iUniverse Reviewer's Comments

If you're looking for a book publishing service that's fast, affordable and gives you more amenities than any other print-on-demand service, then our #1 pick and "TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award" winner, iUniverse.com, is for you. Their Select package offers authors a strong publishing package with the greatest book selling capabilities we've seen and terrific help support.

In addition, for authors that do not have the experience to market their own book, iUniverse.com offers public relation services you can purchase, including a personal publicist, press release writing, public appearance arrangement, news clipping services and more. In short, if you've written a book, iUniverse.com gives you everything you need to publish, market and sell it, without breaking the bank.

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Publishing Package:  

iUniverse.com's Select plan is a paperback printing package that can format and publish your book in an average of six to eight weeks. They pay a 20 percent royalty of the cover price for your books sold through the iUniverse Online Book Store and a 12 percent royalty of the wholesale price for books sold through third-party retailers.

Through the Select plan, you'll get all the basics including manuscript layout and formatting, barcode creation, assigning of an ISBN number and an original cover design. The package also comes with plenty of extras, including ebook formatting, interior image placement and makes copies of your book available for critical review.

iUniverse.com also offers authors plenty of author resources, including five author copies, author discounts, a newsletter, articles on writing and marketing and postings of writer's conferences, seminars and writing contests.

This service did not receive a perfect score in this category because it does not include a few helpful features, including assigning of a Library of Congress Control number, creation of a CD ROM archive of the finished product and cover art, web domain registration or a booksellers return program.

Bookselling Reach:  

With six years experience in the print-on-demand industry and over 20,000 titles in print, iUniverse.com knows how to sell books. Through distribution relationships with both Ingram Book Group and Baker & Taylor, Inc., this service gives over 25,000 retailers access to your book.

iUniverse also hosts its own online bookstore, where they promote and sell their published authors and sell through other online retail stores, including Amazon.com, Borders.com, Booksamillion.com and BarnesandNobel.com.

iUniverse.com boasts many publishing success stories, including that of Amy Fisher, who, in 2004, hit the New York Times Bestseller list with her book If I Knew Then and climbed to number 14, selling more than 34,000 copies.

Additional Paid Services:  

iUniverse.com offers one of the most comprehensive sets of additional paid services available today. Just a few of their supplementary services include an editorial evaluation, copyediting, ghost writing, OCR text scanning or data entry services (for paper manuscripts that need to be converted into an electronic format) and expedited publishing. You can also publish your book in hardcover for an additional fee.

As far as marketing and promotion, iUniverse offers a personal publicist service that prepares an aggressive and detailed publicity plan for your book that serves as the driving force behind your book's potential success. The publicist writes your press materials, explores ways to tie your book to current news issues and seeks out websites, printed publications and broadcast media that relate to your book, as well as identifying your target audience and more.

If you don't pay for a personal publicist, iUniverse still offers press release writing and the creation of marketing materials, including customized sell sheets, full-color posters of your book cover, business cards, bookmarks, post cards, a promotional email message and a live link website button. Through iUniverse.com, you also gain access to co-op advertising through several well-know publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Forward Magazine, Bookmarks Magazine and more.

Help/Support:  

iUniverse.com offers support to its authors in the form of toll-free phone and email support, as well as an extensive, well-organized set of FAQs. This service, however, does not host a forum or blog for its authors to meet and discuss publishing topics.

Summary:  

iUniverse offers fast, affordable publishing, the widest book selling reach around, loads of additional paid services and plenty of help support. So, if you're looking for an experienced, print-on-demand publishing service that meets your needs without draining your bank account, iUniverse.com just can't be beat.