If you’re looking for a place to publish your Christian or faith-based book, you might have heard of Xulon Press.
Related: Christian Book Publishers
Xulon Press is one of the many companies offering done-for-you publishing packages that get your book out into the world for a fee.
Before you rush headlong into working with this company, you should take the time to read this full Xulon Press review.
We break down everything you need to know about Xulon, from the range of services they offer to their pricing and reputation.
We want you to make informed decisions when it comes to how and where to invest your money. That’s why our mission is to help educate authors on the various self-publishing companies and services that are on the market today.
Our reviews are meant to be unbiased, 3rd party reviews, but we will speak up if there is a scam or a clearly better option.
Are they the best place for your book, or should you look elsewhere?
Let’s find out!
Here's what we cover in this Xulon Press review:
- What is Xulon Press?
- Xulon Press packages and pricing
- Should I use Xulon Press?
- The pros and cons of Xulon Press
- Other Xulon Press reviews
- Alternatives to Xulon Press
- Final rating
What is Xulon Press?
Xulon Press is a publisher of Christian books that is owned by the Salem Media Group.
Xulon was founded back at the turn of the new millennium by Tom Freiling, a Christian author who has since gone on to become the leader of a political group.
The publisher operates by charging authors a fee to create their book. The title can then be ordered on a print-on-demand basis.
Today, Xulon is based out of Maitland, Florida.
The company takes its name from the Greek word Xulon that is used in the Book of Revelation.
Now that you know the basics, let’s dig deeper into Xulon Press and exactly what they do.
Is Xulon Press a vanity publisher?
Xulon claims to not be a vanity publisher, but you could make the case they are as they offer a pay to play model of publishing with plenty of costly add-ons.
In summary, Xulon Press is a company that allows authors to publish Christian books for a fee.
What type of books does Xulon Press publish?
Xulon Press publishes Christian books of many different types.
Some of their most popular categories include:
- Christian living
- Theology
- Church growth
- Discipleship
- Bible studies
- Fiction
- Poetry
- Biographies
The publisher states that they retain the right to reject any book that doesn’t fit with their beliefs or values.
What is the Xulon Press Statement of Faith?
If you want to make sure your book is a good fit for Xulon Press and their values, make sure that its contents and message are aligned with their Statement of Faith.
The Xulon Statement of Faith proclaims that they believe one God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It also states that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
As long as your book is aligned with Christian beliefs and doesn’t degrade the Gospel, it should be a suitable fit for Xulon.
Xulon Press packages and pricing
If you’re considering choosing Xulon Press for your Christian book, you’re sure to want to know what they have to offer you as an author and how much their services cost.
At this time, we found 4 main categories of services for authors from Xulon Press:
- Editing. You can choose from either an editorial critique to get feedback on your book or various types of hands-on editing including copy editing, line editing, and developmental editing.
- Production. Xulon offers book production services for black and white books, color books, and print-ready books that already have a cover design.
- Printing & Distribution. Xulon Press will distribute your book on a print-on-demand or traditional basis depending on your budget.
- Marketing. You can draw upon the marketing services of Xulon to get the word out about your book. These include social media marketing options as well as the creation of print materials like bookmarks.
Although there’s no denying that editing and marketing are key success factors for a self-published book, there’s not necessarily a need to purchase them from a company like Xulon.
Most authors considering Xulon will probably be interested in learning about their service packages.
Let’s take a closer look at those and how much they cost.
In this Xulon Press review, we found 4 tiers of package available at Xulon:
- Basic.
- Premium
- Best Seller
- Elite.
So, what does each tier of package contain, and how much will it cost you?
Basic Package – $1099
The basic tier from Xulon Press gets you a book cover, formatting for your work, an ISBN number, and a few other essentials.
Premium Package – $1349
The premium package gets you everything you find in the basic tier as well as online distribution and access to a range of paid extra services. Yes, you read that right – you have to pay for a more expensive package to then be able to pay for further services! Doesn’t that sound just a bit like vanity publishing to you?
Best Seller Package – $2099
The Best Seller features everything from the Premium tier as well as Xulon’s copyright service and a page on their online bookstore.
Elite Package – $3449
If you go for the most expensive option the Elite package, you get a press release, an internet banner advertising campaign, and
Are these packages good value? Let’s take a moment to think about that.
Given that you can easily spend between $1000 and $2000 to self-publish a book, the packages on offer might seem like reasonable value. However, there’s more to them than meets the eye.
While you would still need to pay for a book cover design if you went the self-publishing route, you would gain a lot more creative control. When you opt for a company like Xulon, you are stuck using their designers. Also, Xulon doesn’t offer you the option to revise your cover.
Where Xulon really starts to seem like a vanity publisher is the paid add ons they offer outside of their core packages.
Make no mistake about it – these are overpriced and are unlikely to move the needle in any meaningful way.
Want examples? How about having to pay $200 just to copyright your book? Or what about paying up to $800 for a video trailer?
When you look more closely at the add-ons here, Xulon Press seems more and more like a vanity publisher!
Should I use Xulon Press?
No, overall, we do not recommend the company in this Xulon Press review.
Broadly speaking, there are two main reasons for this view.
First, we don’t advocate authors do anything other than self-publish their work. We feel it offers the maximum possible level of both creative freedom and financial return.
Second, as you will soon see, there are plenty of bad reviews out there for Xulon. Even if you do decide to pay for a company to publish your book, you might want to look elsewhere.
We’re not saying that every author has a bad experience with Xulon Press. We’re just saying that there are far better options out there. Even if you decide paying for your book to be created is the right route, don’t settle for Xulon!
The pros and cons of Xulon Press
So what about the advantages and disadvantages of Xulon Press? The company can’t be all bad, surely?
Let’s find out!
Pros
- Diverse team. Xulon Press is run by a diverse team of people, something that is still shamefully rare in the publishing industry.
- Long track record. Xulon has been going for over 20 years, so this is no fly-by-night operation.
Cons
- Overpriced. The packages on offer at Xulon Press are overpriced, and the add-ons are even more so.
- Vanity press. Although it's debatable if Xulon is a true vanity press, there's enough about them to ask the question. Personally, we think yes, they are!
- Restricted choice. When you go for a company like Xulon Press instead of choosing to self-publish, you massively restrict your choices when it comes to creative freedom.
- Reputation. Overall, as you are about to see, Xulon Press has a fairly negative reputation, as do many of the similar companies it is associated with.
Other Xulon Press reviews
When you’re making a major decision like which company to choose for your book, you need to do as much research as possible.
If you don't trust this Xulon Press review, take a look at some other sources for your information.
To save you trawling around the web for information on Xulon Press, we've gathered it all together here for your convenience.
Currently, Xulon Press has a grade of 2.7 stars from 12 reviews on Google. Some of the negative reviews touch on factors such as not getting a return phone call for weeks at a time, while others comment on the poor quality of the editing services they received.
Over at the Better Business Bureau, there are around 26 complaints related to Xulon Press. 12 customer reviews give Xulon an average rating of 1.33 out of 5!
Even fairly recent complaints about Xulon are negative, suggesting they haven’t changed.
Xulon Press also shows up on the Alliance of Independent Authors watchlist for 2018. Xulon is slated for being a vanity publisher, as seen in the amusing quote below.
Overall, the picture is not great. While there are some positive reviews on sites like Google, there's no denying that the vast majority are very negative indeed.
Alternatives to Xulon Press
Thankfully, there are many great alternatives to Xulon Press out there.
You can read a long list of Christian Publishers that might be a good home for your book.
You can also check out our full list of other reviews to find a publishing company that is a good fit for your needs. Not every company offering publishing services is a vanity press. There are plenty of quality options.
As a final alternative, we recommend that you choose to go the independent route and self-publish your next Christian book.
When you choose to self-publish, you retain full creative control. You aren’t limited to a small number of potential collaborators like you are if you opt for Xulon Press.
So how do you go about self-publishing?
We are proudly affiliated with Self-Publishing School's author education programs, and feel they are a great choice for faith-based authors.
When you learn with Self Publishing School, you learn to do far more than simply write a book. Instead, you can study how to become a bestseller, and even set an exciting path for yourself to give talks and speaking engagements related to your book.
If you’re interested in learning more about Self-Publishing School, check out what they have to offer here.
Final rating
They might claim not to be, but Xulon Press is what most people would consider a vanity publisher.
The large amount of complaints about them, not to mention their low review score on Google, points toward the same conclusion – steer clear of Xulon Press!
Any book is a precious creation that deserves nothing but the best, and this can be especially true with titles as meaningful as Christian books.
Ultimately, you and your book deserve far better than what Xulon has to offer.
