Complaint Review: Xlibris.com - Internet

As i read through the answer of the Xlibris employee, i am appalled.   RUN as fast as you can away from this place!!!! A friend of mine published a book with them, and his story is the same as eveyone else's.  THey are a horrbile company who are ripping people off.  They call constantly before they get your money and then once they get it, forget it.  According to them , my friend sold 1 e-book in 2 months and yet he knows of more people who brought books.  When you question them , they are going to do an audit  HOW FUNNY!!! They get to audit themselves.  My friend is getting a lawyer and the better business bureau and getting all his money back.

I WOULD RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE TO CONTACT THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU, YOU CAN FILE A COMPLAINT ONLINE AND GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THESE AWFUL PEOPLE

In response to the many comments about Xlibris, I would like to add that my experience with Strategic Book Publishing was virtually no different from the kind of thing Xlibris offers -- nothing much in the way of actually marketing your novel, except constant efforts to squeeze more money out of you for nonexistent serives.  Don't go for the scam!  You work too hard and too many hours to be conned out money that you may not have, just to wind up another victim of a despicable bunch of bastards!  

Consider Dianne that my elderly relative that you stole from never even had his book printed out it is a scam not a "authors not following through" not to mention authors can follow through self promoting when they publish with a free service that doesn't delibrartely throw all kinds of impediments in the way to cream off more money as so many of the reports here claim that you do. I know a lot of authors making good money self publishing. They are all using free services not one is with Xilbris or any of Author Solutions other scam companies which are only for the naive, elderly disabled, very young people you scam from.

I completely believe that any positive reviews of Xilibris are from Xilbiris sales reps trying to make themselves look better. They don't have happy customers. What they have is a LOT of money. They are rumored to use the over priced books as money laundering for the Mafia. I've been doing an independant investigation on them for some time. They have con artistry down to a very fine art. They scammed my elderly relative for nearly $4000 and they never even so much as printed his book, and just gave him the run around. 

As for their ridiculous arguement that Mc Donalds also has bad reviews.....getting a burnt burger is a little different from being ripped off for ten thousand dollars by actual fraudulent promises such as "we will give you a one in five shot to get your book on Oprah if you give us $2000 then saying to ALL people who entered. Oh sorry you weren't chosen better luck next time. That is just one of a multiltude of their scams.

Another thing they always rant about how they have an A with the better business bureu. All that actually means is that they are up to date paying fees to the Better Business Bureu. That is literally all it means. And Xlbiris saying how many books they have "published" only means that they've successfully hoodwinked large numbers of people with their very well tuned con-artistry. The organization is funded by big time criminals for the purposes of laundering money. They know what they are doing.

I have published two novels with xlibris. And this was after a two year search for self publishers. They did everything they said they would do. High quality cover, sturdy all around book, proof before publishing, available over the internet, isbn number, and good customer service. However, all self publishing means self promoting. I purchased my books at the author discount, and then i sold them to my family and friends and on consignment at local bookstores. Nobody goes to self publishing internet book stores and orders twenty dollar books. But i knew that going in. I paid a little more and i do get sales calls, but i am very satisfied over all. Ben Wild - "Psycho Wild," and "Black and White."

I am a new writer as well and recently, I was ripped off $2300.00+tax by FriesenPress.com in British Columbia, Canada.

I paid all the money and then they committed a sabotage.  They added around 140 errors to my manuscript deliberately and told me to clean up these errors I must pay an additional amount of $1484.00 that I refused to pay.

They refused to give me the name and phone# of their Vice President.

Then they began to dishonor the terms and conditions of the agreement and delayed eight months, didn't publish my book.

There should have a mechanism in place to get these things resolved with fairness and justice.

This type of incident is a curse of a new writer like me - so discouraging and frustrating.

I published with Xlibris last October and before the book went on sale I was contacted by their representatives regularly.  After it went on sale there was silence.  My emails were unanswered or when I got through to them they would say someone else will be getting in touch with me.  I was told that part of the contract was that I could look at my royalties page online.  The first month I could see it and even though people told me they had ordered my book, it didn't appear on the royalties page, I was told that it would take time then two months later I couldn't get into my royalties page.  I was told that there was a glitch in the system and it wasn't working.  I still can't get into it after 7 months!  I have no idea how many books have sold and when I ask someone at Xlibris if they can look into it, they say we will look into it.  They only get in touch with me when they have something to sell, some marketing package or discounted packages for books.  To say that I am upset would be an understatement.  I agreed to 25% of book sales but it seems that I am not even getting that.  I will no longer invest more money into this company until the book sales is made transparent.  Every author has a right to that.  Is there a way where I can check on book sales at Barnes & Noble and Amazon to see how many books have really been sold.  I did get a royalty check from them for 20 pounds and when I asked if they can tell me how many books have sold in total, total silence.  I agree that they are into the business of making money through authors and until they show me otherwise, my opinion of them remains.

I had been in contact with this company several times with their hard sell approach.  I wanted to add to the Reverand's comment that Xlibris' royalties are as such:  25 percent for the author, 25 percent for Xlibris, and 50 percent for printing costs.  Keep in mind that printing is done by Xlibris in-house so essentially they are making 75 percent profit over the author's 25 percent.

I mentioned this to the person I talked to at Xlibris and said isn't this a little inflated for them.  I'm the writer so shouldn't I be making more than 25 percent.  Even excluding the the 50 percent for printing, why is Xlibris making the same percentage as I am when I'm also paying them.  This is a rip off in itself.

Their hard-sell approach also leads me to believe they are desperate.  I received a call from them about a 50 percent off deal that was "only good today" because it was an anniversary special and "would never happen again."  A couple of weeks later, that same deal was being run again with an immediate deadline to expire the next day.  I suspected right away this was a scam.

I had a 50 page novelette published through them. They charged me a fairly high price to do it. Their salespeople were quite pushy. They were always trying to get more money.
 
The quality of the book is good. The cover is nice. There are two printing errors, but that is my fault. They gave me plenty of chances to edit the book. I missed those two errors every time I edited it. So that is my fault. Other than the two printing errors, the quality of the book is good.
 
If somebody just wants their name on a published book and not trying to make money and don't care if they lose money, Xlibris is fine for them. You will never make any money publishing with them. You won't even break even. The price of the book is so high that nobody will buy it. But you do get a good quality book published with your name on it through them.
 
Even after the book is published, the author is constantly hounded with phone calls from Xlibris salespeople trying to get more money. They are mostly out to get as much money from the author as they can. They don't even share all the royalties with the author. They don't report all the books sold to the author, so that way they can pocket some of the money that was suppose to go to the author.
 
Xlibris charges $16.99 for the 50 page paperback novelette written by me. People don't want to pay that much for a 50 page paperback book. So the book is never going to sell well. Xlibris also charges an outrageous price for shipping. Because of the price of shipping that Xlibris charges, it is cheaper for the author to buy the book from Barnes and Noble, even though Xlibris gives an author discount; Barnes and Noble doesn't charge so much for shipping. The royaty statement Xlibris gave me shows, a much lower number of books sold than what has actually been sold. I checked with Barnes and Noble and Amazon, plus I bought some copies, so I know that much more has been sold than what Xlibris is reporting to me. That means Xlibris is being dishonest and pocketing some of those royalties. Xlibris has not given me much of anything for what they charged me.

Thanks for the comments.  I'm looking for the right avenue for my book and these comments are giving me some good follow up questions to ask.  So far my interactions seem good with the company with an upgrade from the 7k package to the 12k package for the same price plus 100% commission. 

we'll see how this evolves but thanks for all the opinions and insight!

Xlibiris is a complete joke as far as a company is concerned. A friend of mine recently tried to talk to them, but the idiot she talked to would not cooperate with her. She has social anxiety and told the guy that she literally gets sick and wants to vomit each time she tries to talk on the phone. Instead of allowing for an email interview, he instead decided to become pushy. I emailed him telling him that I found it rather pathetic that he would treat someone with a handicap this horribly. You can read below:

My friend told me how you treated her. I find your behavior very unprofessional and inconsiderate. I've looked up your company and plenty of people consider you all a bunch of con artists. Not only is the quality found wanting, but the professional behavior barely fits that of a toddler. You can't email people back when they do want it, but you
can sure bug the hell out of them when they try to explain themselves.
She's better off not dealing with any of you, period. She explained that she has a health condition that makes her very, very nervous when speaking on the phone. If you can't work  with anyone who has a handicap, then that's something called "discrimination" isn't it? But that's okay, many have talked about how you cost people loads of money with your sneaky tactics. You can pay anyone you want to post on Rip-off Report to make you look better, but we all know the truth. I'd sooner
help my friend self-publish with websites. They have much better reviews, and they have word of mouth going for them.

His reply:

Im
sorry, excuse me who are you? And whats your business with me? If  you base it on reviews, then thats your downfall, go ahead, be my guest. There are more than 30,000 titles that XLIBRIS has published. The negative feedbacks that you see are just 0.001% out of a 100% that have published with XLIBRIS, they are but a drop of water out of a gallon. Why do we have negative reports? Simple, its because, people pay to have their book published and they think that after paying their job is done and leave it all to us and relax? Are you kidding me? Theres a publishing process involved and you have to strictly follow those rules otherwise youll end up like those guys giving negative reviews, we are a 5 star self-publishing company, and if
you cant keep up with simple instructions then your book will not be a success, all companies have negative reviews even the biggest companies get negative reviews,coke,pepsi, Mcdonalds and a lot more. The 0.001% that have spoke on the web does not speak on behalf on how we run our business. If you want to know our strength check us out at BBB A+ rating girl, the reason why we have this attitude is because we are on the top, we have the bragging rights, so to speak. The difficulty of us being number one is that people like you want to bring us down, Im sorry honey but thats not going to happen, if
you want to go to some 2nd rate cheap publishing thats fine with us I didnt mention any names for the record. Thats
up to you darling. But yes, your friend is handicapped, I understand and Im willing to help her get to the top, if shes going to study how the industry works and read the publishing process then everything will go smoothly, and as for you my dear, calm down, jeez, its like you also are handicapped as well, anger management. You should try that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, I needed anger management? What about his condescending tone? Does a real BBB company with an A+ actually behave that way? I think someone needs to change their letter grade to F. I'm sorry, honey, but I think someone has a handicap as well, in customer service. He should go back for more training or get fired. Also, he's calling Lulu and Blurb second rate. Hope you guys will enjoy. Both of those sites are well known, true self-publishing. You do it yourself, with no ones help. And definitely not with this Lopez guy.

Xlibris are con artists from indiana usa who call from outside the usa. their emails and phone numbers are not in service. they do not respond to emails calls or letters. they conned me out of 350 and I do not even have a book published with them. I signed no contract with them I am entitled to a full refund. I was put on hold by some chinese girl who could not speak english except to fob me off with actual use of gibberish or gobble de goock over the phone. She did not want me to know what she was doing. She lied saying she needs to speak to finance and my publishing rep/consultant none of whom she spoke to. I hung up after 18 minutes of a long distance call which is going to cost me a fortune calling from the uk to the usa that is if that is where they are based. I bet there is no building. she even said they have a uk office that deals with all this. You can kiss your money goodbye. All the losers from xliarbris who have spammed ronnies response page make me sick. You are obviously con artists who work for xliarbris and not genuine book authors. thieves obviously have no shame but you have met your match this time. I bet they never given a refund in their lives. I want to join the court cases against them. ronnie thankyou for your report. I back you all the way in bringing down this xlibris scam. Avoid xliarbris like the plague. truhtful people are always victorious.

I am on the fence about Xilibris. I too have begun to recently look into self-publishing and what I have found isn't encouraging. I am considering publishing several small books of poetry. The problem is most print on demand publishers want to list my book for at least 10.00 for me to be able to make a decent profit. I do not see a 24 page book of poetry from an unknown author selling for 10.00. With Createspace you do get to set your price, but there again if I set the price at 5.00, I make a total of 85 cents per book.

I have begun to believe that the best way to publish my poetry is a good old hand made chapbook. I can sell them on my website for 3.00-5.00, in small local areas, or on ebay. It is also cheaper and I get to keep all my money. I have looked into this and it seems the best bet for a poet like me.

If I ever get around to writing a novel, I may then look into self-publishing again, but I don't know. If publishers like Xilibris charge too much for the book and they don't sell it, what good does it do? The author makes no money and doesn't get his/her work or name out there. I may not make a killing with my little chapbooks or become well-known, but at least I will be sharing my work, even if it is with few people. I'm just still on the fence.

My own experience with Xlibris is quite the opposite of Ronnie's. I found them extremely helpful and patient while guiding me through  the self-publishing quagmire. Their English was excellent (if you're not put off by a polite Filipino accent) especially given that I tend to talk very fast. All my emails and calls were returned in a reasonably prompt manner.

I am in total agreement with Dianne and the Rev. Dan Baxter, which means that I am at odds with Ronnie of Staten Island and Doc of Honolulu.

My authority for this view is that I have had my first book published by Xlibris and it is listed heavily amongst bookstores both in the US and the UK. It is 274 pages long and available in Hard Back (ok this is expensive) and Softback. This last is priced at Amazon.com at $12.95 marked down from $19.99. In the UK it is listed at 13.99, but is marked down at 12.59 by Amazon.co.uk and others. I cannot believe Ronnie's $30 for 132 pages, and as for $99.99 for 300 pages, someone is having fanciful dreams!

 I received 2 Hardback copies and 20 Softback copies free (that is - within the cost of the publishing). The quality is superb in all respects. I have found Xlibris a little slow in some things and the UK Press Release was naff, likewise the website they provided for me. But overall I rate them at 95%.

There will be a sequel to this first book and if I decide to publish it you can bet I will go to Xlibris - even if their English is a bit strange at times!

Michael Harrington, Author.
(That is the UK one, not the USA MH).

I have to agree with Ronnie. I recently tried to purchase a book by another author from Xlibris. They wanted to charge 34.99 for the book - and $40 shipping!! A wopping $74.99 total!! The person I spoke to had a great deal of trouble with english. I tried to explain that I was actually willing to buy the book, but that even priority mail can be sent for one tenth of that and they provide the box! Xlibris is not in the business of selling books. They are in the business of making money from authors.

Hello my name is Rev. Daniel Baxter and I am an author who has spent considerable time working with xlibris and am publishing my first book with them.  I am amazed at the amount of time they spend explaining things to me and I speak with them on the phone monthly if not more often.  They call me more than I call them.  My personal representative with xlibris is Rey Soriano and I highly recommend him as well as xlibris.  As far as pricing goes, what the complainant does not tell you is that he published a color book with pictures. 

Anyone who has a regular printer attached to their computer knows the price of ink is not cheap and printing pictures drains ink quickly.  The price for a book with a black and white interior will range from 17.99 (under 208 pages) to 19.99 for up to 400 pages.  My book is around 350 pages and would normally retail for 19.99.  Also what he doesn't tell you is the retail price is directly affected by the royalties you receive. 

Xlibris offers an option (it comes automatically with some packages) that allows you to modify the price of your book within reason by lowering your royalties.  Because I am a minister and am not writing to make a ton of money, my plan is to set my price at $15.99 (keep in mind there are 350 pages in this book) and take less of a commission.  Xlibris sets its commissions high to make the author the most money possible off of each sale.  Also keep in mind we are discussing a print on demand company. 

POD is a bit more expensive than a standard press run but you don't have to order 1000 copies or more.  With POD you can order 1 book at a time if that is what you want to do.  Of course it is still cheaper to order in quantity.  I hope this has been of help to those considering Xlibris.

Hi. I hope I can help.

Book pricing then will also be dependent on the number of pages your book has. Most black and white books have a standard page count of not less than 48 pages while the colored ones require at least 24. Since self-published books are print on demand, prices per book is at $19.99 each the least. Remember, if you order in bulk, your book price will go as low as $3/book. Well, just a little piece of advice coming from someone who works with a publishing company, it is best if you just fall equal or above the minimum page count. Publishers sometime require at least 44-700 pages for black and white books while 24 pages is the minimum and 160 pages for full colored books. This is mainly due to not compromise the book binding. :) I'm pretty sure you can always go that far. :) I mean, why waste all that energy, money and effort for a small book, right? :)

Download your free guide: http://tr.im/uHhG

Diane can you elaborate about the pricing of books/novels through this company - I am thinking of self publishing and have been in contact with this company.  The former complaintant has a point if the book price is too high.  They told me they help with marketing the book ... can you tell me about your experience with this?   

Greetings,

I wish to enter a rebuttal to Staten Island Ronnie concerning his problematic experience with Xlibris.  I feel qualified to offer a different side because I published a book through them also, but had none of the experiences he endured - in fact, it was totally opposite.  Whether they spoke English with or without an accent had no bearing on the process.  When you send a manuscript, it's YOUR work and their job to publish it in the way you instruct.  You don't just send it and wait for the final.

Xlibris sends the author a book draft of his/her submission for corrections, changes and approval.  If Ronnie got a poor/sub-standard book from Xlibris, it is because he did not give diligence to his part of the effort.  He didn't proof or correct what they sent him.  I know I did when I was not satisfied with the format they chose, and they changed it to what I wanted...standard paragraph format, first line indentation.

They corrected what I sent back to them.  Yes, it's tedious checking their draft copy word for word vs. your own original manuscript, but you DO it.  They may slip...but YOU catch.  It's YOUR ball, so don't complain if you let them throw it into the street.

You see, they offer the author choices: text font, page style, layout, book cover, etc., and Ronnie should have addressed all these and more issues before he allowed his author copy to be printed.  Even then, if he was dissatisfied he should have sent back the corrections on the forms they send for you to download and fill out.  I took note of spacings, text layout, proper punctuation placements, centering of subtitles, etc. and instructed them to make the corrections.  There is no way Ronnie's book could come out substandard except that he failed to oversee his product through the processes Xlibris takes with the author. 

They DO answer e-mails, but if they took too long I called.  Every call was returned same day or next morning if I couldn't reach them. 

Ronnie is right that their pricing depends on the number of pages and they cannot change it, as it is scale priced according to pages.

On final note, please don't take this as a put down. I'm just keeping it real because we as authors have our responsibility, too.  If you put something out there with your name on it, make sure it steps out with the best you've put into it.  Look at Ronnie's spelling in his complaint.  Is it just in the complaint, or could there be spelling and grammatical errors in his book, also?  His sentences here are run-ons with no end.  That's okay (I guess) for blogs, but if you are a writer, some things come instinctively or by trained skill.

Ronnie is the CEO of his product, and he should have handled it like he birthed it...because he DID.  You can't go to sleep on a project and then complain when it is not to your liking. 

Dianne