Balboa Press Reviews 

First, let me say even though I did not have the opportunity to meet her, I Love Louise Hay and am very grateful for her work. Her book “You can Heal Your Life” was a key in my life. I mention her because Balboa Press and all the other names they use is a division of Hay House, and I can only wonder if she would be happy to have her name associated with what Balboa press has become?
First, I purchased one their most comprehensive packages thinking it would make things easier, since I had self-published before. I did one of their payment plans and paid for months.
Second, in my experience, the employees seem to be mostly interested in selling and moving things along to get to the next sale.
Third, despite paying for the basic editing package and then additional editing, the manuscript was continuously returned with errors, and sometimes more errors because even when they corrected something they didn’t fix the whole thing back. Every time I got the manuscript back I had to review what the editor had done carefully because the “revision” could have messed something else up. This made me feel they didn’t really care, and when I asked given the amount of money spent, they said the errors were within their margin of error!
Fourth , it was difficult to get anyone that was accountable when anything went wrong. They just make stuff up and transfer you around on the phone. Basically once you gave them your money you were kind of stuck in their system.
Fifth, they just kind of want to get the project done and if you are paying attention to the details it gets uncomfortable because it seems the employees have too much on their plates.
Sixth, when the book was released for publication only the hard cover which was priced at over $30.00, was available on Amazon. When I first told them about the problem they acted as though it was nothing. It took from August to October to get the paperback on Amazon, which is the most important place. This ruined the “launch” and through everything off for months. In addition I had to call and email them virtually every day to get them to first take the matter seriously, then pay attention, and ultimately fix the issue.
After the book finally made it to Amazon everyone played crazy. I have the email were they promise to get back to me on my request for addressing the failure, but no one ever did. One day I called about some kind of price adjustment for this problem and I believe I was transferred around and placed on hold at least 8 times.
In the midst of this and without addressing this major failure they were trying to sell me marketing services. By this time I didn’t trust them at all and felt they were the worst.
Also in midst of this I received a congratulatory letter from their CEO, Reid Tracy, probably one of those form letters that prints automatically. Nonetheless a nice touch, so I wrote him about my situation. Needless to say I never hear from him or anyone else from Balboa Press.
I eventually canceled my contract. Even though there had been issues all along the way, even this major issue with the launching of the book, moved no one to be accountable. They were dishonest, disingenuous, and dishonorable. They didn’t make any adjustments or give me any credits for this matter and kept the money I paid even for unfulfilled services. In the end when I spoke to one of the last people before canceling the contract, she was surprised to hear of my experience, and sorry to hear, but admitted she had no power to do anything.
I wrote Reid Tracy again about my cancellation, needless to say no one has ever responded.

This is not what Louise Hay represented.

Sent from my iPhone

We are All Different, but We are all the Same is a beautifully written and illustrated Childrens book. I am a teacher and my students were engaged and excited listening to the story! Wonderful lessons embedded and it sparks a lot of conversation.

Balboa press have been extremely helpful and professional throughout the whole process. As a first time author the potentially stressful experience was made thoroughly enjoyable by all of the people at Balboa. They were also extremely expedient, the whole process took just over a month, which was amazing as it has taken me over 30 years to get to this point!

Good leading me through the necessary steps in the submission process. Good followup for marketing strategies after publication. Had zero editing help. Had to give instructions for changes many times over, as they often weren't corrected, and new errors were created. There was no one correcting typos or alignment of captions, or any editing whatsoever.

This company was great for my first book. I felt shepherded through the process by my assigned support team. I felt that I got service commensurate with the fees I paid.

My second book was a nightmare. Instead of the same team I had with my first book, different team members were assigned to me and the service was terrible. I paid the same amount with a small discount for publishing a second book with them, but had horrible customer service and support. The book design team did a great job of making the inside pages very creatively. The rest of the team after the book was designed was rude, and had a flippant attitude towards me when asking basic questions. Or no response at all. The cover has my name wrong, and I was waiting four months after the book was published for a press release, only to be told four months later I didn’t include that in my package. As if these people forget that without authors like me they do not have a job. Highly recommend staying away from them if you are an author. You can do better, and my third book will be with another publisher.

My goal was to ultimately be published by Hay House Publishing. I took their writers workshops, bought their books and joined the writers community, none of which was free. I felt that my books aligned with the honor and integrity of Louise Hay, and was told that I had to go through Balboa Press to have any hoods of getting published by Hay House. I did everything I was supposed to do and got nowhere.

Lesson learned.

I am discouraged, disgusted and disappointed in my experience with this company. I have been lied to, misled, and ignored in my attempts to gain answers to my concerns. My book is listed on Amazon as “this title has not yet been released” almost a month to the date of release. I have tried getting answers to my concerns and have been told it will be taken off next week, only it wasn’t. Then I was sent to a different department and told the problem would be resolved in a few days, but it wasn’t. After sending another email I received another email stating the retailers like Amazon can put any kind of status on their sites. Everything was me mentioned except “this item has not been released yet” at this point I was very angry and requested speaking to a supervisor or manager. I have still not had a response, I have tried calling the number provided to no avail. I can’t even leave a voice mail. I am disgusted with this organization and their complete lack of customer service.

I signed up with Balbia Press because I held Louise Hay in such high regard. She was a women with such integrity and honor. I expected the same from a subsidiary business related to Hay House. I am sadly disappointed. I will NEVER use them again.

Please think twice before investing your time and money with this organization - they do not follow through with helping resolve issues once you’ve made your final payment. I am left hanging with my family and friends having no idea when or if their books will arrive with their pre-orders.

Shame on you Balboa Press

Multiple hand-off's leaves the process devoid of intimacy and continuity leaving one to feel like they are starting over with each step. Once a hand-off has happened it seems like the individuals you have previously dealt with vaporize. The process would benefit by charging one person to be the champion of the entire process and as the go-to person.

when I call there no one returns my call, it's hard to get a hold of someone that works there, it's like playing phone-tag. And when I do get someone they don't want to help me, no one shows customer service skills there. All they want to do is email you a bunch of junk and not converse with me, I'm sick of that behavior.

Everything is systematic. On point. They always knew how to take care of my issues and needs. They were always available. And they made some great suggestions. Exceptional service and worth the money.

As always Balboa Press has helped me publish my beautiful book. I am thrilled with how the cover looks. Very happy with the overall experience. Ease and grace. Andrea

Great introduction into the publishing world - Getting the support I needed to move through the publication process was most helpful. The transformation of turning the manuscript into a book, followed by its introduction to the world was a great experience. As this was my first book I had no prior experience with the publishing world. The editing assessment was most helpful in understanding the do's and don'ts of what to leave in the final manuscript. I chatted with some lovely people along the way, including some who helped me choose the most useful marketing strategies. I was delighted with the cover design and had immediate positive feedback from many people. I was able to get on with other things in my life while the job was getting done for me. I was consulted with everything, even though there were a few hiccups along the way. I'm yet to see the results from the marketing strategies as it's early days yet, but I am staying positive and feel confident my book will do well. I have signed up with Balboa for my second book, which is in the developmental stages and will hopefully be published toward the end of 2023.

Hi, My name is Matumayini Lilia Mboleza, I love reading and writing books most of times. I been experienced on how to write books according to the thought for thoughts of advantages and disadvantages of English manners. I love working with the Balboa Press publisher company which is so wonderfully and excellently idea that I could handled by myself. I love Balboa Press publisher company, so much. This company is the world most fantastic and good company to work with.

Balboa Press is very easy to work with, Everyone is polite and very efficient. Directions given are easy to follow. All the submission I gave were answered promptly. Most of all I found everyone I talked to very kind.

After a few hiccups, namely a lack of communication,which they promised in the beginning, my experience of a first time published author was very good. Yuki Kenzo and via Nielsen were excellent and did an awesome job for my poetry book. The only thing I would say is that you need to ask lots of questions in the beginning. Because they sell the deal to you telling you that once your book is published it goes on all the main sites like Amazon. What they don't tell you in the beginning is that's as far as it goes. They won’t market your book. That's a separate package. I was quoted around $2000 on top of the $2000 publishing fee.
Self published means self marketing and self selling if you don't pay the separate marketing fee.

1. Workmanship could be improved and thorough.
2. Responsiveness could be improved - no phone/email responses for a long.
3. Staff could be trained further why they exist.
4. Overall, the company does not care about customers.

As a newcomer to publishing a book, I always found helpful and friendly contact persons to ask about the procedures, when I was insecure. Glad that I chose the package that I did; all was fulfilled in a smooth way and I got value for my money.

The publisher neglected to publish the book I wrote in the same as I way I sent it to them . I have had a few friends already purchase the book and now I have to reimburse them. I did not receive a book myself before it was available to the public. Although I did contact DBeeler and he said he would correct the error. I would like them to send me a confirmation email.

extremely helpful company that gives you the option of accepting their advice or following your own ideas. If you should need help they are always ready to give whatever help you need. They don't force their opinions onto you leaving you to decide for yourself.

I'm a first time author, with little technical knowledge. From the beginning, they worked with me, I never was made to feel stupid. Because of my team at Barboa, the process was smooth and they delivered just what I wanted.

They responses are usually prompt and they are helpful. I think though that because different people are contacting me from different departments, some order needs to be in place. e.g you shouldn't be asking a client to purchase a marketing package when the client has not been notified that the book is published, nor have they approved such publication.