AuthorHouse is a paid self-publishing service: you pay between $1,499 and $7,589 for a publishing plan, and it handles design, light editing, printing and distribution. It is a real company that produces real books. It also pays a 10% royalty on most retail sales, keeps control of your retail price, and has drawn more than a decade of author complaints through its parent company, Author Solutions.
It suits a small group of authors well. For most, the same finished book costs a fraction of the price elsewhere.
In this AuthorHouse review, you’ll learn:
- What every AuthorHouse plan costs as of October 2026, and what is inside each one
- How the 10% royalty works out in real money per copy
- What the BBB, Trustpilot and the 2013 class action actually say
- Where AuthorHouse genuinely beats us, and who should still use it
Here is the honest assessment.
What AuthorHouse Actually Is
AuthorHouse — a Bloomington, Indiana self-publishing services company that sells bundled design, editing, printing, distribution and marketing packages to authors who pay up front.
AuthorHouse is not a traditional publisher. It does not pay you an advance, and it does not choose your book. You buy a plan, and it produces the book you submit. Its own About page says it has been operating for more than 25 years, has worked with over 70,000 authors, and is now “under new family ownership.”
It is one imprint of Author Solutions, which also runs iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford and others. Wikipedia’s Author Solutions entry traces the ownership: Pearson bought the company for $116 million in 2012, Penguin Random House sold it to the Najafi Companies at the end of 2015, and an Ohio investment firm, Center Street Ventures, announced its purchase in March 2025.
Publishers Weekly reported at the time of the 2015 sale that Author Solutions had worked with more than 200,000 authors and published about 250,000 titles. That scale matters when you read the complaint counts below.
Industry watchdogs classify this model as subsidy or vanity publishing: the author pays, and the company earns most of its money from the author rather than from book sales. Our guide to vanity press warning signs explains how that differs from a hybrid publisher.
How Much Does AuthorHouse Cost?
AuthorHouse costs $1,499 to $7,589 for its standard publishing plans, as listed on its publishing plans page on October 27, 2026. Children’s plans run $1,499 to $3,896. Marketing, publicity and extra editing are sold separately on top.
| Plan | Price | Formats | Notable inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $1,499 | Paperback, ebook | Cover and interior design, light copyediting, book discovery and launch plan |
| Balance | $3,294 | Adds hardcover | Cover copy polish, Library of Congress Control Number, booksellers return program, author website |
| Momentum | $7,589 | Adds DIY audiobook | Proofreading, US copyright registration, custom press release, podcast interview, audience builder kit |
| Kids Magic | $1,499 | Paperback, ebook | Review and editing for books up to 5,000 words |
| Kids Wonder | $3,896 | Adds hardcover | 12 custom illustrations, 5 hardcover copies, 24-month return program |
Every plan also includes an ISBN, a year of the Author Learning Center, a listing in the AuthorHouse bookstore, and complimentary paperback and ebook copies.
The site also lists a long menu of add-on services: publicity campaigns, advertising, book review packages, Hollywood book-to-screen, book exhibits, radio and video services. These are where much of the historical criticism concentrates, because they are optional and their sales results are hard to measure.
How AuthorHouse Royalties Work
AuthorHouse pays 25% of the suggested retail price on print copies sold through its own online bookstore, and 10% of the suggested retail price on print copies sold through its distribution channels. That second figure covers Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which order through Ingram, according to the AuthorHouse royalty FAQ.
Most of your readers will buy on Amazon, so 10% is the number to plan around. Here is what it means in practice:
- A paperback with a $16.99 retail price earns you about $1.70 per copy sold on Amazon.
- At that rate, you need to sell roughly 880 copies to earn back the $1,499 Essentials plan.
- For the $7,589 Momentum plan, the break-even is about 4,460 copies.
Three more terms are worth reading before you sign. AuthorHouse sets the retail price based on page count, and its pricing FAQ says it reserves “the exclusive right to modify the retail price.” If you do not approve a change, formats can be removed from distribution.
Royalties are paid quarterly, within 90 days of the quarter’s end, by electronic transfer to a US bank account. AuthorHouse may hold payments until you have earned at least $75. The royalty FAQ we reviewed does not state a rate for ebooks.
For comparison, Amazon KDP pays 35% or 70% on ebooks you upload yourself, and you set your own price. Our book royalties explainer and KDP royalty calculator walk through the print math.
What AuthorHouse Does Well
AuthorHouse does deliver a finished, distributed book with very little technical work on your part. For some authors, that is the whole point.
It removes every technical hurdle. You never touch a formatting program, a cover template or a KDP dashboard. A publishing consultant guides you by phone, and the company handles the ISBN, the files, and the listings.
It produces hardcovers and gets them into the wholesale catalog. The Balance plan adds a hardcover edition, a Library of Congress Control Number, and a booksellers return program. Returnability is something bookstores look for, and it is fiddly to set up on your own.
Its staff get consistent praise. On Trustpilot, where AuthorHouse holds a 3.6 TrustScore from 1,019 reviews, 44% of reviews are five stars. The positive reviews repeatedly mention polite, responsive staff, good print quality, and flexible payment plans. Several reviewers have published more than one book with the company.
It handles illustrated children’s books. The Kids Wonder plan includes 12 custom illustrations. Hiring an illustrator separately is often the single biggest expense in a picture book, so a bundled option is genuinely convenient.
What AuthorHouse Does Not Do Well
The weaknesses are structural. They come from the business model, not from individual staff members.
The price is high for what you get. The Essentials plan costs $1,499 for design, light copyediting and distribution. You can publish to Amazon and Ingram yourself for free, and our cost to self-publish a book breakdown shows how far a few hundred dollars of freelance help goes.
The royalty is low. Ten percent of retail on Amazon sales is a fraction of what you keep when you publish directly. You also give up control of your own price, which removes one of the main levers self-published authors use to sell.
The upsell record is long. The 2013 class action (covered below) alleged “relentless up-selling,” and the same theme appears in recent Trustpilot reviews about marketing packages that did not produce sales. AuthorHouse’s 2026 About page now promises “guidance, not pressure,” which suggests the company knows its reputation.
Post-publication service draws complaints. Negative Trustpilot reviews cite slow communication after launch, editing and layout errors in printed books, sales reports that did not match purchases authors knew about, and difficult refunds.
Independent author groups warn against it. According to Wikipedia’s summary, Author Solutions appears on the SFWA “Thumbs Down Publisher” list, and the Alliance of Independent Authors has issued multiple watchdog advisories about it.
AuthorHouse Reviews: BBB, Trustpilot and Complaints
AuthorHouse does not have its own Better Business Bureau profile. It is listed as an alternate business name on the BBB profile for Author Solutions, LLC, which shares the profile with iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford and other imprints.
As of October 27, 2026, that profile shows:
- BBB rating: A+
- Accredited since: May 14, 2010
- Complaints in the last 3 years: 70
- Customer reviews: 25
The A+ rating needs context. A BBB letter grade mostly reflects whether a business responds to and resolves complaints, not how many it receives or how satisfied customers are. Writer Beware’s Victoria Strauss noted years ago that the A+ grade sat alongside hundreds of complaints and mostly negative reviews.
Seventy complaints in three years is also small against a company that has served hundreds of thousands of authors. Read the complaints themselves rather than the count. They cluster around the same issues Trustpilot reviewers raise: marketing packages, royalty reporting, and refunds.
On Trustpilot, the spread is wide: 44% five-star and 19% one-star. AuthorHouse replies to 92% of negative reviews, usually directing authors to a support email. That responsiveness is real, but a reply is not the same as a resolution.
The Author Solutions Class Action
In April 2013, a New York law firm filed a proposed class action against Author Solutions and its then-owner, Penguin Group, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit sought more than $5 million in damages, according to Writer Beware.
The complaint alleged poor-quality products and service, heavy up-selling of expensive marketing packages, inaccurate royalty and sales reporting, and charges for fixing errors the company itself had introduced. These were allegations. They were never proven in court.
The case did not go to trial. Wikipedia reports that the court denied class certification in July 2015 and that the suit was discontinued in August 2015 after the parties reached a settlement. Publishers Weekly described it as dismissed in late 2015. Settlement terms were not made public in the sources we reviewed.
The lawsuit is now more than a decade old, and AuthorHouse has changed owners twice since. It is still the most detailed public record of the complaints authors raise, and many of the same themes appear in current reviews.
Is AuthorHouse a Scam?
AuthorHouse is not a scam in the sense of taking money and delivering nothing. Authors receive printed books listed on Amazon and other retailers. The fair criticism is that its packages cost far more than the services are worth on the open market, its royalties are low, and its optional marketing add-ons rarely pay for themselves.
AuthorHouse itself now publishes a fraud alert page warning that scammers impersonate publishing companies, literary agents and Hollywood producers. If someone calls claiming to represent AuthorHouse or a film studio interested in your book, verify through the official site before paying anything.
Where AuthorHouse Beats Chapter
We make Chapter, so here is where AuthorHouse genuinely does something we do not.
AuthorHouse publishes your book. Chapter does not. Chapter helps you write a complete manuscript. It does not print copies, assign ISBNs, distribute to Amazon or Ingram, or design a cover. If your book is already written and you want someone else to handle everything after that, AuthorHouse covers a step we leave to you.
AuthorHouse offers human editors and phone support. Every plan includes copyediting by a person, and you can call a consultant. Chapter is software. If you want a human team guiding you through publication, that is a real difference.
AuthorHouse handles hardcovers, library cataloging and returns. The Library of Congress number, hardcover edition and returnable status in the Balance plan are publishing logistics Chapter does not touch.
AuthorHouse illustrates children’s books. Chapter writes text. It does not produce illustrations for a picture book.
Who Should Use AuthorHouse
AuthorHouse makes sense for a narrow group of authors:
- You have a finished manuscript and no interest in learning any publishing tools
- You want a handful of polished hardcovers for family, a memoir legacy, or a private audience, and sales do not matter
- You value phone-based, human guidance more than the extra $1,000 or more it costs
- You have read the full contract and are comfortable with AuthorHouse setting your retail price
If you are writing a family history, our guide on how to write a memoir covers the writing side before you choose a publisher.
Who Should Not Use AuthorHouse
Walk away from AuthorHouse if any of these describe you:
- You want to earn money from sales. A 10% royalty on Amazon makes profit very hard to reach.
- You want control over pricing. Running a 99-cent promotion or adjusting price to the market is a core self-publishing strategy, and AuthorHouse controls it.
- You are on a tight budget. Publishing directly through Amazon KDP and IngramSpark is free, and an ISBN costs far less than a package.
- You expect marketing add-ons to sell your book. Our guide on how to market a self-published book covers what actually moves copies.
- You have not written the book yet. A publishing plan does nothing until the manuscript exists.
AuthorHouse Alternatives
If you want help but not AuthorHouse’s price, these are fairer options:
| Option | Up-front cost | What you get | Royalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon KDP | Free | Ebook and print on Amazon | 35% or 70% on ebooks |
| IngramSpark | Free setup | Print and wide bookstore distribution | You set the wholesale discount |
| Draft2Digital | Free | Wide ebook and print distribution | Commission on sales |
| BookBaby | Paid packages | Full-service bundles at lower tiers | See our BookBaby review |
| Freelancers | A few hundred dollars and up | Cover, editing, formatting a la carte | You keep the direct royalty |
The pattern is simple. Publish under your own account, hire the individual services you need, and keep the royalty and the pricing control.
The Alternative We Built
AuthorHouse solves the problem after the book is written. Most authors who search for AuthorHouse are stuck on the problem before that: getting the book written at all.
Our Pick — Chapter
Chapter is AI book writing software that takes you from an idea to a complete, structured manuscript in your voice. More than 10,000 authors have used it, and it has been featured in USA Today and the New York Times. You own 100% of the rights, then publish wherever you choose, including free on Amazon KDP.
Best for: Authors who have not finished their manuscript yet Pricing: $97 one time, 2 books included (fiction or nonfiction), 30-day money-back guarantee Why we built it: A publishing package is worthless without a finished book, and writing the book is where most authors stall.
Chapter has honest limits too. There is no free tier or trial, it does not print or distribute your book, and you still review and edit what it drafts. Our Chapter review covers what it does and does not do.
The cost difference is the headline. One Chapter purchase plus free self-publishing on KDP costs $97. The cheapest AuthorHouse plan costs $1,499, and it pays you 10% of each Amazon sale rather than the full author royalty.
If your manuscript is still unwritten, Chapter for nonfiction and Chapter for fiction will help you write the complete book for $97 one time, with no subscription and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
FAQ
Is AuthorHouse legitimate?
AuthorHouse is a legitimate company that has operated for more than 25 years and delivers printed, distributed books. It is classed by author advocates as a vanity or subsidy publisher, because authors pay up front, and it has a long record of complaints about upselling and royalties.
How much does AuthorHouse charge?
AuthorHouse charges $1,499 to $7,589 for its standard publishing plans as of October 2026, and $1,499 to $3,896 for children’s plans. Marketing, publicity and extra editing services cost extra. Check the official plans page before buying, because prices and promotions change.
What royalties does AuthorHouse pay?
AuthorHouse pays 25% of the suggested retail price on print books sold through its own bookstore and 10% of the suggested retail price on print books sold through distribution channels like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Royalties are paid quarterly to a US bank account.
What is the AuthorHouse BBB rating?
AuthorHouse is listed under Author Solutions, LLC on the Better Business Bureau, which holds an A+ rating and has been accredited since 2010. As of October 2026 the profile shows 70 complaints in the last three years. BBB grades mainly reflect complaint responsiveness, not customer satisfaction.
Who owns AuthorHouse?
AuthorHouse is owned by Author Solutions, which also runs iUniverse, Xlibris and Trafford. Penguin Random House sold Author Solutions to the Najafi Companies at the end of 2015, and Center Street Ventures announced its purchase of the company in March 2025.
