We recommend that new book publishers put most of their resources into producing and marketing books and limit the amount that they invest in computer information systems.
That said, we recommend that new publishers start with QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Premier to handle their accounting and software like Publishers Assistant or Any Book to handle sales and royalty calculations.
Download our Publishing Software Recommendations for Startups for our computer software and hardware recommendations.
Why do you need book publishing software?
Small book publishers with solid growth prospects and strong financial backing should consider the Acumen book publishing software. You can start with a small Acumen system. As your company grows Acumen will grow with you. Sourcebooks, named one of the largest independent publishers in the USA, started with a single user Acumen system and now has a 20 user system. Three of the top 5 fastest growing independent publishers in the United States use Acumen.
Our Opinion: We believe that the best software solutions are those that are frequently updated with new functionality. This demonstrates a software developer's commitment to the product and their clients.
Acumen (About $10,000+ for a small publisher)
"I would recommend ACUMEN. We bought it 5 years ago when we had maybe 15 titles. It's helped us grow more than 10-fold since. The nice thing about ACUMEN is that it will grow with you. We bought the single-user version and had one ACUMEN workstation. We ran that for about three months and went to three users. And then grew from there. I know that when I bought that first one-user system, I thought it was so...... expensive, but it has made such an enormous difference that it's more than paid for itself. Actually, within three months we didn't know how we had ever lived without it.
- Dominique Raccah, Publisher and President, Sourcebooks, Inc.
Approximately 160+ small to medium sized publishers use this software.
Website: www.acumenbook.com
Request a free 36 page overview of the Acumen Book Publishing software.
Our Opinion: The ACUMEN book publishing software offers publishers a technical support and programming infrastructure not offered by other vendors in this class. If you expect your company to grow into a multi-million dollar operation and are well financed you should consider this software.
AnyBook (about $100 to $400)
Carefully crafted and well tested, AnyBook is the winner of a number of shareware awards and is highly regarded in the publishing and software worlds. Designed for small and self-publishers, it generates invoices and billing statements, keeps track of inventory, handles book returns, produces sales reports, records customer payments, tracks consignment items, and creates mailing lists.
Website: www.ronwatters.com/RonSoft5.htm
Our Opinion: We like AnyBook for its amazing feature set, frequent updates and low price. Its perfect for the small publisher or self published author just starting out. Available in 4 versions, priced at $89 to $389.
Mrylyn (about $249 to $349)
Myrlyn manages your inventory, preparing invoices and statements, tracking sales data, and calculating royalties. A large number of reports are available to provide status on any part of your business at a moment's notice. Runs on Macs and Windows personal computers.
Website: www.myrlyn.com
News: Version 3 of the software will support multiple users over a network.
Pub 123 (about $199 + $99 per additional user)
A user comments on this book publishing software package:
"This software could not have been developed at a better time. I had outgrown the use of Q&A and felt frustrated with the limitations of Peachtree. The man difference between a major publisher and small-press is their budget, and the more expensive software was just not an option for me. Peachtree answered our accounting needs, but didn't address our needs as a publisher and the need to search and do reports. PUB123 was easy to download and easy to use. We didn't need to hire a consultant to learn how to use it, and it was up and running shortly after installation. The money I saved by purchasing PUB123 will now give us more money to market, market, and market our books!" - Linda Radke, Five Star Publications
Web Site: www.adams-blake.com
News: Although Adams-Blake is still selling Pub 123 it has been replaced by JAYA123. JAYA123 is a hosted solution available for a monthly subscription of $14.95.
Publishers Assistant (about $495 to $2245)
