Glassdoor.com is a site that lets employees (past and present) of companies post reviews about their experiences. After finding atrocious reviews about Tate Publishing on that site, which gave clear indications from over a year ago that the company was in trouble, we decided to check out some other publishing service companies.
Last week, we checked out the employee reviews for Author Solutions, which owns AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, Trafford, WordClay, Balboa Press, and Palibrio. Their imprints also include Archway Publishing, LifeRich Publishing, WestBow Press, Patridge, and Booktango.
This week, we checked out some of the employee reviews for CreateSpace and Lulu, two other publishing services firms.
COMMENTS FROM CREATESPACE’S EMPLOYEES:
Overall, CreateSpace is rated only 2.8 out of 5 stars on glassdoor.com.
“Customer service department managers play favoritism. Very opinionated. Acceleration path leaves a lot to be desired. Treat you like you should be honored to work for them. Some of their customers can be very ruthless.”
“No room for advancement because of the structure of the organization. The job was advertised as a “creative” job but I touched the Adobe Suite maybe once a month. I felt tricked into working on the front line of a call center. The company is shifting towards exporting most of the design work to India, so I wouldn’t expect this job to be around much longer. In my two years I saw a very high-turnover rate…”
“Quality isn’t considered — such as how helping some customers might take longer, but they get the help they need and don’t have to call back the next hour/day. It’s all about answering the call fast, getting off the phone fast, and answering the next call fast.”
and
“I don’t care if I get the book tomorrow if my last set of corrections were not all made, or it’s the wrong book, wrong color, torn or crushed during shipping cause you packaged it so fast to get it out the door. I don’t care if you answered my call in 4 seconds and got me off the phone in 3 minutes if I do what you told me to my manuscript and it still won’t load to the platform, or I order another sample and the spine text is still too small…”
Freelance Editing Vendor – So-So Experience.
“CS does not pay on time, though it has the money upfront from the customers. It says it processes invoices on the due date and pays a week to two weeks later. This doesn’t happen. Oftentimes, the invoice is processed a few weeks later and the vendor is paid a week to a month after that.”
Read about what CreateSpace’s own authors have said about that service RIGHT HERE.
COMMENTS FROM LULU’S EMPLOYEES:
Overall, Lulu is also rated only 2.8 out of 5 stars on glassdoor.com.
“Final interview was where it really went bad, with a senior executive. He came off very egocentric and not particularly pleasant, and bragged about how an effective manager could run a technical company without knowing anything about tech. Basically: I don’t need to understand this to make decisions about it. Questions about the future plans for LuLu yielded suggested that after being crushed by Amazon’s publishing arm, they were going to try to cater to some (very small) niche markets. I think the final straw was that he pushed for an early start date if hired and wouldn’t accept a few extra weeks to allow for knowledge transfer. Also seemed horribly offended that I wouldn’t reveal where else I was interviewing.”
The bleeding will… not… stop
“Someone told me to not take the job during the interview process. One of them tried to talk me out of working there — boy were they right. Upper management is quitting on bad terms and people are getting fired without any notice.”
The Ship is Sinking
“Majority of the executive team is overseas and rarely seen in the office. Below average pay. Terrible location in ancient RTP. CEO that can not be trusted.”
“You show up to work every day waiting to see which one of your fellow employees is going to be let go. The turnover is ridiculous.”
Great People but terrible leadership
“Massive turnover and firings almost every month, of decent employees who didn’t see it coming. No clear direction for company – they like to say it’s an agile environment but it’s really a chaotic environment where you feel like you got on the worst type of rollercoaster.”
Many Nice People
“There is a lot of turnover at this company. It is also hard to tell what is going on with the company as the building seems to be quite large for the number of people.”
Avoid this place like the plague
“I worked here for a few years, and each day was spent looking out the window hoping for something better. There are zero opportunities for advancement beyond applying for outside jobs. Layoffs happened on a regular and unsettling basis.”
Rudderless comment is inline
“Top management not to be seen. Lack of transparency. Fear of being laid off or fired lingers in the air.”
Read about what Lulu’s own authors have said about that company’s service RIGHT HERE.
You can see the Self-publishing Price Comparison HERE.
RELATED:
SELF-PUBLISHING? – How Many Book Sales Needed to Recoup Your Investment?
Was Author Solutions Sold at a Loss? We Think So!
Lots of Imprints and Lots of Complaints! Could You Unwittingly Crawl into Bed with Author Solutions?
Disturbing Allegations In The New Author Solutions Lawsuit!
BookLocker is “much easier than AuthorHouse.”
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.
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Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/
Read More Of Angela's Articles HERE