This 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.
Pingback: Indie authors thrive in contested digital market | Self-Publishing Author Advice from The Alliance of Independent Authors