iUniverse Moving to Bloomington, Indiana

Here's some interesting news: iUniverse, a company that works directly with authors to publish their books, has announced that it's moving its operations from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Bloomington, Indiana. Bad news for about 70 Nebraskans, but good news for some Hoosiers. (Read the story in the Lincoln Journal Star here. I would have given you the Bloomington Herald-Times link too, but they won't let you read the story without a subscription. Boo!)

All employees in Nebraska have been given the option to move to Indiana, but how many do you really think will? (After all, the cold, barren wasteland you know is better than the cold, barren wasteland you don't know.)

iUniverse was purchased last September by Author Solutions, which operates Author House in Bloomington. So this is a consolidation move that looks to be creating a pretty big operation.

I'm being careful not to outright call these companines "self-publishers," even though that's what they call themselves. Self-publishing guru Dan Poynter cautioned us all last week on Joe Wikert's blog that companies like these should be called "vanity publishers."

Whatever you call them, they're a good place to get editing, design, and sales experience.