I’ve looked at a lot of different self publishers and the biggest complaints across the board are 1) poor customer service. 2) Poor print quality for print on demand books and 3) Low royalties. Any advice before I commit to one would be appreciated.
Ok, so maybe I phrased this question wrong… I’m looking for actual self-publishing companies that people have had success with, ie good quality books and the other factors I listed. A name. I’ve looked at lots of companies and done all kinds of comparisons… who have you self publishers been satisfied with? Who screwed you over? Who called you back on the phone when you had a problem? Who?
Hi there. I used Createspace to self publish. As mentioned, if you do not know what you’re doing with the setup and layout, it’s frustrating. I had to pay someone, I couldn’t figure it out. Price wise, if you join the Proplan, the books are less expensive to purchase. Their forums are great and people try to help you out. They won’t edit unless you pay, so make sure you do that.
The expenses add up along the way, so you have to see if it’s worth it. Also, shipping wasn’t cheap and it adds even more onto your price.
That said, I thought they did a decent job with the book. You could just order one so you can see what it looks like and make changes if you’re not happy.
If I had another book, I would use them again. I had researched for a while and I figured since they were part of Amazon they were at least professional.
Hope this helps-
believe in yourself.
As someone who has self published, my advice is:
1. Don’t even consider self publishing until you figured out how to do aspects of publishing including: editing, layout, marketing and distribution. Your book must also have good content, and a good price point. Fail at any one of these and your book will not do well.
2. Unless you really know how to deal with them, stay away from the vanity presses that want you to pay large package fees. There is a very good chance you will never recoup your costs in book sales and will end up loosing money on the project.
3. Check the price point. There really is no such thing as low royalties when it comes to self publishing. Your profit is the difference between costs of production (including shipping, retail mark up, etc.) and sales revenues. I’ve found that many printers of self published books simply do not print the books affordably enough for the author to sell the book at a competitive price and make any profit. Retailer’s often will take a 40% discount.
4. Check the quality. Buy or somehow else get your hands on books they have produced.