compare self publishing companies

Compare Publishing Companies

In my last post I set out to compare self publishing companies based upon 4 of the top 5 self publishing reviews (sources I had introduced over the course of the past several weeks). I applied a numeric value to each company based upon their relative ranking in each source, and that resulted in the following result totals for the top 5 self publishing companies ranked side by side (out of a possible 34 points):

Outskirts Press     30 Points
Company 3            24 Points
Company 5            19 Points
Company 2            13 Points
Company 14          13 Points

Upon looking at that data, I realized that some sources were weighted more heavily than others, since each source didn’t share the same value system. One had a 13 point value system while another had a 4 point value system. So for the purposes of this next chart, I will apply a 10-point value system to each of the four sources to give each source equal weight and therefore arrive at a more accurate total:

The way one does that is as follows:

TopTen Reviews already has a 10 point system, so the points there remain the same.

Top Consumer Reviews has an 8 point system, which means each point is worth 1.25 points to reach a 10-point system. 

Top Self Publishing Firms has a 13 point value system, so to bring that into a 10-point system, each point actually is worth .77 points.

Previously I applied a 4 point value system to the categories in The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, but since one of those values was a negative number for the “publishers to avoid” category, in reality it was a 3 point system with an exception.  The decision now becomes whether the negative number should make an attempt to match the value system as a negative 1, or a negative 3.33, or a negative 10. I guess, ultimately, that depends upon your personal view of the author of that book.  In order to keep one person’s opinion from being too heavily weighted, I’ll stay with -1 for the “Publishers to Avoid” and then for the other 3 categories, each point becomes worth 3.33.

And that leaves us with this chart below, which, interestingly enough, is not significantly different from the previous chart. Value is value.  Good companies are good companies.

  TopTen  Top Consumer Fine Print Top Firms Total
Outskirts Press 8 8.75 6.66 10 33.41
Company 2     3.33 9.24 12.57
Company 3 10 5 -1 8.47 22.47
Company 4     3.33 7.7 11.03
Company 5 7   10 6.93 23.93
Company 6     6.66 6.16 12.82
Company 7     -1 5.39 4.39
Company 8   3.75 -1 4.62 7.37
Company 9 2   3.33 3.85 9.18
Company 10 9   -1 3.08 11.08
Company 11 4   -1 2.31 5.31
Company 12     10 1.54 11.54
Company 13     -1 0.77 -0.23
Company 14 6 7.5 3.33   16.83
Company 15 5 2.5 3.33   10.83
Company 16 3   3.33   6.33
Company 17 1       1
Company 18   10     10
Company 19   6.25     6.25
Company 20   1.25     1.25

Out of a possible perfect score of 40 points, the top 5 self publishing companies according to the combined data from these four sources are:

Outskirts Press     33.41 Points 
Company 5            23.93 Points
Company 3            22.47 Points
Company 14         16.83 Points
Company 6           12.82 Points

As stated in the last posting, I don’t name competitors. Even so, this analysis seems somewhat indicative of the value we offer at Outskirts Press, according to the combined views of four 3rd-party self publishing review sources.

As you compare publishing companies when it comes time to make your publishing decision,  keep these 3 tips in mind:

1. Consider the source. How biased is it? How rational? How knowledgeable? Does it seem like a rant, or a legitimate, valuable piece of information that you can apply your own, personal viewpoint to?

2. Consider the date of the information. Is it out of date? Years old? No longer applicable?  Since people are becoming accustomed to the immediacy of blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, they forget that information is available “forever” on the Internet. As a result, they assume information they read today was written today, when in reality, you may be viewing information that is years old, was written on April Fool’s day, or in some other way is no longer informative or important.  You can typically find a date for all information if you look hard enough.  

3. Investigate multiple sources.  As you can see from the combined scores of the 4 sources above, no company is absolutely perfect. That’s because they’re run by human beings.  Some sources you uncover will love one company and hate another. And a different source will have exactly the opposite opinion.  That’s because sources are run by human beings, too, and everyone has an opinion.   So find multiple sources of information and apply the statistical analysis method suggested above.

compare self publishing companies

Compare Self Publishing Companies

Over the past five posts I’ve introduced 3rd party resources a writer can investigate when researching which self publishing company is best for his or her needs. This beats relying upon any one source (whether it be positive or negative) since it’s important to realize that single sources may lack knowledge, integrity, or applicability.  Now that the Internet is replacing newspapers, we are bombarded with more information than ever before, but unfortunately, the Internet lacks one component that made newspapers and journalism valuable — the vetting process.  You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet; you must do your homework, and that involves researching numerous sources and then combining that data into a value system you can actually use.

And that brings me to the process of statistically analyzing four sources I introduced previously so you can compare self publishing companies in a logical, mathematical way.   Some sources hate some companies and love others. Whenever you look at any source for any information, you should consider the date of the information and that source’s vested interest. So by combining the sources together to arrive upon a “sum total” you are better equipped to see an accurate “average score” of the companies you are examining.

Let’s compare self publishing companies now by performing this analysis on 20 different companies.  We will put those 20 publishers in a chart along the left in the order they appear in Top Self Publishing Firms, which lists 13 companies in it’s “Large & Medium” chapter. The remaining seven companies will appear underneath. We will place four of the sources I examined along the top.   Then we will apply a numeric value in the following manner:

Top Self Publishing Firms – There are 13 companies in the “Large and Medium” category in Stacie Vander Pol’s book, ranked from best to worse. So I applied a numeric value for each of them ranging from 13 (good) to 1 (not so good).

TopTen Reviews – Since there are ten companies ranked, I will apply a numeric value for each one. The company they rank #1 will receive 10 points, the company they rank #2 will receive 9 points, and so on.

Top Consumer Reviews – Since they rank 8 companies, I will apply a 8-1 numeric value.

Fine Print of Self Publishing – Rather than charting all 45 companies that are analyzed here, we will stick with the 20 companies included in either the “Large and Medium” category of  Top Self Publishing Firms, TopTen Reviews, or Top Consumer Reviews.  Comparing 20 of anything is enough analysis.  Of those, we will apply a numeric value based upon the book’s categories in the following manner:  “Outstanding” Companies get 3 points. “Pretty Good” companies get 2 points. “Just OK” companies get 1 point.  And since “Publishers to Avoid” sounds worse than not being in the book at all, those companies lose a point.

Self Publishing Review doesn’t compare self publishing companies against one another, per se, as these other 4 sources do, so cannot play a role in this self publishing comparison.

And that leaves us with this analysis below (blanks indicate no presence in that particular source):

TopTen Top Consumer Fine Print Top Firms Total
Outskirts Press 8 7 2 13 30
Company 2 1 12 13
Company 3 10 4 -1 11 24
Company 4 1 10 11
Company 5 7 3 9 19
Company 6 2 8 10
Company 7 -1 7 6
Company 8 3 -1 6 8
Company 9 2 1 5 8
Company 10 9 -1 4 12
Company 11 4 -1 3 6
Company 12 3 2 5
Company 13 -1 1 0
Company 14 6 6 1 13
Company 15 5 2 1 8
Company 16 3 1 4
Company 17 1 1
Company 18 8 8
Company 19 5 5
Company 20 1 1

I don’t mention other companies by name in my blog.  After all, that wouldn’t be very sporting to “Company #20” and certainly not to Company #13– hmm, I guess it’s unlucky after all.

And that’s not even the point of this posting. The point is the concept of combining sources of information to arrive upon a general consensus of data. Now if one were looking to find flaws in the data above, the easiest thing to say would be Top Self Publishing Firms is weighted too heavily because that value system goes to 13 while the others go to 10, 8, and 4, respectively.

Fair enough.  So let’s apply a 10-point system to all four sources and see what that tells us next time…

outskirts press reviews

Top 5 Outskirts Press Reviews – TopTen 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 reviews

Top 5 Outskirts Press Reviews – Top Consumer Reviews

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 reviews

Top 5 Outskirts Press Reviews – The Fine Print of Self-Publishing

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

outskirts press reviews

Top 5 Outskirts Press Reviews – Top Self Publishing Firms

Over the next several posts I will be discussing impartial, unbiased sources where an author can go to investigate self publishing options.  As reliable sources go, this beats relying upon the comments of competitors or individuals who have either never published before or have some obvious vested interests.

Of course, we feel the best way to learn about our services is by listening to our authors. Outskirts Press receives a lot of comments from the people we care about pleasing the most — our published writers. We publish many of their comments on our website every month, but the fact is, we receive more kudos than we have time to publish, so I will include another one at the bottom of this post. 

Last time I discussed the Self Publishing Review blog/website. Now I turn to a book, titled Top Self Publishing Firms by Stacie Vander Pol.

Top Self Publishing Firms is the only book on the market that dares to evaluate self publishing companies based upon the sales results of their books. In other words, statistically speaking, how successful are the authors who publish at the companies you are looking at?   For instance, did you know that among the top 10 performing authors at Amazon’s publisher you will find authors like Jane Austen and Sun Tzu? That’s because Amazon’s publisher’s best performing books are found in the public domain  — famous books like The Art of War and Pride or Prejudice, by famous authors who are also dead.

Not exactly apples to apples, is it? 

How about comparing the sales results of books by authors who are actually, you know, alive? That’s what Ms. Vander Pol does in her book. Top Self Publishing Firms analyzes the self publishing companies based upon sales results, Amazon royalties, bookstore royalties, distribution, and other factors. Ms. Vander Pol then divides the companies into two categories: those in the “Large and Medium Sized” category and those in the “Small Firms” category.

The companies in the “Large and Medium Sized” category feature all the heavy-hitters, including Outskirts Press, and among these companies, Outskirts Press is ranked #1 with “Excellent” rankings in:

  • Sales Results
  • Amazon Royalties
  • Distribution
  • Overall Value

We received an “Above Average” for Bookstore Royalties, although no company in the Large to Medium category had an “Excellent” rating, so I’m not sure what type of analysis was used.  Nevertheless, the book summarizes Outskirts Press with the following praise: “Outskirts Press does everything well. They receive an overall value of excellent because they exceed expectations in every measurable category. You can’t go wrong here.”

Thank you, Stacie.  Thank you, also, Bobbie Jo Thompson, published Outskirts Press author, who has this to say:

“I would like to thank you for all of your support and help that you have given me. My experience with Outskirts Press has been wonderful. I am glad that I chose Outskirts to publish my first book. I am currently working on my second book and hope for it to be out in the spring. I will be using Outskirts for all of my publishing needs. Michele has been wonderful as well as everyone else who has helped me. I would like to thank them all for the wonderful work they have done.”

outskirts press reviews, self publishing

Top 5 Outskirts Press Reviews – Self Publishing Review

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 publish. Interestingly, our most vocal critics are often individuals who have never published with us (and in some cases, have never published at all). Either that or they are competitors — hardly impartial sources. 

Nevertheless, authors are often left with the question of where to go to investigate self-publishing options from impartial, unbiased sources (rather than relying on the comments of competitors or overzealous individuals/consultants who have both a vested interest and a suprising amount of time on their hands to devote to nay-saying). 

Over the next five posts I will discuss five 3rd party review sources. 

The first review site is Self Publishing Review, run by Henry Baum. 

The site used to review the services of self-publishing companies on a consistent basis, although now has veered away from that.  It also refers people looking for reviews to Mick Rooney’s Self-Publishing Review Blog, which to date has reviewed 32 self publishing companies, including Outskirts Press.  Of course, my favorite excerpt from Mr. Rooney’s review is this: “Overall, Outskirts Press is run by a CEO with a thorough knowledge and background in self-publishing and marketing, and in a few short years they have established themselves as a leading POD solutions provider for authors. One only has to browse reputable POD writer forums in the United States to see how popular this publisher has become with authors looking to utilised [sic] the print on demand publishing option.”   Why, thank you, Mr. Rooney.

Okay, back to Self Publishing Review.  When SPR was reviewing self publishing services, Mr. Baum’s take on Outskirts Press was fairly accurate, as demonstrated by this excerpt: “Outskirts Press isn’t necessarily obscure, but it’s certainly not as well known as some of the bigger self-publishing outfits.  But Outskirts Press offers complete self-publishing services for a lower price than competing publishers: including book design, distribution, and marketing.”

The review goes on to summarize our five publishing packages and then covers some of the details of our cover design and marketing options before ending with this summary: “All told Outskirts Press is full-featured and affordable when compared to better-known self-publishers.”

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:

“For over twenty years now I have had a story buzzing around in my head. Like others, I’m sure, I would read a novel and think: I can do that – even better! So I started to write this story back in 1997 after spending a week in Holland for research. I finally finished about a year ago and thought: Now I’m on my way!  But I wasn’t. I spent nearly a year trying to find a literary agent, using all the published guides on how to get one and became totally frustrated! I was rejected time after time based on a cover letter and maybe a few sample chapters (and I sincerely doubt that much of anything I submitted was ever read). I was pretty depressed at this point and then saw an advertisement for Outskirts Press in a writer’s magazine. I decided to make a move and have never looked back. Today I have a book to show for my efforts and OP has been great in helping me every step of the way. Now I start the marketing phase and I feel good about having OP in my corner. The book is beautiful and the cover image was exactly what I wanted. This is a book that can be judged by its cover! I am thankful to all of the fine people I’ve worked with at Outskirts Press.” – Frank Ridgley

Uncategorized

iPad, Books, and Digital Publishing

If you’re the founder of a small business, or an entrepreneur, or even in charge of marketing for any type of business, then you already know the type of opportunities that presents themselves around the holidays.  Marketing staples like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” have set sky-high customer expectations and defined the roles you need to play in terms of promotion.  Customers and potential new clients expect “big things” during this time of year. Those companies that deliver have a better chance of earning new business.

During Black Friday this year, for instance, we offered a 25% discount on our full-color children’s illustration packages.  It was the first time we ever offered such a deep discount on all our artistic styles across the board.  But we had just introduced over 20 new styles to our offerings and we wanted to announce them in a big way. Mission accomplished!

We always offer a “fun” or “big” promotion during the month of December, too.   Before last year’s “Best book of the Month” contest, our December promotion was typically the awarding of a free publishing package. In fact, if I’m remember correctly, there was one year when we awarded 3 free publishing packages during the month of December.  Last year, of course, we held a “Best Book of the Month” contest during which we reviewed all the manuscripts submitted for publication during December to select the one we determined to be the “best.” The author of said manuscript received not only a credit of his publishing package, but an additional 10%, in an effort to “mimic” traditional free publication and an advance.

Nowadays if you want attention, you do something with one of Apple’s products (iPhone, iPad, etc).  So this December, we are giving away a free Apple iPad to the author of the best manuscript we receive at the Diamond or Pearl publishing levels.  See all the details here.

Not only is this a fun incentive to new authors to publish with their best work, but it also “wets the whistle” for the iPad Edition option we will be announcing in early 2011.  You heard it here first.

Amazon, self publishing

Book publishing on Amazon

Over the past few posts I have been comparing a book published by Amazon with a book published by Outskirts Press.  In my last post I referred to the irony, and here it is, revealed in these two screen shots that I took when I was composing these posts, on November 19th:

The circled area for the book above, published by Amazon, says “In stock, but may require an extra 1-2 days to process.”

Now let’s look at a book published by Outskirts Press:

By comparison, the book published by Outskirts Press says “In stock” and even offers the total amount still in stock and a rapid delivery option. This option is conspicuously absent on the Amazon-published book in the top screen shot — almost as conspicuous as the lack of distribution to the following sites for the Amazon-published book: Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.de.

Note: the last few postings have been using my Outskirts Press book Sell Your Book on Amazon as the comparison, but I realized when I was taking the screen shots for this posting that one could easily become confused about which book was the “Amazon book” and which book was the “Outskirts Press book” since “Amazon” is in the title of the Outskirts Press book.  Needlessly confusing on my part, I’ll admit.  So, rather than risk that confusion with this comparison, which clearly demonstrates the benefits of Outskirts Press, I took a screen shot for Self-Publishing Simplfied, another one of my Outskirts Press books, instead. This demonstrates the full advantages of Outskirts Press without the risk of people mistaking OUR benefits for Amazon’s. But these screen shots hold true for every Outskirts Press book.

So more to the point:   The book published by Amazon in the top screen shot is SLOWER to get from Amazon than the book published by Outskirts Press.  And the distribution channels offered by Outskirts Press are greater. And the royalty Outskirts Press pays to the author is HIGHER.

I mean, I realize I’m a bit biased, being the Outskirts Press CEO and everything, but still… is this really that hard of a choice?

And now over the past several blogs, we have the longer answer to the question I receive in person when I’m speaking: Why would an author choose to publish with Outskirts Press instead of Amazon? There’s your answer… 

Is Amazon cheaper? Sure. So, then the real question becomes, what is your book worth to you?

Better distribution, better quality, better royalties (even on Amazon),  and faster availability (even on Amazon) — only with Outskirts Press.

Amazon, self publishing

Amazon Self Publishing Royalties

Over the past few posts I have been comparing the distribution sales channels and the author royalties of a book published by Amazon (HCG Protocol) with a book published by Outskirts Press (Sell Your Book on Amazon).

To recap, Amazon’s book HCG Protocol is available through 8 unique sales channels while Outskirts Press’ book Sell Your Book on Amazon is available through over 50.   HCG Protocol earns $5.23 for the author every time a copy is sold on Amazon, while Sell Your Book on Amazon earns $6.58 every time a copy is sold on Amazon.

Actually, since we’re now going to discuss that paragraph in more detail, let’s be more specific. A few postings ago when I compared royalty rates for different distribution channels, I wanted to compare apples to apples, so we pretended HCG Protocol had a retail price of $14.95, so it compared exactly with the $14.95 retail price of Sell Your Book on Amazon.  The reality is that HCG Protocol has a retail price of $12.77, so in reality, it actually does NOT earn $5.23 every time a copy sells on Amazon. It actually earns 35% of $12.77, which is $4.47.

In my last posting, I revealed how Sell Your Book on Amazon’s pricing works at Outskirts Press, and how the 100% author profit of $6.58 is reached.

Retail Price (14.95) – Trade Discount (20%) – Production Base Price ($5.36) = Author Profit ($6.58).  That equates to a 44% retail profit.

So how does Amazon’s pricing work? Well, for books published by Amazon that are sold on Amazon, Amazon pays a 35% retail royalty. Obviously, that is less than a 44% retail royalty paid by Outskirts Press.  35% does seem good in comparison to most self-publishing companies, just not in comparison with Outskirts Press. But is 35% on Amazon good?  Let’s not forget that HCG Protocol is only 50 pages in length.  If you use the same formula above, you discover that Amazon’s publishing printing costs are pretty high:

Retail Price ($12.77) – Trade Discount 20% (this is probably actually 0%, since they’re selling it from their own website, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt here) – Production Price (X) = Some profit, a certain percentage of which is $4.47.

First, let’s determine the trade discounted price, which is 20% of $12.77, or $10.22. From that amount, the author is earning $4.47. Ergo, the difference is the production cost and whatever percentage of your profit that Amazon is taking (since they don’t pay 100% royalties).  $10.22 – $4.47 – (% of your profit) = the printing price, which must be less than $5.75 for a 50 page book.

Here’s an interesting hypothetical situation,  particularly if you are the authors of HCG Protocol, Tiffany Prinster and Linda Prinster; or perhaps if you happen to have published YOUR book with Amazon…    The same book at Outskirts Press would have a retail price of $12.95, and would earn $5.84 instead of $4.47 for every sale, through 42 more sales channels, including Barnes & Noble.   Does that justify the $1000 publishing package price of our most popular Diamond package?  Well, it depends upon how successful the book is.  In their case, with a current Amazon Sales Rank of 1,851, the answer is an unequivocal “YES.”  They’re probably selling 100 books a month or more.  So if they were making $1.37 more in profit for every sale had they published with Outskirts Press, plus widening their distribution channels from 8 to 50, at 100 books a month, they would break even in 7 months and would then be reaping the increased benefits of higher profits and greater distribution.  Only the authors know exactly how many books they are selling, and perhaps how many MORE they could be selling through 42 additional sales channels. They might break even much faster.

And that brings us to perhaps the most ironic part of publishing with Amazon, which I’ll reveal next time when I wrap up this comparison of HCG Protocol with Sell Your Book on Amazon…