Bloomington-based Author Solutions Inc. announced Thursday morning that it has been acquired by London-based Pearson Plc for $116 million.

Author Solutions, a self publisher, also has offices in Indianapolis and in the Philippines and is owned by private-equity firm Bertram Capital in San Mateo, Calif. Bertram acquired the business in January 2007 from Carmel-based Gazelle Tech Ventures.

Author Solutions, founded in 1997, has published 150,000 authors and nearly 190,000 titles. It employs about 400 people in the United States, most of whom work in Indiana, and had revenue in 2011 of $100 million.

The publisher will operate as a separate business under Pearson’s Penguin division, the companies said. The acquisition will help Pearson expand in the growing market for self-publishing services.

“Self-publishing has moved into the mainstream of our industry over the past three years,” John Makinson, CEO of Pearson’s Penguin book unit, said in a prepared statement. “This acquisition will allow Penguin to participate fully in perhaps the fastest-growing area of the publishing economy and gain skills in customer acquisition and data analytics that will be vital to our future.”