Edioak and House of Pages: Lots of Questions, Questionable Answers

I’ve heard from a number of writers recently who’ve been invited to join a venture called House of Pages. The contacts, which mostly seem to be via contact forms on the authors’ websites, look like this:

What is House of Pages? According to its website, it’s a cross-promotion network where authors can pair with other authors to expand their visibility to different audiences. This isn’t a new idea, nor is House of Pages the only group cross-promotion venture; still, it appears to have signed up a lot of writers already, and cites various success statistics. And it’s free to join.

At the moment, House of Pages doesn’t appear to be fully open (there’s a contact form, but no way to sign up directly)–but according to contact person Melissa Smith, to whom I reached out for comment, it will fully launch next week. (You can see Melissa’s full response, along with her response to several other questions I asked, at the bottom of this post).

When considering joining any kind of new group or venture, it’s a good idea to also check out any parent or sponsoring organization(s). In this case, House of Pages is a project of US- and India-based editing company Edioak, which since 2020 has been offering editing, marketing, ghostwriting, and beta reading services to authors. Boasting multiple four- and five-star customer reviews on sites like Sitejabber and Trustpilot, Edioak also offers a slate of online courses, as well as a publishing and editing certification program. Per its portfolio, it serves as “an in-house book editing company” for a number of well-known publishers, and provides scriptwriting to streaming services like Hulu and Britbox. A banner on its website announces a collaboration with Netflix on the teen drama series Everything Now.

It sounds impressive. but how believable is it?

The existence of the Sitejabber, etc. reviews can be verified. Other things…not so much. Edioak’s courses lack the most important credibility consideration for anyone wondering whether it’s worthwhile to enroll: the names and credentials of the experts who created and/or teach them (though a clue can be found in this lengthy comment on Reddit), The certification program FAQ claims that it’s recognized by the publishing industry–but it too omits to mention the names of the “seasoned industry professionals” who are said to have helped formulate it, and when I asked for references, Melissa did not respond. I also asked about the Netflix collaboration, but as you’ll see below, she didn’t really answer that question either.

There’s also the matter of the poor English that’s on display throughout the site. The House of Pages page is free of lapses, but elsewhere on the site, a lot of the text strongly suggests it’s been created by non-native English speakers (remember, Edioak is based in India). This screenshot from the Book Editing page is just one of several examples. (UPDATE: At some point after I published this post, Edioak did some cleanup, removing some of the worst examples, though vestiges remain.)

The explanations of the different kinds of editing that follow these incoherent paragraphs are nearly as badly written. I hardly need to say that for a website catering to English-language writers, this is not putting your best foot forward. Even if the actual editors are more proficient than whoever created the website, what does it say about a business that it would present itself this way?

And Edioak isn’t cheap. “Development” editing is priced at $700 per 30,000 words. The editorial certification program will set you back $5,000. Marketing plans start at $1,100 and stop at $50,000. For a full manuscript review, the cheapest beta reading option costs $2,600. For an Edioak membership, which gives you access to the courses, you’ll pay $999 per year (or you can spring for a lifetime membership, just $1,499).

Per its staff page, Edioak was co-founded by Prof. Philippe Cluzel. Mr. Cluzel doesn’t have a bio–just a headshot–and the LinkedIn link below his photo goes nowhere. On a websearch, the only Prof. Philippe Cluzel I could find is a professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard University–not exactly the professional background you’d expect for for the founder of an editing company–plus, his photo very clearly doesn’t match the Edioak Cluzel headshot. (I asked Melissa about this as well, and as you’ll see below, her response didn’t exactly address my question.)

In fact, the entire staff page has…problems.

Each photo is accompanied by a link to LinkedIn, but several of these go to non-existent pages. A fair number of the images have the kind of blurred, indeterminate backgrounds that are common with AI-generated headshots, and other telltale errors suggest AI as well (AI often gets the small details wrong). For example, Denise Clark (left-hand photo below) not only has a name that doesn’t match his apparent gender, but if you right-click on his photo to enlarge it, you’ll notice that his glasses are wonky: the right-hand temple appears to vanish into his head. David Pecker (middle photo) has a weirdly featureless neck and a shirt collar that looks pasted on. And there’s something very odd happening with Jayden Meyers’s right earring.

Also raising questions: Edioak’s testimonials. This is from the Book Ghostwriting page.

Really? I couldn’t dig up the name of Charles Koch’s ghostwriter, but it took me only a little searching to discover that the ghostwriters for Ms. Harry and Mr. Evra, respectively, are Sylvie Simmons and Andy Mitten. Neither has any connection to Edioak that I was able to discover. (I asked Melissa about this; she didn’t respond.)

From the Book Editing page:

The photo in the left-hand testimonial is of Steve Madden (not Maddinson), the footwear magnate. Madden did write a book called The Cobbler, but it’s a bit hard to credit that he’d get his own name wrong in a testimonial. (I couldn’t find the review on Trustpilot). The name in the second testimonial, John Doerr, matches both the photo and the cited book title, and the review (as “John D”, no mention of a title) is present on Sitejabber…but there’s a problem: Mr. Doerr, a nonfiction author, has not written any novels.

Asked about these discrepancies, Melissa attributed them to “an error during the verification process”, and indicated that Edioak was reviewing. (You can see Melissa’s full response below.) When I checked today, both testimonials had been removed.

Also included in the testimonials section: an array of book covers, which viewers will surely conclude represent projects worked on by Edioak. When I started researching this post on Monday, Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys was part of the display. However…

When I asked Melissa about this, she acknowledged the error, but laid the blame on a partner company, Qslid.com, which “approached us with what appeared to be a strong portfolio…once we discovered the fabrications and confronted Qslid, their website went under construction, and they have since become unresponsive to emails.” (Again, you can see her full response below).

Qslid.com is indeed defunct (and an obvious fraud, based on an incomplete archive of its website). And Aiden Thomas’s book cover has been removed. However, that doesn’t address the question of why Edioak is still showing the covers of Craig Thompson’s Blankets, William Dalrymple’s In Xanadu, Dan Luca’s The 5 A.M. Revolution, Rick Hanson’s Resilient, and Lucy Hawking’s George and the Ship of Time–all originally published years before Edioak even existed (in 2003, 1989, 2017, 2018, and 2018, respectively). Are those Qslid misrepresentations too? If so, why haven’t they also been removed? Or is this another “verification error”?

Finally (and you’re probably exhausted by this point), Edioak claims two “sister companies”, Gamahouse Publishing and First Book School.

Other than Edioak’s homepage, there’s no sign that First Book School exists. Gamahouse–which per its website is actually Edioak’s owner–offers the kinds of services that suggest it’s a self-publishing service provider, rather than a publisher. And indeed, nearly all of its books show on Amazon as independently published. In fact, just four titles appear to have ever been published under the Gamahouse name–far short of the claimed 24,789.

Often when I investigate a company with the kinds of issues described above, I get no response to my request for comment (or, alternatively, some sort of threat). I give Melissa credit for responding quickly and not just blowing off my questions. There are questions she didn’t answer, though, and others she answered only partly. And some responses, like blaming Qslid for the book cover snafu, I just don’t find convincing–especially since there are big questions about the other books whose covers remain on the website.

So what does all of this add up to? At the very least, it seems to me that there’s a substantial mismatch here…not just between Edioak’s professional claims (major publishing house involvement, streaming network collaborations, industry-recognized editing certification) and their verifiability, but between those claims and the public face Edioak offers via its website: poor English, a deceptive staff page with AI images, multiple admitted mistakes, and a variety of oddities and inconsistencies, including its mystery co-founder.

As I said at the top, when you’re considering joining up for something, it makes sense to investigate who else you may be dealing with. If you’ve gotten an invite from House of Pages, that advice definitely applies.

EDIOAK’S MELISSA SMITH RESPONDS

WRITER BEWARE: Why did Edioak decide to create House of Pages? When did it launch?

MELISSA SMITH: The House of Pages was born out of a genuine desire to create a space where authors can regularly partner, support each other’s growth, and boost their reach without any financial expectations from us. We understand that, for authors, metrics like email list growth and sales are essential markers of success, and our goal is to help them connect, expand those numbers, and gain visibility while fostering a community rooted in trust. Along the way, we gather testimonials that showcase real experiences, building credibility for Edioak. However, we’re truly here to empower authors, not to sell them anything.

Although our full launch was initially set for December 16th, we’ve decided to move forward next week. Over the next two weeks, we’ll coordinate email swaps and promotions for around 40 authors, gradually winding down until December 16th. This way, we’ll have case studies, testimonials, and reviews ready soon, which we hope will give you valuable insights. You already know several authors in this community, and we’d love for you to get a firsthand review from them as well; we’ll gladly share their names.

Additionally, every House of Pages author will earn coins to secure reviews on our free platform, Muted Muses, where features like Author Email Swaps and Social Media exchanges will remain free for life.

Building these meaningful connections brings trust and credibility to Edioak in the most organic way. If you’re interested, we’d be more than happy to arrange a Zoom call for a behind-the-scenes look at the House of Pages operations or the Muted Muses dashboard.

WB: Your website announces your collaboration with Netflix on the teen series Everything Now. Can you provide more details on how this came about and who at Edioak is involved? What’s Edioak’s relationship with Everything Now scriptwriter Ripley Parker?

MS: We support initiatives like MutedMuses.com and House of Pages through our scriptwriting & ghostwriting projects, many of which we’ve acquired via Cold Email outreach to thousands of creative professionals. We’d be happy to provide a brief overview of our outreach processes and share insights into the strategies that have led us to partnerships with several OTT platforms, which are a lifeblood of Edioak’s growth.

WB: You offer a publishing and editing certification program, which is described as being crafted by industry professionals. Can you share the names and credentials of some of the professionals involved, as well as details of the curriculum?

MS: A portion of our Publishing and Editing Certification is available on Udemy as Book Editing Masterclass with Live Practicals, which has over 5,200 students and an average rating of 4.3. You can view it here: Udemy Link.

In addition, our main Skool LMS platform offers five courses:

• Masterclass: Fiction-Self Editing 
• Masterclass: Fiction Writing 
• Masterclass: Traditional Publishing
• Masterclass: Book Editing
• Crash Course: Traditional Proofreading

WB: The FAQ on the certification program page mentions that the certification is recognized by the publishing industry, and also that it was created in cooperation with several publishers, including Chronicle Books. I’d like to be able to independently verify that, so can you put me in touch with your collaborators at Chronicle, or with another publishing house that can confirm it recognizes your certification?

MS: (Writer Beware’s note: Melissa did not respond to this question)

WB: Your higher-end marketing campaigns appear to guarantee sales–for example, your mid-range High-Impact plan promises weekly sales of between 4,000 and 6,000, with “higher end sales” topping 12,000. Can you explain how you can promise–and deliver–such large sales numbers?

MS: Regarding the sales promises on our high-end marketing campaigns, I’d like to clarify that these are not intended as weekly sales figures. Instead, each project is taken on approximately six months in advance, allowing ample time to carefully plan a one-week marketing push. This dedicated week is strategically designed to meet the requirements for achieving Amazon and USA Bestseller status, and our efforts include a combination of targeted email newsletters, podcast and YouTube interviews, organizational endorsements, and physical store outreach.

WB: Your Team page shows a photo of Prof. Philippe Cluzel, Edioak’s co-founder. On a websearch, the only results for someone by that name are a Harvard University researcher in biology and physics, and his photo does not match the image on your website. Can you explain?

MS: Regarding the question about Prof. Philippe Cluzel, our initial LinkedIn outreach was conducted through his profile as well as those of our senior editors at Edioak. However, LinkedIn’s limitations, even at the highest subscription level, restrict large-scale outreach, resulting in temporary restrictions and bans on the profiles involved. This shift in strategy led us to focus on direct outreach to authors via their official websites, which has since proven to be a more effective and sustainable method for reaching authors.

WB: The Ghostwriting Services page of your website includes testimonials from Debbie Harry and Patrice Evra. What’s Edioak’s relationship with Ms. Harry’s ghostwriter, Sylvie Simmons, and Mr. Evra’s ghostwriter, Andy Mitten?

MS: (Writer Beware’s note: Melissa did not respond to this question)

WB: On the Book Editing Services page of your website, there’s a testimonial from Steve Maddinson, author of The Cobbler. However, that book’s author is Steve Madden, the footwear entrepreneur, and it’s Madden’s photo on the testimonial. Can you explain the discrepancy?

There’s also a testimonial from John Doerr, author of Measure What Matters. Mr. Doerr’s testimonial mentions “five novels edited by [Edioak]”–but Mr. Doerr, a nonfiction author, does not appear to have published any novels. Can you explain the discrepancy?

MS: Thank you for pointing out the issues with the author’s information and images; we appreciate the thorough research this involved. Our team may have made an error during the verification process, and we are actively reviewing this to ensure accuracy across all listings.

Regarding the testimonial from John Doerr, the original testimonial was from a client named “John D,” which you can view here on Sitejabber. During website updates, the research team may have mistakenly referenced “John Doerr,” possibly due to the common first name and an oversight in verification. Since the initial testimonials were collected on Sitejabber, we did not have a formal process in place for gathering additional details such as photos or book titles, which may have led to this discrepancy.

Additionally, we noticed you reached out to J Rose Black and Renee Ryan (Book Marketing Testimonials); I hope they can provide useful insights for your research. We’re more than happy to connect you with other authors in our network if that would be helpful.

Edioak can provide contact details for all authors listed on the Book Marketing Testimonials page, including Brenda Trim, Sean Robins, Rosalind Tate, PJ McIlvaine, Misha Bell, Luca Ferrara, Roger Skrypczak, Raj Agrawal, Annie Cathryn, Brock Meier, Lyn Farrell, Sharon Wagner, M.E. Lange, Tammera Mart, Sarah Barrie, Michael Sarais, and Jennifer Kropf, as their information is public. All testimonials on our Book Marketing page are verifiable, and if needed, we can forward email confirmations, as they are also documented.

WB: Can you comment on this Instagram post from author Aiden Thomas, whose book Cemetery Boys appears on your website? https://www.instagram.com/aidenschmaiden/p/DBMUDn-ySb9/?img_index=1

MS: Regarding Aiden Thomas’s Instagram post, our team promptly reached out to him directly. The issue arose due to a misrepresentation by Qslid.com, a partner who initially approached us with what appeared to be a strong portfolio. Based on their claims, we temporarily featured three of their projects. However, once we discovered the fabrications and confronted Qslid, their website went under construction, and they have since become unresponsive to emails. We immediately removed the projects from our platform and extended an apology to Aiden, along with an offer to make amends and restore his trust in Edioak.