Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd. Reviews 643

I paid 2,300 for a A5 sized book of 96 pages. Although it was for a niche market, and I did not expect massive sales, I had a marketing plan to implement and was encouraged by their comments: "We encourage our authors to be as involved with the marketing process as they feel comfortable, as it is in our experience that the highest levels of success are reached when author and publisher form a collaborative partnership.' Up to the time I paid the money, they were very professional and responsive. Once I had paid, however, the response became minimal and I was unable to collaborate with them on the marketing side. Inevitably, the books sales were poor and AM pulled out from the cooperation after two years. I tried to contact them once again about my marketing ideas but they blocked me. This is my experience. I would add that they are not mentioned in the 2025 edition of "Writers and Artists Yearbook' which lists all reputable publishers and agents in the UK + Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia.

After taking 5300 pounds Austin Macauley butchered the text of my book and delivered a 14 second YouTube video, 7 seconds of which promoted themselves. Their marketing department didn’t lift a finger to help me promote the book and their production department stopped me making improvements 8 months before publication. Run from AMP. Most of their good reviews are from those clients they haven’t screwed yet. Glorified printers and insulting hooligans who left a “ work of fiction” description in the copyright notes ( I removed it myself) of my book which was a reference book based on 300 peer reviewed scholarly articles .
They have a policy of not telling you if the book sales are poor so that you find out 9 months later.
All their “ distribution “ department does is put you on sellers lists of 30 million titles and wait until you fail, giving a deeply referenced book no more weight than a romance short story written in a weekend.
I found them to be deeply dishonest, constantly lying.

I received an email unexpectedly from Austin Macauley a year after I’d sent my manuscript to them - they showed interest in publishing my book and wanted me to sign a contract and pay a high fee for it to be published.
I was unsure about paying but they said I would have book signings and radio interviews as part of the package.
Once I’d signed the contract, the process in getting my book published was very slow - taking about a year! This seemed unnecessary.
They would always remind me in their emails that the book wouldn’t be published until I’d paid the full amount which I did in instalments over a period of time. This could explain why it took so long!
When the book was published I asked about the supposed radio interviews and book signings I was meant to have but they never happened! In fact once they got my money they went all quiet after that.
A very disappointing experience with Austin Macauley and I wouldn’t recommend them - they’re just after your money!!

We are currently having immense difficulties with this publisher. Two years ago they took a publishing fee off my then 78 year old mother and now two years on and 4 shockingly unacceptable proofs later we are still awaiting the finished article.

On 2 occasions in the last three months I have been promised something within a week and yet we still wait.
Since paying her publishing fee my mother has now been given a terminal diagnosis for stage 4 cancer and her only wish is to see this book in print before she inevitably passes and whilst we have had assurances from this company that this will happen we have now written this off as extremely unlikely.

If someone from Austin McAuley genuinely read this feedback and wants to help facilitate the publication of my mums book then I will happily amend this review, however, something tells me this is not going to happen.

AUTHORS—DO NOT USE AUSTIN MACAULEY!

Despite what they promise in writing:

• They do not edit, they merely proof—poorly (my “proofreader” didn’t know the difference in usage between a comma and a semicolon, for example). Instead of polishing they introduced mistakes into my text which I had to correct repeatedly.
• The hardcover books do not have dust jackets. The pages are glued into the spine making the books hard to open, and when opened, the spine breaks.
• They offer almost none of the marketing services that they promised me in writing. They promised “book signings” but offered me only one in two years. They refused to contact or promote my book at my local bookstores, which I requested, that cater to the clientele who would be interested in my book.
• And they play fast and loose with royalties. It is increasingly doubtful that I have been paid royalties on all the books sold through Amazon. And they offer spurious, arbitrary excuses to deny the contractually proffered 25% on export books.

Austin Macauley touts itself as a “hybrid” publisher. Don’t be fooled—it is barely more than a vanity press.

Please, please do yourself a favour and self publish for free on Amazon Publishing then use the money AMPL request in advance to promote and market yourself.

Once AMPL have your large upfront payment they do very little. Proof reading is abysmal. Cover designers don't bother to read the synopsis of the book. Marketing and promotion consists of a couple of social media posts and a generic email to their contacts. That's it. I am so utterly disappointed with them. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I so wish I hadn't bothered. No doubt this post will get another long diatribe of excuses. They should be utterly ashamed.

Austin Macauley accepted my manuscript but only offered a partnership contract which would’ve cost thousands of pounds. They refused to offer a standard contract, which they actually do offer, despite being incredibly complimentary with their acceptance letter. The acquisition manager in particular tried to gaslight me by claiming the decision was not a reflection on the quality of my writing. This publisher only seems interested in getting your money.

This is my experience with Austin Macauley. I was offered a publishing deal for my first book just when I was starting to learn about publishing. In hindsight, after learning the ropes a better, I regret signing with them. Here is a short list of my experience with Austin Macauley.

- Proofreading is not thorough. The whole manuscript is not read by a person, rather it seems it’s run through a software proofreading tool. They wouldn’t answer my question directly if it was read by a person. The external references were not checked. Obvious grammar errors were not picked up. In all, over 1800 errors were noted, all relating to spelling and grammatical errors. I have since terminated the contract with AM to re-release the book myself. I hired a proper editing service and they noted over 6300 errors, which not only picked up grammatical errors but suggested sentence and structural improvements. You don’t get that level of instruction from AM.
- In the copyright page they mentioned the wrong genre of my book – I specified the genre in my application.
- They cover themselves for oversights by placing the responsibility on you to ensure there are no errors.
- When questioning the way they do certain things, they do not respond. Had to send follow-up emails to chase. Takes them days and in one instance, weeks to respond.
- You have no control of timing and release of your book; you are at the whim of AM timing. You have to wait for them to finish.
- The cover design was incredibly basic and unappealing. Not to the standard of an eye-catching design which I had learned for myself. A novice in design software can create a cover design much better than they provided. And when I look at the other covers they’ve designed, I’m not an isolated incident.
- The book trailer they offer if stock standard, applied to all authors. They change the background and music to make it seem fresh. If you’re a novice in multimedia software, you could do a better job yourself.
- No transparency. You don’t have contact with the creatives working on your book, or liaise with them in any way. You deal with an intermediary, which in my experience has changed three times in the book process.
- A very stock-standard approach is applied. Placing the author in an assembly line of production with other books. I was even told at one point that several books are worked on at any one time, so they don’t give individual attention to your book.

At the start they imply that they invest financially in the publishing of your book, I found this to be false. After one week of AM officially releasing my book, I asked for a termination of contractual arrangements. Thankfully they consented (I would say this is the best service they provided me). The fact that they consented without any fuss, suggests that they did not have any financial investment on my book, otherwise they would have not let me go, so they could re-coup funds. It’s goes to show they over charge.

For anyone considering signing up with AM:

From my experience with self-publishing and discovering the costs involved. I would estimate the AM services to be worth a few hundred pounds. Certainly not the amounts they’re actually charging. So, it's not worth it to sign their contracts.
I would suggest self-publish your book via book aggregates, it’s free and they have great instructions to follow, this way you can give your book the attention it needs and release the book on your terms. In regards to Austin Macauley, I would not waste over a year of your time dealing with them or throwing your money away. There are better and cheaper avenues to release your book.

Austin Macauley replied to my review almost a year after I'd posted it on Trust Pilot. This is about as efficient as when they were dealing with my book. In fact I'm surprised they even replied at all to it and certainly didn't address the majority of my complains, which is exactly how they behaved when they were dealing with my book - ignore you and don't answer questions, then provide excuses for their ineptitude. Their insistence that I need permission from the subject matter to publish photos I hold copyright to is laughable. They even ignored the legal advice of a lawyer who confirmed I had the right to publish the photos. Austin Macauley's lack of understanding on copyright is unfathomable. The people they employ have no understanding of how to edit, layout a book or communicate with authors, do not allow you to call them and have no complaints department. They make the whole process as difficult as possible for the author but are happy to take your money. I even wrote to the 'Director' of the company at his home address and his family pretended he didn't live there. Avoid like the plague!!!

I have just been informed that my contract has been terminated with this company. I wanted my $2500.0 money back for them publishing a book i wrote. They are not qualified in any way to publish anything. They do not market your book, they do not distribute your book, they do not understand English and I had to edit it 3 times myself before it was passable. They spent 2 years twiddling their thumbs doing nothing. I did the illustrations myself and could have digitised them on adobe photoshop in a week. The end result was a book
that was pathetic, that i wouldn't give to my worst enemy. There is no upside to this company. They have not paid me any royalties either. Please steer clear of these hybrid publishers, all they do is put up an image of your book on Amazon. They only print one book at a time and the price is extortionate. This practice puts the customer off, as they then have to wait 3 weeks or more get a book. They would rather pop into kmart for a $5 book. It is a Sc-m pure and simple and i was duped. Please dont risk it. Thank you

AMP publishers are great because they do everything they can to make sure you get an amazing book. Sometimes you only go to AMP because you are novice and the path can be difficult...
The process is long but you will get a very good quality book. If you are already a very good author, you must have your eyes wide open. My book was: The Secret Of Axabur, S-F Novel...

I have found Austin Macauley Publishers to be extraordinary in their support of their authors, from providing accomplished project coordinators, exceptional illustrators and a vast and far reaching marketing department. My partnership with them has exceeded my expectations!

I'm completely satisfied with my experience with Austin Macauley. I like everything from beginning to end!
Thank you very much and good luck!

THE AUSTIN MACAULEY PUBLISHING TEAM ARE EXPERT AND FRIENDLY AT THE SAME TIME. THEY TAKE NOTE OF MY INPUT AND CONCERNS - AND THEY ALWAYS RESPOND PROMPTLY. IN PREFACE TO MY FORTHCOMING BOOK - ENTITLED TIME-SPACE - I THANK THEM VERY WARMLY FOR HAVING 'GRASPED THE NETTLE' BY ACCEPTING MY TYPESCRIPT. PJC

I thought it was great to work with Austin Macauley, because they have a high work ethic, timeliness, expertise, and quality.

Communication initially by phone and then email has been supportive, prompt and helpful. Clear guidance has helped me, a new author through the process. I feel that whenever I was uncertain, help was available.

My over all experience was attentive and helpful.
It did take longer than expected but that was due to my own process.
Bradley Palm

Scammers!!! Please do not use this publisher. They just take your money and do nothing with it!!! Unbelievable. They will get very bad karma.

They are experts in giving hope for new unpublished authors. Unlike the quality which they offer, starting from editing, to designs to the high promises in marketing, and the most important, they don't care about their clients. They only care to be paid.
I would never recommend this publishing house.