Urging Authors to be Entrepreneurs: iUniverse CEO Kevin Weiss (Part 1)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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12 comments
Writing a book takes dedication. For many authors it is a culminating, defining feat of their lives. Sadly, the chances of an author’s book actually being read are miniscule at best. Rapacious agents, stoic publishers, and that brick wall called ‘marketing’ are typically insurmountable hurdles for would-be authors. Enter iUniverse (parent company Author Solutions) and their new, successful self-publishing model. New York Times bestselling author Amy Fisher published If I Knew Then in 2004 through iUniverse. Since then, a series of partnerships (Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble) and programs such as The Star Program are providing hopeful authors a reason to be optimistic.
SM: Let’s get started by reviewing your background. Where do you come from and how did you end up in this business?
KW: I grew up in the northeastern part of the United States and went to Princeton University. After graduation I went to Manhattan and worked for IBM. I spent approximately 17 years with IBM in a variety of jobs, mostly on the sales side. I did go into corporate strategy for a while, then software, which took me to Austin, Texas. An opportunity came up to work for an enterprise software company called BMC Software, so I joined them in 1995. BMC had just come off of a good growth year at just over $400 million. I stayed there five years, and when I left we had just finished of our fiscal year at $1.75 billion. It was not because of me, I was just happy to be part of such an incredible growth factor.
SM: What did you do at BMC?
KW: I was the head of field operations in the Americas. After that I went to work for a little re-start company. The person who hired me at BMC became CEO of Bindview, another enterprise software company with a security focus. I went there to be the chief marketing officer. Not quite a year after I joined them, the person who brought me in decided he wanted to leave and the founder returned. I did not want to be in the middle of that, so I told the founder I would help him out but that he should get someone in there who would be loyal to him.
I then went to work for Ariba. Ariba was down on its luck but they had a good franchise. I ran their international business and ended up moving to London, where I got recruited to head operations for McAfee in Europe. I left in October of 2006, not of my accord, as the president. I then did some work in Houston for a private investor who had quite a bit of money invested in a company and was trying to figure out if it was ever going make a dollar. I consulted until December of last year, when I came to Author Solutions as the CEO.
SM: How did you get introduced to Author Solutions?
KW: Bertram Capital, one of our investors, was started by Jeff and Ken Drazan. Jeff and I went to college together. Jeff and Ken started Bertram Capital and Author House, which was the largest self-publishing company in the world, was their first acquisition. They followed that up with the acquisition of iUniverse.
Jeff called me and asked if I would be interested in helping them out with this company they just bought. Eventually he asked me if I would be willing to take over the company, which I was not sure about because I did not know anything about publishing. He said I would know what I needed to after six months! Sometimes things just feel right, and this did. I saw the publishing industry, which has been doing business the same way for a long time, was flat. I then saw Author Solutions was posting 20% growth by doing things I thought were unique. I saw a huge opportunity and felt we could be disruptive without knocking the boat over. I took over as CEO in December of last year.
This segment is part 1 in a 7 part series Part 2 →
Jump to part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
I published 2 books with iUniverse and since the company was sold, the only thing that Author Solution is doing is sending out offers for current authors to buy more of their services. With the Amazon contract in doubt, authors should seriously consider the marketing aspect of their books.
This past June I submitted a book ms. for publication with iUniverse. Since then I have learned a bitter lesson. Anyone considering getting a book published through iUniverse had better think twice. They are bad news! Once they have your cash, they don’t answer your emails; if you call, they lie to you. The reason it seems is that they are so successful they’re backed up till Christmas. One Publishing Assistant told me she is a week and a half behind on looking at her email. They’re all totally swamped, and books are backed up, with many customers angry as hell. My advise: pass on iUniverse.
This company is in serious trouble. I paid in full and sent all my material more than 3 months ago and I have received nothing. The system does not work well so the poor customer service reps are struggling, asking authors to send material via email instead. The editorial department is over booked and they promised editorial evaluation in 3 -4 weeks, 8 weeks passed by and we never received anything. They refuse to provide refunds… check the better business bureau for the open complaints. Stay away from iUniverse by now.
In my opinion based on horrific experience with them, IUniverse should be totally avoided. My book was supposed to be published anonymously, but when they distributed it over the internet they inserted my name!!! The PSA avoided my calls as did his supervisor. The worst publishing experience imaginable. At this point, the customer service supervisor will not even contact me. This is the absolute worst internet experience I have ever had.
iUniverse is one of the most horrible publications I ever have experienced in my entire publishing experience.
Never publish with iUniverse. They are not customer friendly, what they promise they won’t do.
Please, do not publish with them
I think that the best thing for awards is to look at previous winners.
Most of the books seem to have been self-published. Not that that’s a
bad thing, but iUniverse has an appalling reputation.
I wouldn’t touch those awards with a barge pole. $65!!!! And what
kudos would any book have with “winner of Readers Views” on it? Or
many other online awards, to be brutally frank.
I talk to my publishers first about awards.
Erastes
— In MarketingForRomance Writers@yahoogro ups.com, “ruthsims_author”
wrote:
>
> Re: Readers Views Literary Award
>
> Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with this award? It’s
> apparently been around for several years. RV is, judging from the
> website at http://www.readervi ews.com/Awards. html an author service
> site, with reviews both free and express (paid for, but not
> guaranteed to be a good review)and several other “packages” of
> promotion.
>
> The Literary Award has several categories. The prizes are not actual
> monetary awards but are promotional services from various agencies,
> worth $1000 and some are less.
>
> Entry includes a review. Now for the kicker: Entry is $65 for
> entering the book in one category and an extra fee ($10, I think)
> for entering the same book in an additional category. Entry includes
> a review, as I read it.
>
> Are there any thoughts on entering contests with hefty entry fees
> but pretty decent awards? Or should we stick to the few awards that
> are free?
>
> It’s good promotion to have a “Winner of–” description, so I don’t
> think I’m breaking any rules to ask about contests… am I?
>
> Ruth
> http://www.ruthsims. com
It’s about time iuniverse were sent to court, sued and closed down as they are not a company they are low-life crooks. Dirty …
Wow! And to think I was seriously considering signing with iuniverse. I’ve earned a Phd degree, earned every kudo from tenure to full professor to
professor emeritus when I took an early retirement to write full time, published a lot while at the university and yet getting my novel published makes everything else pale in comparison. I guess I’m glad I checked them out but I sure miss the high I experienced when hope walked through the door after I spoke to their representative. Thanks for the warning.
My complaint goes back to January 2008. DO NOT USE IUNIVERSE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! The company is an absolute joke. It is a mistake I will be paying for, for a long time. It took them 12 months to from my manuscript into a book. In that time they merged with Authorhouse and after that time it was impossible to get anything done unless I kicked and screamed my way up to the Vice-President du jour! I foolishly signe the 10% royalty agreement because I thought they would incentivize the bookstores to buy my book, but they have ignore any marketing of my book to this point. Someone mentioned them trying to sell their current authors more services. That’s the extent of there company. Don’t do what you promise, just try to make more money for more promises. I paid for the Premier Plus option which was at the time the highest and most expensive service they offered and they have not fulfilled much of what they said they would do. I also think they are now scewing me on the sales of my books as well. I can’t get a royalty report from them and they say they have to wait until (months after the close of the quarter) to get their reports. That’s nonsense. My recommendation is to STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM IUNIVERSE AS POSSIBLE.
My experience with iUniverse was a scant brush; a telephone chat with a representative. The rep called later with the most appalling hard-sell push to sign with iUniverse now and receive discounts of photo charges if ’saving money is a priority’, and the like. Still sanguine about iUniverse I e-mailed my wish to change representatives, but the same hard-sell tyke replied. Hurt feelings, I suppose. I did not open his mail and have no further interest doing business with this company.
Dear Mr kevin
I am your client and very much disappointed with the way my book is handled, unless it is quetsion of grabbing money,it is difficult to get a reponse
My project No 145710 and I need immediate asistanc Hasanat
I am glad I found this site as I was going to give them some money tomorrow, anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get a book published, I have never been published and I don’t have a lot of money.