BookBaby

I was surprised at the cost per copy.

Good source for self publishing

We were printing a book in Hebrew (first time). And team was responsive to answering questions, resolving issues with book layout. Production was quick.

BookBaby Is Failing to Enforce Its Own Guidelines

We’ve been trying, for weeks now, to get BookBaby to take down a self-published book that uses our real names, misrepresents private events, and recounts deeply personal family matters all without our consent. We’ve shown how the book clearly violates BookBaby’s own content guidelines, which prohibit: • Defamatory, abusive, or libelous material • Unauthorized use of names, likenesses, or personal stories • Content intended to harass or emotionally harm others • Privacy violations and unconsented disclosure of identifying information Despite this, BookBaby refuses to act because the author said they didn’t break the rules. That’s it. That’s the review process. They’re not listening to the people actually harmed. They’re not protecting the victims. They’re hiding behind policy while allowing deeply harmful content to remain in distribution. We’re not asking for money. We’re not trying to silence difficult topics. We’re asking for basic human decency, for BookBaby to uphold its own policies and take action when clear harm has been done. If you've ever had your privacy violated in the name of someone else’s “narrative,” we see you. If a platform has ever failed to hear your side, we stand with you. BookBaby, it’s time to do better.

Extremely satisfied

Extremely satisfied. Easy to use system. Highly responsive customer service

Erik Ortlieb StridUnited States · 1 review · Experienced 2025-06-25 · Posted 2025-06-25

Awesome Team!

I had an amazing experience with the Book Baby team writing my business book. The team was highly professional and talented, and the finished product was amazing. I consider them to be a critical resource for self publishing and will certainly use them for my next book!

Bookbaby - Perfect Provider

Bookbaby was the perfect provider for our family history project. Super responsive. Quick turnaround. Great prices!

$6,000 Spent — and a Complete Breakdown at Every Stage

I’ve spent over $6,000 with BookBaby to publish a single title — and I deeply regret it. From the beginning, the experience was riddled with poor communication, missed deadlines, and avoidable errors. I was shuffled between at least seven different team members with no clear ownership of the project. Each handoff introduced confusion or delays. The account manager I was told would be my main point of contact disappeared entirely after I signed the contract — until it came time to sell me a paid media campaign. The original cover design was completely unusable — I had to pay an outside designer to redo it. During the layout phase, I submitted 14 rounds of revisions. Nearly every round came back with new formatting or design issues caused by BookBaby’s team. I responded quickly each time, but BookBaby repeatedly missed their own turnaround timelines and each update cost me hundreds of dollars. Even when a senior team member assured me that my project would be expedited, the production team later said they had no knowledge of that agreement. The most frustrating issue came during eBook conversion. Despite submitting a clean, final PDF, BookBaby introduced major formatting problems — bolded letters, misaligned text boxes, and random spacing issues. It was clear no one checked the converted files against the approved PDF before sending them back. When I raised it, I was told to manually go line-by-line to flag errors they introduced. I escalated these issues — even contacted management. No one ever followed up. Then came the distribution mess. BookBaby required a two-month pre-order window on all platforms, claiming it would allow them to forecast delivery windows and ensure books would be “In Stock” at launch. But the moment my paperback went live on Amazon (June 3), it was marked “Temporarily Out of Stock” — and three weeks later, it still is, with no timeline or update. The paperback is also unavailable on Barnes & Noble and Walmart — despite BookBaby claiming full retail distribution. I was just told that: Barnes & Noble opted not to carry the paperback (a major detail never disclosed until now). Walmart never ordered any copies because there's no traffic — and there's no traffic because the listing is invisible unless you type the exact ISBN. Worse, I’ve received completely conflicting updates about Amazon orders. I’ve been told everything from 10 to 106 copies were ordered, with no clarity on what’s been printed, picked up, or fulfilled. I was told Amazon ordered books a month ago that went into production — but I have no way of knowing what’s true and people have been reaching out saying they ordered it more than a month ago with no updates. I have no access to real-time sales tracking, and royalties are delayed by six months since it launched. This entire process has completely derailed my launch, hurt reader trust, and erased months of momentum I spent building. TL;DR: I spent over $6,000 with BookBaby and deeply regret it. If you care about quality, timelines, communication, or launch execution — look elsewhere. BookBaby might be fine for authors with no expectations, but for serious authors, it’s a major risk.

Good and Timely Service

I always get good service from BookBaby. They do what they say they will, when they say they will do it.

Darian Senn-CarterUnited States · 1 review · Experienced 2025-01-29 · Posted 2025-06-23

Ongoing Distribution Issues

Ongoing Distribution Issues, Missing Royalties, and Delayed Shipping I published my book through BookBaby in January of this year and have encountered several ongoing issues that remain unresolved. First, the book continues to show as “out of stock” on Amazon. According to Amazon, when inventory is low, they submit restock requests to the distributor—BookBaby. Despite this, the listing remains unavailable, which has limited visibility and sales. Second, I’ve received feedback from several readers who purchased the book on Amazon (via BookBaby distribution) and experienced significant shipping delays. This has caused frustration among supporters and reflects poorly on the publishing experience. Note: to date non of my Amazon sales appear under my BookBaby royalties. This note is being added after receiving an unsatisfactory response to my review. Most concerning is the complete lack of royalty payments. I know that many copies have been purchased through Amazon, yet none of these sales are reflected in my BookBaby account under royalties or payments. To date, I have not received a single payment or sales report accounting for these purchases. As an independent author, I expected a more transparent, responsive, and professional experience. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. I hope BookBaby takes action to resolve these issues for the sake of all authors using their platform.

It met my expectations fully

It met my expectations fully. Good quality product and the books were produced and delivered quickly and efficiently.

It was an easy and seemless process.

Templates relatively easily to use

Templates relatively easily to use. Went above and beyond in producing samples of my little book.

Technologically for m me it was… kudos to the book baby Team

Technologically for m me it was nerve-racking. With the help of my niece and Evan. The process became smooth. We were able to arrange conference calls that quieted my nerves. All was explained clearly, and my desires were honored. I deeply appreciate the attitude of teamwork. Where my confidence failed yours was supplied. I would definitely use your services again and recommend you to others.

Superior Customer Service and patient…

Superior Customer Service and patient sales reps one by one has made my experience outstanding in every way.

Quality design, printing and customer service

BookBaby provides very high-quality design, printing, and customer service!

The reviewer really "got it." He…

The reviewer really "got it." He described what was happening in my stories clearly and insightfully. I was very pleased with his review. My only concern was that he took the liberty to shorten my main character's name. I informed BookBaby and the correction was immediately made. So all in all, I was very pleased. And thank you!

Very unprofessional marketing service ... don't waste your money

Very unprofessional marketing service. Signed up to promote an Amazon KDP book via Facebook. The ad copy that they sent back looked like a 5-year old did it. After multiple iterations, I ended up creating one myself. Ad was finally run and showed incorrectly for multiple days until I complained. Stats are completely inaccurate as I can track all of my hits; they claim 192 clicks, but then suddenly it changes to 93 clicks after I complain. Total garbage. Don't waste your money.

excellent customer services!!

excellent customer services!! fast and efficient

First ever children's book

This was my first ever children's book and the printing came out great! The templates were very hard to work with but the production team guided me through and the end product is fabulous. Thanks Book Baby!

Karen DanzeyUnited States · 6 reviews · Verified · Experienced 2025-05-28 · Posted 2025-06-11

That this site is truth worthy and each…

That this site is truth worthy and each steps of the process I didn’t feel alone as I had an issue. Customer service is chef kiss and the process was easy.