AuthorHouse: Difference between revisions
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'''AuthorHouse''', formerly known as '''1stBooks''', is a [[ |
'''AuthorHouse''', formerly known as '''1stBooks''', is a [[vanity press]] that sells [[print on demand]] services to aspiring authors. |
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According to its own promotional materials,<ref>http://www.authorhouse.com/AboutUs/CorpMilestones.asp</ref> 1stBooks was founded in [[Bloomington, Indiana]] in January [[1997]] by an aspiring author who had received more than 100 rejection letters from publishers; its first [[e-book]] appeared in June of that year. In January 1999, it started using [[print on demand]] technology to produce paper books. By December 2001 it had printed 350,000 books and by January [[2004]], 2 million books from 18,500 authors—less than 110 copies per author—had been printed. In March 2004 the company changed its name to AuthorHouse. It opened an office in [[Milton Keynes]], [[United Kingdom]] in May 2004. By December 2004 it had printed more than 3 million books. In September 2005, AuthorHouse won the Silver Award in Business excellence from BKD.<ref>http://www.indianabusiness.com/excellence/news.html</ref> In December of 2005, AuthorHouse was nominated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce for the Small Business of the Year Award.<ref>http://www.indianachamber.com/newsdetail.asp?ID=2531</ref> |
According to its own promotional materials,<ref>http://www.authorhouse.com/AboutUs/CorpMilestones.asp</ref> 1stBooks was founded in [[Bloomington, Indiana]] in January [[1997]] by an aspiring author who had received more than 100 rejection letters from publishers; its first [[e-book]] appeared in June of that year. In January 1999, it started using [[print on demand]] technology to produce paper books. By December 2001 it had printed 350,000 books and by January [[2004]], 2 million books from 18,500 authors—less than 110 copies per author—had been printed. In March 2004 the company changed its name to AuthorHouse. It opened an office in [[Milton Keynes]], [[United Kingdom]] in May 2004. By December 2004 it had printed more than 3 million books. In September 2005, AuthorHouse won the Silver Award in Business excellence from BKD.<ref>http://www.indianabusiness.com/excellence/news.html</ref> In December of 2005, AuthorHouse was nominated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce for the Small Business of the Year Award.<ref>http://www.indianachamber.com/newsdetail.asp?ID=2531</ref> |
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Revision as of 18:14, 8 August 2007
AuthorHouse, formerly known as 1stBooks, is a vanity press that sells print on demand services to aspiring authors.
According to its own promotional materials,[1] 1stBooks was founded in Bloomington, Indiana in January 1997 by an aspiring author who had received more than 100 rejection letters from publishers; its first e-book appeared in June of that year. In January 1999, it started using print on demand technology to produce paper books. By December 2001 it had printed 350,000 books and by January 2004, 2 million books from 18,500 authors—less than 110 copies per author—had been printed. In March 2004 the company changed its name to AuthorHouse. It opened an office in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom in May 2004. By December 2004 it had printed more than 3 million books. In September 2005, AuthorHouse won the Silver Award in Business excellence from BKD.[2] In December of 2005, AuthorHouse was nominated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce for the Small Business of the Year Award.[3]
For additional fees, AuthorHouse offers returnability (allowing bookstores to return excess inventory, which makes them theoretically more willing to stock the title), individualized book promotions,[4] copy editing, priority handling, and custom illustrations.
Some prominent individuals have published through AuthorHouse including Senator Richard Lugar, comedian Rita Rudner, award-winning Canadian humorist Gordon Kirkland, and evolutionary psychologist Kevin B. MacDonald.
People who write family histories often pay for publication through AuthorHouse. Since family histories have no market potential outside a particular family, often selling fewer than ten copies, legitimate major commercial presses have no interest in publishing them.
In August 2006, AuthorHouse was ordered to pay $240,000 in punitive damages, as well as $230,000 in actual damages, to romance author Rebecca Brandewyne and her parents for publishing a book by her ex-husband that was libelous of them.[5]