After Lawsuit Dismissed, Author Solutions Looks Ahead

Andrew Phillips officially took over as President and CEO of Author Solutions (AS) on July 1, 2013, just weeks after the company was hit by a lawsuit from three authors accusing AS of fraud. Although Phillips said the lawsuit was not a major distraction during his first two years as head of AS, he is nonetheless happy to be able to focus entirely on growing the company’s business, at the following the dismissal of the original lawsuit and a related case in September. .

The self-publishing industry has changed a lot since the years when AS was created when AuthorHouse and iUniverse merged in 2007. The company was acquired by Pearson in July 2012 and became part of Penguin Random House when Penguin and Random House merged a year later.

Phillips said AS estimates the self-publishing market will grow by around 15% to 20% in the future, and while that may not be as fast as years past, it still gives the company many opportunities to develop its activities. AS has worked with over 200,000 authors, helping them publish over 250,000 titles. According to Phillips, since self-publishing has become a major part of the publishing industry, the market has split into two camps: self-publishing services supported as AS, and what Phillips calls on DIY companies that provide authors with the tools to create and publish a book but little support. According to Phillips, in today’s self-publishing market, AS’s greatest value lies in offering authors a range of services, including cover design, editing, marketing and The advertisement. Author Solutions’ marketing offerings were the focus of the lawsuits, but Phillips said the company has stepped up its efforts to ensure authors understand what they are signing up for. “We work with all of our writers to set realistic expectations,” Phillips said in an interview with TPthe offices. “And we deliver the services we promise.”

During his first two years with the company, AS implemented a series of measures to make sure “our writers are happy,” Phillips said. There is a weekly staff meeting, for example, where all correspondence for the week is discussed and ways to resolve any complaints are worked out. As part of its Author Care initiative, AS has also set up a two-person Twitter team that will respond to questions posted on Twitter within the hour, seven days a week during business hours.

Phillips thinks the focus on helping authors has paid off. Despite more than two years of litigation, the percentage of authors who have returned to AS for a second book has increased 30% since Phillips joined the company, he said. The company’s Better Business Bureau rating has improved from A– to A+, and surveys of authors show that satisfaction levels are particularly high.

Given the competition in the self-publishing market, if AS didn’t treat its authors fairly, it would be in trouble, Phillips said. “Authors can certainly do their research on what different companies offer,” he added.

Phillips said there are a number of reasons people choose to self-publish a book: it’s something they’ve always wanted to do; it supports a cause or raises the profile of an issue: it is part of a larger business effort, such as public speaking; and the author hopes to publish a bestseller. Any author looking to sell books to the public needs to invest in marketing, and that’s what AS offers authors, Phillips said. “We give writers a menu of choices to help them get discovered in a crowded marketplace.” But as with the marketing efforts that traditional publishers make for their authors, not all campaigns produce the results that authors hope or expect. “We’ve set expectations as clearly as possible,” Phillips pointed out.

Phillips said the average initial package taken by authors is less than $1,000, and the company offers packages for as little as $299. (Booktango, Author Solutions’ do-it-yourself service, is free, but it offers various paid services for authors.)

Phillips ran Penguin International from Delhi, India, before being appointed by John Makinson, then chairman of Penguin, to succeed Kevin Weiss at AS. At Penguin International, Phillips oversaw the establishment of AS in India in early 2013, and since his move to AS, international expansion has remained a priority for the company. Over the next year, Phillips will enhance existing AS operations in key English-speaking markets; expanding its Spanish-language imprint, Barcelona-based Megustaescribir, to Spanish-speaking authors in the United States and Latin America; and the opening of new services in different European languages.

AS is also looking to add other publishing partnerships. Phillips noted that the deals with Simon & Schuster (Archway Books) and Thomas Nelson (Westbow) involve the authors in different communities. Earlier this fall, AS signed an agreement with Alliant International University to create Alliant Press. Phillips thinks AS has a role to play in helping unpress universities establish a publishing arm.

With self-publishing now an established part of the book industry, Phillips said AS is well placed to help authors gain more control over their careers, if that’s what they want. “We give authors choices, and they can choose whatever they want,” he added.

Author Solutions Bestselling Books

(Third quarter 2008–Second quarter 2015)