WestBow Press Reviews 833

What I didn't like: I had many emails from many different people telling me they were my team member. There were so many, I couldn't remember who was who and what they represented. Also, I felt the costs could have been more clear up front. It was more than I expected.
What I liked: The people were all very kind, courteous, and helpful. Anytime I asked questions, they promptly replied. It was very pleasant working with them and would do so again.

For the most part, Westbow has been a great partner during the publishing process. I think the publishing package included the critical elements needed to get my book out.The associates were helpful and worked the process efficiently. Only two things caused me some concern, one of them had to do with the 'devil in the detail', in which I was surprised several times by additional costs. The other was in the lack of updates between milestones, where weeks would pass without an update.

For me, as someone new to the world of publishing, Westbow was very helpful through every stage.

The Westbow Press Team and Author Solutions helped me to publish my author illustrated books with a message of truth, love and hope in God's Word. I spent decades attending and paying for writing conferences, writing groups, illustration groups, meeting with editors and publishers with no book in hand. With Westbow Press I now have two published books and many more to come. I encourage all those implicit on getting God's message of truth, love and hope out to our world to partner with Westbow Press.

Although most of the personnel at Westbow have been professional and responsive, the process overall has not been a positive experience on several levels. An author is passed to far too many Westbow staff throughout the process resulting in miscommunication and poor follow through. The process is very expensive and I certainly did not get value for the dollars expended. I have future books that will be published, but I will not be using Westbow again.

WestBow needs to verbally tell a person the next step involved, especially the possible costs as one step is finished. I was encouraged to submit my manuscript, but when I was hesitant, I was told I would always have control over the final printing. I was not told that once I submitted, each change and correction could only be done in modification forms with a small number of changes, including punctuation, and each time I used a modification form the cost was $100. I will say I was allowed more changes than the directions said, but at first I did try to stay in the 24 changes, and I would have had more if I had not felt constrained. I made a number of changes after giving the OK to submit over the phone, and I did not remember where or how many, so I had to re-submit costing $299. I would have saved that money if they had told me then any changes could only be in the modification forms at a cost, when I was encouraged to submit because it was about a year after I paid to have it published. I was informed that I could take as long as I wanted. I do admit I could possibly have saved $300 on modification forms if I had thought to wait to re-submit. Even now after publication, I see errors that I would like to change. I am also displeased that as the author who wrote the book and paid every step of the way to publish it, I must buy the book at the retail price with only a 20% discount unless I buy larger quantities. I am not able to distribute the book on my own in larger quantities and be paid for it, and I wanted to be able to give a sample to churches in my area to be used in Sunday school or a Bible study. I did receive 5 copies in print included in the cost of publishing. I have been contacted by their marketing division and they want more money to help sell the book. I heard on TBN that they will advertise the book if they publish a Christian commentary. WestBow decides the retail cost of the book by the number of pages, and to change that is a bigger cost. Because my book is a Bible commentary, I am only trying to help people understand difficult scripture and I am pleased anyone can purchase the e-book at a lower cost.

I am 72 years young, and have just spent over $8,000 with this company and have only received 100 copies of my book, which I had to pay an additional $1,110 for purchase from them. It is truly the best rip-off in the industry of PRINT ON DEMAND book companies! Don't waste your money on their promises that Thomas Nelson or Zondervan will review your finished product and consider it for publication! This company should be ashamed of themselves!!!

The service is excellent and I am happy with the final result. The only concern was that there were too many individuals at Westbow involved in the final process to the extent that different sections of the firm were working at cross-purpuses. Perhaps attention could help in interdepartmental co-ordination.

Excellent service.
The excellent and profesional team at Westbow Press makes the jobs easy and joyful to work with.

This company is professional and efficient. I would recommend Westbow for anyone who is thinking of publishing a book.

I was drawn to Westbow because of their high standards. They didn't want just 'any book', I wanted to produce the best work I was capable of writring.

After several phone interviews, Westbow became the obvious choice. --the most expensive choice, but the right choice.
At times I found working with some of the Westbow process to be a little stressful. --the submission form was daunting for a firstt time author like me. The legal team was . . . very legal.

I had to remind myself that the process and the tension I was experiencing was going to make my work better.
. . . AND IT DID MAKE IT BETTER!

The editing department, thevproduction team, publicity people, and cxustomer service have all been particularly helpful.

There will always be glitches, and there have been a few. --I found I needed to be vigilent, patient, and focused.

In the end, my personal ministry team and Westbow have produced a really good quality book. And, the initial public response to it has been outstanding.

In summary I would say:
1) It isn't the cheapest, but it's worth the extra investment.
2) It isn't perfect, but things that include people and process never are.
3) For the most part, the people were very helpful. 4) At times the process is stressful. But the tension of that stress has served to make a better product in the end.

Bottom Line: If you're serious about your book, Westbow may be a very good fit. It has been for me.

WestBow eased me into publishing my first book with timely advice and help. Their expertise was valuable in every area of the book publishing process. I am proud of the book they published and will certainly use them again in the future.

I have used Westbow Press for two books in the past year and just signed up for two more books to be published. They have been very professional and delivered on every detail of the agreements. They continue to support you after the process is completed.

I found that each department was extremely professional in their guidance and output. It was an experience for me to learn, with their assistance, the process of publishing a book. Though tedious at times because it is an intensive process, knowing there were those people at WestBow to guide me through it, helped to make the experience an enjoyable one. Thank you to all at WestBow Press for your assistance & professionalism.

WestBow associates are professional, cordial, and a pleasure to work with. I am confident I made the right choice to publish through them.

Westbow have guided, advised, and helped me through a process I had no idea how to navigate by myself. They gave me the prod I needed to complete my book. Then they have taken me step by step through the publishing process which I doubt I could have done alone.

I am very happy and pleased with the outcome of my book, as it reflects the long hours of work between the coordinators and me at every stage of the process, from submission, to editing, to production, to design correcting the proofs and moving on to approvals, marketing suggestions and package copies.

The Step-by-Step-Guide that I received first was very helpful for a new author, I referred to it often.

Reasonable publishing packages and assigned check-in coordinators work with you from start to finish.

I felt like I was lied to about the editorial process.

The teams are so helpful and the finished product is beautiful! Initially I had several items I needed to update in my book to meet the standards/guidelines as set by Westbow Press, but every suggestion was spot on and my book is so much better with the updates.
The quick responses when I wanted to make changes was encouraging, and the constant guidance in each phase was invaluable. I recommend Westbow Press to anyone who wants to self-publish their Christian based work(s).