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Giskan Solotaroff Continues Prosecution of Class Action against Author Solutions
[March 24, 2015]

Giskan Solotaroff Continues Prosecution of Class Action against Author Solutions


Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart LLP filed another class action complaint in the Southern District of Indiana against Author Solutions LLC, a self-publishing company that operates multiple imprints. Plaintiffs allege that Author Solutions, a Penguin Random House Company, operates as an aggressive telemarketing operation that, unlike traditional publishers, makes money "from its authors, not for them." The complaint also alleges that:

  • The sales teams deceptively refer to themselves as Publishing, Marketing, or Book Consultants but have no background in publishing or marketing. Instead, they are largely based in Cebu, Philippines and are paid based on how many marketing services they sell to authors.
  • Marketing Consultants aggressively pith expensive services to authors, such as Hollywood packages, even though Author Solutions knows that the chances that a book will be optioned are negligible.
  • To encourage authors to purchase services, Author Solutions tells authors that their marketing services will help sell more books. But Author Solutions has no basis for leading authors to believe that their marketing services help sales, since the company never analyzes its authors' retail success.
  • After spending thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, authors often find they have sold very few books. Despite the few book sales, authors receive repeated telemarketing calls and emails from Author Solutions even long after their books have been published, and even if authors instruct Authors Solutions to stop calling.



Author Solutions has increased its revenue by forming partnerships with traditional publishing companies to create new imprints. The partners include: Simon & Schuster for the imprint Archway, Thomas Nelson for Westbow Press, Reader's Digest for LifeRich, as well Nook Press for Barnes & Noble and Lulu Press Inc. Several of these partnerships conceal their affiliation with Author Solutions from their authors.

Giskan Solotaroff has asked consumers to contact the firm with descriptions, whether positive or negative, of their publishing experiences with Author Solutions.



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