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Westbow Press purposely is elusive and vague when trying to find out payments for royalties. They are deceptive in quoting costs which allows them to profit without sharing proceeds. They are tardy in paying royalties and will not address issues unless complaints are directed toward the board of directors and ceo. Their entire process should be audited and they should be required to disclose what was sold, when it was sold and the format that it was sold in. They refuse to do that. They do not disclose any of this up front when soliciting the thousands of dollars they charge to publish a book.
I wish I knew. I am 75 and have written a book. First people I contacted was Westbow. They sounded like they were Christian but wanted to sell me a package plus editing for $2,778. They asked for my digital signature authorization before sending me their agreement. I provided it and my credit card number. I later received their agreement which stated that cancellation fees were 10% of the purchase price or the full purchase price whichever is greater if cancelled from 0 to 90 calendar days. I requested a cancellation within 24 hours after reading these reviews. I could not communicate with their staff in the Philippines due to understanding their language and a time delay in the phone systems. No one in the US to help. They say they are affiliated with Zondervan but are not. Zondervan does not have a reachable number.
Why I digitally signed an agreement I had not seen, I do not know. Zero days to 90 is no cancellation option. This is fraud, and I reported it as such to my bank and will follow-up with Zondervan whose reputation is being smeared by this company as well as the BBB. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE DUPED BY THESE SCAM ARTISTS.
These people stole money from me and when I asked for it back they lied and said they had given it back but they never did. So if you don't have money to give away find another publisher. I think because I decided not to use them but had already sent them my money they just kept it and lied saying they returned it. Just be careful.
I've already been burned by Westbow Press. After spending nearly $3000 for their "services" none of which they fulfilled (copyright, ISBN, hard copy, layout, etc), I was lured by their offer to have my book ready before Christmas 2022 in time for holiday sales and promotion. Their editing department spent weeks fishing for unacceptable vocabulary like the term "Jesus Freaks", "Oh my Gosh!" words like "retarded" and "crazy." They made me chase down all the photographers of my pictures (even my personal wedding photos) for permission to use; cut all songs to 6-8 lines (no problem with that, copyright issue). They wanted me to change all names and locations (make up streets and cities). Names of people had already been changed or not used. I was not permitted to interact with the editing department over the vocabulary issues I disagreed with. This is what you get when you have millennials perusing your work, another author told me. The straw that broke the camel's back was them wanting me to use a pseudonym. This is MY MEMOIR. Why would I use a fake name? Who would buy it? Not anyone who knew me. The book was not ready before Christmas. I had to cancel my library book signing event. In view of this breach of contract, I asked for my money back. They returned all but $400. My sister who has self-published 4 books stepped in to assist me. Though it may take longer, at least I know I will not get stiffed. Barbara Charles Pement, Author of "Was...was that Jesus? 23 Years in a Jesus Commune --A Memoir"
How I wish I had the foresight to check out reviews before I committed to WestBow. If that is what you are doing, let me say good for you! WestBow does get a book published, but it is a utterly painful process and, in my case, they rolled out the expensive marketing plan before the website and audio book, which was paid for in advance, was complete. After repeated attempts, I finally cancelled the audio book order, but only received a portion of what was paid even though they did a mere fraction of the work, missed deadline after deadline, and became non-communicative. I had to argue with them to get any money return as they were planning to keep it all. I subtly implied an action against them, which was backed up by emails that admitted to missed deadlines. If you do use them, just remember they are a SALES organization. That is their first (and only) objective. Buyer beware.