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Quite simply, Xlibris is a fraudulent, dishonest and incompetent, disaster zone. Xlibris is nothing more than a quick-buck scam printer, posing as a "print-on-demand publisher", and it has one of the highest complaints percentages for a small business of it's type - with numerous civil legal proceedings for fraud and libel - including one major one that is currently in the Indiana courts and when the judgement is made public in Spring 2011, will likely make the Rebecca Brandewyne/Authorhouse saga look like a walk in the park. (Word is they're going to need to remortgage a few houses to cover the damages on this latest libel case) Xlibris was started in the late 1990s in a parents' basement, and was previously run out of a garage/home office in Philadelphia, but in the last year moved to the Author Solutions call-center with partner frauds, AuthorHouse (which has a long legal history - just Google "Authorhouse Scam" to find out) and Searchforpublishers.com - the quintessential Author trap. As of December 2010, Xlibris owes huge back taxes to the IRS and is currently carrying huge liabilities that Mr Princeton CEO Kevin Weiss has strategized to rescue with disturbingly dubious "publish 2 for 1" / "publish for a buck" coupon deals which any writer, however good or bad, should stay well clear. Their book production is dog[censored] like their customer service. Piers Anthony, one of the website's English owners, one of the swarming flies who still fronts this scam, is a failed British "published author" and part time con-man who lives in Florida, and has a few skeletons of his own - including a 20-year old criminal record in the UK for serious sexual misconduct, fraud and theft. Yes, Random House does still own a percentage - but let's be clear folks, Random House has a sleeping stake much the same way that Microsoft partially owns the adult services site, Ingenio/Niteflirt and don't they keep that very quiet. RH makes VERY CLEAR that Xlibris books have nothing to do with RH. The Xlibris website contains inept, vague material which is more confusing than helpful, and makes wild inconsistent boasts about how the company has "600 staff" on one page, yet, on another page mysteriously has "300 employees". The company actually has 3 full time employees, (including Mr Ivy League Kevin Weiss), and at any one time up to 10 part time workers, most of whom are part-time college students who know virtually nothing about publishing except high school english and how to make a greasy $10/hour. The problems with printing at Xlibris are as long as Authorhouse's scam history, they are a disgusting company and I'm sorry they ever crossed paths with my work.
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I was ripped off for 599 dollars... a book fair and when I asked to see proof I'd been included, I got ignored (after 90 days the credit card companies will not refund money! - I think they (Xlibris) knew this!).
IS there a class-action suit against them? If so, can anyone tell me how to connect with that action?
e-mail me at dwhite1148@wavecable.com
I would appreciate it!
David White (dwhite1148@wavecable.com)
Yup, i got my book published with them, paid over 1,000 dollars, was coerced to get my book published
by a tenacious representative from xlibris. I never got a single dollar. Every quarter i never heard from anyone. They wanted more money to fix my book without even letting me know anything. I didn't do it but still, they are definitely a terrible publishing company. The best thing they did is take my book off the global market online when asked except for 3rd parties having access to it.
Xlibris and Author Solutions
is a predatory self publishing company. I signed up for their basic package, and from the moment i signed up, i started receiving 3-4 sales calls a week, from Alfred(my publishing contact) to upgrade my package. I told him several I did not have the money right now and he said he understood, but never relented with the sales calls. I felt harassed.
Because Xlibris gave me the impression that they were only after my money, I decided to cancel my contract with them, within my 90 days so as to get a full refund, and it has been like pulling teeth to get a response from them. They wont give me a direct number to the ‘refund department. I have to go through Alfred, my publishing contact. After a week of dragging his feet, I called him and he told he would submit the refund request when he had time. Mind you at this point, writing this review right now, there are only 6 days left before my account hits the 90 day mark.
it appears to me that they are trying to draw out the process til after my 90 day contract clause so they don’t have to refund me. They owe me over $700. It looks like I will have to pursue legal action to get my money back from them.
DO NOT self publish through Xlibris! All they want is your money. And they will harass you with sales calls from the moment you sign up. And good luck getting your money back. They are a horrible and shady company.
This is their weapon of choice, ( The Missile) The 90 day no refunds fee. They did me the same way, All I got for my 6k was a Jacked up none edited script. Even if we do cancel the contract within 90 days, they not giving us our money back. They Lie Faster Than A Dog Can Lick A Plate. We gotta report them to the Attorney general's in Indiana. The FBI, BBB and so on. We gotta get Law enforcement involved. These people are thugs. There comfortable stealing from American Citizens. And they are here on a Visa or green card.
By the way stay away from Book trails Agency, They ripped me off too.They are also tied in with Author House. I've reported them too. They are all cut from the same cloth and use the same Scam Card.
Hello Fetima, how do I participate in your lawsuit against Xlibris? Please send me information to my email lpfbpu8@yahoo.com
Thank you so much, Liliana.
Sadly I have been scammed by them for $2500 and I’m on a pension 😞
Hello! Thanks to all of you sharing your stories, I have very narrowly avoided falling into the same trap - and I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU. You have collectively saved my bacon and I'm so grateful.
What has happened to you all is abominable, no one deserves that [censored]. I really hope you manage to band together and run those [censored] at Author Solutions into the ground.
Until you do, I hope you can take some comfort in the fact that you are doing your fellow writing hopefuls a massive service by speaking out.
You're all awesome. Thank you.
READY TO SUE! I purchased a huge 2 for 1 deal back in 2009. I am grandfathered into an old contract that had all the bells, whistles, free leather copy etc. I think their system crashed because no one seems to see my data. Needless to say, I have book two still waiting to be published because they can't straighten out my issues with book one since 2009, To date, in a nutshell, they have lost my information, locked me out of a portal, when I finally got in, they never merged it into my portal, and only send me one check for $2.00. I was told a variety of things when I found my book (and reviews of it) online. First they claim they are listings not actual sales. So when I ask why would I have book reviews, they suggest they were free copies. I never agreed for them to give out free copies which seems like a pile of hogwash. After I received one check for $2.00, I was told in 2011 there would be a minimum check disbursement, so it sounded fair enough to not receive any royalty payments. The sales reps called me every six months to ask me to buy more books, however, I B----d them all out to tell them I haven't made a dime from them. I finally got one rep's ear who must have felt sorry for me because she got them to change my email finally, and I could access the portal. The portal is missing my first project, of which the royalties are owed to me. Funny, it only shows the unfinished project. So then the new excuses started. I didn't update my tax information or data. I had never changed my data, but it was missing because they didn't merge it correctly. I don't even feel comfortable them having my information in their system when they obviously had a glitch. Who can steal my data now? Three more calls, lots of holding and lots of promises, still no data. Finally, 14 years later, I get promises a supervisor will call me. My old grandfathered agreement should be honored,yet they are telling me I have forfeited any past royalties because they don't have access to anything older than five years. I'll tell you what xlibris, just give me a refund and we'll call it even. Cindy Fahnestock-Schafer, the book is The Prism, book one.
I downloaded a free guide from them on writing children’s books. Any sensible person would think if I’m downloading a guide I haven’t yet written a book that I want published. Foolishly I answered their first call, and it was a really bad time my toddler was screaming at me, so I said now is not a good time. So the man hung up saying he’d call back. Now they’re calling at least twice every day, they only phone me at mealtimes so it’s really inconvenient as a single mum. So I don’t answer the calls. Yesterday I blocked them, but helpfully I get a text now from voicemail, saying they called but they didn’t leave a message. In addition I have a woman named Sarah Butler spamming my email asking if I want to set up a call with them following my interest in XLibris, I didn’t express any interest my interest was in writing a children’s book. Now there’s no way they’re publishing my book when I do write one, they took themselves off my shortlist. Happy to read here they are big time scammers.
My brother is 73 years old and is "on the spectrum". He has written a couple of books and somehow ended up with this company. His dream is to have them published and eventually a movie made.
He has never had any money. He would have been a street person if not for our mother giving him money throughout his life. She passed away in June 2021 and in December 2021 he received an inheritance. She should have set up a trust as he obviously can easily be taken. At this point in time he has written them 6 checks totally $228,000+! They have done practically nothing! Certainly not sold any books or given him any money for sales. I am going to get an attorney as soon as possible to see what we can do. This is Elder abuse and/or Disability abuse. They are a complete fraud company.
I have proof of every canceled check he's written. All in 12 months time between 12/7/2021 and 12/2022.
Report them too Dept.f justice, writerbeware.org, better business bureau. Attorney General in Indiana, and (aarp.org/victim Support. AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline. Free [protected]) This is so sad how they treat people,and take advantage of them.
I have a couple of books that's published by XLIBRIS, I have tried to reason with these people because their website is down however, they are still collecting money on my books. I have not received any money, but my book continues to sell however, they are collecting the money through Amazon.
This company needs to be shut down and the Authors should be able to collect the money that's due to them. This company has committed fraud on every Author's work. This is not good, and it makes people realize that self-publishing is not the way to go.