Xlibris review: what it costs, what the contract says, what authors report

Xlibris sells five packages on its plans chart, from $999 to $10,999, plus two on their own pages (checked 19 October 2026; archived copy).

Prices exclude tax. Editing outside Crest, Expert and Signature is priced per word, with a 5,000-word minimum, checked 19 October 2026:

• Copyediting: $0.025 per word, or $2,000 for an 80,000-word book (our arithmetic). It "can only be purchased based on the result of your Editorial Assessment".
• Line editing: $0.034 per word, or $2,720.
• Content editing: $0.041 per word, or $3,280.
• Developmental editing: $0.073 per word, or $5,840.
• Editorial assessment: $299 for "typically the first chapter or about 1,700 words", credited back if you buy editing.

So Spark plus a copyedit of 80,000 words comes to about $2,999 before tax. Two add-ons change the money side: Set Your Own Price ($499) and the Author Advantage Royalty Program ($1,699). For other routes, see what it costs to publish a book.

Xlibris publishes its standard contract, a nine-page Services and Distribution Agreement linked from its FAQ (checked 19 October 2026). Archway Publishing and AuthorHouse use the same document, word for word apart from the name. Clause 1 keeps copyright in your manuscript with you, which matches the FAQ's "You retain ownership of the rights to your book." While the agreement runs, you grant Xlibris "The exclusive, transferable, worldwide license to ... print, publish, market, sublicense, distribute, and sell ... the Work".

The ISBN and the design stay with Xlibris. Clause 1 lists "imprint logos, imprint names, trademarks, barcodes, and ISBN's" as its property, and the book and cover design as its "Work Product".

Print royalties (clause 4) are "Ten percent (10%) of the Suggested Retail Price for each sale of the individual Work in print format through one of Our Contractors". Xlibris's FAQ describes the same 10% as based on "the payments we actually receive", which is a smaller figure; ask which applies. Sales on the Xlibris bookstore pay 25% of the list price. E-books pay 50% of the list price less discounts and taxes, and subscription or lending models 30% of what Xlibris receives.

Xlibris sets the list price "by page count" unless you buy Set Your Own Price, which lets you change it "once every quarter". The Author Advantage program raises print royalties to 15% of list price through retailers and 60% on the Xlibris bookstore, for a "3-Year Term". By comparison, KDP pays 60% of a paperback's list price at $9.99 or more, minus the print cost.

Royalties are paid within 90 days after each quarter, by direct deposit to a US bank account, and can be held until they reach $75. In an August 2026 reply on the BBB about an Xlibris author, Author Solutions said it stopped paying by check in late 2022.

To leave, clause 5 says "Either Party may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause, with written notice to the other Party." Refunds follow a schedule. Before you send the manuscript you get 100% back within six months of buying, less $150 from six to 12 months, and nothing after that. Once you send it the refund is 50% of the price, and after you approve the final proof it is nothing. On request, Xlibris sends the book's PDF within 30 days "with Our Property removed". Installment buyers pay a $75 non-refundable fee (clause 2), and disputes go to binding individual arbitration with the American Arbitration Association (clause 10).

Every package includes an e-book, a paperback, cover and interior design, an ISBN, US copyright registration and worldwide online listing. Xlibris books sell through Ingram to Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and on the Xlibris bookstore, its own online shop. Higher tiers add hardbacks, free copies (3 to 50), press releases and a returns program for bookstores. The agreement also lets Xlibris use AI tools to deliver its services, with "a human review" of their output (clause 1).

Crest, Expert and Signature include a copyedit (the edit for spelling, grammar, punctuation and house style). Spark, Classic and Prime do not. Xlibris's copyedit, $2,000 for 80,000 words, costs less than the $2,400–3,200 an independent copyeditor charges for the same book at the EFA's 2026 median rates. A developmental edit from Xlibris ($5,840) costs more than the EFA's $3,200–4,000.

Doing it yourself on Amazon KDP costs $0 to publish, plus $125 for your own ISBN from Bowker if you want one.

Searches for "Xlibris Corporation" reflect an older company name: court dockets filed from 2002 to 2016 use it. Xlibris's own privacy policy names "Author Solutions, LLC ... doing business under the imprint name Xlibris". Its site also lists titles later "Acquired by Bantam", St. Martin's Press and other publishers, without dates.

Xlibris reviews average 2.1 out of 5 from 1,326 reviews on Trustpilot, checked 19 October 2026. The profile is claimed and shows no paid subscription. One reviewer wrote: "For each book, a coordinator gently guided me through the complexities of publishing" (a Trustpilot reviewer, January 2025). Another wrote: "You gave me a reassurance about royalties but months later - no reply" (a Trustpilot reviewer, May 2026).

Xlibris has no BBB profile of its own. The rating is shared across brands: one BBB profile for Author Solutions, LLC lists "Xlibris, LLC.", AuthorHouse, Archway Publishing and more than a dozen other names. It shows an A+ rating, accreditation since 2010, and 73 complaints in three years, 26 in the last 12 months (checked 19 October 2026). The BBB says "Customer Reviews are not used in the calculation of the BBB Letter Grade Rating." The count is not split by brand.

The Alliance of Independent Authors rates Xlibris "Caution" on its Watchdog list. Writer Beware wrote about Xlibris in "Author Solutions Acquires Xlibris" (8 January 2009).

On Reddit, authors ask about the company in "Anyone heard of Xlibris publishing?" (r/selfpublish, July 2019). In "Xlibris help? Author died, book unpublished, $ and ownership." (r/selfpublish, July 2025), the poster later reported a partial refund. In a 2025 r/chch post, a New Zealand author reports yearly sales calls.

An Xlibris lawsuit search on CourtListener on 18 October 2026 found these dockets:

• Bethel v. Xlibris Publishing Company, No. 1:23-cv-01728 (S.D. Ind., filed 2023). The docket shows it closed as dismissed on 5 January 2024.
• Mary Simmons and Jodie Foster v. Penguin Group (USA) Inc., No. 1:13-cv-02801 (S.D.N.Y., filed 2013), against Author Solutions. The docket shows an order of discontinuance after a reported settlement in August 2015 and dismissal with prejudice in September 2015.
• Everette v. Author Solutions LLC, No. 1:14-cv-01827 (S.D. Ind., filed 2014). The docket shows a voluntary dismissal with prejudice on 15 September 2015.

1. Read the agreement before you pay, and note when the refund drops: to 50% once you send the manuscript, and to nothing after final approval.
2. Ask for the open design files before you sign. If you leave, the agreement promises a PDF "with Our Property removed", and the ISBN stays with Xlibris.
3. Ask whether Crest's copyedit has a word limit, and compare $4,399 with Spark plus a $2,000 copyedit.
4. Ask whether print royalties are 10% of list price (the agreement) or of net receipts (the FAQ) before you buy the $1,699 Author Advantage program.
5. Ask what the marketing credit ($200–500) buys, and whether you will be offered more services by phone.

• BookBaby: its FAQ puts a fully produced book at $2,000–7,000, the range of Xlibris's middle packages.
• Palmetto Publishing: packages "start around $1,598", with a copyedit at $0.038 per word.
• KDP plus a freelancer: $0 to publish and $2,400–3,200 for an 80,000-word copyedit at EFA rates, keeping KDP's full royalty.

Archway Publishing and AuthorHouse are run by the same company and share the BBB profile. The best self-publishing companies, compared covers the wider field.