In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Undated Woodcut. (Bettmann/CORBIS)
Or so the poem goes–but this being 2016 and not 1492, we know rather a lot more about navigating the wondrous wide oceans. We’ve come a long way in 524 years in many of the ways that matter most, and that includes the careful cultivation of our passion for exploration and discovery–something which we do share with Columbus–as well as our means and methods of self-expression. We don’t have to pay tribute to King Ferdinand or Queen Isabella; we have only to hold true to our vision and the desire to self-publish!
If you happen to be a touch out to sea when it comes to choosing your self-publishing company, you’re not alone. (We’re not going to wring every drop of saltwater out of these oceangoing idioms, we promise. We like you too much.) The fact of the matter is, you have come along at both a fantastic and a terrible time for indie authors–fantastic because you’re spoiled for choice, and terrible because many of the possibilities could land you in serious trouble. Not every company offering self-publishing services has your best interest in mind–many are thinking only of their shareholders, not their authors–and many offer such stripped-down services and pared-back customer support that you end up paying a lot of money for a very basic product and no sense of what comes next. And if you do complain after the fact, well … you could very well find yourself trapped in an exploitative contract with no one to advocate for your rights and royalties.
Not to be too on the nose, but Outskirts Press is different. For one thing, we don’t abandon you to the void as soon as your book–your beautiful, professionally produced, impeccably designed, and valuable book–has been run through the printers and distributed digitally. What makes us different is the people who work for us, the same people who go to the mattresses for our authors every single day to ensure their books are produced, delivered, marketed, and respected exactly the way they should be. Our Publishing Consultants and other staff are the people who make Outskirts Press such a revelation, a revolution, and an award-winning company. But so what if we win the coveted apex spot among self-publishing companies from Top Consumer Reviews? It’s what you want, need, and think of us that matters.
We invite you to find out for yourself just how a live human interaction with an expert in author services–an expert who doesn’t work in a foreign cubicle farm but here, in the United States–can change the fate of your book and help you navigate the many difficult decisions ahead. Do you have questions? Concerns? Or do you require assistance? Our consultants are more than eager to help. They have been honing their feedback and their recommendations over years and years of experience. They might point you towards one of our celebrated One-Click Publishing packages, or lead you through the steps of any one of our other streamlined bundles. Where many other self-publishing companies offer minimal interactions and distant emails, our people are insightful, kind, and fierce in their advocacy for your authorial vision. Not to mention the security of your bank account; knowing that there’s no one-size-fits-all price for the perfect book, we offer a range of solutions which can be tailored to fit your needs, financial and otherwise.
What is important to you in pursuing the self-publishing experience? Cost? Quality? Service? The only reliable way to choose a self-publishing company, we find, is to choose based on the preponderance of evidence and the weight of your own intuition. This is why we invite you to explore what Outskirts Press has to offer this Columbus Day–and every other day. You deserve the assurance that you won’t one day find yourself … on the wrong side of history.