Hi Nancy- thanks for posting this. I just published with one of the "other" publishers = one word - nightmare. I wish I's read this before publishing, but hey - lessons learned for next time.

sola

www.solaolu.com

I'd like to offer my quick two-cents, as I'm about to rush out the door . . .

I used BookLocker.com for my memoir and I LOVE THEM!  A set fee with none of the frills added in - you do most of the work, but the price is great.  You communicate via email ONLY, which saves a lot of time, and you have a paper trail of conversations. Take a look at their site and you should be pleasantly surprised, compared to the high priced, can I say rip-offs?.  I was a Buyer in my other life and I know value. This company is long standing and I would recommend them in a heartbeat.  Check our my blog.  http://diaryofavetswife.blogspot.com. The problems I incurred were not them, but my peeps.  And they're very patient.

Now I must run . . . :) 

I got to say I had my share of up and downs when it comes to self-publishing companies. Being only 17 I didn't want people to take advantage of me but I really wanted to self-publish. So I spent three months researching every company I could find, reading reviews and contacting authors, when I came upon a book called The Fine Print of Self-Publishing by Mark Levine. This was a gold mine, Mark takes a great deal of the self-publishing companies and lays out their contract, royalties, printing costs, customer service, and more! After reading the book I chose the company Wasteland press. Fast forward to when I got my first cover concept and it was pink. Now I'm a girl but I had explained that this book wasn't a happy girly book it about a fight and struggle not unicorns and fluffy clouds. Back before they had even sent me the first cover concept they had told me that if I wasn't happy with the cover they would redo it. Writing back to them I explained that a pink cover is not portraying the story as I wanted the book to be a book for boys and girls, and I don't know how many guys would pick up a pink book. They wrote back saying the cover wasn't suppose to portray to the story but just get readers to buy the book. So your saying if I wrote a book about a dog you'd put a cat on the cover? Well before I could respond to the email they returned my money and that was it. It was defiantly hard for I had been polite and understanding they just didn't follow through on their end. So going back to the drawing board I found my second choice Dog Ear Publishing. After contacting them with a question they invited me to come and visit their office to talk face to face, taking them up on their offer as they are located only two hours away. After meeting with them I was hook, they were friendly and understanding. So I signed to work with them, in a week I'll get my first proof of the book and I'll see how it goes but so far they have been extremely helpful and excited to work with me. Many people are against self-publishing but I believe you can't be against it until you've tried it. I know this was long but I hope in some way it was helpful, you can always message me with any questions!

A writer friend of mine had issues with her cover art, to the point that right before the launch date she walked and went to a different company. She was stressed and upset big time! But, in the end the launch went off as planned and she's had a lot of success because of the cover art she wanted to begin with.