There Are No Rules - AuthorSolutions Is Not Evil: 3 Things I Learned

Yesterday I visited the home office of AuthorSolutions in Bloomington, Ind.—a fairly quick drive from Writer's Digest home offices in Cincinnati.

For those who don't know, AuthorSolutions dominates the publishing service market with a variety of brands—including AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, and Trafford.

Before I say a word about this visit, I have to speak to all the people who are already thinking: "I knew it! Writer's Digest is in bed with AuthorSolutions! Writer's Digest exists only to pocket as many scam advertising dollars as possible!"

Two points:

1) Such critics exhibit their pure ignorance at the balance sheet of Writer's Digest. We are not an advertising-driven business and never have been, even during the good ol' days of advertising. If 100% of our advertising went away tomorrow, we'd continue to exist much as before (though admittedly with a modified print magazine presence).

2) I visited AuthorSolutions in a previous incarnation known as 1stBooks in 2002; they were a very small operation then. F+W, the parent company of Writer's Digest, was many times bigger and profitably growing. Today, AuthorSolutions is bigger than F+W, and experienced 40% growth in the last year.

AuthorSolutions & Writer's Digest have one very important thing in common: we target an audience of writers. So even on the most basic curiosity level, wouldn't any responsible leader want to know more about a company experiencing such dramatic growth in a period of transformational change (and decline) in traditional publishing?

Plus wouldn't it make sense to share information and compare notes on the issues we both face?

Ever since the Harlequin brouhaha (read my take here), AuthorSolutions has been particularly demonized by online writing personalities/communities, and the industry is now experiencing a "true self-publishing" movement that argues a "real" self-published author is one who eschews the use of services like AuthorSolutions.

I find the distinction to be nonsensical and elitist. It's like saying you should never hire an expert or contractor to do your taxes, fix your car, or repair your plumbing.

On the other hand, I understand why people question the value of the service AuthorSolutions provides. If the traditional publishing and media industry are prejudiced against self-published books and authors, and don't take their efforts seriously, then there's a valid argument to be made that writers shouldn't be disingenuously sold on the option.

However, many people who self-publish aren't interested in book sales or something that would impress an agent or editor. They simply want to have a book, leave a legacy, or spread a message.

Plus, agents & editors all preach how difficult it is to get published, and the need for a writer to have a commercial sensibility—an ability to bend. We all admit in the first few seconds of conversation that making money is our primary concern, and that most projects aren't suitable for traditional publication.

So AuthorSolutions fills a need in the market. They'd probably be more favorably looked upon in the industry if everyone believed they were transparent, straight, and honest in managing their authors' expectations and communicating what is and is not achievable through self-publishing.

What's heartening is that during my visit, we joked about how they're frequently asked by their authors how to get on Oprah—and that they consistently have to initiate a (re)education process about what's doable and realistic given an author's situation and her book. They know the frustrations of dealing with authors just like traditional publishers.

So I believe they are educating—but of course you can't expect them to preach against the very service they are offering, or they'd go out of business. (And I think that's where the problem lies for the most vocal critics of AuthorSolutions.)

That aside, here are 3 things that stood out about their business during my visit.

1. Very focused on the needs of the market/audience. That's all AuthorSolutions talks about: what their authors want. It drives their business, their growth, what they hang on the walls—which makes sense, because it's the authors who are writing their checks.

I wish traditional publishers could be that focused on author needs as well. Instead, they have to focus on distributor and retail account relationships (which generate the cash), and how to reduce costs associated with producing and marketing books (and that means reducing advances).

Think about this for a second: Most traditional publishers (at least those owned and run by mega-conglomerates) do not run a business that's inclined to favor the author any more than a publishing service. The traditional industry favors selling and distributing books to a very large bookstore audience as efficiently as possible (and hoping for wins that eventually benefit the author through royalties). That's where their value lies today, but that value diminishes as books move into the frictionless digital realm.

2. You can't please everyone all the time. Publishing services are often criticized for putting out books that aren't top quality. But their goal isn't to serve an outsider's view of quality. They know some manuscripts and covers aren't good by traditional publishing standards. And they do advise writers not to make those embarrassing mistakes—like use their family member's artwork on the cover. However, writers are paying for the service, and they get to decide what they want. AuthorSolutions has a business model that's based on making authors happy—not the critics.

3. Know where to devote your resources for best return. AuthorSolutions devotes a lot of resource to staff who can talk to writers at any time of day, whether they are already a customer or not. In this, they've figured out a No. 1 desire of every writer I know: to talk to someone who can help them figure out what to do.

Of course, AuthorSolutions is by all appearances a sales-oriented culture, and biased in favor of what sustains their business. Their solutions may or may not be in the author's best interest.

Who today can offer unbiased but also professional advice to writers? A quick survey of options:

People in the industry. You think publishers, editors, and agents are taking calls and manuscripts from writers wanting advice and assistance? No one has time for that.
Experienced writers/authors. Some writers find help from other writers, but many don't—or even receive bad advice. But it's better to have some kind of mentor rather than none.
Writing organizations. They've traditionally been a great resource, but they have their own agendas and biases, which I won't go into here.

In my mind, the people who are angry and indignant about publishing services should be working to provide free or inexpensive consultations to the hundreds of thousands of writers who wonder how to get their work in print—that is, if those people feel that writers can't readily determine, after researching all options, what their best path forward is.

Of course at Writer's Digest we try to help as best we can. We don't have a 24-hour hot line (though I've certainly thought about it!), but we answer as many questions as possible through other means—e-mail, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, community forums, etc. And we sustain our business by charging writers for the most valuable information/interactions on how to write better and get published. We're capitalists, too—and demonized similar to AuthorSolutions for profiting off the dreams of writers.

Final note
AuthorSolutions is of course concerned about the controversy stirred by their partnerships with Harlequin and Thomas Nelson. They reached out to the writing organizations to have a conversation and find common ground. But so far no one has agreed to meet with them.

I believe writing organizations will be forced to adapt more progressive attitudes long before companies like AuthorSolutions fade. It's confounding to me these organizations would turn down an opportunity to relationship build and have a discussion, even if it's to agree to disagree.

But then—I feel like I know the culture of AuthorSolutions better than these organizations. AuthorSolutions does work for authors—and they try to spread good news through their own successful authors, but maybe there's more work for them to do.

If more people could see AuthorSolutions' ideas about publishing's future, I think there'd be a lot less criticism and a lot more idea sharing. If the authentic personalities inside the company could be seen by the public, we'd all have to finally admit: these people are not evil.

Digitization & New Technology | Getting Published | Industry News & Trends | Marketing & Self-Promotion | Self-Publishing

Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:37:19 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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