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[Pub svcs] Xlibris

Paul X

Anybody have any comments on XLibris' quality and the prices of their books?
 

Patricia Shipp Lieb

Xlibris

I am currently having my second book published with Xlibris (1) Murders In The Swampland (2) Across The Red River to her Mysterious Heritage. I'm very pleased with the product and the services the company offered me. You can get information about it on the Xlibris Web site.
--Patricia Shipp Lieb
 

RealityChuck

Re: Xlibris

How much money have you made from the sales of your books on Xlibris?
 

wilson

xlibris

While xlibris have good quality, their books carry the highest prices around.
Who would pay $18 to $30 bucks for a paperback? And by an unknown author?
Something to think about. :\
 

ardela dimwit

xlibris

look guys, heres a forum over at writers.net
somebody sent me an inquiry today about xlibris and your forum came up, but so did theirs

Forum: xlibris
www.writers.net/forum/read/13/639/421Vt
at writers.net

several comments here that may be worth looking into
actually an excellent source for insight. many complaints of unprofessional or improper management here along with criticisms on pricing and market problems

one guy lost his first chapter it seems

so hop over there. sorry for butting in, but it looked too good to pass up.
 

mollyross

Xlibris

I published my novel with Xlibris, and everything went well till my 230 page book came out at $25 for a hardcover edition, and $18 for trade paperback. Less than a year later the prices went up. It's hard to convince anyone to buy your book at those prices. Family and friends are just about the only people who bought it.

The services I got cost $750 in the year 2000, and I believe the price has gone up since then.

I won't use them again. :eek
 

Patricia Shipp Lieb

Regarding pay from Xlibris

I think I get 25 percent of what the books sell for. Some sell over the Xlibris Web site, but most sell when I present talks. I'm collecting advice from people who have seen my notes on this message board and replied. I just need to work harder at marketing, and that is hard since my true love is doing the writing.
Patricia Shipp Lieb
 

James D Macdonald

Re: Regarding pay from Xlibris

Xlibris is at it again, or still, or something.

They're now trolling the fan fiction archives for addresses to send their spam.

This post shows a little bit about how they work, and about what they cost:

<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/spikewriter/131936.html" target="_new">www.livejournal.com/users/spikewriter/131936.html</a>
 

Stephenie Hovland

Re: Regarding pay from Xlibris

I just got an advertisement from them last week. I'm assuming it's from being on Writer's Digest mailing list.

I feel so special now.:tongue

Stephenie
 

emeraldcite

Re: Regarding pay from Xlibris

I was looking at the livejournal that mr. mcdonald posted. just some more math for you:


That's $2,030 to publish a book that's going to cost $23 on Amazon

the live journalist came up with this number after going through all the recommended processes. This is how much you'll probably spend if you want to "do things right."

from the email:
To date, we have published over 8,000 titles, paid our authors more than $1 million in royalties,

okay, let's just look at the numbers provided by xlibris. let's say those 8,000 titles sold evenly well, that would work out to a whopping $125 a piece.

makes you think about that investment. don't need to call greenspan on this one.
 

James D Macdonald

Re: Regarding pay from Xlibris

It may also be worth noting that the current spam letter from Mercedes at Xlibris contains one of those little invisible bits of code that tells Xlibris whether you've opened it, how many times you opened it, whether you forwarded it, and to whom.
 

bentbrains

Wow! The facts have it!

What a rip off! $125 in royalties? :money :lol They are by far the most expensive service out there. It would cost much less to print it yourself, and looking at some of their product, it would probably look as good if not better!!!:snoopy :
 

thorgunna

Re: Wow! The facts have it!

I get spam from Xlibris. Except for the fact Piers Anthony is a part of that group--and I adore Piers Anthony--I would hit "block."

Darragha
www.darraghafoster.com
 

Markallen

XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overseas!!!

Xlibris has fired 35 people who worked in Philadelphia fielding phone calls. Those jobs were outsourced to a call center in the Philipines. I wonder how many books Random House (who owns Xlibris) sells to those islands. It is a real trip talking to a 3 dollar an hour "Authors Representative" about the book you spent years writing. They answer questions from a menu. They have no idea what you are talking about and could care less. What a JOKE!!!!
 

aka eraser

Re: XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overseas

Ouch Mark, that would hurt. My sympathies.
 

James D Macdonald

Re: XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overseas

Random House makes it very plain that books published by Xlibris are not Random House books.
 

priceless1

Re:XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overseas!

Geez, if the 'service' is as impressive as the people we talked to in India over our computer problems, God help those authors. We could understood roughly every third word. I hope those authors don't suffer for this move.
 

Selenia692

Re: Re:XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overs

I had my tech support job outsourced to India (well, certain product support was shifted over to India and many of my co workers were fired for 'extraneous' reasons to that) about two years back, before that I had to deal with extremely pissed off people that managed to get in on the few products we still supported at our center, and bitched to high heaven about it. It wasn't a pretty sight :(
 

HapiSofi

Re: XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overseas

Outsourcing customer support to Elbonia is all the rage these days. I cherish the story about the programmer who privately outsourced his $75,000/yr. job to a programmer in India who's delighted to be getting $12,000/yr. for the same work. The guy's employer thinks he's telecommuting. The guy says he's thinking about applying for a second job. I want to see whether employers are going to dare to complain about the practice.

Personally, I'm in favor of outsourcing right-wing pundits' jobs. India has more college graduates than any other country in the world. I'm sure there are some of them who could write Heritage Foundation position papers for a fraction of the going price. Next: maquiladora think tanks!

Invisible hand's a b*tch. But I digress.

Anyway, hearing about this isn't much help, but at least this way you have the consolation of knowing that you're part of a larger cultural trend.
 

Euan Harvey

Re: XLIBRIS has fired 35 people and sent their jobs overseas

Personally, I'm in favor of outsourcing right-wing pundits' jobs.

They'd make more sense than Ann Coulter, that's for sure...

[Assuming that is, you can call her a pundit, rather than, say, a plasticized raving lunatic]
 

mburrell

Xlibris buying phone lists?

I just got a call from a very polite gentleman with one of those outsourcing accents who asked me if his company, Xlibris, might be of assistance in publishing my book. When I asked him where he got my name and telephone number, he claimed he didn't know.

I have sent out a number of queries and sample chapters--even full manuscripts to some small presses. These are the only places that I can remember mentioning both my telephone number and my manuscript. My question is, have any of you ever heard of traditional publishing houses selling information to vanity presses like Xlibris?
 

James D Macdonald

Re: Xlibris buying phone lists?

My question is, have any of you ever heard of traditional publishing houses selling information to vanity presses like Xlibris?

Some marginal publishers and agents get involved in shady deals, including selling names and addresses. See the whole tragic history of Edit Ink for an example.

Xlibris has a history of asking publishers for the contact information from manuscripts that those publishers rejected. Major publishers refuse that sort of offer out of hand. The bottom feeders ... well.

There's not just black and white in this world -- there's a whole lot of shades of grey.
 

XThe NavigatorX

Re: Xlibris buying phone lists?

They called me several months ago, too, and I a) have an unlisted number and b) am on that do-not-call list. I abused the poor gentlman for about thirty seconds and hung up on him.

I don't know where they get the info, but I get all sorts of junk snail mail to my house, too.

I think they legally have to tell you where they got your name from. I hadn't thought to ask at the time.
 

vstrauss

Re: Xlibris buying phone lists?

Did you register copyright? That might explain it. A lot of shady agents and fee-based publishers use copyright registration lists to solicit clients.

- Victoria
 

maestrowork

Re: Xlibris buying phone lists?

I've heard of vanity press soliciting clients through email, but I've never heard of them actually calling. That's a little unnerving and intrusive.