iUniverse

iUniverse used to be partially owned by Barnes and Noble, but it has been sold to Author Solutions.

Despite their affiliation with Barnes & Noble, that booksellers does not generally stock books published by iUniverse. They work with a non-exclusive contract, which is good for writers. However, while they allow you to terminate your contract at any time, there is a clause in there that gives them the right to include your work (or part of it) in a compilation. They do not specify what would happen to such a compilation if you terminate your contract. They also reserve the right to keep on distributing your book for up to a year if the contract is terminated at the author's request, something that effectively closes the door to a deal with a traditional publisher.

In addition, royalties are based on net and are very low--a meager 20% of net with a 20% discount to bookstores, or 10% of net with a 40% discount. They do, however, edit your back cover copy for an additional fee on the Premier Package ($799) or as part of the Premier Plus Package ($1099).

According to a New York Times article published on January 28, 2009, Xlibris, along with AuthorHouse, Wordclay, iUniverse, Inkubook, and Trafford are now all owned and operated by a single company, Author Solutions Inc.  This company is capitalized by Bertram Capital Management.  They seem intent on buying up as many POD publishers as they can.  They use "economies of scale" to provide self publishing, which basically means the work is outsourced to the Philippines, India, and other third world nations.

In Summary:

            On the plus side:
-Competitively priced.
-Non-exclusive contract.

-Edits back cover copy

            On the negative side:
-Publishes anything.
-Low royalties (10% - 20% of NET, not list).
-Low author discounts.
-Little flexibility.
 

CC