Image Credit: 12rf.com
Continued from “My Horrible Xlibris Xperience”
This part of the story takes up at my last and final heated phone call with Miguel, the Marketing Consultant from hell at Xlibris, and my continuing research at Mill City Press and other publishers. I will talk about how I found Mark Levine’s The Fine Print of Self Publishing and the 30 min call that helped me figure out how to turn things around.
Investigating Mill City Press
At this point and time I was through with Xlibris. I was ready to try out a new publisher, but my publishing finances were scarcely low at this time due to Xlibris’ pillaging and no books sold. My books had only been out a couple months and I was already ready to leave them and go elsewhere. It didn’t take me very long to learn I had been stuck with a lemon—a green one at that. I didn’t cancel out yet because someone may want a copy of the book and I didn’t know how long it would be before I could republish. I almost felt stuck, and I would have to wait a year before I could start again. I decide to look at the Mill City Press website a bit closer and start planning my next move. I was happy with my free phone consultation with Rosey Cashman the Marketing Coordinator at Mill City Press and what I had seen on the website so far.
I flipped through the site and found a comparison of printing costs and royalties with several companies against Mill City Press—Xlibris included. It reminded me of the Progressive insurance commercial with the remote control and screen with Progressive’s price compared with other top insurance companies. They also include the source of the information which you can go to and see for yourself. I remembered that an order for 25 books for Escape from Ancient Egypt cost me $300 which I thought was steep. I had to place an order because Xlibris cheated me out of my “free” books that came with the package. That also ticked me off—definitely after I saw this!
I can see that MCP’s printing costs were really low and their royalties were really high—the highest you can get: 100%. Their printing costs are wholesale and Xlibris marks up the printing costs at 150+%. It didn’t take me too long to figure out this was a total ripoff and I thought back to my expensive order for just a handful of books. Furthermore, my royalty percent at Xlbris is only 10-25% and that depends on where my book is sold. At MCP it’s 100% across the board. Now I found somewhere I can receive 100%? Wow! Coming here seemed like a no brainer (at least for me), but I needed to look closer to make sure they had everything else I needed.
I look around on this webpage some more to find more information. All of their information was on the site in plain view, and I didn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt for anything. They even put their contract on the homepage. For Xlibris I had to go to the Site Map to find it. As I am looking around, I find a link for more information on a book that compares publishers. This is where I find the bombshell.
I click on this link, and it gives me a demo of where publishers fall into a category: Outstanding, Pretty Good, Just OK, and Avoid. I find out where my publisher falls…in the “Avoid” category (it has changed a little in 2 years). I want to know why, but for more information I had to buy the book The Fine Print of Self Publishing in its 3rd edition at the time. At first I got the ebook only, but my computer kept messing it up. I wanted a physical copy for easier reference to each publisher’s website when I find a new one I want to investigate. I find a great lump package to get the physical copy and other stuff. The packet had: the ebook, the physical book, and the free 30 min phone consultation with the author Mark Levine. I liked this option. I don’t know of too many authors who make themselves available to chat with people.“Well, I’ll talk to this guy and see what he has to say, and maybe I can learn something or get some advice,” I think to myself. I’m already confused and at loss for words from what little I’ve seen so far.
I wondered why Mark Levine was featured on this company’s website. Was he their best selling author or something? I couldn’t wait to find out. I definitely couldn’t wait to find out why Xlibris was in the Avoid category. Could this explain why my publishing experience was so horrible at Xlibris?
I took a risk and bought the packet since it was a much smaller cost than a service or republishing. I took it as an investment into my publishing future. What did I have to loose? I was already at my wits end and I needed help—desperately—from anyone who would offer any help whatsoever. I already knew I had nobody else to talk to about my issues and offer any help or advice. Everyone I knew didn’t understand anything about what I was doing. So I wait impatiently for the book to arrive.
The Bombshell in The Fine Print of Self Publishing
I received the book on a Friday. I opened up my mail package, but I find more than just a book. There was the publishing information for MCP and a personalized letter addressed to me from Mark with his signature with a business letterhead called Published.com (I still have this today). “What’s Published.com?” I wondered. I also thought it was a nice touch. The letter was a “thank you” note and instructions on how to get in touch with him to set up the chat. I wondered why MCP had enclosed the publishing booklet, but then I thought that was because he was their bestselling author. Well, I didn’t have to request one now since they had sent me one.
My husband and I are leaving for the weekend, so I take the book with me to read in the car or during downtime. I read the entire book in a day and a half. When I cracked the book open, I found out that he owns and founded MCP. I had to go back and reread that a few times. That made sense of why the MCP packet was there. He didn’t review his own company and “pimp it out” (Mark’s favorite phrase of all time) in his book when he could have easily done it; he doesn’t say this phrase in the book. He says, “I don’t review my own company because that would be unfair.” So it was up to me to review the company for myself and I choose whether or not they were for me. Comparing MCP to other companies was just made easier for me since all of the information was in my lap.
When I read the book, all the companies were already compared for me so I didn’t have to do it. This saved me a lot of time. He also translated all the legalese in all the featured contracts and broke down what every author should know before they self publish. I wished I had found this book so much sooner. I learned what I was doing right and what I wasn’t doing right. I had to read Xlibris’ section after reading the front matter. The front matter taught me my ‘bill of rights’ and the other great information that was great to know before I proceeded.
After reading the front matter and the Xlibris section, the fog of lies was finally lifted and everything came together. I learned that my situation was so much worse than I had ever dreamed. I learned that there are publishers who lie to authors to get them in a contract! He had proof in his book of where Xlibris tried to do it to him, but he had the industry knowledge to counteract the attack. Ordinary authors like me aren’t so lucky, and that was the point of the information. He recorded everything his book and showed me where they lied and why it was a lie. I thought about the incidences that I had caught them in lies in my own situation.
We then get into the steep printing markups, fat publisher royalties, inflated retail prices, and me overpaying for my author copies. He interpreted a clause I had misinterpreted that was going to make leaving them very difficult, but not impossible. This was the one clause in their barebones contract that was going to cause trouble. It was written ambiguously on purpose to trap people and to make fleeing authors’ lives a living hell.
Other than that this contract was not as bad as some others in the “Avoid” section, but that didn’t make me feel any better. I used Mark’s simple equation to calculate the print costs for both my books. What I find was appalling. Escape from Ancient Egypt had a much bigger markup than Neiko’s Five Land Adventure; it was over 100 pages shorter and it was listed at the same retail price. Neiko’s Five Land Adventure was already overpriced so Escape from Ancient Egypt was GROSSLY overpriced! I thought both books being the same price was a little weird in the beginning; I thought EEE would have been less. But, I thought I was working with experts. Boy, was I wrong!
I wondered how I would ever get out of this hell with my books, artwork, and sanity intact! I wondered how in the world I ended up here. This is what I tried to avoid in the first place. I tried to carefully research. I didn’t jump into anything. It’s really hard to research a lie when you don’t know where to look. I find out later that this happens to a lot of people, so I wasn’t the only one. This is mentioned in the book as well and this was the main reason why the book was written.
My Cry for Help to Mark Levine
After reading the book cover to cover, I send the email to ask for my consultation and wait. He responds with some dates and times to choose from. I pick one and I send him my response along with my background, so I didn’t have to go through that. We only had thirty minutes and I didn’t have time to waste on intros. I thought it could help him better prepare in how he could help. I wait for the day to come.
I had my phone consultation with Mark a few weeks after reading his book. I wanted to use every second to hopefully find some solutions to my problems so I could construct an escape plan. I wasn’t sure of what was going on at Xlibris anymore. I second-guessed and was confused about everything. Nothing made sense any more. Everything Xlibris said was a lie as far as I was concerned. I was also dreadfully nervous and I hoped that he wouldn’t think I was a total dope because sometimes I can feel so awkward when talking to a new person and because I was so confused.
After the first few minutes of the call, I was on the verge of tears. After talking to him ten minutes, my situation was so much worse than ever before (when I didn’t think it could get any worse) than when I began the conversation. He asked me simple questions, and I no longer able to answer them because I didn’t know anymore. All I could tell him was, “They say this, but I don’t know if that’s true anymore.” I admitted to him that I was completely dazed and confused, and they have lied to me so much I don’t know what the truth is and what isn’t. I couldn’t tell him who owned the website because I really didn’t know. He said, “That’s the way it is with these people,” as he punched in the keys to check the site whois. I didn’t know much about tech stuff like that. I tell him, “They say I do, but how do I know they aren’t lying to me because they have lied about everything else so far,” I say. “I hope he doesn’t think I’m a total idiot,” I think helplessly since that was how I felt about myself at the moment.
I knew editing was important from reading his book, but I always knew that. He reiterated this during the call. He asked me if the books were edited. I say yes. He pulls up my website and looks at the excerpts. Then he told me that my book was probably an editorial nightmare by looking at the excerpt. There were five mistakes on the first page! My editing wasn’t even done right, and it was not a quality edit. I had to have a real professional tell me that because I didn’t notice. Bam! Another lie busted. All the exposure stuff I wanted to do would get me the wrong attention with my books the way they are, and their bloggers would judge it very harshly if I submitted them to them the way they were. Everything would have negative consequences. I was defeated before I had even begun! I’m glad he was candid and told me what I needed to know before I really screwed up.
Everything so far was a waste, and I had to start over—from scratch. My cover and illustrations were fine, but everything else was crap. I was even more furious at Xlibris. I am very sad at the same time since my dreams were in jeopardy. He let me recognize that anything I do doesn’t benefit me at this present time; it only benefits them until I cancel. I can’t do anything to salvage the situation in my favor until I get out. I had to recognize that for myself, and I tried out different plans to save face and money, but I was only able to cut my losses and get what I could. Any little thing helps.
Mark told me to cancel all the services I can and get what I can. I can still fix this and turn it around, but I needed to listen to him and act. He told me what to do step by step. He had already established his credibility as far as I was concerned. This is when I found out that little clause I misinterpreted came back to bite me in the butt; I couldn’t have my books’ print ready pdfs which would have saved me a lot of time and money. I had to redo the editing anyway, and I don’t think you can edit a pdf. I don’t think it would have mattered too much at this point. The formatting was atrocious. He didn’t actually see the formatting, but he could guess if everything he sees sucks, it must suck too. I asked him what editing level I needed so I know exactly where to start when I signed on at Mill City Press.
He told me to cancel the email campaign service as soon as I hung up with him. I can get better services and get more services for that $2500 amount. I have more services to cancel besides that one. I calculate how much I would be getting back and what the dollar amount would be for publishing and editing at Mill City. I can republish Neiko’s Five Land Adventure at Mill City with some money to spare with the included edit. I couldn’t get everything I wanted, but I had enough to republish and start getting out! Escape from Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, had to wait.
The problem wasn’t resolved in one call; I had to email him a few times after that, and he wanted me to keep him informed on each step.
After our talk is when I cancelled all the services. It took me a couple days to do because I had to play phone chase, and I was being passed around like in the latest Discover commercial where Peggy and his coworkers pass the phone around and say “Transfer!” and nothing gets resolved. I was ready to grapple; I was determined. It takes me a while to get my money back. I cancelled the author video, a bookstore return service for Escape from Ancient Egypt, and what I had paid on that dumb Email Campaign and stopped it just in the nick of time. If I had waited until the next day, I would have been too late. I was glad I listened to Mark and did it when I did. I tried to get my publishing fees back just for spite, but I didn’t win that round. That left a scar.
I try one last menial service for $199 with a new consultant with some of the money I got for Book Expo America showcase for their last chance. They flunked out; no books were sold. Game over. I go to Mill City without any hesitation. I wasn’t looking back at Xlibris ever again.
After getting my money back I asked for my CD archives for both books that had my high resolution illustrations. I didn’t have to pay extra; they came with the packages. Xlibris reps started asking if everything was all right and I say yes, and I quietly step out even though I could have made a scene. If I would have said no, they would know something was up or try to talk me out of it. They wouldn’t have succeeded if they had tried.
After this point is when my publishing experience with Mill City Press begins. I also keep in touch with Mark about what was new with the book because I thought he might like to know, and he also asked me to.
This is now where my publishing experience with Mill City Press begins. Now to “My Mill City Experience”.
Heeeeeeeeerereeelp
Help
How can I help you?
I am so grateful for the effort you have gone to in “looking for an Out” andrelated posts. Of course, I wish I had read it before I got sucked in by XLibris. I really think I could sue them under Australian law, but they have more money for lawyers and are less troubled about telling the truth!!
I want to republish my novel under a different title and maybe rewrite a lot of chapters etc, but I don’t know whether I can convince another publisher that Xlibris that the novel has not been published, that is, by selling twenty copies to my family and friends does not constitute ‘publishing’. Yes its listed on Amazon and elsewhere at a price about twice what I would be glad to sell it for. I don’t know what demonic trick they would have in store for my new book with a very similar story line. They did send me a cheque for $30 which hardly relates to the twenty copies they said they sold.
I ask myself, do I abandon that fantastic book that many readers loved and get on with No’s .2 and 3?
Thanks for being so caring and helpful.
Ollie
Hi Ollie,
Thanks so much for sharing your story with me and for stopping by! I am always delighted to know that sharing my story is continuing to help others. If you haven’t had a chance to read some of the other related posts about some of the other dirty tricks these pirates do, you’ll be in for a shocker. They fail to report sales and deliberately withhold royalties. Your books are overpriced, no question. That is all due to the big, fat printing markups they put on the books. You’ll be ticked to know that you can get much higher royalties in self publishing than the paltry 10-25% they offer and you’re really not even getting that much from the retail price–they are making many times the amount you are. You can get anywhere from 65-100% of the net depending on retailer and publishing platform. You can even get wholesale printing costs. You can even do better on your own or with other people than with any of their overpriced marketing services can do.
You are where I was about four years ago when I met Mark Levine and found his book, so I know the feelings you are feeling right now. It’s not too late to salvage this situation and turn things around for your benefit. Until you get your book out of Xlibris anything you do for marketing from here on out will benefit them and not you.
You may not have to change the title of the book or your name (unless you want to), but you will need to pretty much start the process over again from scratch with new cover (unless you like the one they made for you), new ISBN, and everything. You already mentioned that you already need edits, and if you need me to, I can ask some Aussie authors I know for a good Aussie editor. You will probably need a content edit and a copy edit. A lot of editors combine the two for one price. If you used their “editors”, chances are they did a lousy job and it is a hot mess.
As for the publishing part of the process after that I am working on setting up publishing and design services for authors like you or just starting out, but will not be ready to open up shop until later this year. Soaring Eagle Books will not be a “self publishing company” in the traditional sense since I will be doing formatting, design, and distribution and not including marketing in a package. If someone wants marketing they can go to my sister site or just do it on their own. The accounts at publishing platforms will be yours and not mine. You will get your author copies at wholesale printing costs. SEB will not take any royalties from your sales. It’s basically I build it and you run it. I will have ebook and print services, but a wide range of options according to your needs. Or if you don’t want to use my services, then I can recommend you to some better publishers or contractors. Do give self publishing another try. You don’t have to mess with a legacy publisher unless you want to.
That said, what you do from here on out is up to you. You may want to get a quality book #1 out before you get the others out since readers will want to start at the beginning. Or, get book #2 out and go back and rescue book #1, but I wouldn’t want to wait too long in this case. If a reader gets a quality book #2 and then read book #1 with Xlibris’ crappy quality and price, they may not buy or the reviews may not be so good. Of course when you get your new version out, you can give your family and friends the new version just as a thank you for their initial support.
If you need any help with figuring out how to cancel out of Xlibris or like any other information, feel free to contact me by email or on Facebook.
Thank you AK. Congratulations on the plan you are working on. I have been contemplating something like that but I am very much strapped for cash. Please help me to follow your progress by placing my email on any list of interested authors.
I think I will try to set up a domestic publishing and see if I can do a deal with book sellers like UK Book Depositary which has an impressive sales approach (even selling in Australia free of post/freight which is a big saving. I suspect they have a good deal from the Australian post services.) English publishing and promotion might be better for me because my novel is Irish/English/Colonial Australia. No 2 is more American.
I approached Xlibris to ask them to take my novel “Slave of Mickle Fortune” off the market. Their response smelt of a threat to send me a large bill. So, I will proceed with a different name and ISBN and new chapters. I don’t think they can do anything about that.
Certainly! I will do that :).
Funds being scarcely low is usually the way it is when you deal with these people. Been there done that.You don’t have to rest on your laurels while you wait to rebuild your publishing fund. I will say that working with me or any other contractor or publisher that I recommend will be many times cheaper than Xlibris with many times the quality when you get to that part of the process.
Start doing your research now and get an estimate about how much it will cost to edit and publish your book and a launch. Set a budget or a plan for marketing. Try to do something ever so often and it doesn’t have to cost anything every single time.
If you need a Aussie editor I can help you find one, but if you need a UK editor I know of one I can recommend.
Start building your platform now. This will be important for your relaunch and there are some free and cheap stuff you can do to do this. You will want to build your own website instead of the crappy one Xlibris built at some point. Research book marketing, and I have a guide for that.
I will also be sending you an email later today about how to terminate your contract with Xlibris with some other information so keep a look out in your inbox and spam folder!
Thanks AK. That will be very much appreciated. I am not sure that I need an editor now but I am very interested in your comments about exiting Xlibris and about the high quality appearance you got with your new publisher.
I’ll be working away at the research and will tell you what I come up with after a lead I had from UK “Book Depositary”. They are a high quality book retailer but they have suggested a couple of avenues that I should explore.
Hi there, I’m a victim of Xilbris right now too, how did you get your money back? I haven’t even received my book as it was sent back to the start of publishing so as they sent me the draft copy with illustrations that was unedited and my pictures looked tacky, I was furious as I bought a package deal for $2800 that had Copyediting included and had to send them the original documents stating so, as their miscommunication was not only for the Copyediting but the simple instructions for my cover too, I wrote a cancellation letter to their head office here in Australia as it demands in the agreement and sent a photo of it and exact email to all the people I was working through to cancel my publishing of my book through their company I demanded a full refund minus the administration costs within 21 days or I seek legal action, I’m looking at legal help now, I really want to start a petition, and then a rally outside their doors globally, they need to be exposed for the thieves & liars they are, there are so many people on so many different forums with the same stories, I believe people power is a movement we should consider against these fraudulent giants, I’m going to look at starting a class action against these tyrants, it’s not the money I’m after it’s the respect, they are destroying peoples dreams and making financial ruin to some, and too many people are throwing their hands up in defeat and saying “there’s nothing I can do”.
I too got the same spill on ‘I can see this becoming a movie’ pitch, it broke my heart when I received a email warning me of Xilbris and that they are just a scam, my partner screamed down the phone at one of my publishers that I have not heard from since as my partner threatened to hunt him down, he was upset that my pride & joy was being taken for a ride, would you join my cause if I started a rally wether it on the streets of on social media?
Also have I terminated with Xilbris correctly? Can you send me an email on how you did it?
Hi Tanya,
I will answer you back for this comment and the previous one, so keep an eye out!
Alec
My book was a quality self published endeavour in print format, Epub and Mobi. After the book launch I had some website problems and entered into a distribution and promotional arrangement with Xlibris for a total outlay of about $8,500.
I am in conflict with Xlibris. I believe they are in breach of contract through not having put up my sales figures or royalties. The contract is now twelve months old and to date I have not received a red cent. Contrary to my instructions, my print book is available at an inflated price and my ebooks for a song. Despite being available at major outlets world wide Xlibris says there are no sales.
My next course of action is to approach the ACCC with claims of false and misleading advertising. Among other things, Xlibirs offered me satisfaction guaranteed.
I note with some satisfaction Authors Solution is being sued in a class action in America.and would like to think the same could happen in Australia.
Hi Alec,
I have an article about Xlibris failing to report sales on my blog after a ridiculous amount of time. It was a miracle I got them at all. They probably withheld a lot more than I am aware of.
You are the fourth or fifth Aussie author I have talked with. I wouldn’t be surprised if there will be a class action lawsuit there before long. One of your own has emailed me and is trying to get something going! 🙂
Thanks for your email. None of this sort of conduct is any good for anyone, even Xlibris. In the short term they at least have the benefit of making a profit. But such conduct can’t last. Their message “Write your success” should be changed to Right your success.
Ha! That’s a good one. 😀 They give POD companies and self publishing a bad name. I really hate this company and their parent company as well–Xlibris is just one Star Destroyer in the Evil Galactic Empire of Self Publishing.
Hi,
I have spoken to Office of Fair Trading in NSW and intend to lodge a complaint against Xlibris for allegedly false and misleading conduct. The contract I have was signed with Xlibris Corporation at Gordon NSW, so this means Fair Trading can pursue the matter. I am very doubtful that I will recoup any of the money I have outlaid. However, my main purpose is try and ensure that Xlibris are restrained from their manner of advertising and allegedly deceptive conduct.
It would be helpful if other victims were also prepared to lodge their individual objections with Office of Fair Trading NSW as this would improve the chances of getting something done.
Recently I ticked off another publisher and asked them what ARE THEY DOING to make the industry accountable. They ignored my email and then on-sent me some of their speil. I have unsubscribed them from my list.
Wow! That’s awesome! I hope it does work out. Xlibris is just one tier in a multifaceted front.
Anyway which other publisher did you remove from your list? If it’s another to be avoided or if you met a sister of Xlibris people can me made aware.
Good work Alec. I am in ACT jurisdiction but I will follow it up here.
John
Great! Look at your contract and make sure it is Australian based. Otherwise, Office of Fair trading can’t help. Unfortunately the ACCC does not represent individual cases. But on the other hand if there were enough of us…
The other publisher I removed from my list probably had no connections with Xlibris.I just took the view that ALL publishing companies must peer pressure the outlaws in everyone’s mutual best interest. Otherwise through their inaction they are actually giving tacit support and condoning such conduct.
I have received advice from Office Fair Trading NSW advising that they wrote to Xlibris about my complaint but Xlibris ignored them. My option is to lodge a complaint with the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal who can conduct a hearing and impose enforceable orders. I intend to pursue the matter with them.
Best of luck! Basically if anyone says anything to Xlibris, they will ignore them. That’s how they keep getting away with the stuff they get away with and they can get those high-dollar lawyers if they want to fight dirty. Stinks and is so unfair.
I would like to thank the author of this article for writing it. I have just finished paying my money to Xlibris but have not sent them my manuscript yet. Now I don’t intend to. I am deeply worried though that I will never get my money back from them when I go to cancel my service tomorrow. Any advise would be very much appreciated. Thank you again for your article. I’m very sorry about all you went through.
Marc
Hi Marc,
Thanks for stopping by and for reading. I am the the author who wrote the article for others to NOT suffer the same fate as I did. Actually, since they don’t have your manuscript and they haven’t really done any services yet, there is a beacon of hope for you. I will send you a private email with a link to their legal doc as well as instructions on how to terminate. 🙂
Hello AK Taylor,
I am happy to see that you have outlined your independent publishing experience on-line for all to read. I entered into this arena in 2012 not as an author but was hired as a consultant (by a long-time friend) to navigate the ‘business’ side of this incredibly layered shark infested industry. While I have twenty-eight years background in business consulting I had never done anything with authors or books. Research! Research! Research! My advice to those who have never published or run a business? Again, research. Did I mention, RESEARCH?
I have now been approached by other Authors to navigate them through this frustrating maze. BEA as you mentioned in one of your posts is a great place to spend your first dollar doing research on the business side of the industry. Also, many Authors ‘think’ by “purchasing” services they are actually ‘hiring’ the traditional publisher. That is the first mistake. Again, think of your investment like buying a car.
To date I have assisted in publishing four books. With XLIBRIS. AK Taylor when you ‘purchased’ with XLIBRIS they had not yet been acquired by Author Solutions. I am not affiliated what so ever with XLIBRIS. What I will say is that my background in business allowed me to see they were all about selling not service. I buy a box of cake mix off the shelf at the store? I have to go home and bake the cake. That simple. I utilize the company for distribution, printing etc. The ‘baking’ is up to me. I need editing, I go get an editor. And, who knew there are two types of editing? Content and structure. How did I know this? That’s right, research. XLIBRIS does a fine job at structure editing. Content editing, horrible.
As far as royalties. Believe me. Sales in the book industry can be crushing to an author’s ego. Before you spend one dollar on publishing I advise anyone to get to one Book Expo America and three Book Festivals. You will learn a lot. You should see that the independent publishers are not promoting your books! They are promoting their publishing packages. And, here is the kicker; the Author paid to have their book shown at these Festivals and Expos. The consumer cannot purchase the book at these festivals or expos. The consumer is directed to the author’s website. And, at the end of the day the consumer has a bag full of pamphlets, cards, postcards, and tired feet. What are the chances they are going to your website to purchase your book? You lost the sale. Hence, you get no return on that investment for that particular book festival or expo.
I now have a background in publishing. There are reasons that traditional publishing houses refer to the independent publishing houses as ‘vanity’ authors. One, because traditional publishing houses are the most arrogant group of business people you might ever meet but most importantly because we as people write books and become legends in our own minds. Hence, we believe 1) we write a book 2) sit back and wait for the truck loads of money to roll in. Sorry to say it just does not work like that and because the sharks out there in any independent publishing company ( not just XLIBRIS) know that we are that vain they take the money right out of your pocket; gladly.
So, put your ego away because you are starting a business! And by the way, thanks for writing your blog.
Regards, C
Hi C,
Thank you so much for your comment. You bring up some very important points! Just to clarify, the events in this post series happened in 2009 and 2010 and the series was written 2012. I was a twenty something and not long out of college and knew little to nothing about the business world. Heck I was just trying to get my foot into a career at the time and maybe start my author career along side! This post was written in the perspective of who I was and what I was going through at the time in 2009. The ego has long been dead and buried. When I started out I knew I had to work at it. I didn’t have the “build it and they will come” mindset. I tried to keep my expectations modest and menial, but I had dreams that would touch the stars. I hoped I would have embarked on the journey with a strong start.
I jumped in, made mistakes, and learned from it. I am many seasons wiser since 2009-2010, but I have a long way to go.
You having a background in business helps. When I started out, probably like many first time authors, I had no idea that I would become an entrepreneur. Many authors still think even if they go with a traditional publisher that they will handle all the marketing for them like they used to, but they find out otherwise. They have the “build it they will come” and “I am a legend in my own mind” mindset. If authors approach the whole thing at the get-go with a business mindset, then they are better poised to tackle the task at hand. Problem is, many are not. They don’t see themselves as a brand and their books as products. That’s who I was then, but I have a different perspective now.
Ah, yes, research! I did try some of that. Trouble is, I didn’t get the right information (that can and does happen a lot). There is no shortage of information, but it takes getting the right information, and sometimes it can he hard to judge what is right and wrong information in a new field. I had no one to ask or talk to like your friend you helped. There was no one like you available to me. I didn’t know any other authors. There were no writing groups I knew of. I had no access to any of that, and me being so young, people would think I was a joke. So, I dove in and bitten by a shark. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Another way to look at this in a business-like manner that I have since learned is that working with Xlibris is like working with a bad contractor. My initial plan was to invest in the book and some marketing services that should work as I try to do some legwork in the meantime. I hoped to not buy services for a while (a year or more) as I worked the book on my own some. Then that’s when they continuously tried to hard sell me services like a boiler room/used car salesman. And, when a trained eye looked at the work on my book they did, I find out after-the-fact did a bad job on that as well. Just like how someone who isn’t a plumber contracts a plumber who does a bad job when an inspector or a friend looks at it and tells that person about the problem after the fact. So, then you have to fix the problem.
So, I had to find another contractor to fix the problem since I didn’t know how to do it myself. Since then, I have learned a lot and have met other people who can construct a book and how to do some of it myself for better quality and less money than either of the two contractors of this series. I have learned what quality looks like, how it should look, and how to sample the work before buying. It takes getting out there, making mistakes, taking responsibility, and learning from them and moving on.
I have also learned to get better results for much, much less money than what Xlibris charges across the board. I did better on my own than I did with them. All part of learning. You are right, they are more than happy to take money from people who don’t know, and that’s what their business model is all about. Everything they offer is overpriced across the board which can be done by an author free or cheaply by themselves. They even inflate the costs of printing which affects any author’s bottom line. They also fail to report royalties (it has been proven and I wrote about it much later) and steal them. Plus they take a royalty for doing nothing whatsoever and still charging for services, so they make money on every side of the model. So, authors are much better off hiring editors, formatters, cover designers, and the like for what they can’t do right themselves and marketing the books on their own if they can’t get a publishing contract and make more of the money that they DO earn. No matter the path they take, authors must do their part in marketing their book. It’s not a field of dreams. And yes, none of these pay to publish companies market an author’s book. I found that out very quickly when the journey unfolded, so I didn’t want to buy more marketing services, but they kept trying to force me and harassed me. I was going to try doing it myself and then I discovered a host of other issues–the publisher had a bad rep and my book was sorely overpriced over what the market could bear which are HUGE problems!
Going to expos and festivals ARE a good place to learn about the industry, meet and network with people, and build relationships. One should go and not expect to sell books. What Xlibris and other publishers who ‘display’ books for a price don’t tell authors that they are displaying hundreds of others of that publisher’s books along with all the other publishers and authors who have booths there. For any of their services they lead you to believe “if you buy our services, we will help you sell lots of books!”. What they don’t tell you is that they don’t target the campaigns and chances are they are spamming. You are paying them to spam people, basically. The email campaign (it no longer exists now) they charge $10K for is a spam campaign. Someone can set up and build a email campaign of real, interested, targeted readers for free or cheap. Hind sight 20/20 right?
So, since then, I contract other people to do right what I can’t do myself and I have started my own publishing imprint and my own business this year with what I have learned so far and I am still learning every day. I won’t stop learning until I die.
This post series has helped other authors from making a bad investment or hiring a bad contractor, or they found out they just did. I tell them about all options they have available to them including doing it themselves, and they choose what to do from there. That’s the way I view it now and pretty much did after the truth came out–I made a bad investment and a bad business decision, and I learned from it. I told others my story so they wouldn’t do the same thing.