TheBookPatch Reviews 1,034

Perfect for novice writers. I've been a writer for years (MANY years!) but now that I'm retiring from my "real" work soon, I'm ready to embark on what I've always wanted to do - write for myself. Ghost writing is fine, but not really satisfying or fulfilling. As soon as I retire (in a matter of weeks) I'll be able to focus more on the marketing aspect of my fiction novels. I'm nearly finished with book 3 of my first trilogy and it's bringing me such joy! But I digress... I researched and finally decided to go with Book Patch because of the free templates for inside and cover. Their step by step instructions have helped me so much to understand exactly what I need to do. Thank you so much! - MTT

The books arrived in exactly the time frame that was expected and I was very pleased with everything!

As a "way up there" senior I have difficulties with much of the computer terminology and following the step-by-step instructions in preparation for self publishing. My own Microsoft Word 2007 is not the most current version and that's where I ran into trouble. My first concern was following the program when I thought my tools were current. At first my requests for help were answered, then later I felt rather neglected. The Book Patch phones do not answer even when the site says someone is available to speak to a customer. Finally my questions/frustrations have been answered and I have a copy of my book.

Don't spend your hard earned money at bookpatch.com, because their books are very poor quality. I wrote a book and paid bookpatch.com to make them for me. When I received the books, the books fell apart at the spine, and many of the pages fell out! I called bookpatch.com several times, and the phone line is always busy. I left several messages. I emailed bookpatch.com several times. I have not received a return call or email. You would be better off to go somewhere else to have your books made. I am very disappointed with the quality of the books and the quality of the company itself. Please do not give bookpatch.com your money! You'll regret it!

Good people--but site constantly goes down....orders can't be processed...can't log-in...no one picks up the phone...I'm pulling my books

It was such a joyful moment when I touched and leaf through a book written by me first time in my life. The quality of paper and layout of the book exceeds my expectation.

This is my first experience of writing a book. I looked for several sites where I could both print and buy books. Among the many sites in circulation, my choice fell on thebookpatch, not only for the fact that their prices are among the most reasonable on the market, but also because it allows you to order even one book at a time.

And so began my journey with thebookpatch. Although the site offers a lot of information about it, I also called them different because I had questions both about the printing of the book, but also about the layout of the book.

I have to say that Kristylle is absolutely wonderful, always very kind, she went above and beyond her duties. the saying goes "to go the extra mile", (which is already a plus) you went 10 extra miles! Thank you so much Kristylle!

I ordered my book and, apart from the joy of finally having it in my hands, I must say that both the cover and the book itself are of excellent quality. Also I was pleased to see the care they put into the shipment, the book was not simply inside a plastic bag as I expected, but protected between 2 cartons so that it would not bend or get damaged in transit. Thanks also for the care used in this little detail, bookpatch!

I confidently recommend thebookpatch to anyone who plans to publish a book or just buy one. Yes, sometimes it can take a little time or several attempts before speaking with customer service, but in the end the genuine friendly attitude and readiness to help in resolving any doubts or problems, amply pays off the wait!

I'm not an author, but I bought a couple things from The Book Patch recently, and I'm quite pleased with my experience!

The good outweighs the bad, and ultimately wins the day, but there were a few negatives I'd be remiss to ignore. Minor issues include:

1.) You need to sign up for a user account, with all of its author features, even if you don't need those features, and even when using guest checkout.

2.) Should you contact support, before hearing from a real person you'll receive a flurry of automated emails. Some of the info is useful, like the production schedule estimating when your items will be printed and shipped (though I'd have loved to see this somewhere on the website, before placing my order), but other things are contradictory and confusing, namely when tracking info is sent out. In one place they suggest noon, elsewhere 8PM, then another email says 7PM. I think it might be prudent to correct that contradiction, consolidate the various emails, and maybe make it clear that what you're reading is just an automated form response that will eventually be supplemented with contact from a human being. As it stands the emails could conceivably be misinterpreted as dismissive or outright rude.

As much as I'd like to see that small stuff improved, what actually lowered my rating was a set of more substantial issues:

3.) The holidays understandably have an impact on shipping times, but I wasn't prepared for how much. My order was placed just after the Thanksgiving weekend, and I expected the turnaround time to be at the upper end of the estimated 3-5 business days. Instead it was 9. On demand, small run printing of custom books is a tricky business, I'm sure, and I don't mind waiting a bit, but it became an issue because...

4.) The only shipping option that was reasonably priced was Media Mail. Its modern implementation is nowhere near as slow as its old reputation might have you believe, but it's still a relative snail's pace. In my case the shipment had to go through a region of the US that had recently been hit by severe inclement weather, slowing things even further. The Book Patch does not control the weather, nor the USPS, but the potential for things like that makes it desirable to get packages out the door with a quickness. Nine days was a bit too long here, pushing the shipment into dealing with weather it would have breezed by only a couple of days prior.

5.) When the package finally arrived, a few days before Christmas, I discovered that one book I'd ordered had printing errors, the other was missing altogether, and a book I'd never heard of and didn't purchase had been included. I was able to contact a very pleasant, helpful customer service rep who corrected these issues and got me what I paid for at no additional cost, but it was early February before I had my hands on both books in proper condition. Thankfully the order wasn't a gift, though I was disappointed I didn't get to curl up with these books during the holiday.

After all of that, I still think highly of The Book Patch on the grounds of their response to my issues and the quality of their product:

1.) A simple set of photos depicting the printing errors was all they needed to approve a reprint of the misprinted book. No jumping through hoops.

2.) Through our various back and forths discussing my problems, the representative I spoke with was delightfully pleasant, polite, and genuinely interested in helping me get what I needed. A thankless job during the slowest periods, and no doubt an order of magnitude worse when dealing with the stress of the end of year holiday crush. Also the stress of a global virus pandemic that I imagine had no small part in slowing down absolutely every part of the process (yet another reason I'm not too upset by the delays).

3.) The end result is a pair of books that are of genuinely stunning quality, and seeing them in person I understand why their author has publicly opined that none of the alternative printers they tried could come anywhere near matching The Book Patch. Crisp text, accurate color reproduction, everything neatly aligned, quite shockingly good output considering it's not coming from a major publisher.

The phenomenal quality of their product and the exceptional customer service add up to a predominantly positive experience. The old truism of "good, fast, or cheap, pick any two" holds up, and the delays don't bother me too much since I paid a reasonable price for high quality prints of books that are several hundred pages of full color, image-heavy content.

If The Book Patch were to streamline their automated emails, offer more realistic estimates of holiday shipping times, and perhaps anticipate printing issues with books like these (i.e. ink-heavy, rich color content), I could see future experiences easily deserving 5 stars.

Two people who were trying to purchase my book on the website had difficulty completing the transaction. The help I received to solve the problem was persistent and informative until it was solved. I felt that the helpdesk went beyond what I would normally expect.

Customer service went above and beyond their duties. A person wanted to buy one of my books but didn’t want to wait for printing and shipping book, So Krystlle emailed me to tell me of his dilemma. I have a few books at a local bookstore so I was able to get one and send him. She also gave me great instructions(complete with pictures) on how to make sure my ISBN number was on book. The last orders I did didn’t display it and didn’t want to order or sell anymore without it. She came to my rescue! Awesome customer service!!
Shannon Livingston

I am currently using TheBookPatch. I am a novice author and had some difficulties using the website to print my book. I called customer service, and they were EXTREMELY helpful, courteous, and professional. They gave me some pointers (which I took), and feel so much more confident finally being able to see my book in print. I am very grateful for their superb customer service and consideration for us authors who just want to see our books in print! Thank you TheBookPatch!

The website was easy to navigate and the customer service was exceptional. I am so happy I decided to "take a chance" with TheBookPatch. The books we ordered were just what we hoping for! I have nothing but praise for TheBookPatch!

They were amazing, they gave me updated constantly and the book shipped and came in a reasonable time!

This company rocks! Their customer service is like no other I am happy I found them. My new book, “Todos podemos ser RICOS!” is being printed by them - Louis H.

Bought this book got my daughter, who loves to dance, the book was of excellent quality, the the pictures were amazing the artist work not only did my daughter enjoy but also I did. It was very well written oh, the author did an amazing job. I would recommend this anyone that as a young child that loves dance.

Wonderful customer service (which seems to be a lost art) and that means so much to me. My rep. took her time with me and was so helpful. I am technologically challenged and she did everything for me. The only brands that I consider to have excellent customer service are Princess Cruise Lines, Chewy, and The BookPatch!

TheBookPatch.com came on my radar as I began the search for an Amazon KDP alternative. I only wish I had begun my search much earlier as it would have saved me a lot of headaches in my book publishing endeavors. Ever since Amazon acquired Createspace, the Amazon KDP customer service experience has been in a downward spiral. Ask a question of three different agents and one often receives three different answers. Amazon's unchecked monopoly power has destroyed the great American customer service experience. Thus, my quest to replace them. I reviewed and tried three alternative book publishing services. TheBookPatch came out on top, hitting on all cylinders. Not only is their customer service superior and U.S. based, the experience in dealing with their personnel has been pleasant and professional. They have assisted me in improving the quality of my book covers and consistently answer any and all questions I have in a timely manner. I now have placed 48 titles with them for my small and growing Piranesi Press. The books look fabulous and printing is precise. I could not be happier.

I've been using TheBookPatch since 2017, and I've always been 100% happy with the quality of both their products and services. I also love that they make it possible to drop ship to my customers, which makes handling orders myself through my own website a lot more manageable. So far I've self-published 3 books through TheBookPatch, and I've used them for printing one-off copies of some documents and I've always been pleased with the results.

I have published over a dozen booklets with the book patch now and they have all turned out great. The quality is excellent and the price is more than reasonable. Of course, the best part is the ability to order only one copy. I had one order arrive that had multiple copies that were damaged in shipment. I advised the book patch, with supporting evidence of the damage and they responded with a whole new shipment at no extra cost to me.

Great product, great service and customer support. It’s a dream to see the physical book come to fruition.