Publishing Service Index: August 2015

indexAug_2015
indexAug_2015This is the PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX for August 2015. Once again IngramSpark and CreateSpace exchange places at the top spot of the index this month, but only by a whisker.

 

The most notable change is Lightning Source’s (LSI) continued slippage on the index and for the first time it drops outside the top five positions. It should be remembered that many indie authors now default towards Ingram’s dedicated publishing platform IngramSpark for indie authors and small publishers. I’m certainly getting far less feedback from authors who use LSI directly and most new accounts from individual authors are opened with IngramSpark.

 

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) was losing some significant ground to the top two over the past few months, but the dust seems to have settled on the recent debate over Amazon’s changes on revenue in its borrowing programs (KU and KOL).  You can catch up on the latest news on this debate from indie authors Joe Konrath, who revealed his figures this week, and David Gaughran.

 

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.
AUG POS JUL POS COMPANY/SERVICE PROVIDER PRIMARY COMPANY BASEMARKET SERVICE CLASS AUG INDEX VALUE INDEX POS MOVE
1 2 IngramSpark GLOBAL PRT/FUL 695.69 UP
2 1 CreateSpace USA DIY/FSP 694.65 DOWN
3 3 Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) GLOBAL DIY 651.4 SAME
4 4 Smashwords USA DIY 635.26 SAME
5 6 Matador UK FSP 607.95 UP
6 5 Lightning Source (Direct) GLOBAL PRT/FUL 597.22 DOWN
7 7 Mill City Press USA PUB/FSP 549.95 SAME
8 8 SilverWood Books USA FSP 520.03 SAME
9 9 Blurb GLOBAL DIY 500.53 SAME
10 10 Kobo Writing Life GLOBAL DIY 490.7 SAME
11 12 BookLocker USA FSP 463.27 UP
12 11 Lulu GLOBAL DIY/FSP 462.12 DOWN
13 13 Draft2Digital UK/USA DIY 449.73 SAME
14 16 Dog Ear Publishing USA FSP 429.3 UP
15 15 Publish Green GLOBAL FSP 429.12 SAME
16 14 Bookbaby USA DIY/FSP 425.4 DOWN
17 17 Selfpublishing.com USA PRT/FUL 414.68 SAME
18 19 Thomson-Shore USA PRT/FSP 401.93 UP
19 18 Unbound UK PUB/CRW 400.21 DOWN
20 20 York Publishing Services UK PRT/FULL 396.76 SAME
21 21 Pressbook USA DIY 391.04 SAME
22 22 John Hunt Publishing GLOBAL PUB/FSP 389.39 SAME
23 23 Wingspan USA FSP 387.05 SAME
24 24 Mijn Bestseller EUROPE DIY 382.39 SAME
25 25 CPI UK Antony Rowe EUROPE PRT 382.25 SAME
26 29 Aventine USA FSP 375.61 UP
27 26 eBookIT DIY/FSP 374.32 DOWN
28 30 Checkpoint Press IRELAND PUB/FSP 367.93 UP
29 34 Cold River Studio USA FSP 365.02 UP
30 33 SelfPublishBooks/Lettertec IRELAND FSP 364.53 UP
31 28 VirtualBookVorm USA FSP 362.57 DOWN
32 35 Wheatmark Publishing USA FSP 361.04 UP
33 32 Book Country GLOBAL FSP 357.83 DOWN
34 31 Infinity Publishing USA FSP 356.93 DOWN
35 38 Grosvenor House Publishing UK FSP 354.3 UP
36 40 Acorn Independent Press UK FSP 353.58 UP
37 27 Google Play Books GLOBAL DIY 352.6 DOWN
38 39 The Choir Press UK/USA FSP 351.92 UP
39 37 Wasteland Press USA FSP 351.74 DOWN
40 36 Apex Publishing UK PUB/FSP 350.7 DOWN
41 41 FastPencil USA DIY 348.65 SAME
42 44 Americas Press USA PRT 346.62 UP
43 46 Pumbo EUROPE DIY 346.4 UP
44 43 Tate Publishing USA PUB/ASP 345.93 DOWN
45 49 Xulon Press USA FSP 344.76 UP
46 48 Telemachus Press USA FSP 342.74 UP
47 42 Outskirts Press USA FSP 342.71 DOWN
48 50 Authoright UK/USA FSP 341.02 UP
49 45 Janus Publishing UK FSP 340.38 DOWN
50 57 Book Guild Publishing UK FSP 335.61 UP
51 47 iUniverse USA FSP 334.96 DOWN
52 56 Kazoo Publishing Services IRELAND FSP 334.62 UP
53 55 Open Book Editions USA FSP 334.47 UP
54 54 Diadem Books UK/USA FSP 334.23 SAME
55 58 Pyjama Press UK/EUROPE FSP 333.62 UP
56 53 A.H. Stockwell UK FSP 333.22 DOWN
57 60 Kbuuk USA DIY 331.81 UP
58 59 Direct POD UK PRT 331.64 UP
59 52 Llumina Press USA PUB/FSP 331.18 DOWN
60 51 PubliBook EUROPE DIY 331.09 DOWN
61 61 Eprint Ireland IRELAND PRT 329.43 SAME
62 62 True Directions USA PUB/FSP 327.55 SAME
63 63 Original Writing IRELAND FSP 326.83 SAME
64 64 Abbott Press USA PUB/FSP 326.09 SAME
65 67 Pomegranate Press UK/USA FSP 324.06 UP
66 65 The Book Producers IRELAND FSP 323.64 DOWN
67 68 Better Book Company UK FSP 319.62 UP
68 71 UKUnpublished UK FSP 319.55 UP
69 69 Turning Stone Press USA FSP 319.48 SAME
70 66 Arima UK FSP 318.75 DOWN
71 72 Archway Publishing GLOBAL PUB/FSP 314.24 UP
72 73 Gemini International IRELAND PRT 308.62 UP
73 70 Austin MacAuley UK FSP 307.72 DOWN
74 78 Chandler Book Design UK PRT 302.06 UP
75 80 Choice Publishing IRELAND FSP 300.09 UP
76 76 WestBow Press USA PUB/FSP 299.73 SAME
77 81 Dolman Scott/Oak Press UK FSP 299.46 UP
78 79 Balboa Press GLOBAL PUB/FSP 299.44 UP
79 77 Epic Press UK FSP 297.9 DOWN
80 75 Trafford Publishing USA FSP 295.36 DOWN
81 74 AuthorHouse GLOBAL FSP 294.31 DOWN
82 82 Dorrance Press USA FSP 287.11 SAME
83 83 ShopMyBook (Unibook) GLOBAL PRT 283.37 SAME
84 85 Spire Publishing UK/USA FSP 279.24 UP
85 84 Xlibris GLOBAL FSP 276.82 DOWN
86 86 Spiderwize UK FSP 275.93 SAME
87 88 Dom Tom Publishing UK/USA FSP 253.01 UP
88 87 Melrose Books UK FSP 251.66 DOWN
89 89 Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie UK PUB/FSP 251.65 SAME
90 90 PublishAmerica/America Star Books USA FSP 250.11 SAME
91 91 Olympia Publishers UK PUB/FSP 214.94 SAME
92 92 Raider International Pub./Green Shore GLOBAL FSP 121.29 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.

 

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