Publishers Weekly posted a very revealing look at iUniverse in this week’s issue. It should be a real eye-opener for aspiring writers who actually believe they will sell any books by going the self-publishing route. Out of 18,000 books iUniverse published in 2004, only 83 titles sold at least 500 copies and a mere 14 showed up on the shelves of Barnes & Noble. That’s the reality, folks.
2004
18,108: Total number of titles
published
14: Number of titles
sold through B&N’s bricks-and-mortar stores (nationally)
83: Number of titles that sold at least 500
copies
792,814: Number of copies
printed
32,445: Number of copies
sold of iUniverse’s top seller, If I Knew Then by Amy Fisher
2003
15,028: Total number of titles
published
7: Number of titles
sold through B&N’s bricks-and-mortar stores (nationally)
76: Number of titles that sold at least 500
copies
700,930: Number of copies
printed
10,186: Number of copies
sold of iUniverse’s top seller, The Sweater LetterbyDavid
Distel
$299: Cost of iUniverse’s
lowest-cost publishing package (includes one book)
$799: Cost of iUniverse’s most expensive
publishing package (includes 10 books)
$199: Cost of a basic press kit
$1,500: Cost of book publicity service, which
includes media pitches
I’m repeating myself, but it seems necessary:
A vanity press is a company that makes the bulk of its money from a very large number of very small print runs that it sells mainly to people the authors know.
Exactly. How would a small number of authors for a company that still expects to sell a few copies per author figure in?
iUniverse is the only one I paid. It was $99. I bought none. Sold a handful. I don’t know who the hell they were. All six of them.
How do those figures compare to, say, Random House?
From these numbers iUniverse obviously serves a critical function – these are roughly 33,000 manuscripts that won’t be flooding publishers and agents.
Btw. To come clean, I did self-publish a book through iUniverse. It cost nothing (part of MWA’s program with iUniverse), ended up getting some terrific blurbs from Bill Crider, Vicki Hendricks, Gary Lovisi and others, an Italian publisher bought the Italian rights for it, Point Blank Press ended up publishing a version of it as Fast Lane. Since Point Blank published it, Fast Lane has gotten terrifc blurbs/reviews from Ken Bruen, Ed Gorman, Charlie Stella, was made a hardboiled crime club selection by Poison Pen Bookstore, got a rave review in Kate’s Mystery Bookstore’s newsletter, etc. So there probably are a handful of books in those 33,000 that deserve to be published. Not many, but probably a few.
The figures for Random House are fewer titles and no cost to authors complete with marketing at various levels. In other words there is no comparison.
I realizse that traditional publishing houses don’t charge the authors.
I’m interested in the comparison of figures between “Total number of titles published” and “Number of [those] titles that sold at least 500 copies.”
Beats me about Random House. When I was published by Walker & Co., their mystery line put out something like a dozen books per quarter. I seriously doubt that any sold fewer than a couple thousand copies.
I admit these aren’t hard numbers, but I paid attention while I was there, so I don’t think they can be that far off.
I’d say the chance that a RH, hell any mid to large publisher sold less than thousands of copies is nil. 3000 would be considered a disaster. A history title for Wiley sold that many, and they weren’t interested in another in that category of sales, even though they published another by the same author.
Thanks; I needed a basis for comparison.
It costs large publishers a minimum of several thousand dollars to publish a book (At least the last time I checked, and that was some years ago). So they absolutely have to sell at least a few thousand books just to break even. Small presses, especially those that use POD technology, have lower overhead and seem to do all right selling a few hundred copies of their titles.
My own iUniverse book cost me a few hundred dollars; it’s got such a narrow audience that I can’t see a big publisher picking it up, and I have never expected that it would actually make me much money or fame. It’s actually sold better than I thought it would, and the reviews at Amazon and MBR have all been favorable. Another interesting thing is that the e-book version has outsold the paperback version. I don’t know why this is, but I’m not complaining.
Of course reviews at Amazon and MBR aren’t real reviews, and thus are meaningless. Kirkus, Library Journal Publisher’s weekly are reviews.
You can pay for reviews by Kirkus now, so I wouldn’t give them much credence, either.
Yes now that you mention it I recall there is that two-tier for profit system at Kirkus. It’s new and an ominous sign.
MWA no longer has an iUniverse program.
I was on the committee that looked at the numbers connected to sales through the former program. IIRC, the overwhelming majority of participants sold fewer than 25 books.
Jan
“Of course reviews at Amazon and MBR aren’t real reviews, and thus are meaningless.”
This is incorrect, I’m afraid. They aren’t professional reviews, and they should be taken with a grain of salt (as universal praise always should), but as well they are the opinions of people who have read the book being reviewed, and thus they are of value. It’s to everyone’s advantage to give the reader some credit for both having and expressing an opinion about a book.
The opinions on Amazon, and I have them, usually are friends. I’m not. Read that, fellow vanity press authors and thus unobjective. PA is the best example of this sort of group hug review and MBR as well. In fact the two are one and the same in many cases. This isn’t reality.
25 books as Jan pointed out, is.
J.K. Rowling has an awful lot of friends, then.
I get the impression that you regard every positive review as suspect; do you have a list of acceptable qualifications we must all have before we are permitted an opinion about a book? And when we read a review, is it not to get the reviewer’s opinion, which is an inherently subjective thing?
This isn’t math, you see. It’s art. And like it or not, art requires that you have a reaction and form an opinion. Perhaps your friends actually did enjoy your book and saw real value in it. Friends can have opinions too, and judging one’s own work is notoriously difficult for everyone; this is in fact one of the biggest perils of self-publishing. If someone reads your work and says they like it, why not have faith in them and take them at their word?
To my mind, your perspective as to what constitutes successful writing is much too narrow and is ultimately self-defeating. Keep in mind that selling lots of books is not the only reason to either write or publish. Believe it or not, some people write simply because they enjoy doing so, and 25 books in the hands of the right people may in some cases be considered a smashing success.
“Friends can have opinions too”
Yes they can, and the chances of them pointing out flaws in your book are slim to none.
“and 25 books in the hands of the right people may in some cases be considered a smashing success.”
That’s good because that’s about the average sold. Smashing!
Too narrow? Oh contraire, it’s as wide as the market for real books sold and produced the old fashioned way. The third one will be the charm. The first two were practice.
Interesting. I have friends I show my work to precisely because I know they will point out any flaws, because they have, sometimes with great enthusiasm.
Smashing indeed! I was both pleased and surprised when mine hit 25. And to think that none of those were to family or friends– wow!
Totally unexpected, that was.
Anyhow, I’m glad to hear that you’re still writing and still believe in yourself. Perseverance is vital in publishing. Best of luck with #3!
And four and five too. To give you an idea of what that route is, Levine/Greenburg is still holding onto it. They may ultimately reject it, but that’s the route to success. It won’t happen the self-publish route. That’s not negative, that’s factual. One needs thousands of readers.
It may be inaccurate, but I read that four out of five of last year’s nominees for the National Book Award had sold less than 1,000 copies of their books.
Can anyone corroborate?
The whole vanity/subsidy press industry is made up of smoke and mirrors. There is a radio (Poscast) two part interview with Dave Maturo, the ex VP of Finance for Xlibris posted at http://www.wbjbradio.com. He basically confirms that very few books are sold, other than to the author and the system is set up so if you happen to have a winner, and want go somewhere else, Xlibris not only owns the ISBN but the printing file as well, leaving the author the prospect of starting from scratch, if they want to really self publish. The problem is the vanity/subsidy/POD presses make it look too easy, and it’s not. For the serious self-publisher, who enters the business with their eyes open,the prospect of success is much higher.
I read that iuniverse’s 20% to the author is extremely low; as they garner an 80% profit margin on your work. Publishers offer much better returns to their authors.
It’s better than 8% of the net, but the low sales that are the norm for vanity presses make whatever the cut is negligible.
Hasn’t anyone here heard of Lulu ?
It’s ridiculous to act like there is a huge difference between a company like iUniverse and a traditional publisher. Books selected for Editor’s Choice at iUniverse are similar quality to traditionally published books. I can’t tell you how many spelling mistakes and absolutely terrible writing I see in about 75% of the books out there, and these are supposed to be professional products! Also, the only fantasy here is that a traditional publisher will promote your book and sell copies. THAT, my friends, is fantasy. It doesn’t matter where you publish, unless you’re already a huge name, YOU will be promoting your book, NOT the publisher! And the 20% you get from iUniverse is a lot higher than any traditional publisher offers, ever. Not to mention you get 50% of any ebook sold. My book landed me New York’s top literary agent, I got a comment from Leonard Maltin to use with publishers, and we submitted it to all of the major houses, yet it was still rejected on the grounds that it supposedly wouldn’t sell them enough copies. So does my book not belong in print simply because it couldn’t sell 100,000 copies for Random House? I think not. My agent, who is also Maltin’s agent, thought the book was fantastic and that it would sell. Regardless, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from people I don’t know or previously didn’t know in the community in which I write (Star Wars fans and scholars) and my experience landed me an essay opportunity for a scholarly book on the subject, traditionally published. iUniverse has all of the strengths of a traditional publisher — you can get into book stores through iUniverse and you can sell copies, but it’s your job to do it, not anyone else’s.
Also, the “facts” cited in this article were totally wrong, as iUniverse pointed out. Really poor fact checking by PW. Many more books have sold 500+ copies than are in the Star Program, so that is wrong, and many more sell in Barnes & Noble, too. Fourteen was the number of books that sell *nationally* at Barnes & Noble, which is pretty good actually. A lot of what iUniverse publishes are great books that just have small audiences — they are no less valuable to their audience, but they aren’t mainstream fiction. A lot of them are niche non-fiction books with a small but sure readership.
Yeah, when you get a blurb from Leonard Maltin, that pretty much seals the deal in the iUniverse vs. Random House debate. Just yesterday, I went to Borders looking for a good book with a Maltin blurb and the kid behind the counter told me that the only way to get a book Maltin blurbed would be to go online and order it straight from iUniverse because Maltin’s faves are too numerous to be shelved in brick and mortar stores. I was pissed, as you can imagine. Luckily, I found this comment here and was able to read an excerpt of your book. I was particularly moved by this passage:
“Although interest in Star Wars had seemingly disappeared after the final film in the original trilogy, the series only grew more popular over the late 1980s.”
Just out of curiosity, where were you in the 80s? Nobu? Alderon? Yeah, NO ONE cared about Star Wars. They sold NO action figures. They never played the movie on tv. It didn’t influence an entire generation of movie making. It was just gone. Oh. Wait. No. It wasn’t.
I’m sorry kid, but if you name check Leonard Maltin, you better come strong, because I find your lack of knoweledge disturbing…
Same delusion different day.
I’d like to point out a few things.
One advantage of self-publishing is that it gives you a concrete product to promote in the marketplace. The bad products will sink (and they do) while the really good ones (which are few, sure) combined with good promotion can raise them to public awareness.
I’ve had two books championed by agents who gushed how “enchanting” and “satisfying” the books were, only to have every door slammed in their face when they pitched them. The chances of landing traditional publishing gigs seems so dismal that, after 10 years of trying, I think its a tactically sound decision to try another method of breaking in. After all, independent films were once scoffed at (and there’s lots and lots of bad ones) but they are currently considered to be a good way of breaking into the film industry. Just recently, an indie director got signed to a $30 million feature.
Why can’t that happen with books? The problem with PW’s article is that it takes EVERY self-published book into consideration — that includes poetry, regional, bad books, and even decent books by authors who have no idea how to promote.
I currently published with iUniverse and to date have sold just shy of 1,600 copies (and I bought only 30, not included in the above figure.)
That’s big time sales for a vanity press product. You should take that to an agent now.
In his preface to Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein remarked that he would achieve his aim if only ONE person read and understood his book. That is how I feel about my ‘Basic Flying Instruction, A Comprehensive Introduction to Western Philosophy.’ Writers write because they need to communicate. iUniverse is making that possible for thousands of writers who do not regard the fact that they only sold 20 copies as ‘failure.’ The advent of the e-book reader is the biggest step forward since the printing press. The days of bricks and mortar book stores may be numbered.
Oh Charles the reports of brick-and-mortar bookstores, newspapers’ demise is premature. Like those before you you’ll be communicating with damn few readers. I know about that firsthand unfortunately.
You may have set a record for most books bought from a vanity press. It begs a question, not be be confused with “begging the question,” what did the agents say about your novels and did you even submit them?
The agent I signed with was pretty established, and she loved both my books. Out of some 20 publishers, half didn’t respond (I’m told that’s typical) but the other half said they loved it, but that “the historical market is soft and we have a poor track record promoting untested, untried authors.”
I don’t believe I’ve set any records, but the selling rate has been strong enough to have B&N agree to test-market my book in one particular location. Obviously, I would much prefer to have been offered a contract from a traditional publisher; since this offer wasn’t made, despite the highly positive comments I received, I wasn’t prepared to hang up my hat and give up. I wanted to try an alternative.
Since doing this, I’ve perused many self-published books and the amount of bad reads is extremely high. Yet as I said, those bad books quickly sink off the radar. It would be incorrect to assume that all self-published books are bad; history has certainly shown this not to be the case.
That’s laughable! First off, I don’t recall any such passage in the book, Star Wars popularity still increased in the late 1980s, though, because of the 1985 home video release that put those movies in millions of homes. Mine being one of them. I never would have become a Star Wars fan except that me and everyone I knew had copies of the films at home on VHS. If you actually read the book, you’d know you simply DO NOT argue with me on Star Wars. I am never wrong. Not after the thousands of hours of research I’ve done, you cannot argue with the facts. You can argue with my opinions about subjective matters, but not about factual matters that are properly backed up.
Last year I published an essay in a traditionally published book, on Star Wars, and this year I have my second commercial work through iUniverse coming out. And this particular “news item” is still just as stupid as it ever was. Also of note, iUniverse didn’t publish 18,000 titles or 15,000 titles or any other absurd number. It was actually about 5,000 last year, and that was one of their biggest years. I’m not sure where these “facts” came from, but they’re all totally wrong.
Also, on my second book, I didn’t even really pay to publish it, I got a better deal than most academics get with their publishers. I know because I contributed to a book by a “traditional” publisher and they do FAR less to market that book than iUniverse does to market theirs — they don’t even offer any real support, and the royalty percentages for traditional publishers are always — without question — lower than iUniverse. If you want to make more per book, you self-publish, simple as that. If you want to sell more copies, you go to a traditional house, but that’s only assuming you actually get a deal, which is very rare, and if you don’t you sell a big fat 0 copies.
On my last book, I paid about $900, and I get 50 free copies of the book, priced at $24.95, all of which I have pre-sold or going out for review. Forty of them are sold, that’s $1,000, and the other ten are going out for review, plus I get one author copy myself aside from those 50. So before the book is even published I’m at $100 and that included having multiple editors look over the book, make sure it was error-free, plus the marketing department does their check of the back cover material, the author bio, the sell sheet that goes to book publishers, and my book won both Editor’s Choice and Publisher’s Choice, so it will be sold in a local Barnes & Noble, too. Now maybe some of you blowhards who still are sitting on your manuscripts would scoff at that, but unless you’re a best-selling author, right now I’m sitting quite A LOT ahead of you! And I’m 24, too, with two published books (three if you count an academic book) and one published essay in a “real book,” as some people here would say. I’m quite happy, actually, with my sales numbers. People buy my first book every month, I have gotten a great response from it, it has made me a lot of contacts, and it’s something I had a lot of fun putting out there. I’ve won Editor’s Choice for both of my books, they are both very high quality products, and I’m proud of them. My current book I guarantee is better edited and grammatically more precise than 99% of the crap out there by traditional publishers. I read typos and poor sentence structure and prepositions ending sentences in almost every book I read. I’m a writer first, not just some guy who decided to write a book about something I know with no real clue how to write. I take my work very seriously.
It’s an absolute joke that there’s still this elitist attitude in book publishing. I’m also a writer-director with my own small production company, and I can tell you in Hollywood it doesn’t matter how you got a movie made if it’s a good movie. Especially if you make cash on it. At least in Hollywood there might be a reason for the snobby attitude, because generally it’s harder to achieve great production values with a tiny budget than with a huge budget. But with book publishing, get real, I can write circles around most traditionally published authors. They don’t have anything I don’t have, and Random House doesn’t have anything iUniverse doesn’t, except a lot fewer titles published, higher overheads, and less author royalties. No thanks!
“Random House doesn’t have anything iUniverse doesn’t”
Prestige? People taking it seriously? If you write poetry or literary fiction, as opposed to Star Wars, those count a lot.
Sure, I agree, for fiction work and poetry if you publish through a place like iUniverse it’s going to be very difficult for readers to take you seriously. That’s primarily because 90% of what is self-published is crap, but that doesn’t mean the actual method is any worse. iUniverse binds its books 100% as well as Random House, prints them faster, puts them to market faster, etc.
Also as far as editorial quality, let’s be honest, any book that is not carefully edited by its author is not usually a good quality product. I can honestly say that 90% of books I’ve read published by major publishing companies have words missing, words spelled incorrectly, improper comma usage, sentence structure issues, and that’s just the really obvious stuff. Besides that, much of it is poorly layed out with illogical chapter breaks, etc. I just think it’s a shame that modern publishing has ended up that way. I’m not sure if that was always the case, but I don’t see how there is any editing with these companies. I could give you a few examples just recently, like a cinematography book by Blain Brown (who I had as a teacher, he’s a smart guy and good at what he does) with numerous words missing, periods missing, improperly capitalized words, etc. Then another one is Making Music Videos that was published in July 2007 with lots of great information, truly one of the best books of its kind for that, but the poor writing and rampant mistakes make it a half-hearted recommend because you have to read over them. I don’t care if a book is 350 pages long it still shouldn’t have even one mistake of that nature. If I read over my books and find something like that, which I did on my first book, one mistake (I think a missing “a”), it really frustrates me and drives me crazy. But in a book where supposedly an editor has read it over and sent it to press, mistakes like that are completely unacceptable. That means two pairs of eyes, at least, did not catch them, and in some cases the errors are so bad I fail to see how even one reading by one person couldn’t catch those types of egregious mistakes.
There has been a democratization of media that includes both book writing and filmmaking to the point where the talent of the artist is what matters in the end, not the company for which he works. Filmmaking used to be impossible to do professionally without a massive budget because you had to use 35mm film stock and have it developed, sent to an editing facility, and pay for transfer to tape for broadcast or printed back to film after editing. Now a desktop computer running Final Cut Studio 2 can produce the same professional results that Hollywood manages, not to mention digital cameras today are capable of images rivaling professional films, or even better, as is the case with the RED One, which for about $35,000 for a basic package can put professional filmmaking tools in your hands. The point is, for $100,000 you can buy all of the equipment you need to make completely professional finished products, whereas it used to cost millions, and with book publishing you now can publish a book yourself that looks as professional as the big boys, provided you have the editing skills to assure a great finished product. That bothers a lot of people in the writing industry, I’ve noticed, more so than in film. Even in film, however, there is that elitist element that is bothered that “the masses” can learn how to edit on off-the-shelf software that is more powerful than what was used to edit feature films a decade ago.
I just don’t believe the results of professional publishing companies speak for themselves, nor do I believe the results of, say, major music video companies speak for themselves. I’ve seen better work from small production companies, and I’ve seen better writing from self-published authors not to mention better editing. If these publishing companies want to hold onto the image that their product is vastly superior, they need to start taking the editing process more seriously and providing products that are beyond reproach from a technical standpoint.
It’s not necessary to achieve big sales numbers and make lots of money. I have published with iUniverse and sold only 269 copies in three and a half years! Nevertheless, I’ve had great fun and felt amply rewarded.
Just want to share my experience. I self-published a book of poetry, Barrio Teacher, and promoted it through teacher workshops. A few months later I received a call from a publisher in Ohio who wanted me to write eight books for their educational market because someone in Fresno had shared my book. From there I got three more books published by real publishers in a niche market. I haven’t had success with the “big guys” even with an agent and they have given me the round around with my latest book. One sent me a contract which she then rescinded. So I am going back to self-publishing but I believe I will use Lulu because I can keep my rights. Also as far as I know, Robert Kiyasaki first self-published “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” Also, my friend Janet Atwood and her ex-husband, Chris, self-published “The Passion Test” first, got a good database going with a great deal of excellent marketing and now it was just recently released by Random House to the tune of almost a million dollars in advance.So believe in yourself and follow your gut instincts and market, market, market.
Mayra Fernandez, author of the soon to be published block buster, “The Crumb Syndrome.”
I just got my editorial evaluation from iUniverse for my fiction manuscript. It was very positive, and the Rx was for line editing, which, for 180K words is a lot of money. This generates two questions: Has anyone ever gotten a less than positive editorial review from iUniverse? Or is this a hook to get the author to spend more money and make the work the ‘best possible’? I worked with (and paid) a local editor for 9 months, until I ran out of money, and we can clean up the copy for a lot less than what iU will charge, but then I risk not getting the ‘editor’s choice’ status, which they’ve assured me I’ll get if I use their services. It feels a bit scammy. Comments?
Steve B, you are a sucker. The only comment I have is WAKE UP!! Why the hell are you paying to be published? How much money do you have lose before you realize you are being shaken down? Who gives a fuck whether iU makes you an “editors choice” or not? It’s a meaningless, paid-for accolade. Nobody but the suckers on iU give a damn about it. If you writing needs this much work AND you have to pay to be published, take the hint, man.
A vanity press only wants your money. Nothing will ever change this except evetyone walking away and learning to write for publication.
very interesting stats on iUniverse. In 2005, I published a book with them. It was a hobby thing with no expectations of making back the investment. It is something of “the definitive work” on a limited-interest subject Your numbers tell me that it did pretty well anyway having sold over 900 copies to date.
In 2007, I went back with an expanded version of the first book planning to invest in professional services through iUniverse. I wanteda more polished result and knew that my proof reading and editing skills weren’t up to the task. I found out that the contracted professionals with iUniverse were not competent to the task either and decided to withdraw the book from publication. This seems to be a fairly routine occurrence at iUniverse. I would not recommend the company to anybody who does not possess a professional knowledge of editing and book publishing.
Help! I am looking for publishing right now and looking at POD. It is a business book and I am a national colomnist now with American City Business Journals (The 41 business journals around the country) I have enough of a platform and am in front of a god amount of groups for seminars. OK so. Ineed opinions on some you have used or checked out and your thoughts..
Greta
Write a proposal and submit it to agents. You don’t have to write it until the book is sold. That isn’t the case with a POD vanity press. Nothing is urgent or fast, so relax. Real publishing is slow.
“I just got my editorial evaluation from iUniverse for my fiction manuscript. It was very positive, and the Rx was for line editing, which, for 180K words is a lot of money..”
Particularly since their contracted editors and proof readers are incompetent.
iUniverse has now screwed up their sales reports replacing them with meaningless gibberish.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I had cancelled a contract with them because of poor production values in the final pdf draft. Their proof readers and line editors are expensive but totally incompetent They agreed to cancel the contract before any books went to print. Months or nearly a year later, the flawed book showed up on Amazon.com and several copies have been sold. They bear the “prestigeous” Editor’s Choice seal.
It sounds as if a lot of people have caught on to iUniverse and the company is desparatey scrambling for money before the bottom falls out.
I was thinking of going with iUniverse for my novel but, thanks to all of the imput I’ve seen here, have decided not to. I have written eight books for Arcadia Publishing and have, to date, sold nearly 20,000 copies. I know every six months I will get a royalty payment. This month I got one for over $900. Their editorial staff is beyond excellent–and its all free. I started my historical novel when I was in my twenties. I am now 55! I can not tell you how many agents and publishers I’ve written to. You know how it goes. I wrote the novel not because I wanted too but because I had too. The historical significance of it was vital.I will keep trying because it is in me to do so. Through Arcadia I have been on the front of my city’s newspaper, have given tv and radio interviews and have given many lectures at colleges including Cornell and the University of Rochester. When young folk tell me they what to write, I tell them not to bother–pursue a more tanigble vocation–and just write as a hobby. In other words, don’t bug those around you telling them you’re a writer. You are really better than that. My books for Arcadia have endeared me to my community in ways I can’t express. A hundred years after I’m gone, some kid will read my books, look at the pictures I spent hours restoring, and wonder who this guy was who wrote this. I guess that’s why we write. We don’t save lives. To hell with pod and self-publishing. It’s really not worth your precious time.
I am a novelist and this site has been a great help for my writing life. I use this site as a result of professionalism and hope that I will be able to use this self-publishing company to my writing out there.
In his preface to Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein remarked that he would achieve his aim if only ONE person read and understood his book. That is how I feel about my ‘Basic Flying Instruction, A Comprehensive Introduction to Western Philosophy.’ Writers write because they need to communicate. iUniverse is making that possible for thousands of writers who do not regard the fact that they only sold 20 copies as ‘failure.’ The advent of the e-book reader is the biggest step forward since the printing press. The days of bricks and mortar book stores may be numbered.
The opinions on Amazon, and I have them, usually are friends. I’m not. Read that, fellow vanity press authors and thus unobjective. PA is the best example of this sort of group hug review and MBR as well. In fact the two are one and the same in many cases. This isn’t reality.
25 books as Jan pointed out, is.
“Random House doesn’t have anything iUniverse doesn’t”
Prestige? People taking it seriously? If you write poetry or literary fiction, as opposed to Star Wars, those count a lot.
I like this review-I believe it is insightful and helpful. IUniverse can be approach on some occasions, but I wouldn’t use any of their marketing. The best approach is to go their digital route.
…didn’t get to finish. Also be aware they will make 20% of your book available for free on Google books. It really is best to go the traditional route and get some rejections. If your book has a good story line and an editor has helped you, a publisher can be found.