Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMONROE COUNTY
Self-publisher eyes new offices
Expansion plans for Bloomington’s
Author Solutions Inc. likely will eventually include a new building near the firm’s offices at State Road 37 and Second Street.
Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss
tells IBJ he has been looking around at sites to accommodate an influx of 130 new employees in the next 18 months-some of them taking over jobs transferred from China in a $4.5 million consolidation. The self-publishing giant now uses about 34,000 square feet of space and expects to add at least 15,000 square feet in Bloomington.
“I’d like to build a new building with high ceilings and open spaces, more like a facility that you’d see in Silicon Valley, more Google-like,” said Weiss, 51, a former executive at IBM. “You spend enough time at work; you should try to make it an enjoyable experience.”
Author Solutions expects to employ about 300 people in Bloomington by the end of June. The firm has another 50 employees in Indianapolis, mainly in sales and operations.
The company, which expects to publish
17,000 titles this year, operates under several brands, including AuthorHouse, iUniverse and Worldclay. The firm was acquired by California-based Bertram Capital in 2006.
Weiss has aggressive expansion plans: He wants to acquire more companies to consolidate into the Bloomington operation.
He said finding good employees in the southern Indiana town is “like shooting fish in a barrel.”
“There are so many good qualified people who come from IU,” Weiss said. “It’s amazing.”
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.