FriesenPress
reviews and complaints

My experience with FriesenPress was absolutely terrible and everyone should know that this company before spending their hard-earned money, and sharing their passions with a place that is so awful. I have plenty to share:

I published my first novel with FriesenPress, and at the beginning the experience appeared like it was going to be great. I had a fantastic evauation completed and the editing process was helpful and well done. This is where the good things I have to say about the company comes to an abrupt end. Going forard, I had a publishing specialist who was not accomodating and many problems arose as the publication process continued. Furthermore, I paid for the full service, so I was very excited to see what they could come up with in terms of cover design. Well, when those arrived I was absolutely floored. I asked specifically for a certain theme, and a female's eyes with two different colours to highlight the cover. What did I receive? I received CLEARLY male eyes over a photo that they literally took a photo, cut it in half and placed one over the other. This was a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, so I can't even begin to express how ridiculous it looked. I ended up making my own cover even though I have no skills in graphic design and it looked 1000x better than what they cam up with, then they were offended when I insisted that was the cover we were going to use. From there, they couldn't seem to get the layout correct, and my concerns were completely unheard. The marketing portion was some of the worst. The marketing girl literally made grammatical errors in the photos she created for Instagram, wrote incorrect things about the story, and was extremely unprofessional.

Fast forward two years, I have another manuscript and really want to see this book turned into a novel. So, I call FriesenPress and ask only for an editor's evaluation, then I could make an informed decision whether to move forward from there, as that was the only positive experience I received with my first novel. What I got back after paying nearly $600.00 was one of the most disheartening, awful things I ever read. I was floored that I spent that kind of money for the editor to write 15 sentences about the strengths of my 120,000 word manuscipt, but then went on to write 5 pages about how it lacked Narrative Coherence. Every single point the editor made waswhat lacked coherence. I emailed the publishing specialist back and forth expressing my disatisfaction with the service, that the editor's points lacked merit or weight. All they did was argue back and forth at me telling me that I was too emotional. I was straightforward, but I am no pushover, so I argued my points backing them up with evidence and said that if I continued with the publiction I would be forgoing using this editor as I didn't trust something I cared so deeply for in her hands. The result: I received an email saying that they no longer would be publishing my book, then I was accused of using abusive language. Naturally, I was a bit taken aback by this and asked him to specify exactly where I used sbusive language, to which he could not give a single example. I have the emails and would be willing to show anyone, there was absolutely no use of abusive language in any of my emails. I stated a disatisfaction with a service I paid a lot of money for and a reluctance to let an editor like this work through the professional edit of my novel. That's all.

I asked for a refund and am publishing with another company who gave the manuscriot glowing reviews and were happy to take me on.

Do not spend your hard-earned money on this company. Do not give these villains access to your heart and soul. They will abuse it at every turn.

I will never use this company again and am warning others not to use them. They pick and choose on their books and only money helps them out on that. Given nearly ten grand to this company and constantly they kept asking for more and I am not getting the services I required. Not getting paid for the books I am told have been sold. Pretty sure this company fixes their own income to say you didn't sell a book. My trust for this company is gone.

I wanted to publish a book of about 60,000 words that I had written over the years. I had no experience going into this, just a naive optimism. I never expected to make any profit, and there is the only place in this experience that I have not been disappointed.

I contacted Friesens Press in Victoria, BC. Brett convinced me to sign-up by offering me their “special deal” which was only about $950 more than the advertised rate of $1,999.00.

They took $2,946.30 from me in December 2020 and for that they promised and I expected to have one complete soft-cover and one complete hard-cover copy of my book in my hand by the spring of 2021. I was told the books were being printed in Winnipeg and I would buy copies from them at a reduced cost for local sales. They would distribute the book from their in-house distributor and through online sales (including Kobo, Kindle and Amazon) on a commission basis and pay me a royalty.

After paying this amount I sent them my manuscript and filled-in a lengthy series of online questionnaires. Weeks later I was contacted by email and told my manuscript had been "evaluated" but NOT read, and it needed major editing which they offered to do for an additional $5000.00. I arranged to edit it locally.

It was then time for the ‘Cover’. I was told I had paid $ 249.00 for "premium cover design". By email I sent the images which I had selected, but they produced a very acceptable cover using stock images but which I then approved. Summary (so far);

$179.00 of the $2,946.30 was for writing the back cover, (but when the cover arrived the final text for the back cover was in fact just text taken from the questionnaires I had filled in.)

$195.00 of the $2,946.30 was for the right to watch some on-line videos called "The Chilton Method", (which I did.)

$165.90 of the $2,946.30 was for 2 hours of their dealing with extra “complexities" (which I assume they will claim they encountered.)

$399.00 of the $2,946.30 was for "Expanded Distribution”. (When I asked this turned out to be Barnes and Noble, Indigo and Kobo selling the book online.)

$499.00 of the $2,946.30 for my own "Promotion Specialist" to give me a written marketing plan, (which turned out in the end to be unusable in my situation.)

I was told I had paid to have one round of revisions to my manuscript. I eventually received a .pdf version (for “layout changes”) and a .docx version of my manuscript (“for text edits”). They differed from the manuscript I had submitted. I had supplied my photos and indicated their placement in the manuscript as per their requirement. Many changes I wanted (like starting each new chapter on the right side and changing the font I was told were not feasible.

I ultimately then had only two changes to make (one format and one text). Through poor communication the correction of a simple re-alignment of one paragraph on the .pdf file was prolonged. After a phone call it was finally achieved but the second change I wanted was the addition of one sentence to the .docx file, it never did happen, where I was originally told "...It should be fine" two weeks later the same Friesens publishing expert told me "...it is not possible without extra charge now." This was now a “Post Publication Change” and would cost me an additional $429. Eventually I just approved the files as they were.

At about this point I also found I would NOT get a copy of both the hard and the soft cover to proof, but in fact my contract provided for one free copy of each version, and those only if I actually bought both types of the books from Friesens.

I was given access to watch an on-line video series and I completed a price setting form (which I didn't really understand and I still don’t). One of three (in total) phone conversations with Friesens (in total) did little to increase my understanding).

I was now offered a quote from Friesens for supplying 100, 200 or 250 copies at an authors discounted price.  For 200 Soft-cover books delivered to me here at my home in Yukon, Friesens wants another $ 4,521.52. My total cost will by then be $ 7,467.82 (or $ 37. 33 per book).

I then learned the reason was that instead of being printed in Winnipeg the books will be printed somewhere in the United States. And, Friesens insisted on controlling the shipping. I ordered 200 books and paid the $ 3,039.92 for the books and $ 1,481.60 for pre-paid freight to Whitehorse, including all taxes.

My cost now, per book, delivered here, exceeds the retail price. There is no profit or room for local distribution except at a loss to me. I contacted the main local retailer who offered to reduce their commission from 40% to 20% to help me.

When I questioned Friesen’s about the cause of this I also learned that I had digitally signed a two year contract that gave Friesens ownership of all the files. Should I continue with Friesens for one full year, only then they will sell me back the "print ready" files for an additional $299.00 (plus $ 99.00 more for e versions.) I then become liable for "distribution fees”, at this point I have no information what that is. They also will want back their ISBN numbers at that time.

Now that the book was “published” and for sale I received my “Promotion Plan” from my Promotion Specialist (which I had paid $499 for). It was mostly a modified version of their on-line form that I had completed.

I notified several local people who were interested in buying it. They replied that using the online store fronts they found the book was not available here in Northern Canada. When I went online and tried to buy a book from Friesen’s/Ingram I found the transaction was rejected and all I got was a disclaimer at the Ingrams/Friesens site that shipping was too expensive to ship here. If I tried to continue, I found myself in a loop.

I went back to the Promotion (marketing) Plan. I found it failed to mention that Friesens were not even making actual copies of the book available in Northern Canada (it’s largest market area) despite the fact that had been made clear as far back as the very first document they had me complete. I arranged a call with Friesen’s manager Jessica Bonney.

I was nervous now about the order for books and shipping I have already paid for. With sinking expectations I researched each source on the “extended distribution” and found my book is available in US and southern Canada and was selling at all of them for between $50 to $60 per copy (postage included). I learned some other Yukon authors who I know had similar experiences with Friesens Press.

Saturday April 24, 2021, my wife informed me she wants several hard-cover copies of my book. I went online to buy 5 using the “authors discount” but, I didn’t notice that as you navigate the website it goes back to soft cover and I order 5 more of them instead. That took some time to sort out. So I ordered again and instead of the authors discount I could only get the regular price without the promotional copy included.

Next I got notice that my 201 soft-cover books are shipped, by PUROLATOR! Neither Purolator nor Fedex maintain their own business operations in Northern Canada (instead they contract some other business to front them). They are most commonly used as a courier.

April 29, 2021 I had a nice scheduled phone conversation with Jessica Bonney, Friesens manager in Victoria just to review my experience. Bottom line is she says, I got what I paid for, they can’t print and ship from Canada (Altona Manitoba) unless it is for 1000 books, and even then they will pick the shipper. She kindly offered to review “price setting” video today and offers not to charge me the normal $69 fee for doing it. I declined as there seems no point if they refuse to ship to Northern Canada. She informed me she knows many people living in Northern Canada are pleased to pay these high costs of shipping. (In 45 years I haven’t met those people.) We agree they will make the book available for two years, I will buy my print files in one year (in April 2022) and then take them where I want to print.

Following the discussion with Jessica I returned to their web-site and I found that while I started in the “authors-discounted” page, the system autofilled the information and by the time I press “Complete Purchase” I had been billed $261.74 instead of $214.63 and was on the normal purchase page.

This 5 month process with Friesens has been frustrating, I just don't have the experience to anticipate the next disappointment, but it's an inevitable event that is extra-bitter because each time it is to discover it will involve a benefit to them and a new cost or loss to me. If there is any fault here it is legally no doubt mine.

The best solution available is likely to allow Friesens to sell the book for the two years, pay them another $299.00 + $99.00, in one year and take whatever "print-ready" files they give me, and arrange printing from another company. Then give them formal notice to severe our agreement.

IF there is Karma in this world I have done something to warrant all this?

Today I learned that a friends book was published by YTM and printed here in Whitehorse at Arctic Star Printing for a very tiny portion of what I have paid to Friesens.

May 5, 2021 I received an email from Purolator saying my shipment is “on vehicle for delivery.” in Whitehorse. So I go online to find their phone number because they are NOT listed in the Whitehorse phone book. The website shows a map to an office that it turns out is no longer theirs, and the phone number that does not work. My second search brings a different phone number for Purolator. This number is answered, he does not identify who they are, but he doesn’t seem surprised I am looking for Purolator. He tells me “the truck” will NOT in fact deliver to me, only to him, and he doesn’t open until noon, and he is in the industrial park (at a different location than the online map), and in any even he knows nothing about my shipment. An hour later I get an automated SMS message directing me to a website at https://track-.purolator.com/cans/dk/en/AT-F000049904&retailCode=RA7954. It comes up Code 404 first few times, but eventually it directs me to the phone number I just called. It also warns I have five days to come and pick my parcel up.

When find the office and I pick up the shipment one box is crushed and open. The Purolator person helps me carry the boxes out the front door and leaves before I can ask about this. I sign nothing and get no receipt. (Only one book is damaged, that will be my “demo” book). Sales begin.

I get a call from my brother in Moncton NB, he complains that Ingram charged him $15 dollars shipping for one book bought online.

Stay tuned, this is likely not over.

I ordered 100 books in July and paid $2255. Several of the books were returned from the Book Store when the boxes were opened because the covers had been mis-alligned and there was glue on the insides, also two had corners bent over (It was obvioussly before shipping...they were absolutely flat!) On their website I see they believe 15% of a shipment is normal loss. Too bad me!

Oct 27, 2021 I was out of books again and went to the web site. The price I was ultimately charged was not what appeared there. When I complained I was told, “Please keep you emails polite and professional when you engage with us in the future. “ I have given them $12,293.03 at this point, ($ 30.73 per book received, and they still don’t ship to customers in Northern Canada, so it is likely I did show some attitude?)

Sales so far;

300 myself so far, and 100 more on order

49 online Soft cover

30 online Hard cover

35 e books.

Oct. 28, 2021, I tried to locate the royalties information on my Account on Friesens website (which I have done in past) but I am not able to get in without a password. This is new. I enter some nonsense and it works. I create a new password. I have received $562.58 by their record and am owed another $ 199.71 at the end of this month.

The price there was not the price I was charged $ 2308. The price is not what the web site shows as my price, when I asked why I got the same Covid, rising costs of paper excuse.

April 24, 2022 I have requested by writing (email) of Friesens to exercise Section 16 of “our contract”. I sent an email asking for .pdf Production Files for the Hardcover and Softcover books and agreed to their $299 fee. (Other printers I have contacted informed me this is NOT the normal requirement by book publishers in Canada? Apparently most do this without charge.)

May 4, 2022 Leanne Janzen notifies me by email my print files are ready to download. I have been invoiced $299 which I paid.

I will begin work on a new version. I will also likely close my contract with Friesens, have them stop any commitment or arrangements they have made on my behalf. I should first ensure all my obligations are met and that they owe me nothing.

May 13, 2022 I have been trying all week to edit the .pdf production files that Friesens supplied and that I paid for, and not surprisingly I can’t. Friesens originals were apparently InDesign files and without those and the fonts they used there any modification I make to the .pdf destroys the formatting. I somehow suspect Friesens knew this because as I reread the contract it states .pdf will be maid available and doesn’t mention InDesign. I also find that in the files they did supply Friesens Press name still appears and they claim all reproduction rights.

Continued...within an hour Friesens responds by email;

Hello George, 

While we do supply the Stripped Production Files, we do not supply our designers InDesign working files. 

Please refer to Section 16 of your Service Agreement - that can be found under Publishing Details in your Author Account Centre. 

16. PRODUCTION FILES Service Provider retains ownership of all electronic production files pertaining to Book that have been created by, or modified, in any way by Service Provider. After twelve (12) months have elapsed from the publication date, Author may request a copy of the interior and cover output files for the hardcover and softcover format (pdf files) or the eBook files by sending a request in writing to Service Provider. The fee for providing the hardcover and softcover files is $299 and the eBook files including the epub and PDF formats is $99.00. Upon payment of this fee by Author, Service Provider will remove all references to Service Provider and the associated ISBN’s in the digital files before delivering them to Author. IMPORTANT: Copies of hardcover and softcover files provided to Author by Service Provider will be print-ready files. Application files (such as InDesign files) will not be provided or made available.

You do have the option of coming back for Post Publication Revisions if you would like to have changes made, or alternatively you can re-create the files in your own working capacity. 

If post publication revisions are of interest to you, please let me know.

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Why in god’s name would I engage this company yet again, even if it’s to supply a service they were supposed to do as part of the original ‘contract’. I have resolved to send this to BC Better Business or Consumers Affairs to document their behaviour.

I will prepare now to exercise Section 25 of our ‘contract’. I just delivered the following email to Friesen;

May 13, 2022

I would like to exercise Section 25 of our "contract";

25. TERMINATION
25.1. Author may terminate this Agreement at any time by giving written notice to Service Provider, and such termination will be effective five (5) business days after Service Provider receives Author’s notification to terminate. Author agrees to pay all amounts owing to Service Provider prior to termination of this Agreement.
25.2. Service Provider may terminate this Agreement at any time and for any reason by giving notice to Author, and such termination will be effective at the time the notice is provided. Service Provider will fulfill book orders pending as of the date of termination.
25.3. The license granted by Author to Service Provider (a non-exclusive worldwide license to store, transmit, print, distribute, and sell Book in print, as well as in electronic (ebook) formats) terminates upon the termination of this Agreement by either Author or Service Provider.
25.4. In the event of termination of this Agreement by either Author or Service Provider, all distribution of Book in the various Distribution Channels will be promptly discontinued. This does not prevent existing used copies from being resold outside the Distribution Channels with which Service Provider has business relationships.

I will honor no debts or obligations to Friesens, or to any other person they may have engaged, for any reason.

George Balmer

Final:

Their original misrepresentation about this being done in Winnipeg was outright deception. Their confusion led to their failure to make any edits during the design phase which was completely contrary to the contract. Charging me to watch the Chilton videos was petty. Charging me $500 for a Marketing Plan that failed to mention that neither they nor their agents would sell or mail books to anywhere in Northern Canada where I live and where my market actually is was possibly fraudulent. Paying $299 for files I though would be of use to me was another mistake (assumption) on my part caused by deception on theirs.

I have now contacted other printers who are in Canada and who express surprise that I had to buy my production files back from Friesens. They state that the files should be mine already. I don’t know, I have learned that most of my expectations or assumptions about publishing were naive at the very least.

I certify that all statements made here (above) are true and accurate to the best of my ability.

J George Balmer

May 13, 2022

I signed a publishing agreement with Friesen Press on November 7th of 2017 for my children's book Friends on the Spectrum. My intention for this book was to create a resource for parent's, caregivers and educators to use to open the discussion around children and special needs individuals. I had never written or published professionally and I had done my research (or so I thought) between Friesen and TellTale. Friesen had the best "pitch" in my opinion at the time and the better bang for my buck so to speak. I felt at first upon speaking to Joshua Robinson that I had found a team that backed my vision and an individual who was committed to making it happen. Instead I was paired with a lack lustre, uncommitted and un reachable individual to guide me through the process. Even on the day of my official release I contacted him and received an "out of office" message. Prior to publishing he had told me that the bookstore link to sell was only for me to see as a template when it reality it was live the entire time and in that time he had listed my children's book about special needs under terminal illness! That was quite a shock to my audience and myself and it took weeks to have that information corrected. I was bullied into the cost of my book because I wanted to make it affordable but you have to set it in USD and I thought the lower the price would make it more accessible but then they tack on per book shipping because they print in the states. So a book that cost $14 to purchase is also roughly $14 to ship from Friesen Press. My story is beautiful but I am not asking any parent to spend $30 on a single soft cover book. Amazon listing was a nightmare and after 3 tickets they resolved the issue for the influx of pricing by third party sellers. I have repeatedly inquired about terminating the contract which is stated in the contract but not clearly as to how that is carried out and they tell me I can purchase my print ready files instead for $699 plus taxes. I have already spent well over $3500 in attempt to make this an engaging, affordable and accessible passion project and I just deposited another $500 last month to see if I could fix their mistakes in the first product but now I know they are the problem. I have been passed around to numerous specialists who consistently upset me to stay with them because honestly I can't afford to do the alternative. I have used GoFundMe, PayPal, I have a business partner and I sell what little I can because the cost to order books in bulk is ridiculous for personal sales. They want all of their profits through their website which is why the royalties are highest through those channels and the most expensive. I just want to have my intellectual properties returned to me so that I can create the book I envisioned for a community that deserves affordability and accessibility.

I paid around 3100.00 to FriesenPress in September 2012 to publish my first fiction Death of a Taxi Driver. They said they were going to publish the book by February 2013. Then paid and sent my manuscript. Then the following happened.

1. Sabotage: In the first week of December 2012, FriesenPress sent an edited PDF with around 140 additional mistakes that I didn't make. The author account manager Ashley Patton called me few days after and told me to clean them up, it would cost me 1484.00, which was not correct.
This is a crime FriesenPress committed.

On the phone, Ashley Patton showed condescending behaviour and tone.

2. Disrespect: I got angry and I sent email being angry because Ashley Patton refused to give me the phone# of their Vice President to complain. Then Sean Ho called me, apologized to me few times, and FriesenPress cleaned up the files.

3. Non-compliance of the agreement that I signed with FriesenPress: FriesenPress was deliberately procrastinating for this one and that one. They didn't comply the commitment that gave that the book would be published by February 2013.

4. In April 17, they sent the final ePoof file with more than 400 words per page trim size5.5x6.5 where as in the agreement it was around 315 words.

They objected, then said, they can't. I go angry, Sean Ho, the author account officer's manager called me and terminated the agreement.

They refunded only 300.00 which is not fare, because I paid extra 699.. for ebook enhancement and they did nothing about that.

I met my physician yesterday, because I was thinking to take legal action against FriesenPress, but the doctor suggested as I have high blood pressure, this type of action will not be good for me.

Please action on it from a human point of view at least, revoke their license for a time being if you could please and refund my money properly and compensation for delaying my publications.

****Most hurting is when Ashley Patton laughed at me for my accent. Because of that I wrote something about accent in my upcoming fiction.