AuthorHouse Reviews 

Always thorough in their process. After publishing 14 books with Authorhouse, i would not use anyone else

Clear instructions and guidance through the publishing process.

I started my connection with Authorhouse around 2010 and have published 7 books.
I have struggled with the technology and although staff have tried to help I was not able to make use of many of your services. eg I had a blog I paid £99 a year for but every time I tried to go in it said it did not recognise my password. I gave up and never used it.
The documents I have to sign are confusing to me because the way I save them seems to be different each time. (not AH fault)
Staff have been very encouraging, and I've known a lot over the years!
The actual production was good, I liked the designs, the galley was easy to read, once I updated my Adobe, and the ideas for the interior good.
My main complaint is the fixed price of the books on Amazon. No one is going to pay £20 for a paperback whose author they have never heard of.

well . . . at first I liked the responses to my book but then gradually I was a bit concerned that it was taking a long time. It is the longest book I have ever written but I've published 18 shorter thrillers since then although not sure when

Polite, efficient, and flexible

My editor was great. Response time was very good.

When my manuscript was first edited major spacing changes were made that I had to return to my original concept. Then the Production Department changed the font on all the Scripture references and reduced the size of my manuscript to 6x9, making no attempt to fix the abundant new spacing problems that this created. The manuscript was electronically returned as "read only" so I had to email an extensive list of corrections and hope that they would do them all. They did not, so this back and forth had to be done several times until I finally gave up in frustration, leaving a few small typos undone. Also, most of my questions went unanswered or I only received a pre-scripted computer generated response that did not address my issue.

The shield is a fantastic job helping me with my book publishing.

I always have mixed feelings on authorhouse. On the one hand, they have done everything they promised and have never gone back on anything or given me a cheap product. On the other hand, they are horribly overpriced for everything they offer. They overcharge on every service by nearly 3x or more than any other service. It makes me never want to use anything more than the base packages. There is absolutely no reason to pay thousands of dollars to get a single radio broadcast, or 500+ dollars for a poster that is just a blown up image of your book with a QR code. Absolutely everything is expensive to such a degree that ironically they are losing business by charging the sheer amount they do.

The 3 points given is that some area seems to be working toward making the industry thrive other parts seem lax in performance, instant no feed to how the author's work performing, dash board not updating and constantly of to request updates, no payment for the author work for years coming through, miserable

Great editor, prompt service, honored my wishes.

Complete waste of your time and especially your money! They charge a needlessly expensive monthly payment for them to "produce and distribute your book" which makes 0 sense to me as I had already finished writing and drawing the book all that needed to be handled was distribution which they decide to make difficult and take a whole 3 months to do editing to a script that had already been drawn out in a comic book which I sent them to distribute anyway but they decided to be difficult about it anyway. Even when they did finally edit the book, they did a horrible job, mainly removing parts where characters where shouting and times when characters would speak in slang, taking all the personality out of my "self published" book. They sweet talk you by telling you everything you wanna hear to peer pressure you into buying the first instalment of many to print your book and then they make you assume marketing is included in that cost but then a month later a different guy tried to peer pressure you and sweet talk you into buying another installment of payments for marketing in which you're confused but you agree because you wanna get your book out there, they sweet talk you, peer pressure you and do not take no for an answer. So after a month or 2 later, with btw constant updates telling you that your book you have already edited and made is in the edited stage and 0 updates from the marketing team, you get a new call. This time they try sweet talk you into buying a new instalment of payments to advertise your books on a podcast which only has 8 views per vid while they are asking for over 300 ponds from you and then you finally tell them no and they can't take no for an answer so they spam call you, peer pressure you and make you try and say yes but it doesn't work so they give up. After the 4th call in the hour you finally tell them you want out which they don't like so you tell them to put your account on hold and they "agree" and "confirm" that for you on the call. A month later you find notifications from the bank saying you have 2 declined payments from AuthorHouse which annoys you to no end as your account was agreed to be put on hold so you e-mail everyone you know who has been involved and they all just straight up ignore you.

This is the author house experience and I DON'T recommend! I want them to stop charging me and give me my money back as they haven't done anything for the book except a poor attempt at editing this.

While all this was happening I was able to put my book onto multiple platforms including my own website so you really don't need Author House

All I can say is, I was an inexperienced, first time, author and they took advantage of me. Basically, I had to buy a fixed quantity of my own books from them, at inflated prices, turn around and sell them all by myself, with even higher prices to get any kind of profit, and then watch them give themselves hefty royalties for my hard work. They get paid upfront because you’ve already purchased your own books (at THEIR price) to sell. But they take your royalties too.

I had an eprint and paperback deal. The eprint option evaporated within a year- no reason that I can understand. Next, they took my book completely out of print and started blowing up my phone and email to try to manipulate me into buying more of MY books from them. The only way to get my book now is to buy it used on Amazon or I’d have to buy another “package” from them and sell them myself. It’s a big FRAUD!

They call me several times per week. I can’t get them to leave me alone. I’ve told them multiple times I don’t want to do business with them anymore but they won’t listen. I can’t even answer unidentified phone numbers now because it’s probably THEM! I did mark their emails as junk and phishing. They are blocked. I wish there was a guaranteed way to stop the calls. I can block their number each time ,but they have TOO MANY in rotation to catch you off guard.

I plan to seek a better publisher for my book so I can get unstuck. I have no idea what the process is to transfer to a new publisher, but I’m about to find out.

A couple of Christian authors that I know (personally) only do business with Xulon Press .com. You get 100% of your royalties with them. I’m a Christian author, so I think that I will look into Xulon Press too.

You live and you learn. Authorhouse was a HUGE mistake. They are professional scam artists AND bullies!

This company promised a lot, but didn't follow through any of it. They were nice to talk to but they lied to you behind your back.

I wrote a children’s book with no prior experience in publishing and chose AuthorHouse to help guide me through the process. Unfortunately, my experience was extremely disappointing.

I paid what I now realize was a very high upfront fee to publish my book. Only after paying did I learn that little to no meaningful marketing support was included. Instead, I was repeatedly encouraged to spend additional money on marketing services, with no clear explanation of the results or value.

At the same time, I struggled to get answers to basic questions. The website that was supposed to be set up for my book was never clearly completed or explained, and I received little to no communication when I asked about it. I was also not given clear information on how to track book sales or understand royalties.

Most concerning, I did not receive clear answers regarding payments for books sold. This lack of transparency and communication made the entire experience frustrating and concerning.

If you are a first-time author, I strongly recommend doing extensive research before committing to any paid publishing service. I wish I had better understood the process and what was (and wasn’t) included before making this investment.

I want to provide honest feedback about my experience with your marketing and sales processes.

The level of disorganisation has made the entire journey extremely difficult to manage and I will highlight why. I received many emails requesting confirmations and approvals for marketing steps, making it almost impossible to keep track of what is required. Important messages get buried simply because the volume is unmanageable.

I was also told that the challenge comes from having hundreds of offices around the world, which inevitably makes it difficult to maintain an efficient and organised process. While I understand the scale, the current system places the burden on authors to chase, track, and manage fragmented communication that should be streamlined on their side, which could be done with an app or more efficient dedicated process, instead of overwhelming authors with hundreds of emails.

Additionally, the sales and marketing teams feel misaligned with the actual process of writing and publishing a book. The sales team, especially the marketing department, will call repeatedly to push additional marketing packages, yet the delivery of those services has been minimal. Despite the heavy emphasis on purchasing more marketing products, the marketing system itself has delivered next to nothing in terms of actual sales or measurable results, no follow ups on results, nothing.

Overall, the experience has felt disorganised, overwhelming, and not aligned with the expectations set during the sales process. A more centralised, transparent, and results‑driven system would significantly improve the author experience.

Due to this reason my book for the 2nd time running was delayed in being shown at the London Book Fair.

After asking for a refund because I am no longer interested in the service and because the experience and process has been abysmal I was told that I had not approved my book being presented at the London Book Fair when I have the proof that I had. I have sent them the email in which my approval was confirmed.

This situation has highlighted a serious issue in their internal processes. The fact that my book was not presented at the London Book Fair — and that I only discovered this because I physically turned up at the event — shows that even if I had not approved my book, there was no intention or system in place to notify me. There was no follow‑up, no prompt, and no reminder asking for approval at any stage. If there was no communication leading up to the London Book Fair, it is clear there would have been none at all.

This makes it evident that my book would never have been presented unless I happened to be there in person to question its absence. That is not an acceptable or reliable process for authors who trust you with their work and their investment. I do not want to continue my investment with this company for this reason, and there fore I insist on a refund for that marketing campaign.

Just to show the continued disorganisation that exists in this company.

Authorhouse has a long way of reaching an acceptable standard for book publishing.

I had my book published 7 years ago. I paid a lot of money for it. I kept paying money out, but I'm yet to see any sign of royalties, or payments. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for my book being published, but nothing came of it. I just wished i got paid for my work. I've completed a manuscript for a novel, and am looking to get it published, but this as put me off. You may still have my details, im not sure.

Have yet to see a copy of my book -promised before Christmas! I have paid a joining fee and a marketing fee (kept email receipts)- chose to do my own editing. I have emailed 'Donald'(?) about this, but have yet to receive a response. None of the 'people' I have spoken to have a convincing Google profile (some don't exist) - and I have yet to speak to a non-American person, despite the company marketing themselves as Authorhouse (UK).
Any advice would be welcome!

Zero stars. Breached contract took a widow needing brain surgery for 5 k

I co authored a book, The Truth as the Lord Lives, which was published in 2021. I have received one royalty check several weeks after the book was on the market for a total of $38! I spent over $2,000 for their publishing fees. I’m still waiting for a check four years later!! I personally have bought the book many times so where is the royalties owned me and the author?? Scam, scam, scam. There is no way to find out how many books have been sold then and now. There is no paper trail or accountability. Never use this company ever!!!!