Publishing Service Index: December 2016 (Notes Included) | The Independent Publishing Magazine

This is the PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX for December 2016. Our last index was released back in late May/early June, and at one stage we released the index on an almost monthly basis. In compiling the index, month-to-month, I found the work involved to update the 90+ companies and service providers was not being compensated by enough changes in the overall index over a short period of weeks. Indeed, some months the changes were very modest, and sometimes hardly noticeable. I decided to hold off releasing an index during the summer because I began to see some changes within the service industry providers and I decided to see how these would all play out as the year progressed.

This month’s index reflects some of those changes and there are some trends and developments worth discussing.

Firstly, there are a number of providers who have either opted to exit the publishing service market or completely shuttered their companies and platforms. We reported earlier this year that service provider Original Writing, based in Ireland, had gone out of business. This was also followed by the closures of UKUnpublished, Spire Publishing and True Directions. Open Book Editions has also decided to remodel its business and operate as a standard industry imprint, dropping its publishing services. Dom Tom Publishing now primarily concentrates on a very small core of authors who set up the imprint. Penguin-owned Book Country recently announced that it too was dropping its publishing service options and will revert to its origins as a reader/author community. You will still find these entities at the bottom of the current December index, but they will all be removed from the first released index in 2017.

I also suspect they will not be the only ones. The publishing service industry is becoming increasingly competitive and it is becoming very clear that more and more authors are seeking the flexibility and economy of freemium platforms, freelance marketplaces and direct online sales channels. They want empowerment and the direct tools to publish, and preferably online, whether their intentions are for a print or ebook release, or both. The dominate era of convenient but often expensive publishing packages (and those service providers who still stick rigidly to this paper-driven, high print markups, and low revenue return for authors) looks doomed.

Nothing could underscore this more than the astonishing drop in the December Publishing Service Index of much-loved and Amazon-owned print-on-demand platform CreateSpace. Since the inception of the index in 2010, CreateSpace has been one of the kingpins of the index, and rarely outside the top two positions, sometimes for months on end holding the number one position. CreateSpace now sits 9th, a fall of seven places in just six months. But it’s not all bad for Amazon, its KDP platform, following a very shaky 18 months, is back at the top ahead of IngramSpark. The top ten remains dominated by free or economic, easy-to-use (for the most part) platforms, while well-established publishing service providers like Matador, Mill City Press and Silverwood Books (surprisingly, perhaps) continue to adapt and carve a place for themselves in an ever-changing marketplace. Hillcrest Media, operating Mill City Press and several other book print and service platforms, was bought out by Salem Media Group in 2016, which also owns and runs self-publishing service Xulon Press.

What has also struck me as significant in compiling the Publishing Service Index for December is the ‘culling’ of listed print titles by many service providers during the latter part of 2016. I noted in 2015 that the output of quite a number of providers offering full packaged services was down on 2015, and that trend continues in 2016. I noted this in June when we published the last index:

One significant noted point during the preparation of the May index is that a number of larger publishing service providers’ listed catalogue shrunk between two to five percent compared to our March index. This will happen occasionally as providers ‘spring clean’ their catalogues, but the amount of reduction seen over the past month suggests that this is beyond just a yearly review of author accounts and databases. Again, this is lightly a reflection of a continuing shift away from publishing package providers to DIY self-publishing platforms. Clearly, large package providers are not experiencing the expansive growth seen between 2012-15. The freemium/DIY platforms now dominate the self-publishing market for authors as a first choice, with fewer authors choosing the assisted/tailored service providers.

But now I think there is more to it than a simple decline in packaged services sold to authors, rather, the same service providers are carrying out an extensive ‘spring clean’ in their available POD catalogues pushed out to distribution channels. Whether this means publishing service providers are now scrapping for additional revenue (to offset the decline in service package take-up) by charging authors annually to keep print titles in the distributions channels (when that may have originally included the perpetual fee in the overall package cost) remains to be seen. Originally, some providers charged an annual fee for channel distribution listing, others did not. The other explanation is that self-published authors who went with large publishing service providers are now reclaiming their titles and moving wholesale to platforms like KDP, IngramSpark and Kobo with the flexibility and assistance of the freelance market provided by companies like Reedsy.

TIPM continues to receive regular feedback on services through comments under our reviews, via our TIPM Facebook page, and directly to us. 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.

DEC POS	MAY POS	COMPANY/SERVICE PROVIDER	PRIMARY COMPANY BASEMARKET	SERVICE CLASS	MAY INDEX VALUE	INDEX POS MOVE
1	3	Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)	GLOBAL	DIY	806.69	UP
2	1	IngramSpark	GLOBAL	PRT/FSP	776.60	DOWN
3	4	Matador	UK	FSP	694.10	UP
4	5	Smashwords	USA	DIY	673.30	UP
5	6	Kobo Writing Life	GLOBAL	DIY	608.01	UP
6	7	Hillcrest Media/Mill City Press	USA	PUB/FSP	586.00	UP
7	8	SilverWood Books	UK	FSP	568.69	UP
8	9	Lightning Source (Direct)	GLOBAL	PRT/FUL	565.20	UP
9	2	CreateSpace	USA	PRT/FSP	558.60	DOWN
10	10	Blurb	GLOBAL	DIY	534.50	SAME
11	13	Thomson-Shore	USA	FSP	483.10	UP
12	12	BookLocker	USA	FSP	482.91	SAME
13	11	Draft2Digital	UK/USA	DIY	481.88	DOWN
14	14	Epigraph Publishing Service	USA	FSP	444.97	SAME
15	15	Dog Ear Publishing	USA	FSP	439.61	SAME
16	16	Selfpublishing.com	USA	PRT/FUL	435.58	SAME
17	17	Publish Green	GLOBAL	FSP	431.54	SAME
18	22	Mijn Bestseller	EUROPE	DIY	417.07	UP
19	20	Pressbooks	USA	DIY	414.40	UP
20	18	Lulu	USA	DIY/FSP	411.41	DOWN
21	19	Bookbaby	USA	DIY/FSP	411.40	DOWN
22	21	Unbound	UK	PUB/CRW	408.29	DOWN
23	23	York Publishing Services	UK	PRT/FULL	404.97	SAME
24	24	CPI UK Antony Rowe	EUROPE	PRT	396.37	SAME
25	25	John Hunt Publishing	GLOBAL	PUB/FSP	391.26	SAME
26	26	Wingspan	USA	FSP	384.90	SAME
27	28	Google Play Books	GLOBAL	DIY	380.27	UP
28	27	Aventine	USA	FSP	373.40	DOWN
29	29	eBookIT	GLOBAL	DIY/FSP	372.24	SAME
30	30	Checkpoint Press	IRELAND	PUB/FSP	371.93	SAME
31	34	SelfPublishBooks/Lettertec	IRELAND	FSP	368.54	UP
32	35	Grosvenor House Publishing	UK	FSP	368.06	UP
33	31	Wheatmark Publishing	USA	FSP	367.12	DOWN
34	32	Cold River Studio	USA	FSP	367.02	DOWN
35	36	The Choir Press	UK/USA	FSP	365.83	UP
36	36	VirtualBookWorm	USA	FSP	364.20	DOWN
37	38	Book Guild Publishing	UK	FSP	362.95	UP
38	37	Wasteland Press	USA	FSP	360.74	DOWN
39	39	Infinity Publishing	USA	FSP	360.70	SAME
40	41	Acorn Independent Press	UK	FSP	353.57	UP
41	43	Americas Press	USA	PRT	352.66	UP
42	42	Apex Publishing	UK	PUB/FSP	350.61	SAME
43	44	FastPencil	USA	DIY	348.80	UP
44	47	Authoright	UK/USA	FSP	347.03	UP
45	45	Telemachus Press	USA	FSP	346.68	SAME
46	46	Pumbo	EUROPE	DIY	346.48	SAME
47	48	Janus Publishing	UK	FSP	342.31	UP
48	49	Xulon Press	USA	FSP	341.17	UP
49	50	Outskirts Press	USA	FSP	340.88	UP
50	51	Tate Publishing	USA	PUB/FSP	338.93	UP
51	54	Kazoo Publishing Services	IRELAND	FSP	338.62	UP
52	55	Diadem Books	UK/USA	FSP	338.23	UP
53	53	A.H. Stockwell	UK	FSP	337.20	SAME
54	58	Llumina Press	USA	PUB/FSP	335.19	UP
55	57	Pyjama Press	UK/EUROPE	FSP	333.61	UP
56	56	PubliBook	EUROPE	DIY	332.60	SAME
57	60	Direct POD	UK	PRT	331.74	UP
58	59	Kbuuk	USA	DIY	331.40	UP
59	63	Eprint Ireland	IRELAND	PRT	329.43	UP
60	61	iUniverse	USA	FSP	328.79	UP
61	64	Pomegranate Press	UK/USA	FSP	324.05	UP
62	65	The Book Producers	IRELAND	FSP	323.63	UP
63	66	Arima	UK	FSP	322.75	UP
64	67	Turning Stone Press	USA	FSP	321.46	UP
65	68	Abbott Press	USA	PUB/FSP	320.07	UP
66	69	Better Book Company	UK	FSP	319.61	UP
67	71	Gemini International	IRELAND	PRT	314.62	UP
68	72	Archway Publishing	GLOBAL	PUB/FSP	308.49	UP
69	75	Chandler Book Design	UK	PRT	304.13	UP
70	73	Dolman Scott/Oak Press	UK	FSP	303.34	UP
71	74	Choice Publishing	IRELAND	FSP	302.06	UP
72	76	WestBow Press	USA	PUB/FSP	300.04	UP
73	77	Epic Press	UK	FSP	297.89	UP
74	78	Austin MacAuley	UK	FSP	295.32	UP
75	80	Trafford Publishing	GLOBAL	FSP	291.35	UP
76	79	Balboa Press	GLOBAL	PUB/FSP	291.19	UP
77	81	Spiderwize	UK	FSP	283.93	UP
78	82	ShopMyBook (Unibook)	GLOBAL	PRT	283.40	UP
79	83	Dorrance Press	USA	FSP	281.05	UP
80	84	AuthorHouse	GLOBAL	FSP	272.68	UP
81	85	Xlibris	GLOBAL	FSP	263.48	UP
82	87	Melrose Books	UK	FSP	253.66	UP
83	90	PublishAmerica/America/Star Books	USA	FSP	244.39	UP
84	89	Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie	UK	PUB/FSP	225.54	UP
85	87	Olympia Publishers	UK	PUB/FSP	177.71	UP
86	40	Book Country*	GLOBAL	FSP	124.60	DOWN
87	93	Raider International Pub./Green Shore	GLOBAL	FSP	109.30	UP
88	52	Open Book Editions*	USA	FSP	58.36	DOWN
89	88	Dom Tom Publishing**	UK/USA	FSP	56.00	DOWN
90	62	True Directions***	USA	PUB/FSP	52.06	DOWN
91	70	UKUnpublished***	UK	FSP	38.00	DOWN
92	86	Spire Publishing***	UK/USA	FSP	38.00	DOWN
93	92	Original Writing***	IRELAND	FSP	10.09	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

* Denotes that company no longer offers publishing services

** Denotes former service provider turned traditional publisher

*** Denotes that publisher/imprint no longer exists or has closed operations

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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