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I paid $1600 for a professional edit, and my book went to print with at least ten typos. When I tried to get these corrected, the company tried to shake me down for another $400 for a block of edits. They accepted no personal responsibility for the shoddy editing job.

I asked them to send me a finalized copy of my manuscript so that I could upload it to Kindle Direct publishing. They sent me a manuscript where every word with a double f was misspelled (i.e. the word off would always read as of). I asked them for the final edited manuscript, and this is what they sent me.

I have never dealt with the same person twice at iUniverse. I am constantly having to reexplain myself whenever I call the company, which is frustrating. What's worse, every few months or so someone new from the company calls me out of the blue to tell me what a promising book I have, and that I should give them money so that I can enter my book into a book fair. They tell me that they think my book has the potential to be made into a movie. It's all nonsense; they're just commission based workers trying to shake me down so that I can hand over more of my hard earned money.

They sold their own version of my ebook which was not formatted correctly, doing even more damage to my writing career. This led me to take matters into my own hands and publish with KDP.

I could go on and on, but here's the bottom line: When you fork over your money to iUniverse you should expect that they will provide you with professional service, but what happens is the opposite. Over time you will find that their attitude is that you, the writer, should be providing them with a service. In short, they will very underhandedly look for new ways to scam you out of your money. They don't care about you as an author, they just care about generating more revenue.

Monetary Loss: $2000.

Location: Poway, California

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Guest

To get a traditional publisher to publish your book you send them a high quality marketable book you don't spend any money what nonsense Bev talks. And yes I have been published by a traditional publisher and I was a nobody. My father was scammed by this *** company that's how I know about it.

Guest

"By going this route which is the only one open to us these days" what a load of codswallop there are multiple wonderful options for authors these days and every one of them is better than the scamming Author Solutions garbage like iuniverse and all the other names this scam runs under. Never never spend $700 plus you can get the same stuff for free with other companies without all the *** mistakes heartache and pathetically low royalties that they never even bother to send.

Guest

Oh Bev is a staff member from Author Solutions desperate to hook more victims with the glass is half full nonsense. No everyone here knows you are a scammer and a fake "Bev" Offering people for $5000 what anyone can get for free with Smashwords.

Guest

What a load of absolute rubbish "Bev" people can get much better than what iuniverse "offers" (ie nothing but trauma) by putting their book up on Smashwords for free. Smashwords just takes 40% of the royalties and give the author the rest and charges NO upfront fees.

Guest

Those people ringing you about how your book has potential have no idea about anything regarding your book and are just people reading from a script hoping to get your credit card and get a commission for selling another scam item.

Guest

I, too, am a self-published author with iUniverse. As such, I think we have to realize that by going this route, which is about the only one open to us these days, we must pay for all of our services.

Part of the services, beyond the original publishing package, is book promotion. I know this can be difficult financially; however, without any promotion we may as well place our book in a drawer and close it. I am still hoping that a traditional publisher will pick up my book. I can't foresee any other way for this to happen without putting out some money for marketing.

I try to think of it as "starting a business". The book is our "business" or our "baby". We personally have to "back it". It is always a gamble.

I will be paying for my last promotion package this month. If it's not a go, I will simply have to try what I can on my own

I'm sure any employee on commission who sells marketing packages - or whatever! - is inclined to build up the product. Realistically, making a living is part of life.

I try to look beyond this and go by my own belief in the merit of my book and how much I can afford by way of promotion. No matter how good the book (or any business), there is also an element of luck in regard to being successful. Some of us make it; others don't. As mentioned, I am making my last stand on a professional marketing level.

As to good service and patient, caring staff, I cannot fault iUniverse.

They have always been there for me and patiently walked me through every problem I have incurred along the way. They have tried to market my book according to what I can afford.

I can't fault their strategies. Often, one's experience can be good or bad depending upon one's attitude, as in: a glass being half-empty or half-full.

I wish you good luck with your book!

Guest

Thanks! I don't need that kind of experience.

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