As you enter the diversity that is independent publishing, you may be approached by a blood-sucking consortium that hopes you won’t know they are all under the umbrella of “Author Solutions.” They are not a solution.

Thanks to Emily Seuss and her blog, Seuss Pieces, I can steer you around this mess and maybe save you several hundred dollars and a couple of years of pointless anticipation.

Author Solutions, which is @authorsolutions on Twitter, bought a publishing company I worked with ten years ago: Trafford. I loved Trafford. Their mascot was a big white dog named Tyhe and I interacted with the owner and a small staff. Together we got my book, “Open Here,” into print-on-demand, and it was a thrilling experience.

–Flash of dark cape–
Things have changed. Trafford was bought by Author Solutions. Now that I know what happened, I know why I started getting these spammy calls from Trafford. Night and day. I used up a lot of time I could have been spending at the movies or staring at my manuscript, trying to convince them that I wasn’t interested. Not only was I not interested, that book wasn’t even supposed to be for sale. I had taken it off the market years ago, and somehow it had returned and even been put into Kindle without any notice from Trafford.

That’s how Author Solutions works. Spam, behind-the-scenes actions on your content, you get the picture.

Author Solutions owns a lot of the e-publishing and print-on-demand world. I recommend you read about the class actions and complaints against iUniverse, XLibris, and Trafford. Here are a whole herd of other relatives of Author Solutions which also should be avoided. No, more than that. They should be actively boycotted. More than that, we should make sure our circles know to stay away from these companies. Okay?

Writer’s Digest also has connections to Author Solutions. They shouldn’t.

Take a deep breath and read the scope of this travesty:

PARENT/HOLDING COMPANIES:
Bertram Capital
Author Solutions

BOOKS:

Author House

iUniverse

XLibris

Trafford

Palibrio

Abbott Press

Balboa  (Hay House-branded line)

WestBow  (Thomas Nelson-branded line)

Inspiring Voices  (Guideposts Magazine-branded line)

Legacy Keepers
MODERN MEDIA:

FuseFrame   (Previously Author Solutions Films)

Pitchfest   (Authors pay to come pitch their stories for film adaptations)

Author Learning Center  (Online learning tool hoping you’ll forget to cancel your credit card after the free trial ends)

WordClay  (Abandoned ebook imprint)

BookTango  (New ebook imprint)

AuthorHive (Book Marketing)
MISCELLANEOUS ASSOCIATIONS/PARTNERSHIPS:

Meredith Vieira Productions

Kirkus Reviews

Clarion ForeWord Reviews

BlueInk Reviews
Join our group at Bay Area Bloggers Society if you want to learn the tools yourself, in person, with people in your community:

See you out there.

Suzanna Stinnett

Go read: Emily Seuss on Seuss Pieces