Author Solutions Archives | The Digital Reader

Judging by Its ISBN Registrations, Author Solutions Continues to Decline

27 November, 201827 November, 2018Scam4 Comments

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...

Beware the Vanity Press in Sheep’s Clothing

14 September, 201822 October, 2018Scam2 Comments

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...

Updated: Simon & Schuster’s Vanity Press Launches Writing Contest to Exploit More Authors

15 March, 201822 October, 2018Publishing, Scam4 Comments

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...

B&N Reports Revenues Down 5.3% in 3rd Fiscal Quarter

1 March, 201822 October, 2018Barnes & Noble7 Comments

Back in the beginning of January Barnes & Noble revealed that its holiday revenues – the period where a lot of retailers end up in the...

B&N Cuts Ties with Vanity Press Author Solutions

26 October, 201622 October, 2018Barnes & Noble, Scam3 Comments

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...

Bowker Now Claims 625,327 US Indie Books Published in 2015, and Other Meaningless Factoids

8 October, 201622 October, 2018Publishing4 Comments

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...

Why PRH Sold Author Solutions: Business Dropped by a Quarter in 2015

7 September, 201622 October, 2018Publishing8 Comments

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...

Ghostwriter Wanted: Pay is $1 per 100 Words

2 September, 201622 October, 2018Writing2 Comments

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...

B&N’s New In-Store POD, Event Programs Options for Indie Authors is Too Little, Too Late

28 June, 201622 October, 2018Barnes & Noble, Self-Pub8 Comments

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...

The Star Trek Writing Contest Was a Feeder Pool for Vanity Press Author Solutions

5 May, 201622 October, 2018Publishing, Scam5 Comments

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...

The Bookseller Whitewashed Author Solutions With Puff Piece Interview

29 February, 201622 October, 2018Publishing, Scam3 Comments

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...

Penguin Random House Sells Vanity Press Author Solutions

5 January, 201622 October, 2018Publishing2 Comments

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...

S&S Revives Star Trek Writing Contest, Lets Vanity Press Author Solutions Run It

13 October, 201522 October, 2018Publishing, Scam5 Comments

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...

Publisher-Controlled University Signs Deal With Author Solutions

25 September, 201522 October, 2018PublishingLeave a comment

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...

Second Class Action Suit Against Penguin’s Author Solutions Has Been Dismissed

15 September, 201522 October, 2018Lawsuit, PublishingOne Comment

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...