iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive, 47403, Bloomington, US
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4.00
Based on 383 Reviews

5

49.35%

4

22.98%

3

8.88%

2

6.53%

1

12.27%
About iUniverse

iUniverse has helped more than 35,000 authors publish their books professionally and affordably since our foundation in 1999. iUniverse represents a great alternative to traditional publishing as we offer a full range of affordable professional self-publishing services—including editorial, marketing, and publicity services. And we have no intention of slowing down when it comes to creating new opportunities for self-published authors.

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customer
United States | 23 September 2020

Great company. This is my second time publishing with IUniverse and I am very pleased with the outcome.

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customer
United States | 21 September 2020

Took a little longer, but with COVID, I expected it. Very professional, helped with any concerns I had, and were amazing.

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Emily
United States | 21 September 2020

I have published six books with iUniverse, the last two this year. I’m sorry to say that the caring, supportive, compassionate service I initially received has been replaced by the feeling that I’m a pocket to be picked. I paid for an extra service and when I gave feedback for corrections, I was told it wasn’t that sort of thing, it was a one-off. Like a lottery, I could take what had been created or do it myself. That hadn’t been made clear up front, and so it was quite disappointing. I also couldn’t believe that my little, 276-pqge novella was going to be priced at $21.99. I had to work hard to get the page count adjusted so it could be $13.99, which I still think is too much. I’m looking elsewhere for my next publishing needs.

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Bob Cox
United States | 17 September 2020

Professional and solid throughout the process. Slow in getting books after the publication.

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Elle Verde
Canada | 08 September 2020

There was only one major glitch that I'd like to comment on. Initially, I was told that the package I purchased covered a project up to 100,000 words.No problem; my script was only 52,000 words. Then came the developmental editing review which was incredibly helpful. However, after addressing the developmental editing suggestions and putting a lot of time and effort into the book, it grew to 72,000 words. At that point, I was told I had to pay more money because the changes were more than 10% of the original submission. The cost was another $500 Cn. Money I didn't have. So instead, I removed 10,000 words. This was a horrible exercise and I felt cheated and manipulated.

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Hoover Liddell
United States | 08 September 2020

I have written several books with iUniverse. All have been autobiographical. My work with the organization has always been professional and responsive. Questions have been answered promptly and clearly. I have had a great experience working with them.

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Carmen Pinnavaria
United States | 27 August 2020

Do not deal with this company, is a scam and fraud. I signed a contract with the understanding that could do that job. My book is 1066 pages with pictures. After over month I was told I need to make into book volume or reduce the no. of pages. I presented several options, did not care. The book as is writing was not possible to split in two. Prior to sign the contract Mr. L.L. did not see any problems to produce the book as it is. Well, his team found that could not produce the 1066 pages only 950, after 900 at the needs to be 750. Its clear that they want to produce two books. So I requested a refund, but the contract does not allow full refund, its minus 10%. To make the story short, are refusing the refund the 10% equal to $269. I dedicated many hours, phone calls, emails no vail. I question the qualification Mr. L.L. and the team assigned to this project. On a personal note: I signed the contract with 10% none refundable fee, lesson learned. Turbo CP

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Diane Casey
United States | 23 August 2020

From the moment I contacted iuniverse to publish my book, they were with me every step of the way. A few reps and I did not click and iuniverse quickly resolved the problem. The employees were professional and kind. The transition from one department to the other was seamless. I would recommend iunuverse to anyone. Diane Casey

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Jemilla Mills-smith
Canada | 18 August 2020

I am a Canadian author and purchased the Chapters Indigo Review package under the impression that it would be tailored for the Canadian market. The process started out seamlessly, with the editorial evaluation, editing process, and interior approval going well. However, there were several times where I was talking to different people about my project — and most of the time I was contacting people that took forever or did not respond to me at all, and come to find out someone else was assigned to my project without my knowledge. Additionally, I was told the Canadian price could not be printed on the back of the book — even though as a Canadian author that will be trying to sell my book to local bookstores with the custom sell sheet in my package, the Canadian currency needs to be on the book for consumers who will be thinking in Canadian dollars, not USD. If this is meant for Canadian authors, the assumption should be that the book needs to be tailored for the Canadian market; therefore, Canadians will be looking at the Canadian price, not American — Canadians shouldn't have to convert prices when purchasing a book, it should already be done for them. And when I brought this up again after the published date, I was told I had to pay a resubmission fee — despite already bringing up this issue before the book was published, and the importance of it. Overall, I would say iUniverse is a good option for American authors, but the Chapters Indigo Review Package is not good enough for the Canadian market, and definitely needs to be more tailored before I suggest anyone use this package.

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Todd
United States | 27 July 2020

I self-published with iUniverse way back in the pre-Kindle days of 2004 and again in 2006. At the time, I would have rated my experience higher. I thought it went smoothly. In the interim, my suspicion is that iUniverse moved their entire operation out of the United States and changed their business model. A few years after publishing, I began receiving almost weekly calls from my "book consultant" asking me to take advantage of some promotional package which always required me, the author, to buy more copies of my book. The pitches for these promotional packages became increasing unbelievable. Many years after I'd published, after I'd stopped promoting, and when I knew no copies were being sold, I'd be told that my book was garnering significant movie interest when there was no way anyone even knew it existed. Several years ago, I received a notice from iUniverse that one of my books had been added to Kindle. When I bought the book myself, I found it was so poorly formatted that I contacted iUniverse, told them to remove it, and then created my own Kindle version through KDP. Since then, I've discovered that they somehow changed my book information on Amazon so they don't appear under my pen name. When I called to correct this, my book consultant couldn't help. FINALLY, when I tried to UNPUBLISH my books, I was told that I have to print out, sign (not digitally), and return a cancellation agreement to them after which it will be 30 days before they can remove my books from their system. When I've used services like Lulu.com in the past, I have total control of that book's availability. I understand that perhaps the ISBNs make my iUniverse titles more ubiquitous but 30 days? My suspicion is that iUniverse is no longer (if it ever was) a self-publishing engine for authors but instead a sort of single-level marketing scam. Authors pay to publish their book and then a "consultant" (likely working on commission) harasses that author to buy promotional packages or more copies until that author is tapped out. They clearly don't care about the publishing side of their business anymore with the poor Kindle versions and inaccurate author information on Amazon. DO NOT USE THEM.

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Jemilla Mills-Smith
Canada | 27 July 2020

I’m terms of the Chapters Indigo package I was pleased with the efficiency and swiftness of the process. I wasn’t a Tun or how many different people I spoke to, as there were roles where the representative wasn’t aware of something because they weren’t previously updated, and I also prefer to be speaking to the same group of people. I would have liked if iUniverse had asked me if I had a date in mind to upload the books online before doing so, as I had an external marketing plan in place that was contingent on a date and my books had to be taken down so it could happen. I also felt like there were a lot of a la carte options introduced to me during the process that were necessary to me, and had I known about them beforehand I would be able to know all of what I needed to publish my book to the best of its ability and the full cost. Otherwise I appreciate iUniverse and the package suited me just fine.

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Dunn Neugebauer
United States | 22 July 2020

I published here once - will never do it again. In fact, I'm going to unpublish my book here and start over. I'm normally a positive guy, but the way I was barraged with nickel and dime phone calls, not to mention having to pay 90% of the cost to get copies of my own book. I could go on, but I won't. Instead, I've already taken it somewhere else.

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Carolyn
United States | 09 July 2020

Make no mistake writing a book is hard work not only for the author but also the publisher, despite that iUniverse delivered for me.

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Jerry Brule
United States | 07 July 2020

I took advantage of a half price sale which was great. The editorial review was terrible and nothing but a high pressure effort to get me to spend a hell of a lot to edit. The book itself looks good but they added one too many images. I wasn't happy with the retail price $28.99. I think it's going to be hard to sell on Amazon. I paid for a web site and am still waiting for that. How can I sell the book without the website. Way too slow here and I haven't had a chance to have any input yet.

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Chelci Biggs
United States | 06 July 2020

My experience with iuniverse was great! They kept me posted every step of the way. They get things done at a fast pace, professional manner. Everyone I spoke with was very nice and helpful.

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Eddie Clyde
Canada | 30 June 2020

Just a complete class of energetic wonderful people. I am so delighted that I was an Autor to say I was completely satisfied with everyone who was involved in my book. Thank you Iuniverse.

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Karen Belli
United States | 28 June 2020

iUniverse was very professional in supporting me from day one all the way through my publishing journey. I’m very pleased with my book and all my positive experiences. Marketing was the final step, and I’m lucky to have people like the team at iUniverse to help me promote my book.

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customer Lyenor
Botswana | 26 June 2020

My journey has been such a wonderful journey in publishing my book HURT BUT NOT BROKEN .The i Universe team has been very * Professional in walking me through the process from one stage to another *Communication has been excellent *I enjoyed the editing part which was so empowering as you get the opportunity to be part of the process that way i felt it was helpful in terms of skills development as an Author *The coordination of the book publishing process was well handled,the team gave me enough confidence to believe that i can make it I will not hesitate to work with them again if i am to publish another book or recommend them to anyone who might want to publish their work i Universe is a reputable publisher Their work in overall is beyond excellent Lyenor Nkosi Author of HURT BUT NOT BROKEN BOOK

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Frederick Thompson
United States | 22 June 2020

The production cost and the size of the royalty per book are low. You might want to include some level of editorial help in the base cost.

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Karen Hurd
United States | 21 June 2020

You Are Enough, by Anastasia Preston is a beautiful book of poetry that makes you feel what the writer feels. I felt the emotions in every single poem. An excellent book!

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