Austin Macauley Publishers UK - London

Jeremiah Murphy

I was so excited to get my book published. They accepted it years ago, and at first the process was fine. They edited the cover and the blurb as I requested, but then came the editing.

I used to be a professional editor, and I was an editorial manager. If any of the editors who worked on my book turned in the efforts that these editors turned in, I would have fired them, no warning. Their editors are not qualified. I had to quit editing because my ADHD has been getting worse, but I've had to edit my own manuscript, a process that has taken 18 months, and it's still not over.

Eight editors plus some proofreaders have been over this manuscript, and I've found hundreds of errors that they missed or have added. I've been over my manuscript over a dozen times, and I'm still picking out errors. I will not publish until it's clean, if I have to wait another two years.

The head of Production has not apologized or offered anything other than another ineffectual proofread. The person higher up has answered my emails without acknowledging my issues. I don't think anybody cares.

The worst part is, there's no customer service line when you call them. You're just directed to individual departments. When I've feeling blown off by Production, I don't want to leave a message for them. I want to talk to their boss. If anyone from AM is reading this, can you please send me to someone to talk to? Can you acknowledge and maybe fix my problems?

UPDATE: Compliance sent me a form email saying they'd be in touch, but it's been 3 days, and there has been no contact from them, even when I reached out to them directly.

Susan Wall

Avoid like the plague. Once they have your payment they do little more. Production and proof reading is abysmal. My book is about my English father who served thirty-three in the British Army and my mum was German. Their first attempt at a book cover was with a German soldier. Obviously, their designer didn't bother to fully read the book synopsis. Pathetic. In the end I gave ideas for the cover. Marketing and promotion does not exist - all they do are a few social media posts and generic emails to their contacts. I bitterly regret ever getting involved with them. Publish through Amazon direct, manage your own marketing and you will sell more and save a fortune. Thankfully, I am now no longer attached to the inept AM as my book with them has been delisted. Hurrah.

Shubho Ghosal

When AMP accepted my manuscript. I was excited. Since then, I've had to put in a lot of effort into ensuring their product meets any given standard and any vision. Basic instructions are not followed. Basic editing is not done. I have to keep staying up at night to try to keep the editing and cover illustration on track. I even had to resort to AI generated art to provide basic instructions as my guidance was not followed. I keep trying to get what I need from this team but it has been tiring to say the least. I'll see how it goes from here and will change this review if things improve. Right now, I feel pretty frustrated.

On a positive note, the team I was working on before this had been accommodating about my making some changes to the manuscript after submission. I'm glad they did as it is a much better product now.

Maybe all will be well at the end.

Adam Wilson

I sent Austin Macauley my manuscript earlier this year; with my book due to be released in September. They have been easy to work with, and the communication has been clear with quick responses throughout. The contract offer they made to me was transparent, and they were happy to answer any questions I had. Whilst I have paid them a fee, this is due to higher royalties being offered than a ‘traditional contract’ that some publishers offer, which is only 10%. Austin Macauley offer 25% royalties. They are not the cheapest, but many publishers I contacted were asking for a lot more; and there were no hidden costs. The only reason I have not gave them a five star rating is because all communication is done via email. On the one occasion I had a lengthy response to an email, I phoned their office and was not able to speak on the phone to whom I’d been speaking with as they work remotely. On the whole I have found them a pleasure to work with and would recommend them.

Rachel

Most likely a scam. If you’re an author, run. Self publishing will be 100x better than publishing with Austin Macauley. They are terrible at communicating, they promised marketing, I provided contacts they did not even attempt to reach out to any of them (I know this because I know the contacts I provided). I have ended my contract and already have more traction in my pre launch as self publishing. This company does the e bare bare minimum. They make their money off hybrid authors, not book sales. They don’t care if your book sells.

nz ramji

It has been hard work with AM. It had been hard work throughout the process tbh - continually chasing them - the delays were worse and they even kept getting my cover designs wrong. I have invested a lot of money with AM. Poor marketing, hence very poor returns on royalties and no response from them when logging complaints. Not sure what more I can do if they will not respond to complaints which is not very good except to vent my anger here. I was promised a response and some marketing kits will be arranged but so far nothing at all and nothing of substance. AM have had my money and now there seems very little appetite or interest in working with me as an author. With my experience it is hard to recommend AM - I shall look for another publisher or self-publish my third book. I bet AM will come back with some excuse or explanation in response. Apology is no good to me - I need demonstration of what Susanna Valeriani, Alexander Holiday and Jade Robertson had said to me in a signed letter dated 5th February 2020! "We take pride in what we do.......our continuing success is best illustrated as we grow as a business" I dont believe I have had good deal and not sure if they have fulfilled the contractual bargain I hired them to perform. Lets see how they deal with this review.
A very unhappy author.
Nash Ramji.

Steven Wise

Over 3 years of no royalties, there is no paper trail, they said the book did not sell yet it was on sale on Amazon and 42 countries world wide including all top outlets and a local bookstore sold over 100 copies, not one penny royalty paid, I self punished my 2nd book and have made £500 profit already in months they are scammers keep well away

Emily Komiyama

While it was nice seeing my book on Google results, Austin Macauley is an absolute scam. They ask for a ridiculous fee (which should not exist in on itself!), promising in return promotion, book launches, all that jazz. I essentially ended up self promoting my book myself because AM did literally nothing but list my book on online book retailers (not in-store). Now I've just received a letter saying they're discontinuing the print of my book and I'm released of all contractual obligations and my book now only exists in a box under my bed, while they've profited from the ridiculous amount of money they request in the beginning.

Happy to be free of them. Please avoid this at all costs. I made more money self publishing another book than I did going through AM. They are absolute con artists.