Xlibris iUniverse DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY SELF-PUBLISHING WITH XLIBRIS! , Internet

Xlibris is the biggest fraud of a company that I ever had the misfortune to engage. In the past nine months, I have been shuffled between Author Services Representatives all promising that my books would be published soon. My first ASR Cherry Bates left the company, and no one even notified me until two weeks after the fact. The next ARS Gregory Ellis failed to return my phone calls. I was then assigned Glenn Bryce who did not return my e-mails or calls for some time. I was simultaneously told that he had left the company and was out on leave! 

When Mr. Bryce did acknowledge my e-mails and eventually call me, he told me that the pdf file to my first novel had been lost and that we should go ahead and publish my second novel first. I was unhappy about this but agreed. In the meantime I sent a copy of my first novel to Mr. Bryce with corrections that I wanted made. I assumed that since Xlibris had lost my file for the e-book, they could at least make some changes gratis. The e-book was created, but some idiot wiped out all the italics from the manuscript, italics that were there for a reason. After several attempts, I thought the Xlibris technicians had got it correct, but I was wrong. However, Xlibris posted the e-book on their website and secondary sellers websites. I asked it to be removed, but it wasnt.

I was eventually assigned Ken Barnes as an Author Services Representative who promised me that all the changes to my first e-book would be made. He also assured me that the corrections that I asked to be made gratis to my second novel would be honored due to all the trouble I had encountered. I had already paid $250.00 for post-productions corrections, which involved some minor punctuation and the use of the correct book cover, so I was happy about that. When Xlibris technicians created the e-book for my second novel, a flawless product could not be created without mistakes being made. I again asked for some minor changes to be made gratis considering the work had to be done any how to correct Xlibris mistakes! 

I sent letters of complaint to Xlibris managers Raymond Chin, Michelle Postrano and Elaine Jerome-Headley, but nothing was ever done. Neither Mr. Chin nor Ms. Postrano could even acknowledge my e-mails. 

At this point I was given a rash of grief that I had to pay another $125.00 to get these corrections implemented. This was the straw that broke my camels back! I canceled my business with Xlibris and sent out signed Letters of Intent to the appropriate Xlibris managers with a carbon copy to everyone I had dealt with in the past nine months.

Rey August sent me an e-mail stating that my account was cancelled. Then a week and a half later Matt Evers called me and said that it was his understanding that I wanted to cancel my account! I went ballistic. This was just another example of Xlibris incompetence!  

I should also add that one of my book packages (I paid for four books to be published) included single item accessoriesbookmarks, posters, business cards, and postcards. After sending detailed notes and pictures regarding the font and pitch size for the text and the book cover I wanted used for each product, it took Xlibris technicians six tries to finally get it right. Each time a new version of the items arrived, it looked like my instructions were completely ignored, and the techs did whatever they bloody well wanted!

The 50 SEO clicks that I received in my first book package were used when the incorrect version of the e-book was published, and Xlibris refused to give me another 50 SEO clicks to replace them.

All in all, it has been an expensive and frustrating nightmare working with Xlibris. Although I lost a good amount of money, the thing that angers me most is the time I lost from my life dealing with these incompetent, lying b*stards.

I discovered too late that I'm not the only one who has encountered problems. There was a lawsuit against Xlibris in early 2012 by the State of Indiana where the company headquarters is located (Bloomington). Obviously, the problems with Xlibris are far-reaching and go way beyond the customer service department in Cebu, Philippines. 

After reading all the consumer complaints about authors not receiving their royalties, should either of these books had been published, I doubt I would have seen a dime in royalties.

Bottom line: Do not deal with Xlibris no matter how much you want to be published!

BTW, Xlibris also operates under the name iUniverse.