Production of book and finished product was fine. However, gliches in the local ordering system lost me customers. The company was also selective in addressing my concerns and returning my emails. They seem to have problems with anything outside the parameters of their robotic system.

I published my manuscript with Iuniverse. .....never again! After I paid $3600.00 and once they had money I was tossed from one so called “editor “ to another. There was no continuation of connection with same person. Each step of the way I had to explain over and over, same questions with no answers.....they only wanted more money. Phone calls rarely returned, people that I was dealing with....gone. I think some of the editors were 6th grade students! Lee DeRoche Author of Many Shades of Blue

IUniverse editorial services are why I publish with them. The editorial screening is most useful. Graphics and book design less important to me. They are sometimes slow in responding to questions and when the book is ready it’s more prudent to just go to print than deal with unanswered issues. But quality is very high. One other problem is trail book pricing based on page count which is not good for marketing.

This adventure was an educational experience of self-publishing. I learned cost is very important along with a plan of action that fits inside your goal for your project. This area should be discussed by IUniverse with you to allow foresight to direct your aspirations to be published and to target your market. IUniverse has all the tools to help people accomplish their goals but like anything, it cost. Know where you're going, allow IUniverse to provide the tools, pay the cost, get published, and you do the work to be read.

The editing process is the strongest part of the experience. I was very happy with the initial content editor's suggestions for improvement. The line editing service was also fantastic. My only issue with it was that I put much effort into avoiding passive voice, only to see the passive voice placed in many sentences. I would have liked it if I had a 15 minute conversation with the line editor - just to explain the reasoning behind the editing. The cover design team did a good job, I wish there was an option for me to purchase the rights to the cover as it was very difficult for me to market my book without a high definition image of the cover. This brings me to the marketing issue which I think is the weakest part of the service. I never had a comfortable feeling with the marketing team. At times, I felt like I was on a used car lot. The price tag was very expensive even with my author learning center membership. In the end, the social media guide was very fundamental, not telling me how to do anything that I wanted to learn. I believe that I could have conducted a more effective marketing campaign on my own using the money that I gave to the marketing team. Kudos to Tiffany, Tami and Mark Frances - I hated to see him go.

Everyone i spoke to was quite lovely. However the editing process left much to be desired. I found misplaced quotation marks, simple grammatical errors. The book was beautiful when I received it however I found an error on the back cover. Which was probably my fault since I didn't catch it. I found out it would cost 300.00 to fix it. Never-ending. Next book I will hire my own editor

It started off well. I'm a struggling student who wanted to self publish for free. They kept telling me my content was amazing! and that it could take me somewhere. So, I agreed to the marketing services Rey Tome offered. He convinced me it would be great. it is said in the agreement only if I sign anything I will not get a refund. So, I took time to think about such things. After awhile I signed about 3 forms and did not sign the rest. After I asked for a refund for the content I DID NOT SIGN. They just stopped talking to me. I finally got a hold of someone after months of emails and they said "we can not give refunds after 6 months" Could that be why they are not responding to me? Could they be waiting for the time to come up? I definitely would not recommend this site and do not give them any of your money. My experience as of now is horrible. Amazon has a place called Kindle Publishing that I heard is good for the wallet and environment. It's also FREE and has more creative options. (iUniverse only has Hardcover and Glossy cover - for those who prefer matte, amazon has it). Try starting there. I wish I had.

Publishing consultant, Karen Stansberry, provided clear alternatives in choosing my package for publication of my new book, Our Blood Runs Red. She was informative, pleasant and a pleasure to work with. This is my second publication working with Karen and look forward to the next...