Author Solutions Lawsuit: Class Denied, Cases Settled, Aftermath

Aspiring authors sued Author Solutions twice in federal court, alleging the self-publishing services company used deceptive marketing and high-pressure sales to extract money from writers. Neither case reached a class-wide judgment. A federal judge in New York denied class certification on July 1, 2015, and within weeks both the New York and Indiana lawsuits were privately settled and dismissed on confidential terms, with no finding or admission of wrongdoing.¹²

Who Author Solutions Is

Author Solutions is a Bloomington, Indiana-based self-publishing services company that charges writers upfront fees for publishing, editing, and marketing packages. It runs several imprints, including AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford Publishing, and Palibrio, and has operated white-label partnerships with Simon & Schuster (Archway Publishing), Thomas Nelson (WestBow Press), and Hay House (Balboa Press).³

In July 2012, Pearson, then the parent of Penguin, acquired Author Solutions for $116 million.⁴ The purchase drew immediate criticism from writers’ advocates who had already documented years of complaints about aggressive phone sales, overpriced marketing packages, and unpaid royalties.⁵ Those complaints became the factual backbone of the litigation that followed.

The 2013 New York Case

On April 24, 2013, the law firm Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart filed a class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of three authors: Kelvin James, Jodi Foster, and Terry Hardy. The case was docketed as No. 13cv2801 and assigned to Judge Denise Cote. Author Solutions and Penguin Group (USA) were both named as defendants, and the suit sought more than $5 million in damages.⁶⁷

The complaint alleged that Author Solutions misrepresented what its services could do, claiming its books could compete with traditionally published titles through “greater speed, higher royalties, and more control.”⁶ According to the plaintiffs, the company sold grossly overpriced marketing packages that did not deliver what was promised, deliberately published manuscripts with errors so it could charge to fix them, delayed publication without justification, failed to pay royalties, and operated supposedly independent comparison websites that funneled traffic to its own imprints. The suit brought claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of the California Business and Professions Code and the New York General Business Law.⁸

Penguin did not stay in the case long. On April 11, 2014, Judge Cote granted Penguin’s motion to dismiss it from the suit, finding that Pearson had not acquired Author Solutions until after nearly all of the alleged misconduct occurred. Some claims against Author Solutions itself were also narrowed, and the unjust enrichment claim tied to unpaid royalties was dismissed.⁹ The plaintiff group also changed. Kelvin James withdrew in January 2015, a new plaintiff named Simmons was added, and the case caption became Simmons v. Author Solutions, LLC.⁷

The 2015 Indiana Case

On March 23, 2015, the same law firm filed a second class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, this time on behalf of Patricia Wheeler and Helen Heightsman Gordon. Penguin was not named.¹⁰

The Indiana complaint described Author Solutions as a “telemarketing company” that made its money selling services to writers rather than selling books to readers. It alleged fraud, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the Indiana Senior Consumer Sales Act, and it focused on the company’s use of commission-based “consultants” who lacked publishing experience, along with the practice of selling authors their own books.¹⁰

Why the Court Refused to Certify a Class

Class certification was the case’s turning point. On July 1, 2015, after full discovery, Judge Cote denied the plaintiffs’ motion for certification in the New York action.¹¹

The judge found that the plaintiffs had not shown a “centrally-orchestrated scheme” to defraud authors. A key problem was the contracts themselves. The court noted that the service agreements were “nearly silent on the issue of marketing services,” giving Author Solutions the right to market books without spelling out what it had to do. Because the written terms were so open-ended, there was no uniform misrepresentation that every proposed class member had received. The judge also found that many of the marketing claims on the Author Solutions website “straddle the line between representation and puffery,” meaning they were too vague to support a fraud claim.¹¹ Defense attorneys called the suit a “misguided attempt to make a federal class action out of a series of gripes.”¹²

The denial did not extinguish the plaintiffs’ individual claims. Judge Sarah Netburn set a settlement conference for August 2015.¹¹

How Both Cases Ended

The New York case was discontinued on August 12, 2015, after the remaining plaintiffs reached a private settlement with Author Solutions. Judge Cote ordered the case closed without costs to either side.¹³ The Indiana case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice on September 14, 2015, with each side paying its own costs and fees.²

The settlement terms in both matters are confidential. Neither resolution included any judicial finding of fraud or any admission of wrongdoing by Author Solutions.¹ Because no class was ever certified, no other authors received notice, and no class-wide payments were made. If you were a customer during that period, the litigation produced no settlement fund for you to claim from.

What Happened to Author Solutions After the Lawsuits

Ownership shifted quickly once the cases were closed. Penguin and Random House had merged in July 2013, making Author Solutions a division of Penguin Random House. On December 31, 2015, just months after the dismissals, Penguin Random House sold the division to an affiliate of the Najafi Companies, a Phoenix-based private equity firm, on undisclosed terms.¹⁴⁴

CEO Andrew Phillips stayed on and said day-to-day operations would continue as before. Writer Beware observed that the new owners announced no plans to change the practices critics had complained about.¹⁵

In March 2025, the Najafi Companies sold Author Solutions to Center Street Ventures, a private investment firm based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, that focuses on publishing, media, and marketing services.¹⁶ The company continues to operate its self-publishing imprints under the new ownership.¹⁷

1
Writer Beware. Author Solutions Lawsuit Update: Class Certification Denied
2
Publishers Weekly. Case Against Author Solutions Is Dismissed
3
Self Publishing. Author Solutions
4
Wall Street Journal. Penguin Random House Sells Self-Publishing Company
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Writer Beware. Pearson Buys Author Solutions
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Forbes. Penguin, Author Solutions Sued for Deceptive Practices
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CaseMine. Simmons v. Author Solutions, LLC, 13cv2801
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The Independent Publishing Magazine. Class Action Complaint Against Author Solutions and Penguin
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Publishers Weekly. Pretrial Schedule Proposed in Author Solutions Case
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Writer Beware. Second Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Author Solutions Inc.
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Publishers Weekly. Court Denies Class Action in Author Solutions Case
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Courthouse News. Author Solutions Suit by Angry Authors Dismissed
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Writer Beware. Author Solutions Class Action Lawsuit Settled
14
Publishers Weekly. Author Solutions Sold to Private Equity Firm
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Writer Beware. Author Solutions Sold to Private Equity Firm
16
PR Newswire. Supported Self-Publishing Company Author Solutions Acquired by Center Street Ventures
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Publishers Marketplace. Najafi Sells Author Solutions