At first glance, most full-service self-publishing companies sound remarkably similar.
They edit books. They design covers. They format interiors. They distribute finished titles. They offer marketing services. They promise to make publishing easier.
So if you are comparing MindStir Media and Outskirts Press, simply checking boxes on a list of services will not tell you very much.
The more revealing question is this:
How much do you want your book to feel like your book?
That is where the differences between these two publishing companies begin to matter.
Outskirts Press has built an established self-publishing operation around clearly defined packages, standardized options and customizable design themes. MindStir Media takes a more personalized approach that places greater emphasis on custom book development, ongoing guidance and mentorship from a bestselling author.
Both models can get a book published.
They simply start from different places.
Outskirts Press Has Made Publishing Highly Structured
There is something appealing about knowing exactly what you are buying.
Outskirts Press organizes its services into clearly defined publishing packages for different types of books. Its current black-and-white offerings, for example, include Economy, Basic and Ultimate packages, while separate options are available for full-color projects. Those packages specify such details as book formats, image allowances, author copies, proofing, distribution and support.
For an author who likes structure, that approach can make the publishing process easier to understand.
You choose the package.
You review what comes with it.
You select from the available options.
The company moves the project through its process.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, standardization is one reason companies can handle large numbers of projects efficiently.
The question is whether efficiency is the same thing as personalization.
For some authors, it is not.
The Cover Design Approach Tells You a Lot
A book cover is a useful place to see the philosophical difference between publishing models.
Outskirts Press says its publishing packages include cover design options based on what it calls high-performing book design themes. Authors can customize those themes to suit their books. The company even provides a “Customizable Cover Themes Look Book” so authors can review examples.
That is important because it would be inaccurate to simply characterize every Outskirts Press cover as a generic template.
The company also sells a separate fully custom cover design service. At the time of this writing, that option is listed at $599 and includes two custom concepts developed for the author’s book, genre and intended audience.
Still, the structure is revealing.
The standard publishing experience begins with customizable themes, while a more thoroughly custom cover is available as an additional service.
MindStir Media approaches professional publishing from a different direction.
Its focus is not on fitting a manuscript into a predefined visual theme. The objective is to create a finished book that feels deliberately developed for the author, the subject and the audience.
For an author who has spent a year writing a book, that distinction may be worth more than it initially appears.
Your Book Should Not Feel Like the Next Project in a Queue
There is an uncomfortable truth about self-publishing that authors do not always discover until they are deep into the process.
Two books can both be “professionally published” and still feel completely different.
One feels assembled.
The other feels considered.
The difference often comes down to the decisions made along the way.
Does the cover communicate the right emotion?
Does the typography fit the genre?
Does the back-cover copy make someone want to turn the book over and buy it?
Does the finished product look credible alongside traditionally published books in the same category?
These are not production questions.
They are judgment calls.
MindStir Media’s model is built around putting experienced people behind those decisions rather than treating book publishing primarily as a sequence of selections from a predetermined menu.
MindStir’s current publishing packages include professional services along with ongoing mentoring from USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author J.J. Hebert.
That mentorship component changes the nature of the publishing relationship.
Most Publishing Packages Give You Services. MindStir Also Gives You a Mentor.
This is one of the strongest differences between MindStir Media and Outskirts Press.
MindStir publishing packages include mentoring from J.J. Hebert throughout the publishing process and beyond. The company’s materials specifically emphasize that the mentoring can include book marketing guidance as well as publishing advice.
That means an author has access to someone who has personally experienced publishing from the author’s side of the table.
That distinction matters.
There are plenty of competent professionals who understand how to produce a book.
It is considerably harder to replicate the perspective of someone who has written books, marketed them, reached bestseller lists and spent years helping other authors navigate the same process.
An author will inevitably encounter questions that are not answered by a package description.
Should I invest more in the cover?
Is this title strong enough?
How should I think about marketing?
What should I do before launch?
What should happen after the book goes live?
Those are the moments when a publishing relationship becomes more valuable than a publishing transaction.
Outskirts Press Is Not a DIY Publishing Platform
It is also important to make a fair comparison.
Outskirts Press should not be confused with a bare-bones upload platform.
The company describes itself as a full-service self-publishing provider. Its packages include professional design, formatting, worldwide distribution and print-on-demand fulfillment, and its support materials make clear that its design team creates covers for authors.
So the choice between Outskirts Press and MindStir Media is not a choice between professional publishing and amateur publishing.
It is a choice between two different kinds of professional publishing experience.
Outskirts Press offers an established system with packaged levels of service and numerous predefined options.
MindStir Media offers a more boutique proposition in which professional publishing is combined with personal guidance, mentorship and a substantial book marketing ecosystem.
That distinction becomes especially important once the book is finished.
Publishing Is Not the Hardest Part Anymore
A few decades ago, simply getting a book into national distribution was a major accomplishment.
Today, distribution is comparatively accessible.
Outskirts Press offers worldwide distribution and print-on-demand availability as part of its publishing services.
MindStir Media also provides broad print and ebook distribution, including distribution channels that reach major online retailers
So distribution itself is not necessarily where authors should focus their comparison.
The more difficult challenge begins after the book becomes available.
Someone has to notice it.
This is an area where MindStir Media has deliberately built a larger offering around authors who want more than publication alone.
MindStir’s packages and services place significant emphasis on marketing, and its founder mentorship is specifically described as focusing heavily on marketing as well.
That makes the company particularly relevant to an author who is already thinking about the second question:
Once my book is published, how am I going to get attention for it?
The Cheapest Publishing Package Is Rarely the Whole Story
Outskirts Press currently advertises entry-level black-and-white publishing beginning at $999, with higher-tier packages adding formats, flexibility and additional features.
That lower starting price may naturally catch an author’s attention.
But comparing self-publishing companies purely by their entry price is rarely useful.
Publishing packages can contain very different levels of editing, customization, marketing, consultation and ongoing involvement.
An author who wants a relatively standardized path to publication may have no reason to pay for a more intensive experience.
An author who wants extensive guidance, custom development and serious marketing assistance is buying something different.
This is why the question should never simply be:
“Who can publish my book for less?”
It should be:
“What level of publishing support am I actually trying to buy?”
Those are very different questions.
Some Books Should Not Be Treated Like Commodity Products
Not every author needs an elaborate publishing strategy.
Sometimes a person has written a book for family and friends and simply wants attractive copies.
Sometimes an author already has a designer, an editor and a substantial audience.
Sometimes the objective really is just to publish efficiently.
In those situations, a structured publishing model can make perfect sense.
But other books carry more weight.
A consultant may be using a book to establish authority.
A CEO may be using one to communicate a business philosophy.
A physician may be translating decades of expertise for a broader audience.
A novelist may have spent ten years working on a manuscript.
A memoirist may be telling the most personal story of his or her life.
When the stakes are higher, authors tend to care less about moving through a system and more about who is helping them make the right decisions.
That is the kind of author MindStir Media is particularly well positioned to serve.
MindStir Media vs. Outskirts Press: Which Is Better?
There is no reason to pretend that Outskirts Press cannot produce a professional book. It offers legitimate publishing services, professional design, distribution and multiple levels of author support.
The more meaningful question is whether its publishing model matches what you want.
Authors who prefer a highly structured publishing system with defined packages, customizable themes and a large menu of available options may find Outskirts Press appealing.
Authors looking for a more personal publishing relationship should take a close look at MindStir Media.
MindStir combines professional publishing with ongoing bestselling-author mentorship, customized book development and an emphasis on marketing that can continue well beyond the production stage.
There is a difference between selecting publishing options and developing a book with a team.
For serious authors, that difference can be enormous.
A Book With Your Name on It Should Look Like It Belongs to You
Templates have a purpose.
Packages have a purpose.
Standardized processes have a purpose.
They make businesses more efficient, and they can make complicated services easier to buy.
But an author’s book is not a standard product.
No two manuscripts arrive with the same story, the same audience, the same ambitions or the same reason for existing.
MindStir Media’s philosophy is built around that reality.
The company does not believe the most important question is how quickly a manuscript can move through a publishing system.
The important question is whether the finished book reflects the quality, individuality and ambition of the person who wrote it.
If that is what you are looking for, the difference between a publishing package and a publishing partner becomes much easier to see.
Your book should not look like it came from a template. It should look like it could only have come from you.