Outskirts Press Review: What to Expect & If It’s Worth It

In your quest to publish your book, you've likely come across a number of different publishing companies. Some companies do it for you, and others guide you through the process – but no matter what you're looking for, we're here to help make your decision easier by providing you with a high-level overview of some publishing companies.

In this post, we're covering a full, in-depth review of Outskirts Press.

Today we will discuss what Outskirts Press is, what they offer, some pros and cons to their services, and some alternative publishing companies you can try.

What is Outskirts Press?

Outskirts Press is a publishing company that started in 2002 with the purpose of helping authors develop, publish, and market books. They offer features including cover design, formatting, printing, distribution, and extensive book marketing services.

According to their website, they have resources for publishing in both black and white and color, as well as a “one-click” feature for convenience.

What does Outskirts Press offer?

One look at their website and you can get a feel for the fact that they offer a wide range of publishing offers, from publishing to marketing, “creative” services including cover design and ghostwriting, and a “learn” section with some free resources.

Let's cover what each section offers specifically.

Publishing

First, we have their publishing offers, including all black and white, full color for children's books, cookbooks, and more, as well as a one-click publishing suite and eBook-only options.

Each of their package options comes with a specific number of formats, up to 10 included authors' copies, cover design options, ISBN and barcode, author volume discounts, and more depending on which package option you choose.

Outskirts Press has a large number of publishing package options, ranging from book type to book genre.

For this review, we're going to focus on their main publishing packages with the black-and-white interior option.

All of the above options also come with the following included in their packages:

• “industry-leading profit margins”
• Standard interior black and white formatting
• Personalized back cover
• ISBN and barcode
• RWD-enhances author webpage with social media integration
• One-on-one author support
• non-exclusive contract
• Custom publishing profile
• Books-in-print listing
• Digital author gallery
• Standard press release

You can see a full breakdown from their website in this screenshot:

Outskirts Press also has publishing options in other genres and styles as well. Here's a list of all their publishing packages with links to check out their features:

• Full-color interiors
• One-click publishing suites
• eBook Only publishing services

Marketing

In addition to their publishing options, Outskirts Press also has some marketing choices.

These range from Apple/iPad/iPhone eBook marketing packages to Barnes & Noble packages, book teasers, video trailers, and more.

Click here to learn more about their marketing author services.

Creative

When it comes to creative services like copyediting, cover design, writing consultations, and more, Outskirts Press has a few options for you.

• Copyediting
• Custom cover design
• Private ISBN label
• Writing consultation
• Full-color illustrations

How much does Outskirts Press cost?

Let's go over a breakdown of what their services cost for each of their offer categories. The overall price ranges for Outskirts Press vary quite a bit, with package options as well as a la carte services.

Publishing: $999 – $9000

Black and White Interior:

• Ultimate – $1995
• Basic – $1399
• Economy – $999

Full-Color Interior:

• Children's Books – $9000
• Full-Color Publishing – $1999

One-Click Publishing Suites:

• One-Click Publishing & Marketing Suite for Non-Fiction – $6000
• One-Click Publishing & Marketing Suite for Fiction – $5000
• One-Click Publishing & Marketing Suite for Spiritual Books – $6000
• One-Click Publishing & Marketing Suite for Children’s Books – $9000

You can check out the rest of their “one-click publishing suites” for genre-specific products here.

eBook Publishing Services:

• Apple iPad/iPhone eBook – $699
• Barnes & Noble NOOK eBook – $349
• Amazon Kindle eBook – $349
• eBook Bundle (Kindle/Nook/iPad) – $1199

As you can see, they have a wide range of pricing, from $300 – $9000+ for various publishing packages.

Marketing: $300 – $900+

Outskirts Press has such a wide variety of a la carte marketing services, it's difficult to list every single price point for each.

That being said, I'll break down some of their most popular packages' pricing:

• Apple iPad/iPhone eBook – $699
• Amazon Kindle eBook – $349
• Book Video Trailer Distribution – $499
• Social Media Set-Up and Strategy Toolkit – $799

In our findings, these marketing packages (if you don't use their publishing services) range from $300 – $900+ depending on which you choose.

You can check out the full list of options here, where you can click “browse” in order to see full pricing.

Creative: $149 – $1200+

If you're looking for copyediting, cover design, and more of the creative book production portion of publishing, here are what some of those prices look like:

• Professional Copyediting (down payment) – $285 down payment and $.019 per word – A 40,000-word manuscript would run a total of about $760
• Professional Custom Cover Design – $499
• Private Label ISBN – $199
• Writing Consultation – $149

This pricing is pretty set with only the services listed above, as a la carte items, meaning if you don't purchase their publishing packages above.

Outskirts Press reviews: From the people

We want to give you the full extent of the experience many have had with this publishing company, so we wanted to include some Outskirts Press reviews from the Better Business Bureau and other outlets, ranging over the past few years:

You can check out another professional Outskirts Press review by The Independent Publishing Magazine here for another take.

Outskirts Press alternatives

With self-publishing becoming increasingly popular, there are more and more options for publishing companies to work with.

Here are our top recommendations for publishing alternatives:

• Self-Publishing School (our sister company)
• Mark Dawson's Self-Publishing 101
• LuLu Publishing
• Nick Stephenson's Your First 10k Readers

The above are some highly-rating publishing programs you might consider if you want an alternative to Outskirts Press.

Final Outskirts Press review rating

So overall, what would we rate Outskirts Press out of 5 stars? Do they fulfill on their promises, offer fair prices, and get their clients results?

Looking for the criteria we used to make this overall decision? Here are some pros and cons.

Pros

• Services offered: There's a wide range of different services offered. From full publishing packages to a la carte items you can mix and match, you're likely to find something that works for you.
  
• Specialization: In addition to the above, they also have packages that are narrowed to a specific genre, like their Christian packages, spiritual packages, children's books, and more.
  
• Ease of purchase: Unlike some other publishing companies, you can usually find what you want, add it to your cart, and checkout fairly simply without needing a phone call or other means of communication.

Cons

• Prices: Some of the packages come at a steep price, like the Children's Book package running $9,000. We've found many other publishing programs offering the same for far less, like our own Fundamentals of Fiction, Story, Children's, & Memoir program.
  
• Inconsistent experiences: From the number of reviews you'll find, they vary severely. Many are 5 stars, while several others are 1 star, wishing they could give none. This inconsistent experience leads us to believe that there isn't a given standard for each client.
  
• Unclear “best path”: While there are many options to go with when it comes to their packages, it's very hard to determine which will be best for you. And if you're inexperienced with publishing, you probably don't know what you need to match your unique author goals. This can lead to purchasing the wrong program, following it, and ending up disappointed because it doesn't get you where you want to be.

Overall, this Outskirts Press review was meant to inform you and give you as much high-level information as we could. We hope it provided you with the tools to make a decision that best fits your needs as an author-to-be.

Want to compare Outskirts Press to other publishing companies?

Check out our other reviews!

• Self-Publishing School Review
• Reedsy Review
• BookBaby Review
• Author Incubator Review
• Scribe Media Review
• Self-Publishing Formula Review
• Lulu Publishing Review
• Smashwords VS Draft2Digital Review
• Elm Hill Publishing Review
• Xlibris Review
• Zondervan Publishing Review

If you have any additional questions about writing, book cover design, marketing, or setting up the perfect book launch, reach out to the team at selfpublishing.com for a free strategy call today.