Authorhouse
Reviews and Complaints

My book was recently placed as one of the best in its class by Book Authority and yet my royalties are 12 cents per book sold and my last royalty check was for 24 cents! I am down 90% of the money paid to Authorhouse, sold only about 200 books in over a decade and yet my book is so highly rated online and ranked highly on two major sites.

How can this be possible? I found a way to get back so that was fine, but I warn anyone considering self-publishing with Authorhouse to not do so. I thought this was a legitimate company but it is not. Penguin Random House bought Author Solutions (parent company) and then booted them out (check online for this story).

I had planned to do a big marketing campaign with them but will not do so. Maybe that's their strategy, withhold legitimate royalties and contact you to say if only you marketed it with them you could be the greatest author?

LOL but not LOR (royalties). Avoid.

I want to update my contact information and want to know of any outstanding royalty checks for me as I have not been bothered to make inquiries up until now that a friend of mine check up for the novel online and asked that I prove am the author if the novel as per the different names I used to published the novel from my actual name. I was given the logging but that was about 8 years ago while in Amsterdam and a lot have changed in my life I have lost lots of useful information that I didn't save. I want to update my information now and it will never change again save natural disasters like death do us path, my address could change and phone numbers because I move around different countries but my email will never change as it's been verified with google ezvozlishtraa@***.com

Hello

My name is Dror Rofe.

In November 2021, I contacted Ms. Kelly Allison for book writing.

Ms.

Allison sold me on the premium package. At that time, I

paid in full $7500.

I believe the order number is 90805****.

I had some trouble coming up with a manuscript due to personal problems.

I recently sent several emails to Ms. Allison to inform her that I am ready with my manuscript. I was hoping she would direct me to whom I should be working.

Unfortunately, Ms. Allison did not reply to my emails. In addition, I called and left a message with the operator several times yesterday and on her answering machine.

Ms.

Allison ignores all my attempts to reach her.

I feel misled and wish to be refunded my money to go somewhere else and publish my book.

Please respect my wish and process my refund as soon as possible.

Thank you, D. Rofe

They were very quick to get the money off me.

My book was published, and I am happy with this.

I paid £1500 to market the book and they have done nothing at all.

I told them to market in US Amazon, but they sponsored the book in USA Amazon.

They have not paid me any royalties - they just say 'check your account'.

I haven't made any money on the book but have spent £4000 .

I am very disappointed with this publishing shark scam company.

I have many other books to publish - so they have been very short-sighted .

If they were trustworthy and followed their promises , I would have given them my 5 books and also my son is a writer, and they would have published his book as well.

I am a first time Author and went to Author House to get my first novel published and at the recommendation of another Author who has published seven books through them. My experience with them from the beginning, quite honestly, has been excellent.

My book, which I had edited privately, was sent to them ready for printing. The cover design, publishing and communication with them has also been good. It is the book price that is too high, and their ad costs are reasonable if they work. They have no statistics to back up their claims.

I asked them to provide how many in their target audience, and they could not tell me. I asked them did they have any information on the success of these campaigns previously. They could not tell me. All they said was every Author and book are different.

That response has nothing to do with, an average return based upon historical data, which they should have. Self-publishing is a personal business that requires investment for success, and it is not cheap, but throwing good money into an ad campaign without some data is crazy. I have had very limited sales, if it is honestly reported.. I believe the non-adjustable initial high price they set has hurt sales.

My limited reviews are 4 and 5 star. I have wanted it at a lower cost. They refuse to change it. The company did a great job getting it out, but I would not pay them to advertise anything without some data.

All I wanted was to make a reasonable business decision, but I couldn't without something to base it on other than hype.

Get your book done with them, then go find someway to mass market it yourself. excellent, but the roll out price out price respone.

A beloved, long time story I had conjured eight years ago, finally came a reality when AuthorHouse published it. I was incredibly expensive, and as a South African, the money caused many, many sleepless nights.

As you may, or may not know, is that due to the economic crisis in South Africa, the Rand (South African currency) is extremely weak to the US dollar, Euro and Pound. To give you an idea, this is where we currently stand: R1.00 = $14.84
AuthorHouse contacted me on 4th January 2021 by Mikayla Gamboa. I must admit, they are very good with the right things to say, using excellent salesman talk. All Mikayla wanted was my credit card details, and was not interested in what I was writing.
I finally caved in and went for the Starter Pack, in which I could pay in 3 months instalments.
The total price was $649.50, excluding an additional $75 for process fee?
I completed the novel and submitted the manuscript on 30th April 2021.

Everything seemed to be in order and the process stage commenced. On 24 une 2021, I filled in my banking details on their website and received a confirmation letter stating ,"Greetings Kim. This email confirms that we successfully received your updated Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) information. We will use this information to deposit royalties earned from the sale of your book."
On 6 July 2021, I sent a follow up email asking if my details were correct, as it was the first time I'd dealt with an overseas firm.

They replied asking if it was a US account. I replied saying no, as I never set foot in America and therefore have no account in the US. They now want a US bank account, or I'll never receive any royalties. To date, I've spent 17 774.84 Rand (South African currency) just for 1 book, and now they won't help me!
An actual book, called "The AuthorHouse Scam" was published by a lady named Robin Levin, explaining how quick they were to take her credit card details, but never saw royalties (and she's an American citizen!).

You can find it on Amazon.
True what they say. People like AuthorHouse prey on desperate writers trying to make a name for themselves. I can't believe this. The little money my mother left me after she died, went into this novel to turn it from a dream to a reality.

But now, I feel I failed my mother and money we, as a struggling family lost so much. I don't know who to turn to.