inferior to traditional publishing: “The cover is unprofessional looking.” “The book is poorly written.” “You can tell it’s self-published; it was designed in Word.” (I picture these quotes in a very snobby British dialect, lol) Possibly those things are true about whatever book they’re talking about, but no need to look down on them. 😀
So far so good! The year is going well so far. That is true about some self publishing companies, but not all of them. There are ways to self publish and create an awesome book that doesn’t “look” self published.
Traditional publishing can still work in certain situations for some authors, but breaking in is harder than ever and they don’t cut newbies any slack. You don’t sell; you suck. End of story, and it doesn’t matter or not if they help you or not, which they probably won’t.
Traditional publishers also put out crap. Sometimes they put a crappy cover on a book because its a newbie and they want to use their budgets for their mega selling authors. We authors just have to accept it or simply self publish.
There are a lot of self published authors that are not putting out their best and it gives the rest of us bad names, but nothing much we can do about it!
XLIBRIS Publishing STAY AWAY FROM GEROME GATES HE IS A LYING CHEATING SCAMMER. HE PROMISED A FREE WWW AND A DONATE BUTTON FOR A CHARITABLE NOT FOR PROFIT AND HE SENT A EMAIL ON OCTOBER17, 2019 TO OFFER THIS. GEROME GATES IS A SCAMMER AND A LYING CREEP. I AM PUBLISHING HIM AND HIS EMAIL WWW. AUTHOR WREN LOUIS