This is the PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX for July 2015. CreateSpace has replaced IngramSpark at the top spot of the index this month, but only by a whisker.
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has lost some significant ground to the top two and some of this is down to negative feedback TIPM has received. Unfortunately much of this feedback is greatly misplaced and surrounds the recent changes Amazon has made to how it pays authors with books enrolled in its borrowing programs (KU and KOL). It also hasn’t been helped by numerous news stories carrying inaccurate or deliberately slanted information. I’ve seen many news articles claim or intimate that the payment changes affect all authors with books loaded to the Kindle platform. David Gaughran has an excellent post clarifying matters over on his Let’s Get Digital blog called The Great Amazon Hysteria. It’s well worth a read if you are unsure about the recent Amazon payment changes.
There are no other changes in the remaining top ten positions. Draft2Digital continues its slow but steady climb up the index.
TIPM continues to receive regular feedback on services through comments under our reviews, via our TIPM Facebook page, and directly to us. The amount of feedback over the past four weeks to TIPM continues to remain particularly high and we want to thank all of those who took the time to share their publishing experiences. Your comments are always welcome and every comment and experience of a publishing service — positive or negative — is always reflected in every new index published through TIPM. We are hoping to add at least one or two new reviews for the June index.
| JUL POS | JUN POS | COMPANY/SERVICE PROVIDER | PRIMARY COMPANY BASEMARKET | SERVICE CLASS | JUL INDEX VALUE | INDEX POS MOVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | CreateSpace | USA | DIY/FSP | 698.63 | UP |
| 2 | 1 | IngramSpark | GLOBAL | PRT/FUL | 697.58 | DOWN |
| 3 | 3 | Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) | GLOBAL | DIY | 660.84 | SAME |
| 4 | 4 | Smashwords | USA | DIY | 603.46 | SAME |
| 5 | 5 | Lightning Source (Direct) | GLOBAL | PRT/FUL | 537.67 | SAME |
| 6 | 6 | Matador | UK | FSP | 518.62 | SAME |
| 7 | 7 | Mill City Press | USA | PUB/FSP | 459.07 | SAME |
| 8 | 8 | SilverWood Books | USA | FSP | 429.93 | SAME |
| 9 | 9 | Blurb | GLOBAL | DIY | 425.82 | SAME |
| 10 | 10 | Kobo Writing Life | GLOBAL | DIY | 414.65 | SAME |
| 11 | 11 | Lulu | GLOBAL | DIY/FSP | 411.71 | SAME |
| 12 | 12 | BookLocker | USA | FSP | 379.49 | SAME |
| 13 | 14 | Draft2Digital | UK/USA | DIY | 363.74 | UP |
| 14 | 13 | Bookbaby | USA | DIY/FSP | 361.93 | DOWN |
| 15 | 15 | Publish Green | GLOBAL | FSP | 347.34 | SAME |
| 16 | 16 | Dog Ear Publishing | USA | FSP | 345.67 | SAME |
| 17 | 17 | Selfpublishing.com | USA | PRT/FUL | 336.3 | SAME |
| 18 | 18 | Unbound | UK | PUB/CRW | 324.32 | SAME |
| 19 | 20 | Thomson-Shore | USA | PRT/FSP | 321.22 | UP |
| 20 | 19 | York Publishing Services | UK | PRT/FULL | 319.69 | DOWN |
| 21 | 22 | Pressbook | USA | DIY | 313.66 | UP |
| 22 | 21 | John Hunt Publishing | GLOBAL | PUB/FSP | 313.18 | DOWN |
| 23 | 23 | Wingspan | USA | FSP | 312.02 | SAME |
| 24 | 24 | My Bestseller | EUROPE | DIY | 311.81 | SAME |
| 25 | 25 | CPI UK Antony Rowe | EUROPE | PRT | 309.83 | SAME |
| 26 | 26 | eBookIT | DIY/FSP | 304.05 | SAME | |
| 27 | 27 | Google Play Books | GLOBAL | DIY | 300.3 | SAME |
| 28 | 29 | VirtualBookVorm | USA | FSP | 294.94 | UP |
| 29 | 28 | Aventine | USA | FSP | 294 | DOWN |
| 30 | 30 | Checkpoint Press | IRELAND | PUB/FSP | 291.34 | SAME |
| 31 | 31 | Infinity Publishing | USA | FSP | 289.11 | SAME |
| 32 | 32 | Book Country | GLOBAL | FSP | 288.81 | SAME |
| 33 | 33 | SelfPublishBooks/Lettertec | IRELAND | FSP | 287.44 | SAME |
| 34 | 35 | Cold River Studio | USA | FSP | 287.03 | UP |
| 35 | 34 | Wheatmark Publishing | USA | FSP | 286.94 | DOWN |
| 36 | 36 | Apex Publishing | UK | PUB/FSP | 284.35 | SAME |
| 37 | 38 | Wasteland Press | USA | FSP | 283.26 | UP |
| 38 | 37 | Grosvenor House Publishing | UK | FSP | 283.25 | DOWN |
| 39 | 39 | The Choir Press | UK/USA | FSP | 283.23 | SAME |
| 40 | 40 | Acorn Independent Press | UK | FSP | 279.71 | SAME |
| 41 | 43 | FastPencil | USA | DIY | 278.79 | UP |
| 42 | 41 | Outskirts Press | USA | FSP | 278.67 | DOWN |
| 43 | 42 | Tate Publishing | USA | PUB/ASP | 278.32 | DOWN |
| 44 | 45 | Americas Press | USA | PRT | 276.07 | UP |
| 45 | 47 | Janus Publishing | UK | FSP | 275.32 | UP |
| 46 | 48 | Pumbo | EUROPE | DIY | 274.82 | UP |
| 47 | 46 | iUniverse | USA | FSP | 274.81 | DOWN |
| 48 | 49 | Telemachus Press | USA | FSP | 274.46 | UP |
| 49 | 50 | Xulon Press | USA | FSP | 274.27 | UP |
| 50 | 44 | Authoright | UK/USA | FSP | 272.23 | DOWN |
| 51 | 51 | PubliBook | EUROPE | DIY | 271.27 | SAME |
| 52 | 53 | Llumina Press | USA | PUB/FSP | 268.67 | UP |
| 53 | 54 | A.H. Stockwell | UK | FSP | 268.02 | UP |
| 54 | 55 | Diadem Books | UK/USA | FSP | 267.94 | UP |
| 55 | 56 | Open Book Editions | USA | FSP | 267.94 | UP |
| 56 | 52 | Kazoo Publishing Services | IRELAND | FSP | 267.41 | DOWN |
| 57 | 61 | Book Guild Publishing | UK | FSP | 267.2 | UP |
| 58 | 57 | Pyjama Press | UK/EUROPE | FSP | 267.03 | DOWN |
| 59 | 58 | Direct POD | UK | PRT | 265.7 | DOWN |
| 60 | 59 | Kbuuk | USA | DIY | 265.53 | DOWN |
| 61 | 60 | Eprint Ireland | IRELAND | PRT | 265.24 | DOWN |
| 62 | 62 | True Directions | USA | PUB/FSP | 263.26 | SAME |
| 63 | 63 | Original Writing | IRELAND | FSP | 261.59 | SAME |
| 64 | 64 | Abbott Press | USA | PUB/FSP | 261.43 | SAME |
| 65 | 65 | The Book Producers | IRELAND | FSP | 260.41 | SAME |
| 66 | 67 | Arima | UK | FSP | 260.41 | UP |
| 67 | 66 | Pomegranate Press | UK/USA | FSP | 260.28 | DOWN |
| 68 | 68 | Better Book Company | UK | FSP | 256.16 | SAME |
| 69 | 69 | Turning Stone Press | USA | FSP | 255.7 | SAME |
| 70 | 70 | Austin MacAuley | UK | FSP | 252.73 | SAME |
| 71 | 71 | UKUnpublished | UK | FSP | 252.57 | SAME |
| 72 | 72 | Archway Publishing | GLOBAL | PUB/FSP | 249.85 | SAME |
| 73 | 74 | Gemini International | IRELAND | PRT | 246.22 | UP |
| 74 | 73 | AuthorHouse | GLOBAL | FSP | 245.39 | DOWN |
| 75 | 75 | Trafford Publishing | USA | FSP | 243.6 | SAME |
| 76 | 77 | WestBow Press | USA | PUB/FSP | 242.57 | UP |
| 77 | 78 | Epic Press | UK | FSP | 242.24 | UP |
| 78 | 79 | Chandler Book Design | UK | PRT | 241.88 | UP |
| 79 | 76 | Balboa Press | GLOBAL | PUB/FSP | 241.34 | DOWN |
| 80 | 80 | Choice Publishing | IRELAND | FSP | 240.74 | SAME |
| 81 | 81 | Dolman Scott/Oak Press | UK | FSP | 239.55 | SAME |
| 82 | 82 | Dorrance Press | USA | FSP | 230.86 | SAME |
| 83 | 84 | ShopMyBook (Unibook) | GLOBAL | PRT | 228.2 | UP |
| 84 | 83 | Xlibris | GLOBAL | FSP | 227.17 | DOWN |
| 85 | 85 | Spire Publishing | UK/USA | FSP | 226.46 | SAME |
| 86 | 86 | Spiderwize | UK | FSP | 223.41 | SAME |
| 87 | 87 | Melrose Books | UK | FSP | 208.69 | SAME |
| 88 | 88 | Dom Tom Publishing | UK/USA | FSP | 208.02 | SAME |
| 89 | 89 | Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie | UK | PUB/FSP | 208.01 | SAME |
| 90 | 90 | PublishAmerica/America Star Books | USA | FSP | 206.58 | SAME |
| 91 | 91 | Olympia Publishers | UK | PUB/FSP | 166.99 | SAME |
| 92 | 92 | Raider International Pub./Green Shore | GLOBAL | FSP | 95.68 | SAME |
(KEY)
- DIY – Do-it-yourself bespoke services and basic conversion and formatting services
- FSP – Full Service Provider (Packages & Bespoke) – May also include Partnership publishing programs
- PUB – Also offers Mainstream Contracts or is a service imprint of a traditional publishing house
- PRT – Printer (primarily a printer with some additional but limited services)
- FULL – Fulfilment Services provided for distribution logistics, warehousing of stock (including supply to wholesaler and retailers)
- CRW – Crowdsource
There is a much more detailed explanation of what the Publishing Service Index is and how authors can best use it in this post.
The most asked question we get at The Independent Publishing Magazine is often along the lines of; ‘What self-publishing service should I go with?‘; ‘Is so and so a good service to go with?‘; or ‘Is so and so a scam?‘
In some cases, that is an easy question to answer, cut and dry, but in other circumstances, the answer is entirely arbitrary. We are not here to review and run down a company’s name, nor are we here to endorse a company’s services. If we were only to review companies according to every point on an ideal dream list of what an author wants/should get, we would have very few reviews to share with you. In truth, no company has ever attained a 10/10, and only a few have recorded more than 08/10.
The reality is that some companies offering publishing services begin in a blaze of glory and we might rate them favourably at the time; others, frankly, are just poor, and they improve (sometimes in response to our reviews) to offer reasonable or better services. We are constantly updating our reviews, but this takes considerable time, and so do the initial reviews.
We get a vast amount of information from authors and the companies selling author solutions services every day – good and bad. We get a great deal of information from monitoring services week by week against the experiences of what authors report back to us. Simply put, and truthfully, we cannot reflect all of this information through the reviews. That is why the comments section under each company we review is so important. It is your recording and dealings with that specific company, and a positive or negative flag to subsequent authors considering using the same company.
So, how do we reflect the changing ups and downs with services?
We believe the PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX will help to guide authors to services on the up, and those, gradually on the down. If you like, what we present is a kind of stock exchange for companies supplying publisher services.
The PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX was first launched in June 2010.
Mick, On behalf of all writers, especially self-publishing ones, thank you for putting this index together. It’s a tremendously helpful resource.
Helen
Much appreciated, Helen.