It’s simple, really. Mill City Press is the only major self-publishing company founded by a self-published author. Author-centric since day one, we get how significant it is to publish your book. We understand the work and sacrifice that it takes to even finish writing. Appreciation for writers is in our company DNA.
There are a lot of reasons we think you should consider Mill City Press. Here are a few of them:
Handcrafted Books
We don’t use book cover or formatting templates. Your book is original and special, and building it should involve more than picking from a few “standard” options. Our in-house design team has created more than 6,500 custom book covers and interiors. How your book looks and feels will be most people’s first impression of it. We believe the quality should be the same as if it came out of a major New York publishing house.
Editing and Manuscript Evaluations
Early on, we made a commitment to the quality of our book editing staff. Every single editor at Mill City Press is a professional editor with years of book editing experience. Whichever editing service you choose, your book will be in excellent hands.
We are one of the few self-publishing companies that offers detailed manuscript evaluations for authors who choose to have one. Our editorial staff provides thorough feedback on all aspects of your manuscript, from grammatical concerns to advice on defining your target market. Click on one of the images to the right to download a sample evaluation.
Sample Fiction Evaluation
Sample Nonfiction Evaluation
Real Customer Service
We know that many authors have a lot of questions while going through the publishing process. And, it’s important that we answer questions as quickly, efficiently, and effectively as possible. Our staff responds to all phone calls and messages in one business day or less. When you become our author, we’re accessible by phone or the Author Center whenever you need us.
Our Author Center, which features our innovative PubSmart technology, is designed to get your messages to the right person on our staff, allowing for easier communication and guidance as you make your way from manuscript to finished books. While other companies outsource their customer service overseas, we’ve invested in building up our customer service team right here in Minneapolis.
Lowest Printing Prices in the Industry
| Publisher | Author Price/Book: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Book | 100 Books | 500 Books | |
| Author House | $14.95 | $13.46 | $10.47 |
| BookBaby | $48.00 | $5.28 | $4.61 |
| Mill City Press | $3.25–$3.90 | $3.25–$3.90 | $3.25–$3.90 |
| Outskirts Press | $7.08 | $7.08 | $7.08 |
| Xlibris | $13.99 | $10.00 | $8.00 |
Self-published authors can only compete if they are able to price their books similarly to other books in their genre. That’s not so easy when you can only print your book in short runs (or on demand) while your competitor has thousands of copies printed at once for a lower cost per book. The only way to keep the playing field even is to keep your retail price competitive. And the only way to keep your retail price competitive is to minimize your printing costs.
Almost every self-publishing company uses the same printer. Why pay double or triple what it actually costs? The chart above shows you how printing your book with Mill City Press puts money directly back into your pocket, and our book printing calculator can help you create a ballpark budget for your project. You spent a lot of time and resources producing your book, and we believe you should keep as much of the sale price as possible.
Highest Royalties in Self-Publishing
| Publisher | Retail Price | Royalty from Sales through Publisher’s Online Store | Royalty from Sales through Third-Party Resellers (e.g., Amazon.com) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author House | $14.95 | $3.74 | $1.50 |
| BookBaby | $14.95 | N/A | $2.77 |
| Mill City Press | $14.95 | $8.65 | $2.83–$8.06 |
| Outskirts Press | $14.95 | $1.89 | $1.89 |
| Xlibris | $14.95 | $3.73 | $1.50 |
In 2006, the only company that paid authors 100 percent of the net royalties from book sales was us. Many self-publishing companies tried to copy us, but most use fuzzy math so that the “100 percent royalties” it sounds like they’re paying you isn’t quite as good as you think.
Turns out when you have the lowest printing prices around, you also pay out the highest royalties around. This chart shows you the royalties paid by four other popular self-publishing companies for the exact same book. You can learn more about how we calculate royalties by visiting our book royalties page.
Broadest Book Distribution Network
We are the only self-publishing company that distributes our print-on-demand titles both directly through Amazon as well as through Ingram, providing not only the widest availability, but also maximizing your royalties by strategically segmenting how we distribute your POD book.
We are also the only company to offer expanded distribution, similar to a traditional publisher, which puts your book in the hands of book buyers from Barnes & Noble, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and others, making it more inviting for retailers and libraries to order copies of your book for brick-and-mortar locations.
Finally, we provide a direct-to-reader sales page, allowing our authors to sell directly from their websites and earn a higher profit on each book they sell.
Your book is unique, and we’re here to help you pick the right distribution option to fit your needs.
Sophisticated Book Marketing
Book marketing isn’t one size fits all. There are some marketing initiatives that work better for nonfiction and some that work better for fiction. We have an experienced, in-house publicity team that will customize marketing services based on your book, its genre, your goals, and your budget.
Whether it’s optimizing your online listings, advertising your book on social media, or designing a sell-sheet, we work with our authors to get the right message out to the right audience.
Plus, we are constantly updating and tweaking our marketing services to keep up with the speed at which marketing now changes. It’s not 2014, and you shouldn’t be marketing your book like it is.
The People
The most important part of publishing a book is having a dedicated, enthusiastic, knowledgeable team in your corner. Whether you’re talking to a member of our sales team or our distribution coordinator, you will be speaking to someone who has expertise on the topic.
We know you have a lot of publishing options, and we’re honored that you’re considering us.