By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Paul_Davis]Paul Davis
Xulon Press, a Christian book publisher, provides 10 reasons to choose a publisher on their website - helpful information indeed when considering any publisher. The publisher owned by Salem Communications gives authors some guidelines, but fails to fulfill many of their own promises to its authors.
The author published 4 books with Xulon Press and gives his opinion in this true & false assessment.
10 Guidelines to Measure a Publisher By
EXPERIENCE: Xulon Press claims to have published more than 3,900 Christian books since 1999. Title by title, they say they are larger than any other Christian book publisher. That is highly questionable when you consider enormous Christian publishers like Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, and Creation House.
AFFORDABLE: For as little as $999 you can get published! If you do your homework when it comes to print on demand (POD) publishing, authors can actually get published for a third of the cost Xulon offers. Therefore $999 is not all that affordable.
As to Xulon's assertion about no "hidden fees" that might be so, but certainly there are flawed promises about publicity and press releases that go unfulfilled. What authors expect and what authors get greatly differs. Xulon's "proven, time-tested ways to distribute and market your book" are very weak and feeble. I have published 4 books with Xulon and none of their marketing and distribution efforts produced for me.
REPUTATION: It's important that you find a book publisher you can trust. Well that's quite obvious. Yet just because someone claims to be Christian or a big Christian company does not make them to be trustworthy. Hitler also claimed to be Christian.
Owned by Salem Communications, which Xulon Press claims to be one of the country's largest faith-based publishing and communications organizations, it is interesting that Xulon Press could not produce in their publicity package for any of my 4 books a single radio interview.
Salem Communications and Xulon Press together claim to be connected to more than 100 Christian radio stations, a cornucopia of Christian magazines, and more than 40 million monthly online page-views representing the largest faith-based audience on the Internet. Ironically and curiously, I as an author with Xulon Press never received a single radio interview or magazine article about my books they published.
I can assure you the quality of my books content is noteworthy as by reason of my own publicity and hard work I was able to get radio interviews across the country (without any of Xulon's help - for such help never came, though was falsely promised) and even radio interviews with several outstanding syndicated radio show hosts including Playboy Radio for 45 minutes about my book Adultery: 101 Reasons Not to Cheat.
As for Xulon Press and Salem however, their promises about radio stations and multiple magazines are empty promises that never delivered. Authors therefore should not be falsely seduced by such because Xulon Press is just selling assumptions as they are in the business of selling books. Their publicity services are the worst I've ever paid for.
QUALITY: Xulon Press does print high-quality hardcover and paperback editions on a trade-quality cream-white paper and a cover stock that is UV coated for a sleek look that adds durability and longevity to your books.
SPEED: Xulon promises you'll be a published author in less than 90 days; then we can print your book in less than 60 seconds.
A word of caution however is unless you submit everything according to Xulon's specifications, Xulon won't budge when it comes to your back cover layout (that is without a fee). Xulon wants it's authors to submit no more than 300 words for the back cover. I once wanted to change the picture on the back cover and they tried to charge me $75 to do so! Thankfully upon refusing they waived the fee, but it was a mini-battle that was less than pleasant.
YOU KEEP YOUR RIGHTS: Xulon lets you keep 100% of the rights to your book. If another publisher comes along and wants to publish your book, you are free to cancel your agreement with them anytime.
This agreeably is a good thing for authors, but I have yet to try to do it. When that time comes if anything changes, I shall modify this article.
DISTRIBUTION: Xulon claims to work with book distributors and retailers worldwide. They say your book will be available to 25,000 bookstores and for sale on the world's biggest Internet sites including Amazon.com, Target.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and many others.
True! Xulon does get your book listed with the above websites, for which I commend them. That's a good thing for authors. I sure would like to know who the "many others" are by name.
100% ROYALTIES: We are the only publisher who gives you a 100% royalty rate on copies sold to bookstores. Unlike other publishers, who keep up to 75% of your royalty, we give it all back to you.
That is a plus for authors however the royalty check I received only amounted to $64 from Xulon Press for my 4 books - which is reason for concern. I recently received a letter from another Xulon author who also has yet to receive her royalty check. A third Xulon author wrote me telling me they felt they were overcharged and currently disputing some matters.
HUGE WHOLESALE DISCOUNTS: Each time you purchase copies of your book we give you a HUGE wholesale discount of up to 70% off the retail price of your book.
Up to....is always a clever way to say something from a sales perspective. Up to does not always mean you get it. "Up to" means at any given point in time you might randomly be able to.
Certainly a 70% discount is good, but usually you have to buy a substantial quantity of books to apply for such a sizeable discount.
PERSONAL ATTENTION: Xulon claims they are "here for you by telephone or e-mail whenever you need help or have a question." My experience however has been that Xulon communicates best by email and is very good via correspondence. Via telephone I found rarely did they ever answer the telephone. That says a lot considering I published 4 books with them.
POD publishing is such that other publishers like Publish America don't ever answer their phones either and this is problematic for authors with questions needing to be answered. So at least Xulon is good about answering emails, which I found to be way better than trying to get through by phone.
As a Xulon author I just want every author to get a fair shake and know the full details of the publishing agreement and with whom they are dealing.
I can suggest some better publishing options for sure for the price and poor publicity offered by Xulon. Don't buy the lie and swallow assumptions when publishing your prized book.
Paul Davis is a highly sought after professional speaker, life purpose coach, worldwide minister, and change master.
Paul is the author of several books including United States of Arrogance, Breakthrough for a Broken Heart; Adultery: 101 Reasons Not to Cheat; Are You Ready for True Love; Stop Lusting & Start Living; Waves of God; Supernatural Fire; Poems that Propel the Planet; and God vs. Religion.
Paul's compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul's organization Dream-Maker Ministries is building dreams, breaking limitations & reviving nations.
Paul inspires, revives, awakens, impregnates with purpose, imparts the fire of desire, catapults people into a new level of self-awareness, facilitates destiny discovery and dream fulfillment.
Contact Paul to minister, speak at your event or for life coaching:
[mailto:RevivingNations@yahoo.com]RevivingNations@yahoo.com
407-284-1705 http://www.PaulFDavis.com http://www.DreamMakerMinistries.com http://www.CreativeCommunications.TV
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