Austin Macauley Publishers

Austin Macauley Publishers

Status	Active
Founded	2006
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Headquarters location	London
Distribution	United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada
Publication types	Books
Official website	www.austinmacauley.com

Austin Macauley Publishers Limited is a British vanity press with offices in London, New York and Sharjah. The company was founded in 2006 and publishes fiction and non-fiction books in English and Arabic languages.

According to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFFWA) it is the vanity press the organization receives the largest number of complaints about.

Business model

The company operates what it calls a 'hybrid' publishing model, claiming to offer some 'non-contributory', or traditional publishing contract, and some 'partnership agreement' contracts, in which the author pays a part of the publication cost.[1] According to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFFWA), the publisher is a vanity press which as of 2019 typically required fees of £1,275 to £7,700 from writers.[2][3]

Authors

Authors published by the company have included:

• Austin Stevens[4]
• Carey Blyton[5]
• Tariq Anwar[6]
• Javaid Laghari[7]
• Maryam Saqer Al Qasimi[8]
• Ira David Wood III[9]
• Lawrence Salander[10]
• Oliver Friggieri[11]
• Bonita Lawrence[12]
• Simon May[13]
• Claire Liddell[14]
• Kevin Lueshing[15]
• Alexander Matthews[16]

Affiliations

Associated with Independent Publishers Guild (IPG)[17] Austin Macauley Publishers is a member of The Publishers Association.[18]

Controversy

Austin Macauley was included in SFFWA's 'Thumbs Down' Publishers List, which, according to the association, contains the companies "about which [they] have received the largest number of serious complaints".[19] In 2019, the Writer Beware blog (sponsored by SFFWA) reported that Austin Macauley was the vanity publisher which was the subject of the "most reports and questions", noting that the vast majority of deals involve the authors paying the company to have their book published, while the occasional "fee-free" contract offered to authors is "no bargain".[20] It was also discussed in a report by the Writers Guild of Great Britain and the Society of Authors, in which it was criticised for a lack of transparency regarding the cost to authors of publishing with the company.[21]

References

1. "About Us". www.austinmacauley.com. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
2. Strauss, Victoria. "WHAT HAPPENED TO WRITER BEWARE'S THUMBS DOWN LISTS?". SFWA. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
3. Strauss, Victoria (2019-07-12). "Seven Prolific Vanity Publishers (Austin Macauley Publishers, Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie, Olympia Publishers, Morgan James Publishing, Page Publishing, Christian Faith Publishing, Newman Springs Publishing)". Writer Beware. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
4. "Austin Stevens". Archived from the original on 2018-03-11.
5. "Blyton RIP Carey". www.austinmacauley.com. 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
6. "Anwar Tariq". www.austinmacauley.com. 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
7. "Laghari Javaid". www.austinmacauley.com. 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
8. "Maryam Saqer Al Qassimi, Author at Austin Macauley Publishers | UAE". Austin Macauley Publishers | UAE. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
9. "Wood III Ira David". www.austinmacauley.com. 2018-12-05. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
10. "Salander Lawrence". www.austinmacauley.com. 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
11. "Friggieri Oliver". www.austinmacauley.com. 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
12. "Lawrence Bonita". www.austinmacauley.com. 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
13. "May Simon". www.austinmacauley.com. 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
14. "Liddell Claire". www.austinmacauley.com. 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
15. "The Belt Boy". Archived from the original on 2017-06-12.
16. "Matthews Alexander". www.austinmacauley.com. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
17. "Meet the Member: Austin Macauley Publishers". Archived from the original on 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
18. "The Publishers Association". Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
19. "WHAT HAPPENED TO WRITER BEWARE'S THUMBS DOWN LISTS?". SFWA. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
20. "Seven Prolific Vanity Publishers". [Writer Beware (sponsored by the SFWA). Retrieved 2024-07-11.
21. "Is it a steal?" (PDF). WGGB The Writers Guild of Great Britain. The Writers Guild of Great Britain and Society of Authors. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

External links

• Austin Macauley Publishers UK