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Revision as of 03:53, 8 November 2009 by Qworty (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)iUniverse, founded in October 1999, is one of the largest vanity presses in the United States, using print-on-demand technology to print more than 5,000 new titles each year. iUniverse has strategic alliances with Barnes & Noble, Inc. in the U.S. and Chapters Indigo in Canada. iUniverse also has partnerships with the Authors Guild, the Harlem Writers Guild and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
In September 2007, iUniverse was purchased by Author Solutions, the parent company of print-on-demand rival AuthorHouse. On January 22, 2008, Author Solutions announced iUniverse operations would move from Lincoln, Nebraska to Bloomington, Indiana to be co-located with AuthorHouse.. In June 2008, it was announced that Author Solutions would "onshore" iUniverse's Shanghai, China operations—creating more than 140 new jobs in its Indiana headquarters over the next few years.
History
iUniverse initially focused on business-to-consumer print-on-demand publishing as well as publishing both new- and back-in-print titles. Barnes & Noble invested in the company and soon started offering iUniverse books for order online and through Barnes & Noble retail stores. In 2001, Warburg Pincus also invested in iUniverse.
Partnerships were formed with IDG Books Worldwide, publisher of the "...for Dummies" series, Frommer's Travel Guides, and CliffsNotes. Additional partnerships were developed with Microsoft, Adobe Systems, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Publishers Group West.
In 2003, Susan Driscoll, a traditional publishing-industry veteran of more than 20 years, was named iUniverse president and CEO.
In 2004, Amy Fisher's memoir If I Knew Then become the first iUniverse title to enter the New York Times Best Seller list, climbing to number 14. It eventually became the best-selling book in iUniverse's history, selling 32,445 copies up to 2004. Nevertheless, according to a 2005 Publishers Weekly article, out of the more than 18,000 titles published by iUniverse until 2004, only 83 had sold at least 500 copies and only 14 titles had been sold through physical Barnes & Noble stores.
On December 7, 2007, Kevin Weiss was named CEO of Author Solutions, the parent company of iUniverse and AuthorHouse. Weiss was formerly president of computer software company McAfee, Inc.
After the upfront fee, iUniverse takes a large cut of each sale of the book.
References
- PW: iUniverse.com's Brave New Publishing World - 2/21/2000 - Publishers Weekly
- ^ "Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab". New York Times. January 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
In 2008, Author Solutions, which is based in Bloomington, Ind., and operates iUniverse as well as other print-on-demand imprints including AuthorHouse and Wordclay, published 13,000 titles, up 12 percent from the previous year.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jim Milliot, "AuthorHouse acquires iUniverse", Publishers Weekly, September 9, 2007
- Kevin Abourezk, "iUniverse to move to Indiana"Lincoln Journal Star, January 22, 2008
- http://www.authorsolutions.com/news/company-to-expand-global-hq.asp
- ^ "iUniverse By the numbers". Publishers Weekly. May 16, 2005. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
External links
- iUniverse - official site