Complaints

This profile includes complaints for BookBaby's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  BookBaby

  7905 N Route 130 Pennsauken, NJ 08110-1402

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  BookBaby

  7905 N Crescent Blvd Delair, NJ 08110-1402

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/24/2025

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In late 2024, I paid over $6,000 to BookBaby to publish one title. I was promised professional publishing services, wide distribution, and a smooth launch. Instead, I experienced persistent delays, quality issues, and a complete breakdown in communication.
  
  I was passed between seven team members with no continuity, and my account manager became unreachable after payment. I had to hire an outside designer due to an unusable cover. Interior formatting required 14 rounds of revisions—many caused by BookBaby introducing new errors. Each round delayed production and cost hundreds of dollars due to missed turnaround times.
  
  eBook conversion introduced major formatting issues not present in my files. I was told to manually go line-by-line to flag them myself. Distribution also failed: despite a mandatory two-month pre-order, my paperback has been marked "Temporarily Out of Stock" on ****** since June 3, 2025. I’ve received conflicting updates on how many units were printed (10–106), and the book remains unavailable on ******  ***** and *******, despite assurances of full distribution. The “New Release Promotion” I paid $399 for was never delivered.
  
  Despite escalating concerns, I received no meaningful follow-up from management. These failures erased months of launch momentum, led to reader confusion, and caused major reputational and financial damage.
  
  Desired resolution:
  – Refund of $3,500 for undelivered services and project disruption
  – Immediate resolution of ****** availability and fulfillment
  – Formal acknowledgment of breakdowns across design, communication, and distribution

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/10/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid BookBaby $3,000 to pubklish my book, and an additional $750 to have the ms. proofread before publucation .
  
  I recently receuved the draft ebook ms. from them for revuew and discovered nnumerous (more than 35) errors on the first 100 pages. When I ciomplained to them about this they offered to fix the typographical errors , but will charge me again for the corrections.
  
  I refused to pay them any more, since I've already paid once for proofreading that obviously was not done.
  
  I now have to seek a new publushed and am out neaely $4,000.
  
  I've had three other books published with them, and had no problems in thepoast.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/02/2025

  ******* uploaded the incorrect manuscript for publishing. A version that was not what our editor returned to him. We tried our best to help ******* but in the end decided to refund him and part ways. We wish ******* the best of luck. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/23/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Since 7.12, more than 5 ************** bookstores are currently unable to order my book from ****** or their wholesalers due to my title not showing up as available in their systems. For example: 3 ****** and ******, **************** and Femme Fire Books all in ************, ******* have confirmed that they can not order the book. I have a very long email trail with me reporting these continuous issues, and no solution yet. They also wouldn't let me speak to a manager on the phone for over 3 weeks. They were either not in, or I got their voicemail, and they'd never call back. Finally I received a callback from Meryd on 8.12, and we spoke about my concerns. On BookBaby's website it says the book will be available at their large network of retailers and if you search for my title, my book is currently only on Amazon and "out of stock" everywhere else such as; Walmart.com, ****** and *****, Bookshop.org, etc. I feel misled and lied to. The Indie bookstores use ****** as the wholesaler, but also can't order my book as it says unavailable on their end, yet BookBaby keeps saying that they should be able to place a backorder. BookBaby says on their website that for $399 you'll be part of their global distribution network where your book is available to "the largest retail distribution network" which has not been the case for me. In reality, I've paid thousands for their entire POD package and bulk book orders and they haven't held up to their promises and book availability. There is also a duplicate Amazon listing of my paperback book that I reported more than a month ago. This has still not been taken down, and they continue to say they don't know why it is there and that they are waiting on Amazon to remove it. This is negatively impacting my sales and driving traffic away from the main listing.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/19/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My audio book link no longer works. My book is no longer listed on the sites that it was originally listed on. **************** is ignoring my questions. The site I can find it on has it out of stock for months but I paid for print on demand that means when someone wants it they print it. I am losing customers and I can ****et the book because I dont know where people can get it if its out of stock. I want my all of my files audio ebook covers, print book, book **** and my money back so I can stop losing money and go with a print on demand place the will do what they promised

  Business Response

  Date: 01/24/2024

  Is actively engaged with our customer service manager. She posted a Trust Pilot review over the weekend that we replied to already. Her audio book IS up on Bookshop (*****************************************book/the-suicide-journal2). Her book is Temp Out of Stock on Amazon (ISBN *************) but it DOES have a BUY button. Since the book was released in August 2023, only 18 units have been purchased. 16 by Amazon, 1 by Amazon.ca, 1 by MPH Bookstores. Since 11/1/2023, only 2 units of the book have been ordered, both by Amazon. Last pick up was 12/29 for 1 unit. Her other concern is that its not on B&N or ******** I mentioned in the Trust Pilot response that if the listings didnt have any action during pre-sale, those sites will not order inventory.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/24/2024

  
  Complaint: 21171684
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  The ******* link is out of stock and its just been updated since the BBB complaint. Theres a shirt on the link for the ******* page. It is not listed on ****** and *****. The Trust site complaint is just the beginning of all the places I will complain and it started because BookBaby did not respond to all of the issues in my emails. Id like proof of all the places that that they promised would list my book. It is out of stock at every place I have looked. No one is able to get a copy of it. This is after I paid for print on demand. The link they provided for marketing the audiobook which was copied and pasted as they directed stopped working. Everything stopped working. It started off fine customer service started off great now no one can get the book print or audio and the customer service is horrible and unacceptable. I paid for a service thats still not being provided. Even this response is weak and I was hoping that they would step up and fix it. Beyond disappointing. 
  
  Regards,
  
  Narcrisha ******

  Business Response

  Date: 02/27/2024

  As previously explained by our support team, your books are available for purchase to wholesalers and retailers. How they manage the buy-now status is 100% up to the retailer and out of BookBabys control. Stocking status is fluid and changes as the inventory moves through the retailers/wholesalers' supply chain. The book is listed as print on demand which means its printed at the demand of the retailers.

   

  Your audiobook link has always been available as explained by our support team. Heres the link: *****************************************book/the-suicide-journal2?format=audiobook

   

  Our support team continues to engage with you and we do answer your questions.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/29/2024

  
  Complaint: 21171684
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I have asked for months what the problem was, and this is the most detailed explanation that I have ever received. The service did not clearly explain that On Demand does not mean On Demand, it means that the availability of my book is up to whoever else and not BookBaby. I was contacted several times for months about my book not being available. I have no idea how many potential buyers that I have lost as a result. Extremely disappointed. Not just in the fact that someone could do a much better job of not making a promise they can't keep but that the customer service ignored my questions until I made a complaint.
  
  Regards,
  
  **********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/19/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Monday December 11, 2023. Book was paid for in full and guaranteed delivery within 3days. After paying for the book, the delivery date changed to Monday December 18th. It is now Tuesday December 19th and the book has not been received and they have now stop responding to calls and emails. They have stolen my money. They have also stolen a very sentimental opportunity for which the book was intended to provide on 12/16. The knew this and although they breached the contract, they have now stolen from us as well.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/22/2024

  Hello, Our website clearly states that the book printing turn times are not guaranteed. Additionally, you messaged our customer support team asking if a rush was possible. We explained to you then that it was not possible given the peak busy Christmas season.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/22/2024

  
  Complaint: 21033040
  
  I am rejecting this response because: If money is collected for rush service there should be a guarantee that is NOT hidden. The prudent way to handle things as a company is not to blame the customer for using your company. Scapegoating and lacking customer service skills is the reason I had to let the general public know about your company. You were rude on the phone when I tried to resolve this and now rather than accepting responsibility and moving on, you choose to blame me for paying you for a service that you dont guarantee and somehow that makes sense to you. BBB serves as a way to get resolution I was hopeful to delete my sentiments about your company as we are in a new year and sometimes people make mistakes but based on your inability to accept responsibility, my sentiments will stand.   
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/21/2023

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We published our first book Cate for Kids about 6 months ago through BookBaby and paid for distribution due to their advertisement promising to make this book available at all Amazon stores. However, this book has been out of stock and with no Buy button available for our buyers for a long time. I have called BookBabys distribution team several times and have been given the same standard line that the Buy button will be restored in two weeks. After several days following each call, it would be restored and then within a day or sometimes even less than a day, it would disappear. Not surprisingly, this is a direct hindrance to the sale of our book. I understand that books can go out of stock when many people place orders simultaneously. In this case, however, people do not have the option to buy most of the time due to this recurring disappearance of the Buy button. Not having the Buy button, takes away from our potential buyers the option to place the order when the book goes out of stock.The following are my questions and concerns:1. Why are the books going out of stock after only 5 books are ordered each time?2. Why is the Buy button not kept in place while the books are being restocked? 3. Why is the Buy button disappearing in a day or two after it is restored?4. If the books are being ordered by the people as soon as the Buy button comes on, why is it not being made available for purchase while restocking?5. Why are they limiting people to only buying 2 books at a time?We have received many complaints from frustrated customers who have since left pursuing the purchase of this to buying other books as a result of this. We have been losing customers and are facing a big loss of both time and money. After several attempts to resolve this with BookBaby, I am filing a complaint here as their distribution team has not resolved the issue to date and has rather, given us a standard line in reply each time in an attempt to shut us down.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/24/2024

  Engages with our CS team. There was an issue with printing the file. A refund of $200 was process on 9/15. The other items mentioned are issues at Amazon and out or our control.