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vanity press with source from Seattle's daily newspaper, The Olympian
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'''AuthorHouse''', formerly known as '''1stBooks''', provides [[print on demand]] services.<ref name="Glazer">{{cite news | last = Glazer | first = Sarah | date = [[April 24]], [[2005]] | title = How to Be Your Own Publisher | work = [[The New York Times Book Review]] | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/books/review/24GLAZERL.html?_r=3&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin }}</ref>
'''AuthorHouse''', formerly known as '''1stBooks''', is a [[vanity press]] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=OLPB&s_site=theolympian&f_site=theolympian&f_sitename=Olympian%2C+The+%28WA%29&p_multi=OLPB&p_theme=gannett&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11021E7F2C7F0D60&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Prepare to laugh at essay collection|accessdate=2008-04-28|publisher=The Olympian, Seattle’s Daily Newspaper}}</ref>that provides [[print on demand]] services.<ref name="Glazer">{{cite news | last = Glazer | first = Sarah | date = [[April 24]], [[2005]] | title = How to Be Your Own Publisher | work = [[The New York Times Book Review]] | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/books/review/24GLAZERL.html?_r=3&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin }}</ref>


It was founded in January, 1997, and between the time it began operation and January, 2007 it had published nearly 40,000 titles by over 30,000 authors.<ref name="Russell" /> While AuthorHouse do not print books themselves, they do provide a number of publishing services to authors for a fee - including proofreading and distribution.
It was founded in January, 1997, and between the time it began operation and January, 2007 it had published nearly 40,000 titles by over 30,000 authors.<ref name="Russell" /> While AuthorHouse do not print books themselves, they do provide a number of publishing services to authors for a fee - including proofreading and distribution.

Revision as of 17:11, 28 April 2008

AuthorHouse, formerly known as 1stBooks, is a vanity press [1]that provides print on demand services.[2]

It was founded in January, 1997, and between the time it began operation and January, 2007 it had published nearly 40,000 titles by over 30,000 authors.[3] While AuthorHouse do not print books themselves, they do provide a number of publishing services to authors for a fee - including proofreading and distribution.

History

According to its promotional materials,[4] 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 published 350,000 books and by January 2004, 2 million books from 18,500 authors — an average of 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 published more than 3 million books. In December of 2005, AuthorHouse was nominated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce for the Small Business of the Year Award.[5] In October 2006, AuthorHouse won the Silver Award in Business excellence from BKD.[6]

The Californian company Bertram Capital purchased AuthorHouse in 2007 from the previous owners, Gazelle TechVentures, who had owned AuthorHouse since 2002. Later that year, AuthorHouse acquired one of their competitors[7] - iUniverse - before relocating iUniverse's operations to Indiana in early 2008.

Operation

AuthorHouse normally charges authors in return for services which include editing, proofreading, marketing, distribution and lining up an outside printer.[3] Rights to the books remain with the original author. AuthorHouse do not print the books themselves and do not own any presses,[3] but instead work through third party printers. Claims emerged in April, 2008 that this may change slightly in the case of Amazon - Amazon reportedly demanded that books by AuthorHouse be printed through BookSurge, Amazon's print-on-demand subsidiary, if they wish to have their books sold on Amazon's website.[8] For additional fees, AuthorHouse offers returnability (allowing bookstores to return excess inventory), individualized book promotions, copy editing, priority handling and custom illustrations.

As with many other print-on-demand publishers, AuthorHouse does not select books based on quality or content, choosing not to make "value judgments" regarding the works.[9] In August 2006, AuthorHouse was ordered to pay US$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 libeled them. While AuthorWorks argued that their business model didn't permit them to "read every book cover to cover", and thus responsibility should lie with the authors, the jury found that in this case AuthorHouse did have a responsibility, as they were forewarned that the book may have libelous content.[10]

Authors

The overwhelming number of people who publish their books through AuthorHouse are not prominent authors, but some prominent individuals who are not professional writers have employed the company, including Senator Richard Lugar,[11] comedian Rita Rudner,[12] Canadian humorist Gordon Kirkland,[13] evolutionary psychologist Kevin B. MacDonald,[14] and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard.[15]

Authorhouse has accepted payment from over 30,000 writers worldwide,[3] and had success with Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown, which became a best-selling novel and a Hollywood box-office smash, starring Reese Witherspoon.[3] AuthorHouse also published Thomas Hargrove's Long March to Freedom, which helped inspire the movie Proof of Life, starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe.[3]

People who write family histories often pay for publication through AuthorHouse. Since family histories have no market potential outside a particular family, major commercial publishing companies have no interest in publishing them.

References

  1. ^ "Prepare to laugh at essay collection". The Olympian, Seattle’s Daily Newspaper. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  2. ^ Glazer, Sarah (April 24, 2005). "How to Be Your Own Publisher". The New York Times Book Review. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Russell, John (Jan 20, 2007). "California company buys self-publishing operation". The Indianapolis Star. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Russell" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ "AuthorHouse Milestones". AuthorHouse (Official Site). Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  5. ^ "Indiana Chamber Names Small Business of The Year". Inside INdiana Business. July 2, 2006. Retrieved 2008-04-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "2005 BKD Indiana Excellence Awards Presented (Press Release)" (PDF). BKD. October 14, 2005. Retrieved 2008-04-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Milliot, Jim (September 9, 2007). "AuthorHouse acquires iUniverse". Publishers Weekly. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Kirch, Claire (April 21, 2008). "AuthorHouse Bows to Amazon Pressure Over Booksurg". Publishers Weekly. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Weeks, Jerome (August 20, 2005). "Vanity press, thy name's now print on demand - Technology lets authors self-publish 1 or 1,000 without breaking bank". The Dallas Morning News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Kirch, Claire (August 9, 2006). "AuthorHouse ordered to pay up". Publishers Weekly. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Sen. Richard Lugar's Advice to the Next President; New Edition of Acclaimed Book Addresses Foreign Policy Issues (Press Release)". PR Newswire. October 20, 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Naked Beneath My Clothes
  13. ^ "Gordon Kirkland to Release His Fifth Collection of Short Humor (Press Release)". PR.com. January 25, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ The Culture of Critique
  15. ^ The Ballard Rules
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