Author Solutions

Author Solutions
Parent company Najafi Companies
Status Active
Founded 2007
Country of origin United States
Headquarters location Bloomington, Indiana
Key people Jahm Najafi - Owner of Najafi Companies, Daniel Shum - CEO, Bill Elliot - General Manager [1]
Publication types Books, eBooks
Imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Xlibris, Palibrio, Booktango
Owner(s) Najafi Companies
Official website www.authorsolutions.com

Author Solutions is the parent company of the self publishing companies/imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Xlibris, Palibrio, and Booktango.[2] Author Solutions also maintains partnerships with traditional book publishers Simon & Schuster (Archway Publishing),[3] Thomas Nelson (WestBow Press),[4] Hay House (Balboa Press),[5] and Guideposts (Inspiring Voices);[6] as well as with Writer's Digest (Abbott Press).[7]

Author Solutions is headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana.

Founded in 2007, Author Solutions reports publishing 190,000 titles written by 150,000 authors.[8] In 2012, Pearson acquired Author Solutions from Bertram Capital Management for $116 million.[9] It also offers a suite of "book-to-screen" services intended to provide authors with Hollywood access.

History

Self-publishing has experienced rapid growth since 2006, with annual title output increasing 287 percent according to R.R. Bowker, the agency that issues ISBNs in the United States.[10] During that same period, many authors hoping to self-publish were misled by publishers offering a range of services and charging large sums of money to publish those books. Self publishing is the business of charging authors to have their books published. Author Solutions and its subsidiaries are one of the biggest self publishing companies and Author Solutions' growth during this time reflected this trend. In 2007, iUniverse was acquired, and with AuthorHouse, led to the establishment of Author Solutions, Inc.

In April 2008, Author Solutions Marketing Director Keith Ogorek said that 1 out of every 17 books published in the United States is from AuthorHouse.[11] In 2009, Author Solutions, acquired two other top competitors – Xlibris in January [12] and Canadian self-publisher Trafford Publishing in April.[13] Later that year the company partnered with leading Christian publisher Thomas Nelson to launch a first-of-its-kind self-publishing partnership, WestBow Press.[14] Expansion to other segments of authors continued in June 2010 when Author Solutions launched its first Spanish-language imprint – Palibrio.[15] Palibrio was initially offered only to the U.S. Spanish-speaking market, but later was made available to authors in Spain.

On May 3, 2013, Penguin announced that on July 1 Andrew Phillips would be assuming the position of Author Solutions CEO, replacing longtime CEO Kevin Weiss who was leaving to take another position.

On July 1, 2013, Author Solutions' parent company Penguin Group completed a merger with Random House to form Penguin Random House.[16]

In 2013 Forbes magazine and Publishers Weekly reported that Author Solutions and its associated companies were being sued as part of a potential class action suit alleging deceptive practices. Damages of 5 million dollars were sought.[17][18] Publishers Weekly reports that the suit has been filed in the Southern District of New York.[19] In July, 2015, the court denied class action certification to the suit,[20] and in August 2015 the lawsuit was "discontinued without prejudice" after a settlement was reached between the parties.[21] A second case was dismissed in September.[22]

On December 31st, 2015 Author Solutions, LLC was sold to Najafi Companies after on-going talks.[23]

Imprints and Divisions

References

  1. ↑ http://www.authorsolutions.com/Our-Story/Leadership-Team/m. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "Our Services". authorsolutions.com.
  3. ↑ Kaufman, Leslie (November 27, 2012). "Simon & Schuster Steps Into Self-Publishing". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey (October 13, 2009). "Nelson Adds Self-Publishing Line". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Marcia (May 14, 2010). "Author Solutions Creates Imprint with Hay House". Publishers Weekly.
  6. ↑ "Guideposts Announces Launch of Inspiring Voices, a New Publishing Service". PRWeb. 18 April 2011.
  7. ↑ Reid, Calvin (January 31, 2011). "Writer's Digest, Author Solutions Launch Abbott Press". Publishers Weekly.
  8. ↑ Bosman, Julie (July 19, 2012). "Penguin Acquires Self-Publishing Company". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Reid, Calvin (July 19, 2012). "Pearson Acquires Self-Publishing Vendor Author Solutions For $116 Million". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
  10. ↑ Hazard Owen, Laura (October 12, 2012). "Publishing for the people: Bloomington is home to the no. 1 company in self-publishing". paidContent.org.
  11. ↑ Kaelbe, Steve (April 2008). "Publishing for the people: Bloomington is home to the no. 1 company in self-publishing". Entrepreneur.
  12. ↑ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey (January 8, 2009). "Print-on-Demand Publishers Marry As Author Solutions Buys Xlibris". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. ↑ Kaufman, Rachel (April 7, 2009). "Author Solutions Buys Yet Another Rival". Media Bistro - Media Jobs Daily.
  14. ↑ "Thomas Nelson and Author Solutions Launch Christian Self-Publishing Imprint". Book Business Magazine. October 2009.
  15. ↑ Author Solutions, Inc. (3 June 2010). "Author Solutions, Inc. Launches Spanish-Language Self-Publishing Imprint Palibrio". prnewswire.com.
  16. ↑ Bosman, Julie (July 2, 2013). "Penguin and Random House Merge, Saying Change Will Come Slowly". The New York Times.
  17. ↑ Suw Charman-Anderson (7 May 2013). "Penguin And Author Solutions Sued For Deceptive Practices". Forbes.
  18. ↑ "Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Author Solutions Inc. - SFWA". SFWA.
  19. ↑ "Authors Sue Self-Publishing Service Author Solutions". PublishersWeekly.com.
  20. ↑ Albanese, Andrew. (July 6, 2015). "Court Denies Class Action in Author Solutions Case". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  21. ↑ Albanese, Andrew. (August 24, 2015) "Second Case Against Author Solutions Is Dismissed". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  22. ↑ Albanese, Andrew. (September 14, 2015) "Author Solutions Case Ends With Settlement". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  23. ↑ Milliot, Jim. (January 5, 2016). "Author Solutions Sold to Private Equity Firm". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 29, 2016.

External links

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