Xlibris
Encyclopedia
Xlibris is a Bloomington, Indiana
-based self-publishing
and on-demand printing
services provider founded in 1997., The New York Times stated it to be the foremost on-demand publisher. The founder and chief executive is John Feldcamp.
s in several formats. The company was acquired by self publishing leader Author Solutions, Inc.
on Jan. 8, 2009..
(Before that, it had been 49%-owned by Random House
,)
Authors do not relinquish their rights, and the company will keep books in print "forever". It is "nonselective" in accepting manuscripts, describes itself as a publishing services provider rather than a publisher, and considers a book's author its publisher. Beginning in 2000, the company expanded its operations globally, opening full-service offices in Europe and Japan.
, Xlibris was stated to have 20,000 titles in print, by more than 18,000 authors.
The name is a derivation of the Latin term ex libris
which means "from the library of".
Science fiction
author Piers Anthony
was an early supporter of print-on-demand, and invested in Xlibris, as well as publishing books through the company. Anthony differentiates Xlibris from "notorious vanity publishing" because it "enables any writer to publish for a nominal fee", rather than being "taken for huge amounts". The company says that it does not require authors to buy "box loads of books", and unlike vanity presses, will help the author sell books indefinitely.
Roland LaPlante, writing in Harper's Magazine
, noted in 2001 that Xlibris's predicted future output of 100,000 titles a year would equal the number of all books published in the United States in 1999, and worried these "mostly dubious" works would "affect American publishing in every worst way and obliterate what remains of a genuine book culture." The company countered that "everyone has a story to tell" and its output preserved the "richness of humanity."
as "a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense". While Xlibris does charge fees up front for authors, they claim not to be a vanity press on the grounds of that ownership of the book remains with the author and that they do not force the author to buy copies of the book. On the other side of the debate, they do charge up-front fees without guarantee of sales with these fees possibly significantly higher than average.
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
-based self-publishing
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
and on-demand printing
Print on demand
Print on demand , sometimes called, in error, publish on demand, is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book are not printed until an order has been received...
services provider founded in 1997., The New York Times stated it to be the foremost on-demand publisher. The founder and chief executive is John Feldcamp.
Overview
Xlibris is a self publisher that publishes hardback and paperback books. , it also published e-bookE-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
s in several formats. The company was acquired by self publishing leader Author Solutions, Inc.
Author Solutions
Author Solutions, Inc. is the parent company of the self-publishing companies/imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, and Wordclay. These publishers include the largest and second largest print-on-demand book publishers in the United States...
on Jan. 8, 2009..
(Before that, it had been 49%-owned by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
,)
Authors do not relinquish their rights, and the company will keep books in print "forever". It is "nonselective" in accepting manuscripts, describes itself as a publishing services provider rather than a publisher, and considers a book's author its publisher. Beginning in 2000, the company expanded its operations globally, opening full-service offices in Europe and Japan.
, Xlibris was stated to have 20,000 titles in print, by more than 18,000 authors.
The name is a derivation of the Latin term ex libris
Ex Libris
Ex Libris is a Latin phrase, meaning literally, "from the books". It is often used to indicate ownership of a book, as in "from the books of..." or from the library of...Ex Libris may also refer to:...
which means "from the library of".
Commentaries
In a New York Times article, D.T. Max stated that the quality of Xlibris's books was better than its competitors in the self-publishing industry: "It wasn't until I got to Xlibris that I found something to read." Sampling two titles, one of which had won an award in 1996, Max concluded that Xlibris "confirms that books worth reading do not always find a way into print." However, Max criticized the organization of the site, where books were only indexed by an alphabetical listing by title with bare descriptions of the plot and theme. He ultimately phoned a company executive for a recommendation and to place an order.Science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best...
was an early supporter of print-on-demand, and invested in Xlibris, as well as publishing books through the company. Anthony differentiates Xlibris from "notorious vanity publishing" because it "enables any writer to publish for a nominal fee", rather than being "taken for huge amounts". The company says that it does not require authors to buy "box loads of books", and unlike vanity presses, will help the author sell books indefinitely.
Roland LaPlante, writing in Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, noted in 2001 that Xlibris's predicted future output of 100,000 titles a year would equal the number of all books published in the United States in 1999, and worried these "mostly dubious" works would "affect American publishing in every worst way and obliterate what remains of a genuine book culture." The company countered that "everyone has a story to tell" and its output preserved the "richness of humanity."
Status as a vanity press
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines a vanity pressVanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher is a term describing a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense. Publisher Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. However, the term appears in mainstream U.S...
as "a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense". While Xlibris does charge fees up front for authors, they claim not to be a vanity press on the grounds of that ownership of the book remains with the author and that they do not force the author to buy copies of the book. On the other side of the debate, they do charge up-front fees without guarantee of sales with these fees possibly significantly higher than average.