Read the Fine Print

I subscribe to a number of magazines and read them cover to cover. Admittedly I will skim parts of them but I learn a great deal in this process which is a regular part of my reading life. 

I'm one of millions of subscribers to Readers Digest magazine. For many years I've faithfully read this publication. In the January issue, I was drawn to A full color ad and the words, “Love to Write? Pursue Your Passion with LifeRich Publishing and Reader's Digest.” I scanned my page and have included it with this article. 

The page was positioned near the front of the magazine near the index to catch a lot of attention. Because I'm constantly reading about publishing and had never heard about LifeRich Publishing, I read a little closer. 

Then I located the publishing connection—see the second image that I'm including which says, “The Reader's Digest Association Inc and Author Solutions LLC.”

In the next few months, I'm almost certain to meet authors who will claim they have been published by Reader's Digest through LifeRich Publishing. It is the same way writers will claim they have been published by Thomas Nelson through WestBow or Lifeway through CrossBooks or Guideposts through Inspiring Voices. 

There are at least 20 different company names for the various Author Solutions companies. I've met numerous authors who have paid $8,000 to $20,000 to these publishers and have many books in their garage. The authors who took this leap did not read the fine print of their agreement. 

These companies are only online—i.e. no book placed inside brick and mortar bookstores. Yes there are some exceptions but of the thousands of titles they are producing each year, it is only online sales.
 
I have written about this issue in the past. Make sure you carefully read this Publisher's Weekly article from 2012. Notice this sentence in the article about their employees, “Its workforce totals 1,565 full-time employees with by far the greatest number, 1,215, located at its facilities in the Philippines which handles not only production but sales and marketing as well.”
 
The volume of books these Author Solutions companies are producing is staggering. Just check out this article from 2011 which shows they produced over 47,000 titles (yes different books). These numbers have only increased in the last few years.
 
Recently I heard Mark Coker, the CEO of Smashwords speak at the San Francisco Writers Conference. He said, “Author Solutions has put the capital V in Vanity Publishing.” Coker was talking about the cost of publishing for authors and how they are paying these various Author Solutions companies with very little return on their investment. There is a reason that Penguin purchased Author Solutions for over $116 million. Large amounts of money here but not necessarily beneficial for the authors.
 
Last fall, I wrote an article about how authors can avoid being cheated. I raised a series of questions that many authors never ask when they are considering publishing. If more people ask the questions, they will be wiser about what they are doing. It grieves me to see authors spend a great deal of money with the expectation their book is going to sell and become a bestseller—yet in reality they haven't asked enough questions or the right questions to make an informed business decision.
 
Yes publishing a book with anyone is a business decision. Ask lots of questions to make sure you make the right decision.

Authors Should Get Full Information

On a regular basis I speak with authors that I've met at conferences about the publishing program at Intermedia Publishing Group where I work as a publisher.
 

In recent weeks, I've talked to a few authors who decided to publish with other companies. One novelist told me, “I'm going with CrossBooks Publishing because they are part of Lifeway and I'm a Baptist.”

Another author told me, “I'm going with WestBow Press because they are a part of Thomas Nelson.”

What would-be authors may not know is that “publisher” may not really be a part of those companies, but rather what turns out to be quite a money maker for that entity. Would-be authors need to take a hard look at these companies and who is doing the actual customer service, production and marketing for these books. 

I suspect these authors will be shocked when they discover the truth. Many authors are putting their trust in a referring company without looking closely at the details and receiving the full picture.

I encourage you to read the details in this March 7, 2012 article in Publishers Weekly. The article is about the parent company for 12 different publishing brands and how Author Solutions is looking for a buyer. 

A careful reading of this article shows the huge amounts of money being generated from this entity that published more than 27,500 titles (that's different books) in 2011 with an estimate of each author generating $5,000 for the company—or spending that much money with them. 

Here's the previously hidden information revealed in this article about Author Solutions. “Its workforce totals 1,565 full-time employees with by far the greatest number, 1,215, located in its facilities in the Philippines which handles not only production but sales and marketing as well.”

Authors who have worked with the “brands” of different publishing entities report that their customer service person changed with each call. One author who published with CrossBooks told me she was unsure if a person of faith even edited her book or not. Her concerns were valid because unknown to her, she was working with people in the Philippines.

I've been on the phone with the customer service people from one of these brands. When you fill out an online form, you start what they call a “lead” and the customer service people begin to telephone and email you. I asked one of them where they were located and they responded, “Bloomington, Indiana.” (The location of the parent company Author Solutions.) I suggested they were in the Philippines and the customer service person denied it and said he was in the United States.

Why do the authors go with these companies? They believe that it gets them attention from a company like Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher, or Lifeway, the large Baptist publishing arm, or Guideposts or Writer's Digest or Hay House. The truth is something different.

During the last year WestBow Press (Thomas Nelson’s Author Solutions arm) did 1,000 new titles. I understand on average an author spends $8,000 to get a book produced. I do not know the percentage of revenue for Thomas Nelson from those authors but it is significant because of the volume.

Under the Author Solutions model, they set the retail price of the book and then the author buys the book at 60% off the retail price. The company makes their income from printing so they set a high retail price. Some would call it inflated. I spoke with an author this week who had a hardcover novel with WestBow. This first-time novelist had a retail price of $33.50 for a hardcover book. Yet the establishment of the price was outside of the author's control.

Recently one of my friends published through Inspired Voices, a service of Guideposts. She wanted to send me a review copy of her book and it took several weeks and multiple emails and telephone calls before it happened. Again this author was unaware that she was communicating with someone in the Philippines. It explains some of the communication challenges.

Authors need to get full information before they plunk down their money and begin working with these different entities. They have dreams of getting picked up with the referring entity—which has happened once or twice in the midst of thousands of other books being produced. The chances of it actually happening are about as good as winning a lottery or maybe you have a better chance with the lottery in my view. Yes, it is that slim.

There are twelve (an even dozen) of these publishing brands in the marketplace and authors need to fully understand what they are doing before taking the leap in this direction.

Why do these respected companies like Thomas Nelson, Lifeway, Guideposts, Writer's Digest and others join forces and produce these titles? It's not hard to understand. They are in business, and businesses need to make money. You as an author are in business as well. As such, I encourage you to look carefully at the company you are partnering with. 

Yes, you may be promised that you will be connected or helped. Look beyond the promises to look carefully at who is doing the work. and their results. How much knowledge of the American marketplace can you really expect from a company based offshore? This is the company that’s setting the prices and deciding on the marketing. 

As with any business venture, buyer beware. Make sure you will get your money’s worth and that the promises will be kept.