BookLocker.com, a firm that competes with these firms (and many others), is the parent company of this publication. However, many unhappy authors have submitted their manuscripts to BookLocker for consideration after becoming unhappy with other publishers. When BookLocker.com must reject a manuscript (we vet manuscripts for quality and salability), we must refer those authors to different P.O.D. firms. We do not refer authors to any of the firms listed here. We have received and read far too many complaints about them over the years to refer any hopeful author to these outfits.

Glassdoor.com is a great online resource where you can see what’s really going on behind the corporate doors of a business. The site lets employees post their work experiences. Of course, you never know what a disgruntled ex-employee might anonymously post but you can usually tell by the way the review is written if it appears legitimate or not. Many reviews on the site are posted by current employees who still work for the company they’re reviewing.

And, of course, there are plenty of accusations on that site about companies posting false positive reviews about themselves.

Here’s what we found on Glassdoor about:

CREATESPACE

The “we only answer what they ask” attitude is so annoying. Your staff knows the customer can’t really proceed without further information, but they won’t take the time to provide it because that would take longer, and they are evaluated on how fast they get to the next item, not whether they really helped the customer.

Read more employee reviews about CreateSpace here:

UH OH – PART II! What are Employees of CreateSpace and Lulu Saying About Those Companies?

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XLIBRIS (OWNED BY AUTHOR SOLUTIONS)

Xlibris laid off U.S. employees and, based on one comment below, some of those employees had to train their foreign replacements.

“Run your Philippine office like you would in the US with fair salaries and without armed guards who search you. Pay a living wage to the exploited Philipino staff.”

“Had to train the people who were taking our jobs overseas.”

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AUTHOR SOLUTIONS

Author Solutions owns AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford, WordClay, and many other firms.

We previously published numerous comments from Author Solutions’ employees, and updated the article with more this week. See:

Is Author Solutions Having Problems? – Pay Cuts, “Stagnant” Leads, and More…

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INFINITY PUBLISHING

Art is embarrassing as a leader, ceo, and operations manager. In a short time, he has reduced the book orders turnaround times from delivering books in 2 to 4 weeks to 2 to 4 months. Did you want a book this christmas? Well, you should have placed the order in July! Doesn’t pay his vendor bills which is the only reason why book orders are delayed. The authors are irate and complain but Art doesn’t have answers.

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BOOKBABY

There are no employee reviews of BookBaby on GlassDoor.com but you can read numerous negative reviews about BookBaby from their customers (authors) HERE.

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LULU

Recent employee reviews:

Your coworkers are awesome but there is so much turnover that you are always worried someone will leave or be fired. …Or that you will be fired.

The pay in most departments is lower than it needs to be. The amount paid for ads is higher than it needs to be. The number of falsities told during the company meetings should be zero. It is not zero.”

I have worked for Lulu for years. When I started it was in a downward slump that we all believed we could turn around. However after numerous attempts to do everything, the company is still in a downward trend. The current management has decided that appearances are everything there and haven’t seemed to really focus any true effort in the areas that need help.”

and

If you want to work for a company that believes in it’s customers, people, and standards, Lulu is not the company for you.

Read more here:
UH OH – PART II! What are Employees of CreateSpace and Lulu Saying About Those Companies?

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OUTSKIRTS PRESS

Some of the reviews are by current management
Bad products
Very little pay
Greedy upper management out of touch with contractors
No training
No one willing to help you but you are expected to work with authors
Unrealistic portrayal of company
Change to pay with no warning
Constant company restructuring
Everyone is upset
Terrible company morale

AND

Isolating, lack of training, paid holidays, vacations discouraged, you must pay your replacement and absorbent (sic) amount of money to fill in for you, AND train them, expect lots of work for minimal pay

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You can read a price comparison featuring all of these firms and more RIGHT HERE.

RELATED

Print on Demand (POD) Price Comparison

SELF-PUBLISHING? – How Many Book Sales Needed to Recoup Your Investment?

COMPLAINTS about numerous publishers

POD SECRETS REVEALED Series

Read more columns by Angela RIGHT HERE.

Got questions about Print On Demand and Self-publishing? Ask Angela Hoy.

About The Author

Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).

Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.

WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.

BookLocker.com - According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is: "As close to perfection as you're going to find in the world of ebook and POD publishing. The ebook royalties are the highest I've ever seen, and the print royalties are better than average. BookLocker understands what new authors experience, and have put together a package that is the best in the business. You can't go wrong here. Plus, they're selective and won't publish any manuscript just because it's accompanied by a check. Also, the web site is well trafficked. If you can find a POD or epublisher with as much integrity and dedication to selling authors' books, but with lower POD publishing fees, please let me know."

Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.

PubPreppers.com - "We Prep, You Publish!" Print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish. Offers formatting and design services only, and then provides simple instructions for authors on where to sign up to have the print and ebook editions printed/listed/sold. Cut out the middle man. Keep 100% of what bookstores pay for your book!

Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.

Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)

See BookLocker's publishing packages HERE.

ANGELA ON TWITTER https://twitter.com/AngelaHoy

BOOKLOCKER ON FACEBOOK - Provides links to free excerpts!
https://www.facebook.com/booklockerbooks

ANGELA ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/angela.hoy.750

ANGELA ON LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelahoy/

Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/

Read More Of Angela's Articles HERE

 

33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters

I admire any writer who wants to tackle a blind character. But so many writers take up this challenge and FAIL. They research blindness by reading other fiction books, by observing their blind colleagues and acquaintances, and by tying on a blindfold and pretending to be blind themselves.

I understand the challenges your characters face, their triumphs, their hopes and their fears, because I've lived them. I work with people who have varying degrees of blindness every day, so I've seen every challenge, every situation you could imagine.

Let me share my knowledge to improve your writing. You can create blind characters that readers will fall in love with.

~Stephanie Green