DISCLAIMER: We compete directly with these companies. We reject a large number of manuscripts each year. When we do, we do NOT refer any of those authors to Authors Press nor Westwood Books Publishing.

See the end of this post for links to numerous complaints about Authors Press. Complaints about Westwood Books Publishing and Greenberry Press appear in the post itself.

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An author contacted me last week, and forwarded an email she’d received from Authors Press (authorspress.com).

She wrote:

I checked the so-called TV Interviews, they’re just YouTube videos.

The Foreword and Publishers Weekly “reviews” are advertisements.

Their “credibility” links are to a pamphlet and video hosted at Canva – which seems a very odd place to host the recital of 30 years of success.

So, I decided to do some digging. Here’s what I found:

1. Authors Press claims to be located in Pittsburg, CA. The link to the address on their homepage takes you to this address:

1321 Buchanan Rd, Pittsburg, CA 94565

That is the address for Creative Books: Books, School & Party Supplies. Authors Press does claim to have a relationship with Creative Books. I found it interesting that, as a retailer, they are NOT open today (Saturday)? The listing online says “Closed – Opens 9 AM Mon.” Why is a bookstore closed on a weekend?

There have been no updates to the CreativeBooks facebook page since May 7, 2022 (over a year).

Their URL, uscreativebooks.com, was registered through an ISP located in Canada (Tucows Domains Inc.). The Creative Books website claims they are associated with Authorial Magazine. Never heard of that one.

2. According to Dun & Bradstreet, a key principal at Authors Press is Maribelle Birao.

According to Open Corporates, someone with that exact name, also located in Pittsburg, CA, used to be a director/officer at Greenberry Publishing, which now appears to be out of business.

You can read a one-star review about Greenberry Publishing at Yelp.com, and a complaint about them at Revdex.com. It appears that Greenberry Publishing was only open for a year.

3. An author on LinkedIn claimed to receive an email from “Greenberry Publishing” that sounded a LOT like the email that Authors Press sent to the author who contacted me.

Turns out I wasn’t the first to make the connection between Authors Press and Greenberry Publishing.

WriteBeware has the companies listed like this: Westwood Books Publishing (formerly Greenberry Publishing) (aka Authors Press)

4. On the Westwood Books Publishing website, they claim to be located in Atlanta.

I found a LinkedIn profile for one of their employees. It shows that person currently works for WestWood Books Publishing, but previously worked at Greenberry Publishing. Far too many coincidences, don’t ya think?

Incidentally, check out some angry authors’ complaints about Westwood Books Publishing on bbb.org and ComplaintsBoard.com.

5. Also, according to Dun & Bradstreet, the “key principal” of Westwood Books Publishing is someone else entirely. However, that person had a book published by Westwood Books Press called ESTATE PLANNING 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Transferring Assets to Heirs in Nigeria.

Westwood Books Publishing website states they’re located in Atlanta yet the Dun & Bradstreet website states the “key principal” is in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Maybe that’s just an attorney they hired to register their business…

6. Oddly enough, the Authors Press and Creative Books websites both have disclaimers that pops up right on the home pages.

This is on the uscreativebooks.com website:

Creative Books is partnered and associated with Authors Press and Authorial Magazine. It is our pride to find ways of creating milestones in the literary industry. We are not associated with any publishing nor marketing firm.

Notice of Non-Affiliation and Disclaimer

Please be advised that we are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with other marketing and publishing firms or any of its subsidiaries.

Please exercise caution when dealing with representatives claiming that they are affiliated with Authors Press whose emails do not end with @authorspress.com or whose main trunk lines do not begin with (925) 255-0098.

And, this is on the AuthorsPress.com homepage:

Authors Press is the sole owner of Creative Books.

We take pride in creating milestones in the literary industry.

ATTENTION!!!

Authors Press emails end with @authorspress.com and the main trunk lines begin with (925) 255-0098

Please be advised that we are NOT affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with any other marketing, advertising and publishing firms or any of its subsidiaries.

Why in the world does that company have those disclaimer pop-ups on their homepages?  I find that bizarre. They may be implying that some other firms are pretending to be them. However, the email we received from the author definitely has an authorspress.com return email address.

Furthermore, there are numerous errors in the email AND they’re one of those companies that claim the book was recommend by the Amazon Book Company. No, folks, Amazon does not notify these types of publishers or marketers when they think a book is good! Amazon has its own publishing division for crying out loud!

7. COMPLAINTS POSTED ONLINE ABOUT AUTHORS PRESS:

a. There are 18 one-star reviews and 19 complaints about Authors Press posted on BBB.org.

b. There are several scathing comments about Authors Press on ComplaintsBoard.com. And, the responses from the company are, in my opinion, poorly written…and pretty difficult to swallow.

c. And even more complaints are at TrustPilot.com.

d. Also, check out the comments on Reddit.

AND, FINALLY, we always recommend authors avoid companies that use unsolicited emails or telemarketing to contact you about your book. If they have to resort to those methods to sell their own services, can you really trust them to promote your book?

Also, if one person has one company, closes it, and opens another (or simply starts doing business under a new name), that can also be also a HUGE red flag. And, for crying out loud, always look for complaints about companies before sending them your money!!

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a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.

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