"Scam publishers charge thousands and keep royalties"

I paid thousands of dollars to have my book published and pay for additional books to sell myself. I received no help with marketing had to pay extra to include my book in book fairs and received no editing or cover design support. Paying to have my book included in a database for screenplays with a professional analysis of my book for adaptation to film, yet I am unable to secure a copy of this report/summary. Scam publishing company - I do not recommend.

"There were some special circumstances…"

There were some special circumstances in my situation and the iUniverse staff were kind, patience and courteous all along the way. I acknowledge each one's expertise and I am most grateful forvthe three month trek!!!

"You have published two of my books that…"

You have published two of my books that have gone international and I’m not getting a check to date release me our we go to court. Simple

"Total professional product"

Total professional product. Was able to inject my personal preferences for cover and certain pages. I'm satisfied with final volume.

"I ordered my books and got them really…"

I ordered my books and got them really fast.

"Your staff are too rigid and…"

Your staff are too rigid and unreasonable. They are also not available and you have to make several calls to have anything done and some requests are never fulfilled. Other than that, it is a great company to work with. Thanks.

"They helped me publish a book that I…"

They helped me publish a book that I never would. My book is called "Magic Wonderland"

"Doesn’t live up to its promises. Period."

Where do I even begin? We had a simple, well-edited manuscript of less than 200 pages. We needed very little editing, graphics, etc. Having co-authored a leading textbook for the past 30 years, I was not a stranger to writing or publishing.

After clearly stating our needs and asking every question we could think of, my co-author and I paid for the biggest package recommended to satisfy those needs.

From the very first after that, iU seemed to be on a mission to upsell us on things they seemed to actually be in the business for.


Between constantly thinking we’d already paid for things they were now trying to upsell us to, to each step in the process being so siloed that the left hand didn’t seem to have any earthly idea what the right hand was doing, we were totally, totally frustrated with them and their process.

Things were dragged on and on, simple mistakes were made time after time after time, further dragging out the process, we had to constantly Re-do things like requests for information that had already been done, deadlines were missed repeatedly, we ended up doing work on our own that should have been done by iU such as finding the font needed for our cover totally on our own, and there were just flat-out breaches of contract.

We not only contracted to have an audiobook, but paid extra to have it expedited for release with our book. Our book was posted on Amazon on 11/1/22, totally without the audiobook, then on 12/13/22, after still hearing NOTHING about our audiobook, we called and were told it would take seven months. Do you believe it?! Aaaaaaagh!!!!!

This is aside from things like discovering that even tho customers have the virtues of print-on-demand publishing extolled to them, it is only later that you’re told that many bookstores will not carry books done this way or that POD printers are all over the world, so the quality and appearance of your book may vary greatly and be unsatisfactory and take weeks and weeks to be delivered. And, of course, the upsell solution is to place an order for Digital Short Run books instead, requiring you to buy zillions of books and have them warehoused for quick access upon ordering. To the tune of about another $4000.

Or expecting that your “worldwide marketing” you bought involves something other than them throwing up a few ads on the web. Only to learn there is a difference between “advertising” and “PR.” The upsell, of course, is a $12,000 PR package that actually attempts to market your book.

We came to IUniverse after looking into several other self-publishing companies, mainly because we found it as a recommendation on Oprah’s publishing imprint page since they were not accepting manuscripts at the time. We feel obligated to let her folks what our experience with IUniverse has been because she would never want to recommend such a shoddy organization.

At every turn we have tried to remain positive and upbeat for what we understood to be a major accomplishment: writing the first book in a series and having it published. It is also simply the way we go through the world. We understand that things happen and nothing is perfect. But IUniverse tested this over and over and over and over. Our experience has been WAY beyond merely “things happen.” We are now WELL into “Why are these people even holding themselves out to be in this business?”

What should have been one of the happiest events in our lives is now indelibly colored with our experience of paying tons of money (about $30,000) and having this be a huge, long, unsatisfactory, sad experience. It should not be this way. If this is my experience as a lawyer and someone who has been involved in publishing for 40 years, both with my own textbooks and others, can you imagine what it’s like for just the average person who wants to publish a book?

It should not be this way. We plan to do all we can to protect the public from having our experience moving forward. Not because we are mean, vindictive or hate IUniverse, as we are none of those, but simply because it is the right thing to do.

"Things went smoothly"

Things went smoothly, they were some issues but it was solved quickly.

"If you want to publish a book; help is there, and this company is top notch"

This company helped me from start to finish with every aspect of publishing my memoir. They were prompt, ahead of schedules, and very pleasant to work with. I placed an order for 17 boxes of books myself, and so far I've received all but one - it is on the way. This company exceeded my expectations.