Bowker likes to claim that their ISBN book serial numbers (the ones that come with a free side of credit card fraud) can be used to count the number...
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Beware the Vanity Press in Sheep’s Clothing
Vanity presses like Author Solutions will do everything they can to hide the fact they are running a scam. Smaller operations will change their name so they can try...
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Updated: Simon & Schuster’s Vanity Press Launches Writing Contest to Exploit More Authors
Update: This post was originally published in November 2017, and was updated in March 2018 to reflect S&S's ongoing exploitation of authors. Of all the major publishers, Simon &...
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B&N Reports Revenues Down 5.3% in 3rd Fiscal Quarter
Back in the beginning of January Barnes & Noble revealed that its holiday revenues - the period where a lot of retailers end up in the black for the...
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B&N Cuts Ties with Vanity Press Author Solutions
Yesterday's story about the Nook Press platform has turned up a newsworthy detail about the platform which had so far gone unreported (I would also have missed it, had David...
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Bowker Now Claims 625,327 US Indie Books Published in 2015, and Other Meaningless Factoids
When Bowker released its annual report (PDF) on ISBNs used by indie authors in the US in 2015, it didn't tell us anything useful besides the fact that indie...
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Why PRH Sold Author Solutions: Business Dropped by a Quarter in 2015
Penguin Random House bought the vanity press Author Solutions (ASI) in 2012, they made sure everyone knew about it, but when Author Solutions was sold in January, PRH didn't...
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Ghostwriter Wanted: Pay is $1 per 100 Words
The following Craigslist ad showed up yesterday on a mailing list I follow, and I thought you would get a kick out of it: I am looking for a...
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B&N’s New In-Store POD, Event Programs Options for Indie Authors is Too Little, Too Late
When Barnes & Noble expanded its publishing platform Nook Press in 2014 and added a POD service, they forgot to include one key component. You could use Nook Press to print books, but...
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The Star Trek Writing Contest Was a Feeder Pool for Vanity Press Author Solutions
When Simon & Schuster revived the Star Trek: Strange New World Writing Contest last October, I was dismayed to learn that S&S was letting its vanity press business partner, Author...
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The Bookseller Whitewashed Author Solutions With Puff Piece Interview
The Bookseller has always been weak when it came to covering the Author Solutions and the more reprehensible parts of the publishing industry. It largely ignored the several lawsuits...
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Penguin Random House Sells Vanity Press Author Solutions
Penguin Random House announced on Tuesday that it had sold its vanity press operation to Najafi Companies for an unknown sum. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed,...
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S&S Revives Star Trek Writing Contest, Lets Vanity Press Author Solutions Run It
Starting in 1998 and running through 2007, Simon & Schuster published an annual Star Trek anthology consisting of stories by amateur writers. The stories were selected through the Star Trek:...
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Publisher-Controlled University Signs Deal With Author Solutions
You might have caught the news this week that Alliant International University had formed a partnership with he noted vanity press operator Author Solutions. According to the press release: Author Solutions,...
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Second Class Action Suit Against Penguin’s Author Solutions Has Been Dismissed
A second class action lawsuit filed against Penguin Random house's vanity press, Author Solutions, was dismissed yesterday in Indiana. Few details are available, but PW reports that a short...
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