Publisher Reviews

Self-publishing book services reviewed in detail by SPR’s community of experts and bloggers

The Choir Press Review

The Choir Press, based in Gloucester, was founded in 1982 as a book solution service provider, initially to the publishing trade, but with the advances in the Internet and book technology, they began making their services available to self-publishing authors in 1997. The Choir Press has produced book solution services to some of the largest and smallest publishers in the UK, including A&C Black, Macmillan, Andre Deutsch, Blackwell, Harrap and Piatkus.

Our services include editing, proofreading, design, page layout, preparation of print-ready files and delivery of your finished books. Marketing support is available for books which have been professionally

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2017-02-12T09:11:12+02:00April 16th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|Tags: |

Grosvenor House Publishing Review

Amazon.co.uk Titles – 293

Amazon.com Titles – 298

Grosvenor House Publishing is based in Surrey, England and one of its directors is successful self-published author Graham P. Taylor. The English vicar self-published Shadowmancer in 2002, a children’s novel, and in less than a year, Taylor had signed deals with Faber UK and Penguin Putnam USA. In many ways, Taylor followed the blueprint that all self-published authors should follow. He started selling his work to his local church-goers and after doing public signings and appearances locally, the success of his book slowly grew into a national story itself. His own life […]

2017-02-12T09:11:07+02:00April 15th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|Tags: |

Trafford Publishing Review

Amazon.co.uk titles – 12,261

Amazon.com titles – 12,465

 

Trafford Publishing is one of the largest author solution service companies in the world using print-on-demand digital print technology. They are a Canadian company but with a considerable presence in the UK and USA. You cannot browse the Internet for ‘self-publishing’ and not come across companies like Trafford and AuthorHouse. They are the Behemoths of the industry.

Unlike other smaller author solution companies, Trafford openly welcome direct contact with them through email and phone calls because they have a skilled team of direct sales representatives who can deal day to day […]

2017-02-12T09:10:50+02:00March 16th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|Tags: |

Spire Publishing Review

Spire Publishing first began life as UK based PABD (Publish And Be Damned). It was renamed Spire in late 2006 and although a Canadian company, it has still retained a significant presence in the UK.

“Welcome to Spire Publishing where self publishing a book is simple and affordable.

Your book is published with the same care and attention that it took you to write it. When you publish your book with Spire Publishing it can be designed, published and available for purchase worldwide within six weeks.”

Spire Publishing do have three on line bookstores, (UK, USA and Canada), but all […]

2017-02-12T09:10:54+02:00March 16th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|Tags: |

The Sony PRS-505 E-Reader

I need to preface this review by stating that I am not an expert on e-readers.  I may run the Self-Publishing Review, but I’ve never actually put my hands on a Kindle.  But as I’m getting an increasing number of submissions via PDF it’s of course necessary to have an e-reader of my own.  This is core to why I chose the Sony PRS-505 E-Reader over the Kindle.  For the most part I am using it as an overgrown PDF reader.  So Kindle’s wireless capability did not really matter to me, as purchasing ebooks is not my main […]

2011-10-08T19:25:44+02:00March 5th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

AuthorHouse Review

AuthorHouse Self Publishing Book Company AuthorHouse is one of the best known, and most widely-used, print on demand self-publishers, but it did not begin so auspiciously.  It was started in 1997 as 1st Books by an author who was fed up with rejections.  Unfortunately, 1st Books was met with a barrage of complaints about the service – including print quality and being overly-charged at an hourly rate for services.  In 2001, 1st Books got a facelift and changed its name to AuthorHouse.  Since that point, it has grown steadily and hasn’t been targeted with the same type of complaints as 1st Books – which some […]

2014-01-08T20:51:39+02:00February 25th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

York Publishing Services Review

I came across York Publishing Services in the ‘Writers & Artists Yearbook 2009’ which I got a hold of in January. No matter how much research you do in this business, week by week, you are always uncovering something or someone you never came across before. YPS is one of the most established companies in the UK, operating for more than 30 years in the print and publishing service industry. YPS provide everything from design, editing, fulfilment, warehousing and distribution of books from the large publisher right down to authors with a just single title. I have talked a lot […]

2017-02-12T09:10:46+02:00February 16th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|Tags: |

Completely Novel Review

CompletelyNovel.com is a new self-publishing service that is, well, completely novel.  It’s also completely new so there are some features of the site that are not yet in full working condition.  The basic premise of Completely Novel is that users can publish books using a variant on the Lulu system:

  1. Upload a document and covert it to PDF.
  2. Use a cover creator – surprisingly good for an online creator.  The covers don’t necessarily look self-published
  3. Set price.

Where Completely Novel is more unique is that instead of using one printer to print up a book, users will have a choice […]

2011-10-08T19:30:39+02:00February 10th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|
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