WestBow Press Reviews 833

Some representatives responded promptly others not so. Mistakes were not corrected and a fine of $100 was charged inappropriately.

Great customer service! They were quick to respond and very helpful.

Very helpful, very knowledgeable with every question or concerns we had, friendly. We were very happy and pleased with the entire process of getting our book published

First published book
For the first book this was a good publisher to go with. They quickly respond and email at every new step of the process. I didn't give it a 5 star because a few things were not explained as well as they could have been. Also, I wished I knew how the purchase of my first book copy would play out. I didn't find out until after it was released. I initially ordered my own book (at cost) from the website so that I could get a copy. Then I looked at my publishing package and saw I had an allotted amount for author-purchased books and ebooks, and asked if I could order. I had friends getting the book a week before I even had my hands on a copy. That was really the only part that I expected to go differently. Otherwise, it has been a good experience, and I would probably use them again because I know what to expect.

I was always able to reach out to someone.
They always followed up and answered my questions. I felt supported.

I had mostly positive experiences with the people at Westbow. I am giving it a 3 for the following reasons. The final exterior looks great. However, my greatest disappointment has been with the editing process. I specifically went with WestBow in order to get professional editing services, and not to have the stress or responsibility for doing the editing. What I found is that the buck stopped with me, not you. Simple words were misspelled in the final published version. After writing and rewriting an author really wants to put their book in the hands of someone who will assure accuracy and not have it come back to them. I agree with the final review but it was clear that the Publisher wanted me to go line by line.... when in fact that is what I was paying WestBow to do. Very disappointing. Another disappointment is that in the beginning you are told to expect many things. However, many of those items come with an extra expense. My book was published September 27th, and I was told that Amazon would have the book within 48 hours. This is October 26th, and it still is not available with Amazon. My final comment, once the book was ready for distribution I was asked if I wanted my book to be printed upon demand or have multiple copies printed at one time. To have the later means an additional expense of $7,000. They also tell you, at this point, that that is what most retailers prefer. I find it disheartening to learn this at the end. I've learned a lot through this process.

First time author: it is an ocean of process as well as information. Ask questions take your time, try to understand, and like an excellent marriage you are going to learn and make mistakes.

Super available and quick to respond to emails and phone calls.

Westbow was helpful and great with communication to guide me to publish my first book.

After doing extensive research, I decided to self publish my memoir with WestBow Press. I was highly impressed from my initial conversation with Eric, who provided me with an in-depth overview of self publishing, the company, and the process. I was guided through each step, and continually kept abreast of the progress. It took a while to reach the finish line, but I’m now a published author. Even so, WestBow Press is currently working on the marketing portion of my book, towards its success in the literary world. I am in awe, and also deeply grateful to WestBow Press. Above and beyond satisfied, sums up my feelings!!

Westbow knew what they were doing and walked me through it every step of the way. A friend of mine did point out that all pages for chapters in the table of contents should all be odd. My first draft came to me with varying page numbers. I was told it could be done either way, but Westbow was gracious enough to change it for me. I also had a couple of minor changes to make after my initial proofs were done and yet again, Westbow came through and kindly made those changes free of charge.

It was easy working with them for the most part. I had invested in some marketing they provided through Bible Gateway and I felt like I didn't get my money's worth. I was also told that the program would run for a certain number of impressions but after I paid for it, I was then told it would run for two weeks. I invested $1800 and I don't think it was at all worth the money. I was handed off to different people during the process and overall, I had a great experience. Thank you, Westbow Press.

Westbow Press can print a lovely book. However, who can afford to buy a 32 page children's softcover picture book for $14.99 USD when shipping to Canada costs $21.99 USD or $25.99 USD. In Canadian dollars, that's a total of $50.55 (UPS) or ($56.01) Purolator to buy my book. I'm embarrassed to show people in Canada my website because it looks like I'm selling the book at this unbelievable price. So, I've spent $6,700 CDN to get this book done and have nothing substantial to show for it. In the past, I published my own book and for $6000 had 1500 books sitting in my basement where I distributed them myself. I charged $5.00 per book for shipping and $12 for a book and still made a profit. Something is really wrong here. I've written up this experience as a huge lesson learned with a loss of six grand.

Westbow Press walked me through the publishing process from beginning to end. I loved the option of keeping ownership of my book, yet having the expert legal, editorial, design and marketing guidance I needed to feel confident in releasing my first book.

I am a return author. I published with WestBow before and my experience was positive. I published with them a second time because of the professionalism I experienced. I was very satisfied with the process, I was informed of each stage of editing process up to printing and publication stage.

WestBow has always come through for me in the publication of three books. It's not always been easy to navigate through the publication process with job changes and various procedures. However, the finished product is my pride and joy.

If you are an author please do yourself an immense favor and run from this company. Westbow called stating an excitement around my manuscript and a desire to publish and market the book. That initial conversation was laced with false promises and deception, I was told that my book would be out by the holidays, that Westbow would edit the manuscript, that Westbow would market the book, and that I would be able to collaborate with their design team on cover and interior layout. Everything was a lie.

At every single juncture, from editing, to marketing, to design, Westbow demanded more money or they would not do what had been promised. I had to find my own editor, had to absorb my own marketing, and their cover design was the map that I personally designed to go inside the book.

Communication is abysmal with Westbow and each time I posed difficult questions I would be met for days or even weeks with radio silence.

Truly, and I’m not exaggerating, the entire experience was nightmarish and I hope that I can warn potential authors away from this horrendous, unethical company.

Very professional. As a first-timer, I found some things that cost me a little bit of time to understand, but finally went through them.

It was a very smooth process. The only complaint I have is some times their team isn’t the greatest at explaining or updating. Like when my book was released, I had no heads up that it was being released, I actually didn’t find out it was live till almost 48 hours after it hit stores. So those kind of things were my hiccups but other than that they were great!

I was excited to work with Westbow from the beginning. The staff are easy to work with and are professional. The quality of their work is exceptional!!

WESTBOW provided step by step guidance. Some forms were beyond my aged computer to process, but WESTBOW accommodated me with alternative solutions.
However, I would have liked greater visibility of the actual execution of what WESTBOW promised to do for the particular package I purchased.