LitFire also does business as Amelia Publishing, Amelia Book Company, and GoToPublish–see the updates below
A few weeks ago, I began hearing from writers who’d been solicited, out of the blue, by a company called LitFire Publishing. In some cases by phone, in others by email, a LitFire “consultant” claimed to have received or seen information about the writers’ books (or even to have read them), and wanted to offer a wonderful marketing opportunity–for, of course, a four-figure fee.
Here’s how LitFire describes itself and its services (also see the screenshot at the bottom of this post):
Founded in 2008, LitFire allows authors to skip the hassles of traditional publishing. The company started out as a publisher of digital books. With hundreds of published titles and more than 50 publishing partners, we have learned how to succeed and soar in the eBook market. In 2014, LitFire expanded its horizon by offering self-publishing. Today, we offer all the services you would expect from a traditional publishing house – from editorial to design to promotion. Our goal is to help independent authors and self-publishers bring their book production and marketing goals to fruition.
In other words, LitFire is one of those outfits that offers publishing packages, but makes much of its profit from hawking adjunct services such as marketing.
Cold-call solicitations, hard-sell sales tactics (writers report receiving repeated phone calls and emails), expensive publishing packages with silly names, absurdly overpriced “marketing” services: are you detecting more than a whiff of Author Solutions, the much-criticized self-publishing service conglomerate that owns AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, and Trafford, among others?
In fact, at least four of LitFire’s “consultants”–Portia Peterson, Tori Mesh, KC Normanns, and Mark Advent (also see the screenshots at the bottom of this post)–are or were employees of Author Solutions imprints. And LitFire’s publishing agreement bears many similarities to an older AuthorHouse agreement (from 2012; the most recent agreement, which is much more complicated, was revised in 2014). Compare, for instance, AuthorHouse’s Clause 18, Termination by Service Provider, to the last paragraph of LitFire’s Clause 14, Refunds and Work Termination.
But there are reasons other than possible Author Solutions connections to be wary of this company.
– False or conflicting claims. Of the “hundreds of published titles” and “more than 50 publishing partners” claimed in LitFire’s description of itself, there is no trace.
Eight books appear on Litfire’s website, only one of which seems actually to have been published by LitFire. That one shows up on Amazon, along with just two others. A few more surface with a websearch (interestingly, these also show up–with different ISBNs–as having been published by Author Solutions imprints). All in all, that’s seven titles. Total.
LitFire also appears to be confused about how long it’s been in business. Its website claims a 2008 founding date, but its URL was only registered in June of this year. On the other hand, according to one of its email communications, it’s been around for 8 years, which would push its founding date back to 2006.
– Illiterate written materials. Most of LitFire’s website, while it won’t win any prizes for business communication, doesn’t read too badly. But the LitFire correspondence I’ve seen…yikes. For example, this email from “Senior Publishing and Marketing Consultant” Tori Mesh:
The most charitable thing I can say is that it reads as if it were written by someone for whom English is not a first language. Tori’s resume includes a current or former stint at AuthorHouse UK; we do know that a big portion of Author Solutions business is outsourced to the Philippines, and that Philippine staff use American or British-sounding aliases, presumably to make it seem as if they actually work at AS headquarters in Bloomington, Indiana, but actually resulting in some very odd-sounding names. (See, for instance, this recent Author Solutions marketing pitch.)
Also check out this blog post on, er, craft, from Jill Bennett, LitFire’s Book Marketing Specialist. Here’s a sample (also see the screenshot at the bottom of this post):
When can one’s writing writhen out a reader’s metaphysical standpoint?
How about this: Somebody wrote a book saying that the laws the world is following today: spiritual, political, logical are but a rehash of the Primo genial world that the Primo genial human beings have cleaved to and everything everyone believed in that world turned out to be flawed and destructive, thereby the First Apocalypse. He doesn’t claim himself a Messiah or a prophet or whatnot but proves his evidences authentic, like the codex of that first world, every inch of it intact.
I did not make that up.
– Plagiarism. A solicitation email from “Senior Marketing and Publishing Consultant” Mark Advent (formerly of Trafford) is a peculiar mix of the kinds of ESL mistakes found in Tori Mesh’s email and relatively fluent passages. There’s a reason for this: Mark has borrowed the good bits from others, without bothering with attribution.
The red-boxed passage is from an article by marketing expert Penny C. Sansevieri (see the last paragraph). The blue-boxed passage has been filched from speaker and consultant Al Lautenslager.
Tsk, tsk.
So what is LitFire? Despite the many Author Solutions connections and similarities, I don’t suspect that LitFire actually has anything to do with Author Solutions itself. AS is a big company, and it has no need to be coy about what it does. If LitFire were a new AS imprint, we’d know it. I think it’s far more likely that LitFire is an Author Solutions clone, created by former or current AS workers in hopes of siphoning off a share of their employer’s business.
Either way, one thing is clear. If you hear from LitFire, just say no.
UPDATE 11/11/14: Either as a result of this post or of the accompanying discussion at Absolute Write (which includes a lot more speculation and information about possible LitFire staff names and aliases), changes have begun to appear on the LitFire website. I’ve therefore appended a bunch of screenshots at the very bottom of this post.
UPDATE 8/8/15: Ha! LitFire has decided to come clean about its Philippine roots. Well, sort of. According to this recent press release, Litfire has decided to “tap into the Philippine global IT industry.” It says it has only outsourced “parts of its design and lead generation activities”, and still claims to be “headquartered” in Georgia. Yeah, right. It seems this blog post has had an impact (I know this also by how regularly it gets trolled).
UPDATE 1/17/17: As the comments below will attest, LitFire is still at it. And it seems like they’re not even trying all that that hard. Today I got this email, apparently meant for someone else:
Good day Mark,
How are you ? I hope you are doing great. I am Kate Avila, Senior Consultant with LitFire Publishing. I have been trying to get in touch with you in regard to your Book Project. I’m hoping you could get in touch with me as soon as you can. We’d like to know if you are still pursuing the book because we would like to help you.
Feel free to visit our website to know more information about us https://litfirepublishing.com/
Please feel free to contact me at 1 800 511 9787 ext. 8125 or send me an email at kateavila@litfirepublishing.com.
I am looking forward for your response.
Mark, whoever you are, I’m glad to take the bullet for ya.
UPDATE 2/22/17: LitFire is reportedly soliciting former Tate Publishing authors (Tate went out of business earlier this year, amid lawsuits and a massive number of complaints).
UPDATE 2/23/17: I received this lengthy complaint today, from someone who made the mistake of buying one of LitFire’s marketing packages. It explains exactly why LitFire and its ilk are a ripoff.
Writers beware LitFire Publishing. Please share this post to protect fledgling authors, as many people have called BookExpo to complain about this company already and have tried to warn writers on the internet. This is my personal experience.
This publishing house which seems legitimate, inconspicuous, and appears to have evidence backing up such claims, is nothing more than a ploy to take advantage of new authors. Litfire promises a marketing campaign of either Deluxe or Ultimate for $2,000 or $2,300. The original promise of these packages was a booth at Book Expo America in NYC, where major publishing houses and 200,000 attendees (as well as authors such as Scott Kelly and Stephen King) would be present and where an author thus, through them, could begin to fortify his or her portfolio, and the ability for the author to come and help man that booth if desired (although not necessary).
If purchasing the Ultimate package, LitFire promised an ad in the author catalog given out to all attendees as well as a full spread in “Wayfairer magazine” and 100 “gift cards” to give away to people at the fair and encourage them to buy the book. For the Deluxe, there were no “Gift cards” promised nor author catalog, but the author would receive a quarter spread in “Wayfairer magazine.” With both packages, a 15 minute web internet radio interview over the phone was promised and a press release would be sent out for over 5,000 media outlets.
These promises, however, are no more than bait.
At the last moment, my LitFire representative claimed “misunderstanding” and said that I would have to separately procure a pass to attend the event, even to go to that booth (where I specifically got a very different answer before, an answer which claimed that my badge was included in the total cost). In a previous follow up before my representative claimed “misunderstanding,” he specifically said that I would not have to pay ANY admission or undergo the application to attend the Book Expo, that it was all set, and that once I paid I would be assigned a financial marketing assistant who would tell me where to procure my pass and where to meet up.
Further, once I asked how much money was on the “gift cards,” it was revealed that they aren’t gift cards at all, but advertising cards with QR codes to better direct people to buy the author’s book from Amazon or another major site. The name “gift card” was misleading.
Another change was in the “press release to 5,000 media outlets.” At first, a “full marketing campaign” was promised. Upon further questioning, it turns out that this “full marketing campaign” is just bait, and they are simply referring to the booth at the Expo, advertising the book by genre to passersby, and the press release. Even worse, at the last minute, although the phrase “over 5,000” was used multiple times, my representative changed the number to “over 100 media outlets.” No specific media outlets were specified, but that question was dodged.
The worst crime, however, is the exploitation of the name “Wayfairer Magazine.” Since these baits are sent over the phone, if one were to look up Wayfarer Magazine (different spelling), one would find a reputable literary magazine. I called this magazine and found out that a full color spread costs $3,600, a B&W full spread costs $2,900, and that even the quarter spreads in color exceeded $1,000 and in B&W neared $1,000. LitFire’s promise sounded like a fantastic deal.
At the last minute, upon request, I was sent PDF photos of “WayFairer Magazine.” It is not a real magazine at all. In fact, it can’t be found on google anywhere–only in the email, and is created by LitFire publishing themselves. The magazine itself is fake. Litfire banks on authors looking up Wayfarer Magazine when hearing the name over the phone since it isn’t spelled anywhere except in what I was sent.
In fact, when I asked my representative to spell the magazine name specifically since there are multiple magazines with similar names (like Wayfare, Wayfair, etc.), and I wanted to be sure, he completely dodged the question. He banked on me being more entranced by the color photos of the full book spreads, which look very visually appealing and seem to market the books very well, and not noticing the tiny spelling difference between “WayFairer” and “WayFarer”
LitFire publishing is a scam–no more than bait to exploit the aspirations of new authors. Although they seem to check out at first, the true colors will bleed through upon deeper investigation and numerous calls to different corporations.
Although there are many “Beware LitFire!” cries on the internet, none actually explain why to do so, and make it sound more like an overpriced service than the complete illusory bait that it is. Do not trust LitFire, and do not pay them attention at the Book Expo America.
UPDATE 1/25/18: LitFire is one of a growing number of similar companies that appear to be Author Solutions imitators, staffed and, in many cases, started up by ex-Author Solutions call center employees in the Philippines.
These companies share a cluster of characteristics, including aggressive solicitation, re-publishing offers (often to authors who’ve used the various Author Solutions imprints), claims of skill and experience that don’t check out (or can’t be checked because they’re so vague), websites and written materials full of English-language errors, and an emphasis on selling junk marketing services (which is where these outfits make the bulk of their profit).
For more information, see my followup blog posts:
Army of Clones: Author Solutions Spawns a Legion of Copycats
Army of Clones, Part 2: Twenty-One (More) Publishing and Marketing “Services” to Beware Of
See the sidebar for a complete list of the more than 30 companies I’ve discovered to date.
UPDATE 1/26/18: LitFire has apparently decided that its best defense is to troll me. A few days ago, this appeared at PissedConsumer.com (given the quality of grammar and syntax, its authorship should be obvious):
Oh noes! My evil sekrit has been exposed! Then, today, this comment was left here (again, bad English is the giveaway):
Bad blogs, bad blogs, whatcha gonna do?
UPDATE 6/22/18: This is funny. Author Amanda Taylor writes that she has been threatened with legal action over an article on LitFire that she wrote a year ago that references this post. Here’s the threat, verbatim:
As Secretary of Office of Attorney General Chris Carr, I’m contacting you about Case raised against this website and persons Ann Crispin, Michael Capobianco, Richard White and Victoria Strauss regarding a criminal act against Accrispin.blogspot.com and named persons websites. Under investigation of breaking rules of good practice and monopoly in Publishing, we found this post on your website violate some rules. The URL is http://newbieauthorsguide.com/2017/06/16/litfire-publishing-a-chip-off-the-ole-author-solutions-block/ We are expecting soonest action from your side or the website and persons behind this will be subject of prosecution according to laws in the USA. If you have additional questions please call us at (404) 656-3300 or Fax: (404) 657-8733
Ava Liam
chriscarr_secretary@law.georgia.gov
Can you spell BOGUS? Once again, the tortured English is a dead giveaway. LitFire folks, you are really embarrassingly bad trolls.
UPDATE 10/31/18: One of the many junk marketing techniques employed by LitFire and companies like it is the publication of a magazine that’s supposedly distributed at book fairs. These magazines are filled with book ads, interviews, and articles for which authors pay a premium price. They have no independent existence apart from the companies that publish them.
LitFire’s version of this lucrative ripoff is WayFairer Magazine. Here’s the issue produced for this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Keep in mind that the authors who’ve bought ads in this rag have likely also paid for display in LitFire’s Frankfurt booth (book fair display packages are another favorite junk marketing offering). To further the illusion of respectability, there’s even an interview with a real industry professional: Elinor Bagenal, rights director for Chicken House Books, who I’m sure had no idea she was talking with a predator.
UPDATE 12/3/18: LitFire employees celebrate hitting their latest sales target.
UPDATE 12/14/18: LitFire is doing business under several different names.
– Amelia Publishing and Amelia Book Company (see my blog post for a full expose).
– GoToPublish.com. I got this info via an anonymous tip, and have confirmed it. Among other things, LitFire and GoToPublish have identical privacy policies, terms of service, and publishing agreements. Other content is also suspiciously similar; compare, for example, LitFire’s and GoToPublish’s “editorial” offerings.
UPDATE 1/21/19: The LitFire troll strikes again, in a comment left on this post yesterday. I am an abomination to the Publishing Industry! Glad to be of service.
UPDATE 1/27/19: A helpful commenter has pointed out LitFire’s secret alter ego: ClickableBrand Inc in Cebu City (I’ve found information that independently verifies this). As with LitFire, ClickableBrand’s website shows a fake US address. Its Facebook page is filled with job ads for sales reps, web designers, copy editors, content writers, and more, along with sometimes bizarre photos of social activities.
——————————
SCREENSHOTS
LitFire’s description of itself:
Portia Peterson:
Tori Mesh:
KC Normanns:
Mark Advent:
Jill Bennett:
Jill’s illiterate blog post:
I published two editions of my book, one with AuthorHouse and one with Litfire. Neither company are showing any recent (last full year) sales of my book. Both companies contacted me many times with their useless sales ideas and I agreed to participate in a couple with each company. None of these schemes ever resulted in sales that I know of. Would appreciate any feedback at jrgspab@connect.ab.ca. Thanks. JRG
I terminated my contract with litfire and they are still selling my book on amazon.
Anonymous 1/26, thanks for this helpful information. I'm off to investigate!
LitFire is ClickableBrand Inc. and they're located in Room 315, Ma. Cristina Bldg., Osmeña Blvd, Lungsod ng Cebu 6000 Lalawigan ng Cebu.
Their Facebook page is https://m.facebook.com/Clickablebrand.Inc/.
According to their page, they are foreign-owned internet marketing and book publishing company based in Fuente Osmeña, Cebu City.
They're not really foreign-owned. They're owned and managed by Filipinos. I hope this helps, Victoria.
Who the heck is Catriona Gray?
LOL!
Shut up…Go to hell Victoria….I understand you need MONEY that is why you are trying to bring down even Random House and Penguin….I used to work with them here in Cebu…poor you… you can't play fair….HAHAHA…how many authors actually did you bring to Random House? none…I am from the Philippines and I have assisted many Americans and were happy …Unlike you, you are a RACIST…Come here in the Philippines I will give you a HOT guy…you seem so dry… no love life maybe that is why you are BITTER….Can't seem to get clients and that is why you are into the principle of DISPARAGING satellite offices in the PHILIPPINES coz you are BROKE as HELL….IF your group is honest, file a case and be mature enough to bring it to the court. My uncle is a LAWYER in the Philippines…you should know the rules….You are an abomination to humanity and to the Publishing Industry…HAHAHA. Go and get a degree and learn the industry…I think it boils down if you can even pass the test to different famous schools in the USA….like Harvard or New York University…hahaha and By the way, I have friends working with CHase bank in the Philippines… I have assisted thousands of smart americans and they understand marketing and the PUblishing challenges…What a SHAME….FYI…Catriona Gray is from the Philippines and she knows that Philippines is a place of smart and responsible Filipinos…Don't you ever go to Cebu, Philippines coz if I see you, I will buy a hot Starbucks coffee and hurl it to your Effin face….Hypocrite!!!! You try to bring down business down like Random House, AuthourHouse, Stratton Press, Okir Publishing, Stonewall Press, Litfire, iUniverse, Xlibris, and a lot more…
And to the person who made the comment:
Don't mind them, Victoria. I'm from the Philippines and these kind of people only bring shame to the Philippines. A quick Google search reveals they're located in Cebu, Philippines.
***You are an abomination to the Philippines ULOL KA….hahaha you don't even have decades of experience in the BPO and Publishing industry…hahah I have been in the business for years now so I know how it works…such a shame….
To all Americans, you should know that Publishing is not for the weak…It is a tough competition…Such a fucking loser Victoria…Try to find a lover so you will have a better life…you are a HYPOCRITE….Stupid and a loser!!!!
HAHAHAH truth hurts….
Don't mind them, Victoria. I'm from the Philippines and these kind of people only bring shame to the Philippines. A quick Google search reveals they're located in Cebu, Philippines.
Oh look! The LitFire troll is back! {{waves}}
Victoria is such a loser. You should go back to College and take up marketing or a business course to make your Own Publishing business grow and not destroy other companies. You embrace the idea of a dog-eat-dog world principle. Why destroy other publishing companies? You should be smart enough that all companies are accredited with the Better Business Bureau…If authors are complaining, there are mature and logical steps to fix it. How about the success stories of each company? Not all are bad services… Authors should know that there are millions of great books. . We should let them know that advertising works and you really need to market books since publishing is a very competitive industry. You are an abomination to the Publishing industry. Destroying others just to put your Own company on a higher level. What a shame…Karma is a bitch. I can't imagine if you can sleep at night and you embrace the idea of destroying a company for your own good… Educate yourself… Go back to College … Publishing is not easy… The market is tough… Any company will not wish bad experience to writers… Poor you, if you can't help others,don't spread negativity �� What a shame…Companies had assisted many clients. . .Don't think you know everything…you are not even from Harvard or Duke University… Go to Hell… FYI, there are many US brands which do have satellite offices in the Philippines and Asia such as Chase bank, Amazon, Google, Sprint, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, American Express, Xbox, etc. You are a racist and stupid. Go back to College and learn the basics of marketing and business. What a shame�� It is never a great business strategy to destroy others just so you can have some dollars in your your pocket. What a loser ��
Thanks for the kind words, Anonymous 11/15. Much appreciated!
Just wanted to leave a quick note to say thanks for all the work you all do on this site. Over the last few years, I have self-published 2 novels, and constantly get a barrage of emails from "agents" promising amazing marketing to get my books out there. Although always tempting (because us writers have big dreams), I always take the time to research. Without sites like yours, many of us would be in the dark. It's not past me or any other writer that the work on this site takes great effort, with seemingly little reward. Just know it's appreciated.
R.P.
LITFIRE IS A FRAUD, BASED ON FACTS. THE COMPANY TOOK ME FOR SEVEAL HUNDRED DOLLARS TO PAY FOR SERVICES THEY PROMISED AT A BOOKFAIR IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY IN MID OCTOBER, 2018. NOT ONE BOOK SOLD, TO DATE, FROM THAT BOOKFAIR, AND THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT I CAN FIND THAT THE BOOK WAS EVEN ON DISPLAY THERE.
LITEFIRE'S CLAIMS AND PROMISES WERE FALSE FOR ME. THEY TOOK ME FOR SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS TO COVER THEIR SERVICES AT A BOOKFAIR IN FRANKFURT GERMANY ON OCTOBER 10-14TH, 2018. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT I CAN FIND THAT THEY EVEN BOUGHT MY BOOK, A REQUIREMENT IN ORDER FOR IT TO BE DISPLAYED THERE. TO DATE, NOT ONE BOOK HAS SOLD AS A RESULT. THE ONLY CONCLUSION I CAN DRAW FROM THE EVIDENCE TO DATE IS THAT THIS IS A FRAUDULENT OUTFIT. MY RECOMMENDATION IS TO AVOID DOING BUSINESS WITH THEM, PERIOD!
I'm quite sure there is no such person as "Melissa Gubler." Also note that the website the BBB lists on its LitFire page is the wrong one.
LitFire has signed up for the BBB's Accredited Business program, which gets you an A+ by default. All they have to do to maintain it is to respond to complaints. It's only if they ignore the complaints, or resolve too few of them to the complainant's satisfaction, that their rating goes down. I've seen disreputable businesses with hundreds of complaints but good BBB ratings because the complaints were spread out over time and the business was careful to be responsive. That's why a good BBB rating really means very little, while a bad one is worth taking into account.
A little research… Here's a BBB on them.
https://www.bbb.org/us/ga/atlanta/profile/publishers-book/litfire-publishing-llc-0443-27587568
It lists Ms. Melissa Gubler as the "Business Management" – for what that's worth.
What I find amazing – LitFire has an A+ rating w/ 5 reviews yet there are 15 complaints. To mean that means, you can be standing in s**t up to your nose, but as long as nobody says it stinks as a review, everything is a-ok. Complain all you want – nothing done. Give a bad review, that might dampen things. Suddenly I now question the validity of BBB.
I don't, but whoever they are, they are not in the USA. Any name you find associated with LitFire is likely to be an alias.
Anyone know the CEO's name at Litfire?
I have received several calls over the past few days from LitFire and am so glad this came up when I did some digging! I was surprised that it's been at it for so long, but figured I could let you know they're still at it. Thanks for helping me avoid that!
Thank you very much for your original posting, and as I'm getting more savvy myself, I looked up LitFire after having discovered all kinds of voicemails on my phone. Thank you for saving us, me, from that scam. Well done!
Thanks! Just got the bs call pretending I had inquired…
I got a call about a book I wrote that does not exist because I am not even an author LOL. Thank you so much for this post. I made sure to call them back and I told them to never contact me ever in the future and to delete all information they may have on me.
I have a friend, Filipino, who is also published as am I. She has published twice and she has learned that a Filipino group has a phone bank, possibly in the USA, using several publisher names; that these people are trying with all their might to make a living. Well, hello — I do, too. And a right to how much time and attention I give to unwanted phone calls. Just say 'not interested' and hang up, even if they are still giving you their sales pitch. Don't be afraid to politely hand up the phone.
So glad I kept them on the line long enough to google them and find this. I asked repeatedly how they got my phone number, but he kept reading his script. I can't believe how long he stayed on the line with me before I finally told him to remove my phone number from their call list.
I just got a call from them today wondering if my manuscript was ready and they'd be willing to help me publish it. I'm not even writing a book. I pressed her on how they got my name and she finally said that I probably searched online for "how to publish a book" or something like that. She said that's how they find people. I probably did search something to that effect, since I plan to write a book someday, but I find it laughable that she encouraged me to look up Litfire's website right away while I was on the phone with her. Googling it produced a link to their website and a bunch of "Beware of Litfire" posts. Not a good marketing strategy for Litfire.
Thank-you, Thank-you for putting this online! They called my husband today about a book he wrote that has never sold in five years on Amazon. I'm not surprised- he's a bad writer. Also one of those people who are very gullible. He was ready to give them $400, until I showed him your blog article about Litfire. God bless you for keeping him from throwing away the money.
I got a call today offering the world saying I needed them to provide. They claimed book scouts told them about me because they were so impressed with my book and so on. Things like this are the reason I started a writer's group locally and on line. It is so sad places and people like this exploit others.
Over the past 2 months I've been contacted by at least 4 different so-called marketing companies. Litfire was the most recent. After reading many of the post and blogs it seems that they got my name from one of the many publishing companies affiliated with Authorhouse. One company wanted to represent me at 3 different book fairs around the world. Litfire wants to represent me at a book fair in Frankfurt. He boasted about his company but I said I wanted to see a contract. I did receive a contract but have not read read it yet because I'm really not interested. It seems that this is just the latest scam to take advantage of the many authors that publish their book years ago. It's really a shame because they are simply playing on these authors emotions in hopes that their book will sell more copies. My Litfire rep even said he wanted to see my book become a movie. However, he has never even read it. That was a bit over the top in my opinion. I would say to stay away from these companies.
Gene,
See my recent blog post on the large number of publishing services companies that, like LitFire, have both Philippine and Author Solutions connections: https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2018/01/army-of-clones-author-solutions-spawns.html. Stratton Press is one of these, and shares a number of the distinctive characteristics of these services: aggressive solicitation (often of authors who published with Author Solutions imprints), re-publication offers, bad English, and an emphasis on junk marketing (which is where these outfits really make their money). The Wyoming business registration is a smokescreen.
Like many of you, I have been contacted many times by phone from LitFire; sometimes sounding like one caller of many callers in a phone bank; all with Filipino speech accent. Now this week, the caller, again a Filipino lady, said she represented Stratton Press. And my caller-ID stated "Stratton Press" on the LED screen. I did not pursue a conversation with this caller. Later I Googled "Stratton Press" and found a legit-style web-page with USA HQ in Wyoming. On that same webpage, it also gives an address for its own office in the Philippines. — Does anyone here have any experience with Stratton, or been contacted by them? –
Just received a call from this company this morning woman foreign speaking if she would have said yeah okay one more time I would have hung up the phone I listen to her sales pitch since I am a first-time author they're running a special for under $400 they will publish my book and I will get 100% after publishing cost so it my book sold for $12 and it cost $3 to publishing I would make $12 per book my response Yeah sure
me too they called me and could barely speak English and said they saw my book and I said I have 3 published thought xlibris and didn't know I had 3 books done I asked if they read them they didn't answer and they wanted to offer me a great deal of $4000 to get my book published thought them. I said xlibris has already messed up all three of my books so far, didn't do corrections then I signed and then they wanted to charge out the butt for corrections that they should have done to begin with. book 3 I had published had the back of book two on it and repeat pages they refused to fix. since 2014 ive had 9.72 in royalties (I'm not complaining I'm not pushing it) but they promise one thing and do something else and lit popped up out of no where and then disappeared once I said I wasn't willing to pay that much for a hobby. I got a call from another publishing agency I don't recall the name it was like brown something and they had the same accent as the dudes from lit publishing and they didn't even look at my book either so I'm glad I didn't get farther into it with those "companies".
good luck to everyone else!
Naive Writers very often fall for Self Publishers, primarily because there is no other outlet for them to get their manuscript published. There are some decent Self Publishers out there, but in the end it is up to the writer to market their works. Unless a writer has the right contacts, friends in the Commercial Publishing Industry, and they are there when that window of opportunity is opened, you are stuck with Self Publishing. What a writer has to look out for are the Self Publishers that "claim" your book isn't selling and they don't send you any of the royalties promised in the contract. Also beware of big conglomerates that own several Self Publishing Companies, and are even working out of the same building. If your goals are to 1; get something you wrote published and printed in book form, 2; not put you in the "Red" financially, and 3; have some fun doing it, then do your research into the Self Publishing Companies by looking at what they have published, contact some of their authors that have written material that is in the same category as your material by way of the authors websites and find out how well they have been treated by that Self Publisher. Try not to fall for any of the "Hype" the Self Publisher's Author Representative tries to push on you, settle on a low cost plan, and only purchase the amount of books that you can sell to your family and friends, with a few extras to give out as gifts. Who knows, maybe by your efforts in marketing yourself and your works you can find the "Open Window of Opportunity" and get somewhere.
Just now had a phone call from them, I asked the rep on the phone to repeat what publishing company she was calling from as I did not hear it clearly when I answered the phone and she beat around the bush to even tell me the company's name. Then once she told me I typed in a google search and this was the 2nd article that came up. The rep actually hung up on me because I inquired where she was calling from.
I received a call from LitFire today. The rep was pushing the NYC upcoming book show. He promised me the moon for only $699 if I hurry and sign up now. I've never liked the used car salesmanship to hurry up and sign now. Reading this blog confirmed my initial gut feeling.
They just called my personal cell (not my work one). I'm not sure how they even got it. They left a voicemail message. I want nothing to do with them.
@ Brandy Purdy. This is called harrassment. Threaten them with legal action if they continue to phone you. Be polite but also firm. Let them know you have no intention to deal with them and the continued phone calls are an invasion of your privacy, they are to stop and desist immediately… otherwise you will take legal action against them by calling your lawyer.
I'm not saying the calls will stop, but just maybe they'll leave you alone if you threaten them with legal action – that is ONE thing they don't want. Good luck.
Hello, Brandy, sorry those jerks are still calling. About 7 months ago I bought a call blocker for my land line phone, which is the only number I ever give out. The unit was inexpensive ($30, I think) and each time I get a problem call, I enter the number into the Block Number list (unit can also take entries for ALLOW, to make sure you get calls you DO want.) My caller ID doesn't give a business name, but gives a combination of that particular phone number with a "V" in front of it. Those on the caller ID, I just go ahead to put them on the BLOCK list. When those numbers call again, they ring only once, then are cut off. I don't answer until the third ring now, for most calls. I am not much of a phone person, but have had good results from this blocker unit. It is a Sentry Active Call Blocker 3.0 ….. and I have 91 BLOCK call numbers registered. Try Amazon, ebay or maybe Radio Shack for seller of units.
This company will not let me alone, every morning they call me and wake me up, so far they have used at least four different phone numbers. The book they keep inquiring about was bought by Kensington several years ago and the title was changed, and it is still available, so I could not let LitFire publish it even if I wanted to, which I most certainly do not. I have told them this repeatedly and also that I am in poor health, am not currently writing, and have no books to offer them, and no money to spare, I'm really struggling right now, so PLEASE STOP CALLING AND LEAVE ME ALONE! Still they keep calling, even though I no longer answer, sometimes they even call back later in the day, if my phone rings chances are high that it's LitFire. I just want them to stop. I can't turn my phone or the volume off when I'm sleeping because I am a caregiver, and my current phone does not have a blocking feature, but I am sick of losing sleep to this company.
I was recently contacted by litFire about publishing a book. And the representative name was Erika, so please beware I just did research and I'm so glad that I found out in time that this company is a total scam. I'm so glad I didn't go any further with them. Thank you so much
Today is 2/15/18, and I just got a cold call from LitFire. Claimed they wanted to publish my books. I told them to contact my agent. He said I'd "keep 100% of my profits." I laughed and said "If I put X amount of dollars down first? No thanks. Call my agent."
Searched them after I hung up and found this blog. Thought I'd comment to let others know. 🙂
Was just approached AGAIN by LitFire – this time I supposedly requested information to get in print. Huh? I'm published, several times over both via real publishers and self-published. I was polite but basically told her the information she had was wrong; I hadn't requested anything. Told her thank you and hung up.
Thank you so much for posting this review! I was contacted a few minutes ago by a woman whose name I did not get about a book I published ten years ago. I was leary and completely upfront with her, asking for credentials, suggesting she send an email, asking prices, etc. Her inability to be forthcoming was quite palpable. I hung up. By the way, part of her pitch was a $700 to $1000 fee for having your book at an upcoming book fair in southern California, I think at San Diego. Also, I published through IUniverse. Thanks again for this post.
The LitFire troll strikes again. (See the troll's previous comment on this post, and also this comment at PissedConsumer.com.)
I dont know why Victoria Strauss is doing this bad blogs to other self-publishing company? I’m starting to think that maybe she’s running a self-publishing company and she’ll create a bad blog to a certain self – publishing company or to other publishing company to discourage our fellow authors not to go that publishing company so she can promote her own publishing company. Or maybe she’s being paid by some publishing company to create a bad blogs or a bad review to their competitors to discourage other authors not to go to that publishing company because of this and that. She will create negative reviews and bad blogs to other publishing company so that it’ll make that company look as a bad publishing company. Then she will tell us to publish our book to somewhere else? Or more likely she will recommend to publish our book to the company who hire her. Or she’ll tell us that she owns a self – publishing company and why not published it to her company. In my own opinion Victoria Strauss is “Playing the Game”..
– Lynn Guidry