[marjorie Posts: 19 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

If you have experience with either/both, would love to know your thoughts to help me make a decision which on to go with. I like all the additional services Balboa offers, but is it worth the $$?   

[Laurel Gale Posts: 70 Status: Offline I write middle grade fantasy.]

I don't have any personal experience with Balboa Press. Maybe someone who does will come along.

In the meantime, when researching a self-publishing company, try Googling the name of the company plus keywords like "scam," "complaint,"  and "warning" to see what problems people have had.  It's important to look at reviews from trusted third-party sites. Also, look for reviews from authors who have been with the service for a while -- NOT authors who just signed on or reviews that have been cherry-picked by the company.   

[marjorie Posts: 19 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Hi Laurel, thank you.

[dkshumaker Posts: 1,446 Status: Offline]

You might find some information about the two in our Self Publishing Thread:

https://www.scbwi.org/boards/index.php?board=95.0

[christripp Posts: 1,218 Status: Offline]

Re Balboa, (part of the notorious "Author Solutions") I'd steer clear of this one. 
Writer Beware has a string of articles about them, https://accrispin.blogspot.com/search?q=balboa+press and though mostly older, a tiger never changes it's strips.
Also, following Laurel's wise advice, there are a great # of Author complaints. I'd stick to the more tried and true self publishing avenues. 

[marjorie Posts: 19 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Thank you @christripp.

FYI - this is another useful source I found https://blog.reedsy.com/best-self-publishing-companies/