It’s a scary world out there, where people with a bit of marketing sense can call themselves whatever they wish. Think about it—you create a Web page, print up some business cards, and BOOM! you are established.

The publishing world is the same. Service providers in the publishing arena come and go like the tide. Anyone in this business for any length of time has heard the horror stories, but how do you protect yourself?

Here are a few simple steps to minimize your risk when choosing a service provider:
• Don’t choose based on price alone. Many times the quality is reflected in the price of the service you are contracting for.
• How stable is the company? Has it been around for a while? Will they leave you in the lurch just when you need them?
• Ask them about some projects that have gone awry. All of us love to tell you about the good times, but rarely will we tell you about those projects that went south on us. How a company deals with adversity tells you about their moral character. If they tell you that they have never done anything wrong, run the other way—they are either not telling you the truth, or they haven’t been in business long enough to be a stable company. Sooner or later we all mess up somewhere.
• Look at their client list. Have they worked for companies with goals similar to yours?

Bottom line is that there is no such thing as a “perfect provider”. Those of us who have worked in this industry know that there is no hard and fast guarantee for a perfectly smooth project. Picking your providers with care, however, will minimize the bumps along the way.

Last 5 posts by Margaret Jennings

• Why a Copy Editor Instead of a 10th-Grade English Teacher? - September 20th, 2007
• The Power of a Comprehensive Editorial Evaluation - January 3rd, 2006
• What’s Behind a Proofread? - December 6th, 2005
• Copyedit or Copy Edit? - October 11th, 2005
• Finding the Right Manuscript Editor - September 11th, 2005