Writers Republic Review (For Authors)

Are you an aspiring author wondering where to start? If so, you definitely want to read this writers republic review.

As an author trying to put your book out there, you most certainly understand the importance of having a good publishing company by your side.

This Writers Republic review is about dissecting one of the best publishing companies and essentially introducing you to the world of self-publishing.

We will discuss what Writers Republic is, what it does, and where it comes in in the whole book-production process.

We will also try to answer the question that is most likely lingering in your mind right now: is Writers Republic a scam?

Let’s dive right in!

What is Writers Republic?

Writers Republic is a well-respected self-publishing company dedicated to helping writers flourish outside the taxing and often limiting world of traditional publishing.

It is made up of a team of professionals specialized in various stages and aspects of publishing, including manuscript editing, design, marketing, and sales.

With Writers Republic, you only need to show up with a rough manuscript or even a simple book idea.

The company will take your hand and guide you toward achieving your huge publishing goals.

Well, that is how the company bills itself. Will we share the same opinion by the end of the review? Your guess is as good as mine.

Is Writers Republic Legit?

Going by the opinions of past and current users, Writers Republic is not a scam.

The company has its fair share of negative reviews, yes, but positive feedback immensely outweighs the cons.

As an author, you can at least be sure to deal with a company that actually publishes books.

How Writers Republic Works

Writers Republic does everything except create the story for you.

A team of professionals is assembled to tackle obvious challenges that an author could face on the journey to publishing their book.

And just in case you thought these problems were perhaps editorial only, you couldn’t be more wrong.

The list is incredibly long, and I can bet once you see it you will admit you need more help to produce your book than you may have initially thought.

So, what does Writers Republic do? Three things:

Edit your manuscript
Market your book
Offer add-on services

Editorial Services

Editorial services refer to all effort that goes into polishing a manuscript.

Writers Republic lets you focus on the creative part while they get in the trench and take care of the dirty work.

Their editorial services come in form of copyediting, indexing, and structural editing and will often come in a package.

Copyediting involves reviewing a manuscript to improve its accuracy and readability.

You will need it if you reckon your manuscript has punctuation and spelling errors and may not have consistency in style and formatting.

Indexing, on the other hand, involves creating a list of key terms and concepts and the pages where they are found to help readers access certain chapters or even paragraphs in the book.

Lastly, we have structural editing, which, in my opinion, is the most important part of the editorial process.

This is where you review the authorial aspect of your manuscript to ensure cohesiveness and continuity of the plot.

Oftentimes, a manuscript will be riddled with illogical plot and theme developments that can only be picked out by someone who is not the author.

So even if your manuscript makes total sense to you, it’s best to let someone else review it for good measure.

Marketing

Once your book is finished, Writers Republic will offer to help you make it accessible to prospective readers.

This is a crucial step, as it is the only way people will know you have a book out.

Writers Republic’s marketing service involves both arrangements to increase the book’s online visibility and creating video and audiobook versions.

Add-On Services

Writers Republic’s add-on services include:

eBook distribution
Illustration
Book cover designing
Back cover copywriting
Final corrections and revisions
Interior graphics enhancement
Hardback upgrade
Copyright registration
Book returns handling
Formatting
Data entry (creating a digital version of your manuscript)

How to Self-Publish Through Writers Republic (The Publishing Process)

The self-publishing process on Writers Republic is usually a step-by-step course that may vary slightly for different authors, depending on the specific services they would like to buy.

Here’s a rundown of what you can expect:

Registration

To use Writers Republic’s services, you will need to create an account. The sign-up button is at the top-right corner of the homepage. You will be required to provide your name and email address and set a password.

Contact with a publishing specialist.

On the publishing page, which you can access from the navigation bar on the homepage, click on the “I’d like to find out more” link.

A form will display asking you to provide your name, email address, and phone number as well as describe your book to the editor.

An email will then be sent to you containing a list of questions to further help the guys over at Writers Republic understand how they may help you.

Here’s a screen grab of what I received after making an inquiry:

Manuscript submission

If you have a complete manuscript, you will be asked to submit it as a word document or in Rich Text Format (RTF). You may also submit a printed or handwritten hard copy.

Book design

The book design process is the core of publishing.

The Writers Republic team will help you create a book cover design as well as a page design from scratch or based on your ideas.

They will also perform mechanical and substantive editing.

Approval of the digital sample

Next, you will receive electronic and physical proofs of your book for review. You can request changes if necessary.

The signing of the approval form

Your approval of the printed version of your book will be the last stage of the back-and-forth with Writers Republic’s publishing team.

Signing the approval form implies that you are satisfied with the printing and binding of the book.

If you have some notes you would wish to sell, check out this Studocu Review.

Distribution And Royalties

Writers Republic offers distribution services as well, but they do not hold you hostage with the rights to do so once your book is completed.

You can very well take your book and hand it over to a third-party company to do the distribution for you.

The advantage of this is that you will keep 100% of the royalties. Writers Republic cuts a 20% commission and sends you only 80%.

The downside is that the third party you charge with distributing your book will charge you as well anyway.

And maybe they will charge more, given you will be handing them a finished book, when they would have wished to be involved in the publishing process too.

In essence, distribution services will most likely be discounted when offered by the company charged with the other aspects of self-publishing.

For all I know, Writers Republic could charge an author more per sale if they were approached with a finished book.

What you may not like about using Writers Republic’s add-on services is that the company gets to decide the price of your book.

It’s quite surprising since you expect the author to know the value of their book more than anyone else.

In their defense, though, publishing companies know about the books market more than authors and are better suited to set competitive prices in a rather crowded market.

Reviews And Complaints

What do authors have to say about Writers Republic? Did they like it or did they play right into the hands of an amateur company riding on a first-rate marketing strategy?

Well, it so happens that people are not exactly fond of the self-publishing company.

Most of the reviews I found on the internet expressed discontentment, with only a few people having something positive to say.

In fact, the only positive feedback I found was that captured in Writers Republic’s testimonials page. Interesting, but not surprising for a company that was only set up in 2019.

I also observed that most, if not all, of the complaints, were from “authors” who hadn’t used Writers Republic’s service.

The negative feedback was mainly from people who had come close to signing a contract and made a U-turn after noticing some red flags.

So their opinions should be taken with a massive pinch of salt.

Here are some of the positive reviews I found:

And now the negatives:

The above review is clearly from someone who didn’t buy Writers Republic’s services.

And it’s evident they have a problem with self-publishing altogether and may not understand how it works.

Why am I saying this? Well, because virtually every self-publishing company under the sun will ask you to pay them something before they start working on your manuscript.

That’s the only way they can be sure you will hold up your end of the bargain.

More to the point, many companies like Writers Republic offer flexible publishing packages and will charge separately for each constituent service.

That explains the “fees will come from all over the place” bit.

This one holds some water. If they don’t take your banking information, how do they intend to pay you? The only logical explanation I can think of is they only ask for your payment details if and when your book sells.

But then, this is not standard procedure anywhere. The only thing it does is portray Writers Republic as an unprofessional and even underhanded company.

What I Like About Writers Republic

Here is why you might want to consider self-publishing with Writers Republic:

The company has a responsive customer support team
They accept many formats of your manuscript
They offer a wide range of services (editorial, marketing, and post-publishing)
They offer a flexible publishing bundle
They have a fairly favorable royalty program
They are fast

What I Don’t Like About Writers Republic

Here is why you might want to reconsider your decision to use Writers Republic’s self-publishing services:

The representatives are too aggressive on initial contact. As someone put it, they seem desperate to work with you
Writers Republic is a young company and may not be able to handle special author requests
They seem to have a shoddy distribution service

Is Writers Republic Worth It?

Writers Republic is worth it if you need your manuscript quickly developed into a book. Its distribution service and royalty program seem to be hazy and unreliable, at least according to reviews.

So maybe this is not your option if you wish to get all your self-publishing services from the same company.

Before you make any serious decision, though, it is worth noting that many authors have an inflated opinion of themselves.

They will approach a company like Writers Republic with a sub-par manuscript and expect to receive back a best-selling book.

Many of these opinions might be from such authors and could be misleading.

Additionally, Writers Republic has only been around since 2019, and like any other young company, its team could be making amateurish mistakes here and there.

What is certain is that it’s a legit company with a proven book-publishing track record.