iUniverse, founded in October 1999, is an American
self-publishing company based in
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...
.
[Kevin Abourezk]
"iUniverse to move to Indiana"
incoln Journal Star, January 22, 2008
History
iUniverse focuses on
print-on-demand self-publishing and a service the company refers to as "assisted self-publishing" which critics say is indicative of
vanity press since authors are asked to pay from to $15,000 for additional services.
Soon after they were founded,
Barnes & Noble purchased a 49% stake in the company. As part of the agreement, Barnes & Noble offered select iUniverse titles both in their online bookstore and at their physical stores.
In 2004,
Amy Fisher
Amy Elizabeth Fisher (born August 21, 1974) is an American woman who became known in the media as "the Long Island Lolita" in 1992, when, at the age of 17, she shot and severely wounded Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of Joey Buttafuoco, with whom ...
's memoir, ''If I Knew Then'', about serving seven years in prison on first-degree aggravated assault charges for shooting
Mary Jo Buttafuoco
Mary Jo Buttafuoco (née Connery; born May 15, 1955) is an American author and motivational speaker. In 1992, she was shot in the face by Amy Fisher, a teenager against whom her husband had committed statutory rape.
Shooting
On May 19, 1992, Bu ...
, became the best-selling book in iUniverse's history, selling more than 32,000 copies up to 2004.
According to a 2005 ''Publishers Weekly'' article, out of the more than 18,000 titles published by iUniverse until 2004, only 83 had sold at least 500 copies and only 14 titles had been sold through physical Barnes & Noble stores.
In September 2007, iUniverse was purchased by
Author Solutions, the parent company of
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as ...
-owned rival
AuthorHouse.
In 2008, iUniverse operations moved from
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United ...
to
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...
where Author Solution's headquarters are located.
See also
*
Alternative media
*
List of self-publishing companies
*
Print on demand
*
Small press
References
External links
iUniverse Official site
{{Penguin Random House
Book publishing companies based in Indiana
Publishing companies established in 1999
Companies based in Bloomington, Indiana
Self-publishing companies
1999 establishments in Indiana