iUniverse to Broaden Services

Calvin Reid |

Oct 30, 2000

News
iUniverse to Broaden Services Calvin Reid -- 10/30/00 *CEO says company's financial health is strong despite published reports* Despite published reports that print-on-demand and subsidy publisher iUniverse has laid off personnel and abandoned its focus on author self-publishing services, iUniverse CEO Richard Tam said the company's financial health is strong and that iUniverse is simply looking to diversify the services it offers. Tam acknowledged that the firm hopes to exploit the B2B market, but he denied that iUniverse.com had been forced by its investors to shift its focus to providing back-office digital publishing services to publishers. Tam also told PW there was "no truth" to rumors that iUniverse.com (which is partly owned by Barnes & Noble) is in talks to be merged with Xlibris, a competing POD and subsidy publisher. John Feldcamp, Xlibris CEO, told PW there was "nothing under discussion." And while Tam said that the company had received a big investment--"we have substantial financial resources"--he declined to discuss a published report that iUniverse.com had recently received a $50-million investment from the New York investment bank Warburg Pincus. "These reports are not valid, " he said. "It's contradictory--why would anyone invest in us if we're not successful?" He said that iUniverse would be making an announcement about its financial backing and "new initiatives" aimed at publishers and authors in the next few weeks. He also said that the company had laid off six people in the New York City office. He termed it a "consolidation" for "efficiency." Tam told PW, "We've also added 25 to 30 employees in the last month. The company has more than 300 employees at six offices around the world." However, Tam told PW that "business models change, we're in an evolving landscape," and said the company had redesigned its Web site and was looking to do more to provide back-office digital services to publishers. The company has a growing business supplying data conversion, multiformat e-book distribution services, DRM, format-neutral storage and other back-office digital publishing services. He said, "You can't drive a new paradigm by doing the same thing all the time. We're going to serve both publishers and our authors, but more efficiently." In fact, he emphasized to PW, "Our author business is going extremely well. Our business model can not work if we don't sell their books." Tam also acknowledged the complaints of iUniverse.com authors regarding the company's inability to deliver the books it has promised. But he claims that the firm's efforts to correct the problem are paying off. "We have more print capacity, and our delivery times have improved," he said. "We're still a startup," Tam explained. "When you grow at this pace, it's always a challenge. We're not perfect. We're pushing the envelope. When you grow this fast you can't always do things as good as a static company."

News

iUniverse to Broaden Services
Calvin Reid -- 10/30/00
CEO says company's financial health is strong despite published reports

Despite published reports that print-on-demand and subsidy publisher iUniverse has laid off personnel and abandoned its focus on author self-publishing services, iUniverse CEO Richard Tam said the company's financial health is strong and that iUniverse is simply looking to diversify the services it offers.

Tam acknowledged that the firm hopes to exploit the B2B market, but he denied that iUniverse.com had been forced by its investors to shift its focus to providing back-office digital publishing services to publishers. Tam also told PW there was "no truth" to rumors that iUniverse.com (which is partly owned by Barnes & Noble) is in talks to be merged with Xlibris, a competing POD and subsidy publisher. John Feldcamp, Xlibris CEO, told PW there was "nothing under discussion."

And while Tam said that the company had received a big investment--"we have substantial financial resources"--he declined to discuss a published report that iUniverse.com had recently received a $50-million investment from the New York investment bank Warburg Pincus.

"These reports are not valid, " he said. "It's contradictory--why would anyone invest in us if we're not successful?" He said that iUniverse would be making an announcement about its financial backing and "new initiatives" aimed at publishers and authors in the next few weeks. He also said that the company had laid off six people in the New York City office. He termed it a "consolidation" for "efficiency." Tam told PW, "We've also added 25 to 30 employees in the last month. The company has more than 300 employees at six offices around the world."

However, Tam told PW that "business models change, we're in an evolving landscape," and said the company had redesigned its Web site and was looking to do more to provide back-office digital services to publishers. The company has a growing business supplying data conversion, multiformat e-book distribution services, DRM, format-neutral storage and other back-office digital publishing services. He said, "You can't drive a new paradigm by doing the same thing all the time. We're going to serve both publishers and our authors, but more efficiently." In fact, he emphasized to PW, "Our author business is going extremely well. Our business model can not work if we don't sell their books."

Tam also acknowledged the complaints of iUniverse.com authors regarding the company's inability to deliver the books it has promised. But he claims that the firm's efforts to correct the problem are paying off. "We have more print capacity, and our delivery times have improved," he said.

"We're still a startup," Tam explained. "When you grow at this pace, it's always a challenge. We're not perfect. We're pushing the envelope. When you grow this fast you can't always do things as good as a static company."

A version of this article appeared in the 10/30/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: