Balboa Press Reviews 544

If you're serious about publishing a book, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. My experience with this publisher was incredibly disappointing. They made a number of appealing promises upfront, but the contract included clauses that effectively overrode those commitments, leaving me feeling misled.
One of the most frustrating aspects was the lack of transparency after release. Authors are not provided with any sales data for the first six months, which means you have no visibility on how your book is performing during a critical period. For a publishing company, this lack of communication and accountability is hard to justify.
Overall, the process felt disorganised and poorly managed. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this publisher to anyone looking for a professional and transparent partnership.

I disliked the fact that since having my book published they pass on royalty payments to a company called Content distributors who neve listen to payment problems. I live and work in the UK, never worked in the states. They send cheques made out in Us dollars which originally I had to pay my bank to cash. I have informed Content and sent two forms that they said they needed. nothing ever done. I pay tax in the UK and yet they are also taxing me in the US. You would think after my original contract is with Balboa they would sort this problem. they have had 5 years to do this, but No!!! I now have received a US tax assessment form...for want of a better name. I can no longer get a foreign cheque cashed or exchanged without losing a huge percentage. Balboa get your act together. I am taxed in US and declared in UK. all for tiny amounts of royalty payments. I can not recommend you at all because you just don't care!!!

I published my book through Balboa Press and want to share my experience so other authors can make an informed decision.
The initial publishing process was not straightforward for me. It took months to complete because of the high upfront costs, and I was surprised at how expensive the service was for what is essentially formatting, assigning an ISBN, and making the book available online.
As someone on a disability pension, this was a significant financial commitment for me. I poured a great deal of time and energy into writing my book. It was a labour of love that I worked on while recovering from cervical spine surgery, which made these costs even more difficult to justify in hindsight.
After publication, it became very clear that their model relies heavily on encouraging authors to spend more money. I was provided with multiple documents explaining that in order to succeed, I would need to invest further into marketing, direct sales, and purchasing my own book stock.
While I understand that self-publishing requires effort from the author, the way this was presented felt more like a sales process than genuine support. There are no guarantees of sales, and ultimately all responsibility falls on the author, despite the significant upfront investment already made.
I also requested a small number of author copies for personal use, and the pricing offered was extremely disappointing. After printing, shipping, and fees, the cost per book was very close to the retail price, meaning there is little to no meaningful author discount.
Overall, this experience made me realise that you are essentially paying a premium for services you could source elsewhere at a much lower cost, while still being expected to handle all marketing and sales yourself.
I would strongly recommend that new authors thoroughly research alternatives before committing, particularly platforms that offer more transparency, lower costs, and greater control.

Balboa Publishing a division of Hay House. Don't! Just don't. If you're like me you worked hard to pour everything into your book and now you want to publish it. They took my money in advance and called it subscription so it would be harder for me to get it back. Then they did nothing for six months. They didn't even give me an orientation. Since they had me captive they took full advantage of it by charging e $5,000 for editing 250 pages and would have charged me $12,500 for a voice actor and 11 hours of voice. If you've ever looked up prices you can tell that these are outrageous. But what go the was the utter lack of value they provided. No artistic creativity. No instruction of what they needed from me or what the process is. No communication with anyone where the wait was not 48 hours.

I would not recommend publishing your book through Balboa Press.

My experience with them has now lasted nearly a year and has cost over $10,000. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have made the same decision.

Communication has been one of the biggest challenges. It is very difficult to reach anyone by phone, and most communication happens through email with long delays between responses. When issues arise, you are often directed from one person or department to another, which makes resolving problems slow and frustrating.

I also paid an additional fee for custom cover design. Unfortunately, the design work I received was far below what I expected for a professional publishing service. The revision process was difficult, and I often felt that my concerns about the design quality were dismissed rather than addressed constructively.

During the editing process—which I paid $1,500 for—their editors introduced a typo into the manuscript. Unfortunately, I did not catch the error during the final proof review. I had assumed that after paying for professional editing, errors introduced during editing would be corrected if discovered later.

When I contacted them to fix the mistake after the book had already been printed and promoted, I was told that I would need to pay $350 to correct the error, even though it was introduced during their editing process.

Over the course of this year, I have submitted multiple requests to customer service through email and the contact forms on their website asking for assistance with various issues. Unfortunately, the support has been minimal and slow.

Publishing a book is an important milestone for many authors. Based on my experience, I would encourage anyone considering working with this company to do extensive research and fully understand the process before making the investment.

Bad experience. They took thousands from me. About $3k aud plus and they print your book. But then no sales. They offer you a service that you can actually do yourself. It's quite a scam really.

Balboa Press had been hounding me for years after my first inquiry.
They eventually offered a very heavily discounted price to publish my book. This was a bait.
Unfortunately I engaged with them. They are misleading and deceptive in there behaviour is my experiance.
I stopped the engagement / first payment on the first day. They do not disclose other cost necessary to successfully publish. Its a trap IMO.
I have had to write a letter of demand and the engage my Lawyer just to get refunded for my initial payment.
I strongly recommend ``not`` to do any business with Balboa Press.

Balboa’s marketing service is of very poor quality. I submitted my materials three months ago, and even after chasing them with numerous emails, they were still asking for my documents. All the marketing services were delayed, and communication was extremely poor. Then they produced and released horrible images for a social media campaign without consulting me first. All the money I invested feels completely wasted.

Run as fast as you can. I spent money on a quick publishing and did not sign up for marketing so now i am out of the money i paid for the orginal promise package and no book at all..

Balboa Publishing a division of Hay House. Don't! Just don't. If you're like me you worked hard to pour everything into your book and now you want to publish it. They took my money in advance and called it subscription so it would be harder for me to get it back. Then they did nothing for six months. They didn't even give me an orientation. Since they had me captive they took full advantage of it by charging e $5,000 for editing 250 pages and would have charged me $12,500 for a voice actor and 11 hours of voice. If you've ever looked up prices you can tell that these are outrageous. But what go the was the utter lack of value they provided. No artistic creativity. No instruction of what they needed from me or what the process is. No communication with anyone where the wait was not 48 hours.

Don't waste your time here. And if Hay House is associated with Balboa I would view them with a suspicious eye. I told hay House of my issues and they stood by Balboa. I've gotten $4,000 out of $15,000 so far by working with my CC company. I'm not letting them get away with taking advantage of me. And they likely take advantage of all their clients as I note a preponderance of negative reviews.

I chose Balboa after looking at many Self Publishing options. I started working with Balboa 14 months ago when I published my first book. Since then we have published 4 books together, and are working on a few more!
The guidance I receive from the Publishing Agents help me produce beautiful books that I am so proud of!
Another positive is the price. Self publishing can be pricey, and I found Balboa to be a great value! I have recommended them to others who are on the path to publishing as they are not only great at what they do, they are flexible and kind.

Do not go near them! They are riding on the shirt tales of Louise Hay who started HayHouse with such good intentions. Now if you want to be a Hayhouse author you have to go through Balboa - and they are unbeleivably innefficient, slow to act and quick to upsell and I wish I had never gone near them - dont make the same mistake as me. Another publishing company needs to take over if Hayhouse wants to keep their good reputation. Self publishing is so much easier now and you would think they would be working harder for you to give you the incentive to pay them. Also remember people who want to be Hayhouse Authors are genuine spiritual caring people - and they tend not to complain, yet look at the reviews here! Balboa do not care about you or your book, they want your money. They are not people who Louise Hay would choose. They have ruined what was a good thing. They even charge for reviews and then give bad sloppy chaotic and not well thought, our objective ones!

They are Scammers. They take your money and steal your book and then disappear. They will never send you the royalties/sales from the copies of your book!!!

At first, everything seemed professional — lots of friendly calls, special offers, and the credibility of being linked to Hay House. But once I paid, the tone changed. The support became minimal, everything useful (like editing or proofreading) cost extra, and I never knew who I was actually working with. No transparency, no real guidance, just a menu of overpriced services.

I canceled — and lost a significant amount of money due to contract terms I hadn’t fully understood. A hard and expensive lesson.

Balboa Press might work for some, but if you're looking for real support, editorial quality, and transparency would recommend to look elsewhere.

If only I could give no stars. This has been the very worst experience with Balboa Press. They are only out for money in my experience. They are verbally abusive gaslight to make money. They made mistakes and charged me for their mistakes denying it was their fault. My book came to a halt due to them.
They won’t refund my money even for marketing which never happened because they won’t finish my book because I won’t pay more. Don’t work with them at all!
I was refunded 100% of the marketing fee and only 25% of the production fee which wherein lied the problem.so in the end I paid for a book that was never properly published.

Honesty would be a great place to start? If a book sells nothing in 3 months why would extra money help????? Why would they praise it if it isn't selling? Why would more than a thousand people praise it on Instagram????????
I have never come across a more dishonest company in my life. The problem is that the book was a true story and aimed to help wildlife around the world. Now that will not happen. THEY DRAINED MY MONEY AND TOLD ME IT NEVER SOLD ONE BOOK IN THE FIRST 3 MONTHS? i FIND THAT VERY QUESTIONABLE AND DOES NOT FIT WITH THE STRANGERS THAT CONTACTED ME TO SAY THEY LOVED IT.
i am a first time author who has been ripped off by this company
Mike Bunce

I have been working with a lovely lady named Ann Minoza at Balboa Press, and I can't sing her praises enough. In a process that can be overwhelming, she has gone out of her way to make my publishing experience easy and enjoyable, and I am so appreciative. I will be a repeat customer for a long time to come!

Balboa Press / Hay House has made joining their company really easy. John, my Publishing Consultant was friendly and walked me through the process. I felt confident in making the decision to self-publish and John and the process really supported me in my decision. I feel like I am on my way.

Warning Australian and international writers!!!! Do not do what I did!!!! I have reviewed three times during the journey. I have spent well over $10,000 AU dollars with Balboa. Believing their promises. The chronic upselling pressure was horrendous. My book is out there in the world, on Balboa and in all online shops!!!!! Google it - take a look. I have only ever received $106. So unless you buy direct from my own author site Hazel Rose .com.au - I will not see any royalties. (Spirit Being Human- Discovering resilience after trauma, 2023). In hindsight I would never have believed the bullshit about the required marketing, book fairs etc! I would have kept my money and gone with an Australian self publishing company. I still get calls today from ‘many other publishing companies’ - whom I believe is Balboa and Author Solutions phishing. It’s always the same voice on the phone- avoid any calls from numbers starting with +1 (888) 9941168. Now I am forced to order my own books through Balboa to sell them privately. I will eventually seek a literary lawyer and republish my first book, along with the next 6. HANG UP the phone when they call.

RE: Response from Balboa below...>>>>if you really cared and are sorry about me as a client, you would pay me back every cent I have paid for marketing -because your marketing promises never happened. If they did happen> show me photo's of sellers selling hard copies at stands, statistics of sales, are you trying to say nobody has bought any copies? anywhere in the world? I find that very hard to believe!! The exchange rate between Australia and US, is that to blame for my lack of sales? Are my bank details wrong? Wheres the money Balboa? Amazon is selling my book for $42 when the retail Balboa suggested is $25.95AU- where is the money? Its my life and story nobody else's!!!!!!!!! COME CLEAN with your customers and show them the loyalty and respect they deserve. PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL and include the money trail- and explain where it has gone.

Many of the positive reviews are in reference to the book publication process. My experience was, likewise, very positive. My poor rating, however, has to do with Balboa's marketing. Their objective is to sell their author's overpriced campaigns with no real guidance on how best to market their book. For example, given the subject, how to best develop a personalized campaign for your book? What would be the preferred format and marketing focus? Is your book best suited for e-book, audio, best social media platform? Do not expect true marketing guidance! After paying for the "campaigns" no statistical analysis is provided on the effectiveness of the campaign...yours of even in general. So, the bottom line is, Balboa's marketing focus is to upsell services not to help truly market your book. You are on your own!