Publishing Service Index: October 2015

indexOct_2015
indexOct_2015This is the PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX for October 2015. We are a little late with this month’s index, but it does include our latest review of Epigraph Publishing Service and all feedback up until the end of October. For the last two months IngramSpark had edged ahead of CreateSpace. However, the Amazon-owned platform returns to the top of the index by a narrow margin.

 

Kobo Writing Life continues its steady rise over the summer months, now rising to a high of 8th. Draft2Digital also continues its steady rise and recently reviewed Epigraph Publishing Service enters into the index for the first time at an impressive 13th. As always, new service providers take a few months to find their natural position in the index and we have yet to field and process direct feedback from author clients of Epigraph. You can find our individual review at this link.

 

One important point of note I would touch upon is the title output of a number of full service providers (FSP), not just in October, but an increasing downturn in output. There were a number of USA and UK FSP’s putting out titles in print and e-book in double figures earlier this year. A number of them have slipped into single-figure output over the past couple of months. I can only extract from this that FSP’s are beginning to struggle in late 2015 to sell the same packages/services they were during the first half of the year.
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.
OCT POS SEP POS COMPANY/SERVICE PROVIDER PRIMARY COMPANY BASEMARKET SERVICE CLASS OCT INDEX VALUE INDEX POS MOVE
1 2 CreateSpace USA DIY/FSP 714.39 UP
2 1 IngramSpark GLOBAL PRT/FUL 711.68 DOWN
3 3 Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) GLOBAL DIY 676.23 SAME
4 4 Smashwords USA DIY 656.11 SAME
5 5 Matador UK FSP 619.9 SAME
6 6 Lightning Source (Direct) GLOBAL PRT/FUL 586.12 SAME
7 7 Hillcrest Media/Mill City Press USA PUB/FSP 553.97 SAME
8 9 Kobo Writing Life GLOBAL DIY 541 UP
9 8 SilverWood Books UK FSP 540.91 DOWN
10 10 Blurb GLOBAL DIY 503.63 SAME
11 11 BookLocker USA FSP 465.29 SAME
12 13 Draft2Digital UK/USA DIY 461.85 UP
13 NEW Epigraph Publishing Service USA FSP 432.94 NEW
14 15 Dog Ear Publishing USA FSP 429.33 UP
15 12 Lulu GLOBAL DIY/FSP 428.34 DOWN
16 16 Publish Green GLOBAL FSP 427.57 SAME
17 14 Bookbaby USA DIY/FSP 422.35 DOWN
18 17 Selfpublishing.com USA PRT/FUL 418.01 DOWN
19 18 Thomson-Shore USA PRT/FSP 407.94 DOWN
20 19 Unbound UK PUB/CRW 404.21 DOWN
21 22 Pressbook USA DIY 402.4 UP
22 20 York Publishing Services UK PRT/FULL 396.77 DOWN
23 21 John Hunt Publishing GLOBAL PUB/FSP 393.37 DOWN
24 24 MyBestseller EUROPE DIY 392.16 SAME
25 25 CPI UK Antony Rowe EUROPE PRT 384.26 SAME
26 23 Wingspan USA FSP 383.05 DOWN
27 26 eBookIT GLOBAL DIY/FSP 374.38 DOWN
28 27 Aventine USA FSP 371.61 DOWN
29 28 Checkpoint Press IRELAND PUB/FSP 365.93 DOWN
30 32 Wheatmark Publishing USA FSP 365.05 UP
31 29 Cold River Studio USA FSP 365.02 DOWN
32 31 VirtualBookVorm USA FSP 364.58 DOWN
33 30 SelfPublishBooks/Lettertec IRELAND FSP 364.53 DOWN
34 33 Book Country GLOBAL FSP 361.85 DOWN
35 34 Infinity Publishing USA FSP 356.96 DOWN
36 35 Grosvenor House Publishing UK FSP 354.31 DOWN
37 36 Acorn Independent Press UK FSP 353.58 DOWN
38 37 The Choir Press UK/USA FSP 351.92 DOWN
39 38 Wasteland Press USA FSP 351.75 DOWN
40 39 Google Play Books GLOBAL DIY 351.6 DOWN
41 40 Apex Publishing UK PUB/FSP 350.71 DOWN
42 41 FastPencil USA DIY 348.69 DOWN
43 42 Americas Press USA PRT 348.62 DOWN
44 44 Tate Publishing USA PUB/ASP 346.05 SAME
45 43 Pumbo EUROPE DIY 344.42 DOWN
46 45 Xulon Press USA FSP 342.82 DOWN
47 46 Outskirts Press USA FSP 342.79 DOWN
48 47 Telemachus Press USA FSP 342.74 DOWN
49 50 Book Guild Publishing UK FSP 341.61 UP
50 48 Authoright UK/USA FSP 341.03 DOWN
51 49 Janus Publishing UK FSP 340.38 DOWN
52 53 Kazoo Publishing Services IRELAND FSP 338.63 UP
53 51 A.H. Stockwell UK FSP 335.22 DOWN
54 54 Open Book Editions USA FSP 334.5 SAME
55 55 Diadem Books UK/USA FSP 334.23 SAME
56 56 Pyjama Press UK/EUROPE FSP 333.62 SAME
57 52 iUniverse USA FSP 333.27 DOWN
58 57 Kbuuk USA DIY 331.91 DOWN
59 58 Direct POD UK PRT 331.67 DOWN
60 59 Llumina Press USA PUB/FSP 331.19 DOWN
61 60 PubliBook EUROPE DIY 330.93 DOWN
62 61 Eprint Ireland IRELAND PRT 329.44 DOWN
63 62 True Directions USA PUB/FSP 327.56 DOWN
64 63 Original Writing IRELAND FSP 326.83 DOWN
65 64 Abbott Press USA PUB/FSP 324.09 DOWN
66 65 Pomegranate Press UK/USA FSP 324.06 DOWN
67 66 The Book Producers IRELAND FSP 323.65 DOWN
68 70 Arima UK FSP 320.74 UP
69 67 Better Book Company UK FSP 319.62 DOWN
70 69 Turning Stone Press USA FSP 319.48 DOWN
71 68 UKUnpublished UK FSP 317.55 DOWN
72 71 Archway Publishing GLOBAL PUB/FSP 312.31 DOWN
73 72 Gemini International IRELAND PRT 308.62 DOWN
74 74 Chandler Book Design UK PRT 302.06 SAME
75 73 Austin MacAuley UK FSP 301.69 DOWN
76 75 Dolman Scott/Oak Press UK FSP 301.47 DOWN
77 76 Choice Publishing IRELAND FSP 300.1 DOWN
78 77 WestBow Press USA PUB/FSP 299.96 DOWN
79 78 Epic Press UK FSP 297.88 DOWN
80 79 Balboa Press GLOBAL PUB/FSP 295.61 DOWN
81 80 Trafford Publishing USA FSP 295.46 DOWN
82 81 AuthorHouse GLOBAL FSP 294.62 DOWN
83 82 Dorrance Press USA FSP 287.12 DOWN
84 83 ShopMyBook (Unibook) GLOBAL PRT 283.38 DOWN
85 85 Spiderwize UK FSP 275.94 SAME
86 84 Spire Publishing UK/USA FSP 275.24 DOWN
87 86 Xlibris GLOBAL FSP 269.27 DOWN
88 87 Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie UK PUB/FSP 253.64 DOWN
89 89 Melrose Books UK FSP 251.66 SAME
90 90 PublishAmerica/America Star Books USA FSP 251.38 SAME
91 88 Dom Tom Publishing UK/USA FSP 251.01 DOWN
92 91 Olympia Publishers UK PUB/FSP 202.91 DOWN
93 92 Raider International Pub./Green Shore GLOBAL FSP 121.29 DOWN

 

(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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