The Publishing Universe with Iuniverse.com
Dream Dancing was first published by Iuniverse.com Publishing back in 2007. I can remember the Friday night when I got the first box of printed books. My author copies.
It was February and my wife worked late. I heard a box drop at the front door and a postal truck drive off. I got the box from the front door and opened it right up. The whole box was shiny new books. Then I hid the box behind the couch cushions till my wife came home. It would surprise her how the new books looked. She came home and then ta-da I had printed books. Wooo-hoo.
The first cover was this cool blue background with a dancer’s leg on a shiny stage. The lettering was in pink neon. It just oozed sex appeal.
IUniverse.com started in 1999.
I first heard of Iuniverse from Barnes and Noble. They actually at one time owned a part of the company. The biggest appeal of the company was that they had these exclusive contracts for store space in Barnes & Noble stores. The company had contests for prime store space. While POD (print on demand) publishing was new and unexplored, Iuniverse staked out an early claim on quality publishing and opportunity.
B&N soon parted ways with Iuniverse even though they continued to carry their books. By the time I was ready to publish Dream Dancing, Iuniverse was seen as the best for POD publishing. I had read "Preditors and Editors" website and a few books on POD publishers. While many said that “money flows to the author” and you shouldn’t pay to publish, Iuniverse had the best reputation so if you were going to go that route, go to Iuniverse. Writer’s Digest magazine would have big back page ads for Iuniverse authors.
I did go with Iuniverse. The representatives were helpful and easy to reach. They kept to scheduled deadlines and had the books ready a week before I thought they would be.
My plan at the time was to go to various stores and try to get book signings and promote the book. At one time, that would've been easier. I took a long time to edit, rewrite and re-edit and I missed the early years of POD publishing. By that time, many other authors had found out about POD publishing. The thing about POD was that these books were printed to order so there was no return policy. Barnes and Noble would no longer carry Iuniverse because of this policy. Many of those independent stores that would carry a small local author were closing. Authors had to find new ways to get their books to the public. Iuniverse had marketing plans and props to help. The tide of getting in bookstores was changing. The Internet opened up more possibilities for small authors and small publishers.
After I published, IUniverse was bought out by another company. They changed their address and staff. They were still helpful and they still had a good reputation.
Amazon.com got into the POD and ebook business and Iuniverse became just another company.
Today, Iuniverse is part of a larger publishing company called AuthorHouse. The imprint is still available. You can still reach IUniverse at their own website, see below.
or call 1-800-AUT-HORS
Next week: Reaching the public in 2008