All Roads Lead to the Same Place–and It Isn’t Rome

Looking for a publisher should be simple, right? How hard can it be? Do a Google search and surely pages of publishers will pop out. I decided to try doing just that. I even found pages of websites willing to help me find exactly the right publisher for my book.

I started through the first few of these "helpful" websites, and the first one on the list was: "Publishers List – Find Book Publishers That Can Help" and I followed the link. A click through reveals the fact they are more interested in selling services than in publishing.

Another website begins by asking what your budget is for publication. Ooops, that sounds like they have a list of wolf publishers waiting in sheep’s clothing for an unwary author.

On to the next listing: "Find A Book Publisher Now – Stop Searching For A Publisher" in the fine print at the bottom of the page: Copyright 2014. Powered by Author Solutions, LLC. Not only does Author Solutions accept anything that comes through the door, it charges money for services, overprices the resulting books, and gives the author very little if by some miracle books do sell.

Moving on to another listing, "Seeking a Book Publisher?" and guess what? Surprise! The exact same Copyright notice as FindYourPublisher.com.

If you start typing Author Solutions in your Google search bar, the first thing that comes up in the autocomplete is: Author Solutions lawsuit. Another result, by the way, in spite of the gazillion bad reviews floating around the internet, Penguin (a publisher I have always admired for putting out good yet affordable books) now owns Author Solutions and has no intention of changing the business practices.