In my last post, when I set out to compare the “best self publishing sites” based upon four self publishing review sources, I applied a numeric value to each company based upon their relative ranking in each source. That resulted in the following average totals for the top 5 best self publishing sites, 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 3 point value system. So for the purposes of this next chart, I will apply the same 10-point value system to all four self publishing review 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.
The Fine Print of Self-Publishing has a 3 point system, so 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 I posted yesterday. Value is value. The best self publishing sites are the best self publishing sites:
| TopTen | Top Consumer | Fine Print | Top Firms | Total | |
| Outskirts Press |
8 | 8.75 | 6.66 | 10 | 33.41 |
| Company 5 | 7 | 10 | 6.93 | 23.93 | |
| Company 3 | 10 | 5 | -1 | 8.47 | 22.47 |
| Company 14 | 6 | 7.5 | 3.33 | 16.83 | |
| Company 6 | 6.66 | 6.16 | 12.82 | ||
| Company 2 | 3.33 | 9.24 | 12.57 | ||
| Company 12 | 10 | 1.54 | 11.54 | ||
| Company 10 | 9 | -1 | 3.08 | 11.08 | |
| Company 4 | 3.33 | 7.7 | 11.03 | ||
| Company 15 | 5 | 2.5 | 3.33 | 10.83 | |
| Company 18 | 10 | 10 | |||
| Company 9 | 2 | 3.33 | 3.85 | 9.18 | |
| Company 8 | 3.75 | -1 | 4.62 | 7.37 | |
| Company 16 | 3 | 3.33 | 6.33 | ||
| Company 19 | 6.25 | 6.25 | |||
| Company 11 | 4 | -1 | 2.31 | 5.31 | |
| Company 7 | -1 | 5.39 | 4.39 | ||
| Company 20 | 1.25 | 1.25 | |||
| Company 17 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Company 13 | -1 | 0.77 | -0.23 |
Out of a possible perfect score of 40 points, the 5 best self publishing sites according to the combined data from four different review 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 our competitors. That wouldn’t be very sporting to Company #13. But it’s easy enough to tell who is who by reading Top Self-Publishing Firms. The order in that book determined the order I used — well, at least for the first 13.
Okay, okay, I hear some of you saying, “Yeah, yeah. You’re the president of Outskirts Press and you’re saying you’re #1. What a shocker!” You’re right, as the CEO, I am biased toward this information. Why shouldn’t I be? After all, I wouldn’t be blogging about this analysis if I was the CEO of Company 13. But the fact that I’m involved with the #1 company doesn’t make the average scores any less valid; it just makes it easier to understand why I’m taking the time to write about it. I’m proud of our company, our people, and our authors.
And that leaves me with this: As you are conducing your own search for the best self publishing sites, there are three things you should keep in mind as you do your research. I’ll discuss those three things next time…
President of Outskirts Press 