In my previous blog entry (June 24, 2015) I gave some background to my self-publishing history, including the two books below.

Suffice to say today it’s a whole new world compared with the 1990s and early 2000’s.  There are now millions of self-published books, and a large industry has grown up to serve the world’s wanna be writers.   Whereas I didn’t have much choice when I picked Author House in 2001 for “We Can’t Kill…”, now we have a huge menu of options for self-publishing (see first few blog posts). 

And there’s the rub, I think.  The indie author is a sitting duck for “publishers” wanting to produce your book.  But mostly they want to sell you services, NOT sell your book.  Not that we don’t need these services; in most cases we do (especially editing).  It’s just that too often the pitches are for over-priced services, including some you don’t want or need.    

I recently considered using “assisted publisher” Archway for my new novel, Consenting Adults Only.  http://www.archwaypublishing.com

Archway interested me because it’s a unit of Simon & Schuster, and they offer one-stop shopping like other assisted-publishers.  Like the others, they will take your manuscript and cover, turn it into a print book and e-book, and sell you copies at a ‘discount’.  Their base price for these services, without editing or any marketing is $2,000.  (Add in professional editing and marketing and the price can zoom to well over 10K; check out their web site).  I figured the base price was at least double what it would be if I went a al carte, say, with Create Space. 

But it wasn’t just the cost that deterred me.  I looked at the “Archway” contract and was surprised to see that the only place on the contract with the words “Simon & Schuster” was the heading on the first page.    Turns out it is really a contract with Author Solutions, an Indiana firm which is the publishing arm for many self-publishing fronts, including Author House, Xlibris, iUniverse, BookTango, and Archway (see complete list in link below).  And the terms weren’t good. 

One item in particular was disturbing.  They set the list price of the paperback, even when it's print on demand.  (The author gets to set the price of the e-book.)  The Archway sales person I talked to on the phone said this was necessary to make sure the company makes a profit on each paperback.  To see how crazy this is, check out Archway's "Motive to Kill" on Amazon; this is a 288-page ordinary paperback with a price of $18.99!  Not many people are going to buy an unknown, self-published author's paperback for $18.99.  (And the hardcover?  35.95!)

The basic problem is that the business model of AS-affiliated publishers is not to sell books to readers, but to sell books and services to its authors.  I still get calls every month or so from Author House to “buy more books,” “buy publicity campaign,” buy this and that.  Invariably the caller knows only the title of my book and nothing else; he or she is clueless about what’s inside.    

So I’ve come to learn that publishers who work under the rubric of Author Solutions are mainly marketing firms, with the customer base not the readers but the authors.  This situation is well known to a lot of folks, but not to everyone, so beware.  In my research I found there are two class action suits against AS.  The following two blog posts do not paint a pretty picture.

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2015/04/29/author-solutions-and-friends-the-inside-story-2/

https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/authors-guild-dumps-author-solutions-and-pretends-it-was-all-a-bad-dream/

Quite frankly, my experience with Author House 14 years ago was not bad (this was before they hooked up with AS).  The only real issue I've had since then has been the marketing calls, but the callers are polite and I have no trouble declining their offers, so it's no big deal.  

In truth, if you don’t much care about author autonomy or paperback sales, don’t want to mess with web sites like Create Space's or with hiring free-lancers, and have the money, then there is nothing wrong signing up with an AS-affiliated company.  It is one-stop and you will get your book published.  But note the caveats:  You don't much care about author autonomy or paperback sales, etc. 

The loss of control when signing with an AS-affiliated company and the extra expense, plus all the negative comments from unhappy authors, have dissuaded me from that type of relationship.  Fortunately, today the options are much better for writers than a decade ago. 

So I’ve gone from ordering books from a printer (early 1990s) to publishing with an assisted-publisher (Author House, 2001) to now doing most publishing tasks a al carte, using CreateSpace as the publishing platform.  I am constantly exploring other platforms, and looking for new ideas on how to produce a book – as long as I feel they are in the author’s best interest.

My basic message is to stay flexible and in control of your book.  Investigate all your options.  Don’t sign a contract unless you understand and feel comfortable with the terms.  No one will care as much about your book as you do.