AuthorHouse

AuthorHouse, formerly known as 1stBooks, is a self publishing company, based in the United States. [cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=OLPB&s_site=theolympian&f_site=theolympian&f_sitename=Olympian%2C+The+%28WA%29&p_multi=OLPB&p_theme=gannett&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11021E7F2C7F0D60&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Prepare to laugh at essay collection|accessdate=2008-04-28|publisher=The Olympian, Seattle’s Daily Newspaper] AuthorHouse provides self publishing and utilizes print on demand services.cite news | last = Glazer | first = Sarah | date = April 24, 2005 | title = How to Be Your Own Publisher | work = The New York Times Book Review | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/books/review/24GLAZERL.html?_r=3&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin ] Authorhouse has published books by nearly 40,000 writers, including
Amanda Brown's best-selling "Legally Blonde", made into a hit Hollywood film.

History

1stBooks was founded in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, in January 1997 by an aspiring author who had received more than 100 rejection letters from publishers; its first e-book appeared in June of that year. In January 1999, it started using print on demand technology to produce paper books. By December 2001 it had published 350,000 books and by January 2004, 2 million books from 18,500 authors — an average of 110 copies per author — had been printed. In March 2004 the company changed its name to AuthorHouse. It opened an office in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom in May 2004. By December 2004 it had published more than 3 million books. In December of 2005, AuthorHouse was nominated by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce for the Small Business of the Year Award.cite web | date = July 2, 2006 | title = Indiana Chamber Names Small Business of The Year | work = Inside INdiana Business | url = http://www.indianabusiness.com/excellence/news.html | accessdate = 2008-04-25 ] In October 2006, AuthorHouse won the Silver Award in Business excellence from BKD.cite web | date = October 14, 2005 | title = 2005 BKD Indiana Excellence Awards Presented (Press Release) | work = BKD | url = http://www.bkd.com/docs/news/NzRel_IndyExclAwd2005-10-14.pdf | accessdate = 2008-04-25 ]

The Californian company Bertram Capital purchased AuthorHouse in 2007 from the previous owners, Gazelle TechVentures, who had owned AuthorHouse since 2002. Later that year, Betram established Author Solutions and acquired one of AuthorHouse's competitorscite news | last = Milliot | first = Jim | date = September 9, 2007 | title = AuthorHouse acquires iUniverse | url = http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6476444.html | work = Publishers Weekly ] - iUniverse - before relocating iUniverse's operations to Indiana in early 2008.

Operation

AuthorHouse's authors include Senator Richard Lugar,cite news | date = October 20, 2004 | title = Sen. Richard Lugar's Advice to the Next President; New Edition of Acclaimed Book Addresses Foreign Policy Issues (Press Release) | work = PR Newswire ] comedian Rita Rudner, [ [http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~6682.aspx "Naked Beneath My Clothes"] ] Canadian humorist Gordon Kirkland,cite news | date = January 25, 2007 | title = Gordon Kirkland to Release His Fifth Collection of Short Humor (Press Release) | work = PR.com | url = http://www.pr.com/press-release/28059 ] evolutionary psychologist Kevin B. MacDonald, [ [http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~8622.aspx "The Culture of Critique"] ] and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. [ [http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~28369.aspx "The Ballard Rules"] ]

Authorhouse has published books by nearly 40,000 writers worldwide, including "Legally Blonde" by Amanda Brown, which became a best-selling novel and a Hollywood box-office success, starring Reese Witherspoon.cite news | last = Russell | first = John | date = January 20, 2007 | title = California company buys self-publishing operation | work = Indianapolis Star ] AuthorHouse also published Thomas Hargrove's "Long March to Freedom", which helped inspire the movie "Proof of Life", starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. In 2007, AuthorHouse published Carol Whang Schutter's "September Dawn", based on the feature film of the same title.

Notes and references