iUniverseReviews of iuniverse.com

I am a Canadian author and purchased the Chapters Indigo Review package under the impression that it would be tailored for the Canadian market. The process started out seamlessly, with the editorial evaluation, editing process, and interior approval going well. However, there were several times where I was talking to different people about my project — and most of the time I was contacting people that took forever or did not respond to me at all, and come to find out someone else was assigned to my project without my knowledge. Additionally, I was told the Canadian price could not be printed on the back of the book — even though as a Canadian author that will be trying to sell my book to local bookstores with the custom sell sheet in my package, the Canadian currency needs to be on the book for consumers who will be thinking in Canadian dollars, not USD. If this is meant for Canadian authors, the assumption should be that the book needs to be tailored for the Canadian market; therefore, Canadians will be looking at the Canadian price, not American — Canadians shouldn't have to convert prices when purchasing a book, it should already be done for them. And when I brought this up again after the published date, I was told I had to pay a resubmission fee — despite already bringing up this issue before the book was published, and the importance of it. Overall, I would say iUniverse is a good option for American authors, but the Chapters Indigo Review Package is not good enough for the Canadian market, and definitely needs to be more tailored before I suggest anyone use this package.

I self-published with iUniverse way back in the pre-Kindle days of 2004 and again in 2006. At the time, I would have rated my experience higher. I thought it went smoothly. In the interim, my suspicion is that iUniverse moved their entire operation out of the United States and changed their business model. A few years after publishing, I began receiving almost weekly calls from my "book consultant" asking me to take advantage of some promotional package which always required me, the author, to buy more copies of my book. The pitches for these promotional packages became increasing unbelievable. Many years after I'd published, after I'd stopped promoting, and when I knew no copies were being sold, I'd be told that my book was garnering significant movie interest when there was no way anyone even knew it existed. Several years ago, I received a notice from iUniverse that one of my books had been added to Kindle. When I bought the book myself, I found it was so poorly formatted that I contacted iUniverse, told them to remove it, and then created my own Kindle version through KDP. Since then, I've discovered that they somehow changed my book information on Amazon so they don't appear under my pen name. When I called to correct this, my book consultant couldn't help. FINALLY, when I tried to UNPUBLISH my books, I was told that I have to print out, sign (not digitally), and return a cancellation agreement to them after which it will be 30 days before they can remove my books from their system. When I've used services like Lulu.com in the past, I have total control of that book's availability. I understand that perhaps the ISBNs make my iUniverse titles more ubiquitous but 30 days? My suspicion is that iUniverse is no longer (if it ever was) a self-publishing engine for authors but instead a sort of single-level marketing scam. Authors pay to publish their book and then a "consultant" (likely working on commission) harasses that author to buy promotional packages or more copies until that author is tapped out. They clearly don't care about the publishing side of their business anymore with the poor Kindle versions and inaccurate author information on Amazon. DO NOT USE THEM.

I’m terms of the Chapters Indigo package I was pleased with the efficiency and swiftness of the process. I wasn’t a Tun or how many different people I spoke to, as there were roles where the representative wasn’t aware of something because they weren’t previously updated, and I also prefer to be speaking to the same group of people. I would have liked if iUniverse had asked me if I had a date in mind to upload the books online before doing so, as I had an external marketing plan in place that was contingent on a date and my books had to be taken down so it could happen. I also felt like there were a lot of a la carte options introduced to me during the process that were necessary to me, and had I known about them beforehand I would be able to know all of what I needed to publish my book to the best of its ability and the full cost. Otherwise I appreciate iUniverse and the package suited me just fine.

I published here once - will never do it again. In fact, I'm going to unpublish my book here and start over. I'm normally a positive guy, but the way I was barraged with nickel and dime phone calls, not to mention having to pay 90% of the cost to get copies of my own book. I could go on, but I won't. Instead, I've already taken it somewhere else.

Make no mistake writing a book is hard work not only for the author but also the publisher, despite that iUniverse delivered for me.

I took advantage of a half price sale which was great. The editorial review was terrible and nothing but a high pressure effort to get me to spend a hell of a lot to edit. The book itself looks good but they added one too many images. I wasn't happy with the retail price $28.99. I think it's going to be hard to sell on Amazon. I paid for a web site and am still waiting for that. How can I sell the book without the website. Way too slow here and I haven't had a chance to have any input yet.

My experience with iuniverse was great! They kept me posted every step of the way. They get things done at a fast pace, professional manner. Everyone I spoke with was very nice and helpful.

Just a complete class of energetic wonderful people. I am so delighted that I was an Autor to say I was completely satisfied with everyone who was involved in my book. Thank you Iuniverse.