Balboa Press Reviews 

Five star . Smooth transactions and lost of support

I will send a mail, I am not really very happy, lots of communication gaps

Thanks

The team was helpful in the entire process.

At first i thought it was a scam but then later on realized that it was legit, the workers are so kind and understanding,

After my intake call with Nick Salazar the intake coordinator I decided not to proceed with the contract after he informed me that the cover can not be submitted until the manuscript is completed and they approve it. And the covers are very similar as they are stock images unless 2 images are merged.

I don't call this quality work. I asked to discontinue the process and cancel. It has been a week and still NO response from anyone at Balboa to get my deposit back, no response in email or phone call from the Sales Person Lisa Vyas.

I called the bank to dispute charges and contacted my lawyer.

At least they can respectfully do is respond to my email.

A 1 star rating for me. So disapointed.

my questions went unanswered. although I fully explained my work they do not read it and thus they they misrepresented the content. I was promised help that I have never received even though it was paid for. they lied about the way royalties were paid until they had my money so I asked for a refund before they completed the contract and they just went silent. I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy! there are other companies that treat you better and don't charge as much where 100% of royalties are yours.

Finally publishing my book, "In Search Of The Rainbow Power". I have always wanted to publish but thought it was just too hard. Balboa Press has turned all of that around, they made it easy. All through the process they have been their to help and to encourage. Without them I would still be sitting at home wondering, I can't thank them enough.

The book fulfillment was great. The cover work and the web design are great. However, without any guidance or insight from Balboa press, my book was published without anyone telling me how far behind the other fulfillment departments are. One month after my book release I had called to see were my books included in my package were, only to find out that I was supposed to call someone to send them to me. I had no idea about this, and because I had them sent USPS, it took another ten days for Balboa just to get them in the mail, also another ten days for me to receive them. One and a half months after my book release, I was finally given the webpage proofs, and I approved my web page design. Eleven weeks after my book was released, Balboa finally activated my web page, and even then it was only because I complained about it to a manager. Three weeks ago I approved all of my business cards, book marks, book stubs, posters and such. Today I got an email telling me that I should get them in four to six weeks, which will be almost five months since my book's publication. Not exactly the way I wanted to get my book off of the ground. I've been told that Balboa is short staffed and each fulfillment department is inundated with work. But this shouldn't have become my problem, unfortunately it did, because I was never advised about the delays. I would have gladly held off on my book's release, had I been advised of all the delays. This has not been the book release that I had expected or wanted, nor has it been the level of expertise or the level of customer services that I was expecting from Balboa Press. My book and my website look great, but these delays have left me and my book's release looking very unprofessional.

I would highly recommend working with Balboa Press to self-publish your book! The entire team has been exceptional every step of the way, providing this first-time author the support and guidance necessary to launch my memoir successfully. I will definitely reach out to Balboa Press without hesitation when I'm ready to publish my second book.

Regular contact from Balboa resulted in a high standard of communication between us. Prompt follow-up regarding enquiries was helpful and appreciated.
I am likely to contact Balboa again should I produce another manuscript.

The publishing process with Balboa was excellent. I have used their services twice now and am pleased with the product.

"Opening a Can of Words" was my first effort at publishing a book. Balboa Press offered me excellent support throughout the whole process. Whenever a problem arose, I was shown how to navigate my way through it in an encouraging way. A crop of emails to Balboa are proof positive that the lines of communication were always open and the replies were prompt. I was delighted with the way the cover turned out and with the physical quality of the printing which add to the reader-friendliness of the book. I would certainly recommend Balboa to any new author looking for a supportive publisher.

I just published my 12th book with BalboaPress and great admiration for the people I have worked with. James Bauman is wonderful, a true professional. Same goes for Mary Oxley. Both are great and you are very lucky to have them as a part of your team. Other publishers have tried to lure me away but James can’t be replaced he’s that good! Thanks. Hank Maly

Very helpful with every step of the process. Package pricing is very reasonable. Responses were very timely and effective.

I have had to follow up constantly and re write the press release etc that has been provided. The release has grammar and spelling errors. I could have written it myself and not purchased these services.

In the future I would use a marketing or firm to support all marketing as this is not Balboa expertise. The communication has felt inconsistent and confusing and it’s been a lengthy process once the book was published to get the other services completed.

One thing I didn’t know that they should have answered when I asked was how to take my self published version off Amazon. They said it would be no problem but I now have two versions and my first version is selling versus the balboa copy.

If you are a self published author ✍️ you may want to think about this prior to going this route.

I initially, in looking for a publishing house, who would accept text in 'Word' format, rather than me having to convert text to InDesign chose to approach Xlibris. That was a disaster - the sales person denied me nothing - "everything on my wants-list was possible / "I'll fix it". It was not possible.

My work was an annotated picture book. I have not counted the actual number of images but I was aware that Xlibris limited the number of images, per book to 25. Eventually I was contacted by Jane Cole of Author Solutions. She told me that her brief, (through Xlibris), limited images to 25. Any images beyond that number would be 'ignored'. Xlibris marketing became a real annoyance selling 'dreaams - at a price and would not listen.

That was an impossible situation. I called a halt and was penalised half the monies I had already paid having cancelled the deal.

I then realised that Author Solutions was the parent company (same Bloomington, Illinois address) and approached Balboa Press. I now knew
what I needed to ascertain was possible. I knew what I wanted and I was much more confident that the Balboa Press sales person knew what he was talking about and understood my need for a fixed format print with a lot of images.

My biggest problem with the many Balboa people who called me was that no-one had seen my draft and knew what I was needing to achieve. Balboa Press people are trained to read from a pre-scribed script and are not trained to answer queries. Phone-calls became difficult but both sides persevered and we eventually got there.

Only some Balboa / Author Solutions people reply to e-massages / concerns.

I believe that monies held back by Xlibris / Author Solutions are owed to me.
Someone called Al Sampson, of Author Solutions has ignored a number of requests for resolution.

I have said in a previous survey that I would consider publishing again with Balboa - I still might.

excellent service, excellent staff, quick response time, thank you!

My experience with Balboa has been amazing.
I am so proud of my achievement and couldn't have done it without the support through the process.

I wish I could give zero stars.
They are interested in you until they get your money then they go into ignoring mode never giving royalties they send you a US cheque you can't cash in Australia then say you have to wait a year for the cheque to expire.
I haven't seen anything I assume they want to hold everyone's money as long as possible. I'm publishing my next book myself. Hay house should be embarrassed to be associated with balboa press at this point!