There’s an old saying that “You get what you pay for.” We’d like to think that we are an exception to that rule. If you are still evaluating software to manage your publishing business, here are some questions you may want to ask:
How is this going to save me time?
Publishers’ Assistant has been around for over 20 years. PubAssist will actually help you to handle those payments from Amazon, deal with those crazy Net-120 day terms from your distributor, and stay in synch’ with statements from Ingram and Baker & Taylor. It will not only calculate your royalties and other liabilities, it will automatically generate the checks!
PubAssist will track, and invoice from, an unlimited number of warehouses. And PubAssist will not just tell you what you have in those warehouses; it will tell you what you had back on December 31st of last year.
Using Couplet and PubAssist Web Services, you will be able to keep your title information in one place, and automatically update your web site. You can port your web orders directly into Publishers’ Assistant. You can electronically share your title data with your buyers. You can also accept and respond electronically to EDI transactions from major buyers—without the need for a third party EDI service.
These are huge tools in the hands of small publishers. PubAssist knows what publishers have to do, and it makes it easy for you to do them.
Are there any limitations?
At least one consulting company has us pegged for publishers “with up to 100 titles”. We are working with publishers and distributors with thousands—even tens of thousands—of titles. Any limitations are from factors within the underlying database product or the operating system.
What kind of support can I expect?
We’re a small operation. Most of the time, when you call for support you will be talking to the principle developer. If not, you will be talking to another publisher with over 25 years of experience in publishing, who has worked with Publishers’ Assistant from the beginning. We pride ourselves on being helpful to our clients. Our clients will tell you so.
In addition to telephone support, there are online tutorials to get you started, a wealth of articles on our web site that will help you to take real advantage of our tools. And recently, we’ve begun to offer online training webinars. Want to set up low-cost training for your organization? No problem.
Who else is using this system?
We have hundreds of users throughout the world. Take a look at the map on our web site: www.pubassist.com. Running your own publishing business can be isolating; but with Publishers’ Assistant, you will not be alone.
How much will it cost?
You may have already downloaded a fully functioning copy of Publishers’ Assistant for free. You can use it for the rest of your life at absolutely no charge; but we have some attractive extras as well, at a very reasonable cost. You get unlimited telephone support and an upgrade to our Epic (multi-user) Edition for just $35/month. With support, you’ll also get Couplet software for free. PubAssist Web Services is available for $1100 to set up a custom Web site and $26/month for hosting and support.
We challenge you to compare these features and services to anything on the market—including systems that cost over $20,000. We at Publishers’ Assistant have been dedicated to helping small publishers grow since 1990. If another software provider tells you, “You get what you pay for”, make sure to take a really close look.
Ron Lawrence,
Publishers’ Assistant
Phone: 800-310-8716