• AuthorHouse
• BookSurge
• Infinity
• iUniverse
• Lulu
• Outskirts Press
• Publish America
• Tate Publishing
• Trafford Publishing
• Wheatmark Book Publishers
• Wordclay
• Xlibris
• Xulon Press

For authors whose interest lies in publishing a book and building successful sales around that book, then we believe you need to consider far more than just the upfront cost. The primary goal of this publishing comparison is to demonstrate that the ultimate COST of publishing a book goes far beyond what you pay for the publishing package. Your final profit and cost is impacted tremendously by the per unit cost (and profit) of printing (and selling) books.

To keep the comparison fair for both iUniverse and Dog Ear Publishing, we are going to create a hypothetical book that we'll use to measure costs for both book publishing services and printing. The specs are very consistent with the majority of books produced in the trade category from any self publishing company. Self publishing costs are derived from the iUniverse web site and customer service interviews.

Here is our hypothetical book and project:

- 6X9 trim size, 150 pages, one color interior, 4 color cover, 5 interior images
- Paperback or hardcover
- ISBN, bar code and Library of Congress Control number
- Custom cover and interior design– no template designs
- PDF or laser proof delivered to author
- Available at Amazon and most major online retailers
- Available through major distributors like Ingram and Baker and Taylor
- Available for order at over 25,000 retail bookstores.
- Inclusion in the Google Book Search Program
- Availability as a Google Editions eBook
- Author wanting to purchase 100 additional paperbacks (please note that you are not required to buy any additional books from either iUniverse or Dog Ear Publishing)

Let's start with the numbers... More in-depth comparisons will follow below. Here's how iUniverse Publishing costs stack up against Dog Ear.

Every service outlined above is included in our Basic package– no hidden fees or charges.

Dog Ear Publishing is based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. All Dog Ear operations are based in the United States, and we proudly display the 'Made in the USA' logo.

Basic Publishing Package– $1099 (hardcover or paperback)

Printing Services– $4.28 / unit (any number of copies) x 100 units = $428

Total Expenditure: $1,527

iUniverse Select Publishing Package– $599

iUniverse is owned by AuthorSolutions (the company that owns AuthorHouse, xLibris and Trafford) and forces authors to set the retail price of their books at specific levels. Royalties are based upon the discount offered to wholesale and retail accounts.

"...PUBLISHER shall determine the details of publication including the appearance, price, production and manufacturing of the WORK."

Who has control of your book? True, the iUniverse contract does state that iUniverse will follow author suggestions for design where practical– as long as the author follows the iUniverse interior design guidelines. Guess what? We 'tested' this– they wanted us (as the author) to design and format the book in MSWord! If you aren't paying for design expertise, then what are you purchasing? By 'designing' your own book they are making you the design expert.

No custom interior available

Google Book Search Submission– $75

Library of Congress Control Number– $75

Proofs– PDF only

Printing Services– $7.67 / unit (and this price is only available when you purchase more than 99 units on any single order!) X 100 units = $767.00

Want to actually OWN the files produced for your book– and from which your book is printed (after all, you paid iUniverse to create them...)? Guess what, iUniverse owns both the cover design and the files used to print your book! We've found authors who have purchased them from iUniverse, for an additional $750 for the cover file and an additional $750 for the interior.

Total Expenditure: $1,516.00 BEFORE adding in another $1500 to own what you've already paid iUniverse to create... $3,516 if you do...

Nearly $2000.00 MORE expensive than Dog Ear Publishing –but what if you go on to sell even more? Even more money goes into the pockets of iUniverse and not you, the author.

Here's an author profit comparison on the hypothetical book we outlined above… We'll set retail at $15.95 (the iUniverse required retail price for this title at just a 20% NET royalty rate– at Dog Ear you may choose any retail you want).

iUniverse profit through B&N (or any retail outlet) for the author: $15.95 x 64% x 20%= $2.04 to the author per sale (iUniverse offers a 36% wholesale discount to accounts like Amazon.com).

Dog Ear Publishing profit through B&N (or any retail outlet) for the author if you select the exact same terms: $15.95 X 64% (amount of the retail you get– see our page on setting wholesale discounts here) minus $4.28 (your per unit printing cost) = $5.92 to the author per sale.

You'd have to sell three iUniverse books for every Dog Ear book to make the same profit. iUniverse and Dog Ear handle wholesale orders and accounts in the EXACT SAME MANNER– so why would you want to give up an additional $3.88 per sale to iUniverse?

Publishing Control & Ownership

As you can see from our web site, we believe in giving you as much as possible within each package, and letting you have as much control and input as you'd like. No one else offers the absolute freedom that Dog Ear Publishing does.

Items of note from the iUniverse™ contract:

1) Book design, format, and retail price is controlled by iUniverse™– from their contract:

"...PUBLISHER shall determine the details of publication including the appearance, price, production and manufacturing of the WORK."

Who has control of your book? As we’ve stated, the iUniverse contract does state that iUniverse™ will follow author suggestions for design where practical– as long as the author follows the iUniverse™ interior design guidelines. But, when we 'tested' this, they wanted us (as the author) to design and layout the book in MS Word. At Dog Ear Publishing you get the opportunity to create as custom a book as you would like– without having to be a designer!

2) You don't own the files used to print your book!

You've paid iUniverse™ to create a book for you, but if you decide to leave and want to take your book with you, you can't– not without paying iUniverse™ again. Upon terminating your agreement with iUniverse™ "AUTHOR shall have the right to purchase [emph. added] the text and cover digital production files of the WORK in PDF format [meaning you can't modify them really] in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 7 of Schedule A." Why should someone you've paid to perform a service get to keep what you paid them to do for you? At Dog Ear Publishing you have access to all files used to create your book and may have them at any time (we even automatically send you the printer PDF when we go to press.)

iUniverse™ has something called the Star Program– for $249 you pay for an "Editorial Review", if the reviewer finds your book favorable, it is said to increase your chances of being eligible for the Star Program. The Star Program gets you on a special Barnes & Noble shelf in the store. According to Publisher's Weekly numbers, less than 1% of their books get in. Here's breaking news – interesting data courtesy of Publisher's Weekly (May 2005): only 14 titles actually were sold on B&N shelves in 2004. The "average" iUniverse™ book sales is 41 units. Less than 1/2 of 1% (.46%) actually sold more than 500 copies (83 books out of 18,108)... A strategy for growing retail sales from iUniverse™ is trading your royalty to increase the discount offered to booksellers. For example, you can reduce your "royalty" to 10% (vs a standard 20% of net) and you can then increase the discount offered to booksellers– possibly increasing the chance of the book landing on a bookstore shelf. For direct sales, or online retailers, the discount is fairly set anyway (you'll also get charged a $99 fee to change your mind and adjust your royalty back). iUniverse™ offers some NY Times and USA Today spots for $2,500 – not the best way to spend marketing dollars unless your name is Gresham or Clancy.