Mill City Press

Nandi - Mill City barometer

Nandi said:

babycasey,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience here. I will continue to follow your story on your website. All the best! I have spent the better part of today researching other options, but am no closer to making a decision. So many variables to consider.

Click to expand...

Just wondering how you finally came down on Mill Creek as you seem to be doing your homework and are aware of the complexities and trade-offs in self publishing. If you went with them, any progress to date to share? Or, if you went with another self publisher, how is that going, if you care to reveal?

Another

Another said:

Just wondering how you finally came down on Mill Creek as you seem to be doing your homework and are aware of the complexities and trade-offs in self publishing. If you went with them, any progress to date to share? Or, if you went with another self publisher, how is that going, if you care to reveal?

Another

Click to expand...

Hi, Another

Thanks for asking. No, I've not yet made a decision. My dad died recently, so I have been overwhelmed with family matters, including learning how to be an executrix.

I was in Minneapolis this past weekend for a wedding and, if I'd had just a little more time, I would have gone to the Mill City office to take a look at their operations. Although I like their package, I have begun to consider Booklocker. they are pretty upfront abut what they offer, and their prices are much lower than Mill City's.

How about you?

Ah, about that Mill City Press

I can't remember where it was on the net, but I was able to find a very great, unbiased review of Mill City Press . In the gist of it, the gentleman reviewing the company said that it seems like a company with enough gusto to keep at it for a long time . He said that one thing he appreciated greatly was their honesty, and sometimes, downright bluntness with their clients . He was impressed by the 100% royalty situation, but said that it's not exactly 100% because of other extenuating things, but pretty darn close to 100. He criticised the returnable book option they charge you for, this actually being the option for bookstores to return unsold books that just aren't selling . But Mill City Press came on to his comments thing and let him know, "Look, a lot of book places aren't gonna take ur books if that option isn't available to them. Too much of a risk."

What I liked about this review, as I stated above, was that Mill City Press itself wrote in the comments area to his judgements and praise. One woman came on who was not pleased with MCP's services, and then they'd come on and say she was a horror to work with! Woe for the person who has to work with this uncooperative woman! Pretty funny .


Oh, btw, newbie in da house. Great to be here.

Depending on what the problem was, that could have been a very unprofessional move on MCP's part. If this woman didn't receive what she was assured by MCP, she has every right to complain about them. If she was being unreasonable, well they'd have to tread very carefully. As we don't know what was said I'm not going to vote either way on what it was, but there are three sides to every story - one side, the other side and the truth. Not every complainer is a disgruntled customer who was demanding and unreasonable. And not every company who turns around and says 'so and so was terrible to work with' is actually telling the truth. You have to look at all sides.

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

Depending on what the problem was, that could have been a very unprofessional move on MCP's part.

Click to expand...

I think that was what Hydrangea meant to indicate via smileys.

Hydrangea said:

One woman came on who was not pleased with MCP's services, and then they'd come on and say she was a horror to work with! Woe for the person who has to work with this uncooperative woman! Pretty funny .

Click to expand...

I don't find anything humorous about that at all. It's unprofessional for a publisher to engage in character assassination of one of their own authors.

Hydrangea,

I suspect the review you are refering to is my own on POD, Self Publishing & Independent Publishing and the review and comments are at the link below..

http://mickrooney.blogspot.com/2009/02/mill-city-press-reviewed.html

Yes, MickRooney. I think this is the blog.

Finding info on Bookprintingrevolution.com?

Hi all!
The search function won't search on Bookprintingrevolution.com or Bookprintingrevolution for Book Printing Revolution. This is a company that is a subsidiary of Mill City Press.

Has anyone dealt with them for printing purposes? How is their quality, customer service, timeliness, turn-around, and

We have three specialty titles that are currently POD, but just signed a large deal (to us anyways) that would allow quantities of 200-500 be printed and, most importantly, sold. Unfortunately, our current cost per book of almost $15 is not sustainable with the deal, and the dealmakers think we can get the book printed in quantities of 1000 for around $6 per book (er yeah, haven't sold that many of any of the titles yet). We don't need any publisher services as we aim at a tiny target market and that market knows we exist.

Any ideas or pointers to a thread would be great.

Thanks!

I'm moving this to Bewares and Background Checks.

Welcome to AW, Maria.

ETA: and merging this to the Mill City Press thread.

Anyone used Book Printing Revolution? Anyone can help her out? Beuller? Beuller?

I don't know whether anyone has ever answered the question about Mill City Press and their response to work that has already been professionally edited. My book is almost finished with a prof. edit and here is what Mill City's response was to that:

We can waive the editing service requirement for this package through our editing staff if the editor that you have already retained is willing to work with you to make any revisions for the manuscript to address any editing concerns that our book editor outlines in the initial assessment. We would also need to have the contact information and credentials supplied for the editor you have retained for our book distributor to verify and have on file for their records since they will be representing your book to the trade industry professions in the Expanded Distribution Program.

Hope this is helpful...
mkirsch

Mill City:
We would also need to have the contact information and credentials supplied for the editor you have retained for our book distributor to verify and have on file for their records since they will be representing your book to the trade industry professions in the Expanded Distribution Program.

Click to expand...

I don't understand this. Why would anyone in the book trade be interested in the qualifications of an independent editor? They're interested in the book and whether they can sell it. If you've got a book edited by one of the top editors in the industry but a buyer for a chain store doesn't think they can sell it, then they're not going to buy that book. It's that simple.

Seems like a pointless exercise to me, but then nothing on the Mill City site fills me with confidence. It's a straight up pay to play and the only fact that really talks is how much its authors make after paying out all that cash up front. Given that the basic package is almost $1500 and the premium package almost $4000 - how many authors make that money back and how many make more than that?

MM

Hydrangea said:

One woman came on who was not pleased with MCP's services, and then they'd come on and say she was a horror to work with! Woe for the person who has to work with this uncooperative woman! Pretty funny .

Click to expand...

You know what..? This post just did it for me. I have been turned off to self-publishing by a variety of reasons, but if I ever did, I would never use MCP just because of this one incident. How can you be a legit publisher if you don't believe in your authors? How can you believe in your authors when you make fun of them in public? And what are you saying about your own business when you do either? I now feel quite confident in the answer to my last question.

Is This Legal?

I went with Mill City Press, then was handed off to handed off to one their sub publishers Hillcrest Media. I received a notice that I needed to renew my Expanded Distribution service for $349 for the coming year. Below is their threat if I don't renew. Is this legal for a publishing company to do this?

Canceling the Expanded Distribution - Softcover Service means that your book will no longer be available within the trade retailers and that retailers and wholesalers will no longer be able to order copies of your book. Further, your book will be listed as “Out of Print” and, if you wish to publish and/or distribute your book in the future, you’ll need to remove our ISBNs, bar code, and publisher information and replace them with your own. If you do cancel distribution, you will continue to receive statements for six months following cancellation, as returns and/or payments may come in during this time. It is your responsibility to log in to the Author Center and review these statements (which are loaded around the 20th of each month) and make payment for any outstanding distribution balance during this six month period.

Welcome to AW! There's already a thread about Mill City Press here. One of our mods will probably be along shortly to merge. According to this contract I see on their site, the program is on an annual basis.

You might check the terms of the contract you signed.

Also, Mill City is owned by Hillcrest Media Group.

They're a vanity press, with all the problems associated with vanity presses.

I hired Mill City Press (MCP) in late 2011 to publish my non-fiction book. MCP was a little sloppy in the editing end of it, and only offered me $50 credit for their mistake. They charged a lot for their services, and I made back my investment and finished $2,100 in the black...but I had to work my tail off to market it and I cut some deals with non-traditional booksellers to make a profit. My book, after a television appearance, soared to No. 1 on Amazon.com in its genre and got generally favorable reviews by readers.

Would I recommend MCP or its subsidiaries to any one wanting to get a book out? If you are absolutely confident that there's a market for your book and you have confidence in your writing ability, then yes, I would. If you're unsure, run away as fast as you can. MCP is a high-priced self publishing house and you'll end up losing money if your book or market is moderate to weak.

Hillcrest Media and its entities like Mill City Press are now operated by Salem Media who bought out the company in 2016. Salem Media also operate Xulon Press.

It's important to realise that while Mill City Press may have been fine in 2011, a lot of vanity presses that used to do a fair deal for vanity publishing many were bought up by Autor Solutions about whom I have read the most horrific and far reaching scam stories that go far beyond what you'd ever imagine and I have watched my elderly relative be preyed upon them and completely scammed (they didn't even ever print out his book despite him paying them thousands twice.) They have a range of tricks they pulled on him, which seem standard as I read about the same exact tricks being played on other elderly people after googling. Author Solutions are a multi national scam company.

I do not know if Mill City Press has been bought up by Author Solutions yet.

Here is a review I found http://www.bookmakingblog.com/2009/10/another-publisher-to-avoid.html