Tag: outskirts press reviews

Self publishing authors are often left with the question of where to go to investigate self-publishing options from impartial, unbiased sources. Therefore, over the previous and upcoming posts I have been, and will be, discussing five 3rd party self publishing review sources. 

I already discussed the Self Publishing Review site run by Henry Baum, Top Self Publishing Firms written by Stacie Vander Pol,  The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, written by Mark Levine, and Top Consumer Reviews.

This next source is a large, highly regarded review website called TopTen Reviews.  They don’t just specialize in self publishing reviews. They specialize in reviewing just about everything.  But I will focus on their “2011 Online Book Publishing Comparisons.” Here, they have put the top ten self-publishing firms (in their mind) side by side for a comparison of price vs. value.  Outskirts Press is ranked #3 and receives their Bronze Award, with the following summary:

“Outskirts Press takes a well-balanced, affordable approach to book publishing-offering a fairly robust publishing package, a decent bookselling reach, strong help support and the freedom to set your own royalty rates. Outskirts has a variety of options and a versatile solution for most authors needs.”

What’s interesting here is that the #1 and #2 self publishing firms appearing above Outskirts Press on this list are both owned by the same company (and basically offer the same exact thing). More interesting still,  both the #1 and #2 firms are among the “Publishers to Avoid”  in the previous self publishing review source I discussed, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.

In fact, only one other publisher other than Outskirts Press appears on BOTH the TopTen Review list AND either the “Outstanding Category” or “Pretty Good” category in The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. And where does that other publisher appear on Top Consumer Review’s Top 8 list of self publishing companies (where Outskirts ranks #2)? It doesn’t.

And that brings us to perhaps the most important step of analyzing self-publishing reviews, and I’ll discuss that next time.

As I mentioned at the top of this posting, the comments from our authors hold the most value for us, and I’d like to share one we received below:

“I can’t recommend Outskirts Press enough.  It’s the marketing phase of my book that has really opened my eyes.  The publishing phase is only one step with a book, but what happens later, is another.  Since I am a new author, I only began to see the bigger picture at the marketing point.  Upon thoroughly enjoying my first seminar conference call with enormous marketing information and feedback from some well-seasoned authors, I see that my Diamond package–which includes a press release and an e-book option, is valued well beyond the great price I paid.  I ended up with great quality and a cover that I am extremely happy with.  I can’t say enough about the friendly and accommodating representation of my finished product. Outskirts Press has lots to offer with prices and options that can’t be beat!” – Christine Rhay

Outskirts Press receives a lot of positive reviews  and we publish many of our authors’ comments on our website every month. Interestingly, the most vocal critics of self publishing services in general are either individuals who have never published, or they are publishing competitors criticizing each other, or they are so-called “book coaches/shepherds” with a vested interest in having writers pay THEM for help  (in other words, a different type of competitor).  Biased sources, one and all. 

As a result, authors are left wondering where to go for impartial, unbiased self publishing reviews.  I have been providing a few self publishing review sources and here is another, called Top Consumer Reviews.

According to their website, Top Consumer Reviews “is an independent organization dedicated to bringing you unbiased reviews of the top products available for online purchase today.  As a proud member of the Better Business Bureau, we support honesty and fairness throughout the business community.”

Top Consumer Reviews has reviewed and ranked what they feel are the best self publishing companies available today. They have reviewed the top eight self publishing firms, and provided them each with a star ranking, a la Amazon, with 5 stars being the best.  Interestingly, among the eight firms they review, which according to them are “the best self publishing companies available today,” half of them receive a star ranking of 3 stars or less.  

Only two self publishing companies receive a ranking above 4 stars, and only one of those offer services under $1000 — Outskirts Press.  In fact, our most expensive package is less than their cheapest package.

Outskirts Press receives 4.5 stars (out of 5) on Top Consumer Reviews, along with this summary:

“If you can’t afford the all-inclusive fee charged by our top-rated selection, Outskirts Press offers a number of affordable programs while still giving you a high level of service. Ranging from only $199 all the way up to $1,099, these levels let you choose which services can fit into your budget, while still letting you keep 100% of your royalties.”

As I mentioned at the top of this posting, the comments from our authors hold the most value for us, and I’d like to share one we received below:

“Outskirts Press made my fantasy a reality.  My author rep was a great help. He was very informative and gave me the support I needed.  He also helped me find an illustrator since I was writing a children’s story. I was impressed with the color layout–bright and eye-catching. Anyone interested in getting their works published should check out Outskirts Press.” – Theresa Gage

Outskirts Press receives a lot of positive reviews  and comments from the people we care about pleasing the most — our authors. We publish many of their comments on our website every month, but the fact is, we receive more kudos than we have time to post online.

Nevertheless, authors are often left with the question of where to go to investigate self-publishing options from impartial, unbiased sources. Therefore, over the previous and upcoming posts I have been, and will be, discussing five 3rd party self publishing review sources. 

I already discussed the Self Publishing Review site run by Henry Baum and the Top Self Publishing Firms book written by Stacie Vander Pol. This next source is a book, too, titled The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, by Mark Levine. It is currently in its Third Edition.

It is important to realize that the author of this book is the president of a competing self-publishing company, and therefore has a financially vested interest regarding the type of information he presents in his book.  While I state who I am in my books and clearly state that I believe Outskirts Press is a good choice for many writers, Mr. Levine takes a different approach and omits this biographical tidbit from his author biography.   In fact, in an effort to appear impartial, Mark’s own company is absent from his own book. Nevertheless, the business model on which he bases all his analysis of his competitors is based upon his own company’s business model. As a result, a disproportionate amount of weight is applied to some details he considers personally important, regardless of how important they are in the overall scheme of things.   This discrepancy is further exacerbated when one considers that his company’s prices are in the thousands of dollars while he is ranking and analyzing companies with service fees that are much lower, and yet judging those companies upon the same expectations.

I realize all this sounds like I may harbor some sort of animosity toward this book and its author, and that is not the case. We get along very well. In fact, in the First Edition of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, Outskirts Press was among the “Outstanding Self Publishing Companies” analyzed and ranked.  Our ranking in the current 3rd Edition is “Pretty Good” (the level directly below “Outstanding”) and if you closely read the book, this decline would appear to be based upon a hypothetical situation whereby Amazon no longer carries our books — which, of course,  is absurd.   

By Mark’s own admission when I spoke with him about this error, he admitted this 3rd edition was composed when Amazon was in the middle of their “strong-arm ultimatums” with all the self-publishing firms, including his.   Amazon’s monopolistic exercise failed, along with this book’s resulting conclusions, which interestingly, only degraded Outskirts Press and not any of the other firms that would have been equally affected.  But alas, the book had already gone to print.  Why a corrected edition hasn’t been released nearly three  years later is anybody’s guess.      I guess I could do what some other publishers have apparently done, and threatened him with lawsuits, but I have better things to do, and so does he.   Mark will correct the book when he has the time.

Considering the financially vested position of its author, all the information in the book should be viewed with a grain of salt (and that goes for all of the companies being examined). Even so, Outskirts Press comes out looking pretty good, particularly considering this is the most biased source of the five “Outskirts Press reviews” I’ll be looking at. 

As I mentioned at the top of this posting, the comments from our authors hold the most value for us, and I’d like to share one we received below:

“The decision to pursue the publication of my first novel by way of self-/custom-publishing was easy. The hard part was choosing which company to go with. After researching several companies on-line, I ultimately chose Outskirts Press because of the extremely detailed package comparisons on their very informative Web site. Other sites were less informative and left a lot of questions unanswered. After looking over the Outskirts site, I had no doubt the Diamond package offered was the route to publication I was going to take. I also chose to go with Outskirts Press because I was left with the impression I would be more than satisfied with the personalized and dedicated approach being advertised, and I was.

The entire process from submission to acceptance to final publication went well. Any concerns or questions I had were promptly answered and any issues that arose were quickly resolved. Outskirts deserves high marks for its professionalism and quality output. I am more than pleased with the final hard copy of my book, and can’t thank Chris, Jeanine, Cheri and my Author Rep Deni enough for all they did in helping me to realize my dream of becoming a published author!” – Brian M. Gelinas