Using CreateSpace
I tried CreateSpace this week for the first time. I decided to put My Father’s Swords out in paperback instead of just leaving it as an eBook. Over all it was a straight forward process.
I already have the book out on Amazon as an eBook, so I wasn’t worried about the first step of uploading it, but I did read the documentation first. It helped to explain some finer points of Word that I was hazy on and clarified the specifications for page size and margins. With a little finessing I managed to get it sized properly. I think the biggest time consumer was figuring what size book I wanted. I chose 5.25” x 8” and I do mean chose, as all the possible sizes are presented to you for selection. I spent some time fiddling with top and bottom margin sizes in order to minimize the number of almost blank pages caused by new chapter breaks.
The next step was to generate a PDF fie in order to get the correct number of pages. You need that to do the spline size calculation which I thought I needed but really didn’t because I ended up using the Create your Cover option and it calculates the spline size for me from the page count. My version of Word doesn’t produce the PDF format they require, but you can now upload other file formats and have then converted. I uploaded a DOCX file. CreateSpace performs a check on the file to make sure everything is okay. I had one little format error that they corrected for me. I accepted their correction and moved on to the Cover step.
Although I had a cover that I used for my eBook, getting it sized properly was problematic until I found the cover template download. It gives a template for Photoshop, a program I have access to. Luckily, I also have access to someone who knows how to use Photoshop. Together we were able to get a finished product after about three hours work, not counting the time I spent trying it on my own.
We completed the cover file upload in the early afternoon yesterday and I received an email this morning telling me that everything was okay and I could order a proof. Now I have an email into the support people to find out how long the proofing process takes and what to expect because I am not at home and actually not even in the country. So, my timetable is going too slow things down, but I have to say that CreateSpace worked well for me.
I already have the book out on Amazon as an eBook, so I wasn’t worried about the first step of uploading it, but I did read the documentation first. It helped to explain some finer points of Word that I was hazy on and clarified the specifications for page size and margins. With a little finessing I managed to get it sized properly. I think the biggest time consumer was figuring what size book I wanted. I chose 5.25” x 8” and I do mean chose, as all the possible sizes are presented to you for selection. I spent some time fiddling with top and bottom margin sizes in order to minimize the number of almost blank pages caused by new chapter breaks.
The next step was to generate a PDF fie in order to get the correct number of pages. You need that to do the spline size calculation which I thought I needed but really didn’t because I ended up using the Create your Cover option and it calculates the spline size for me from the page count. My version of Word doesn’t produce the PDF format they require, but you can now upload other file formats and have then converted. I uploaded a DOCX file. CreateSpace performs a check on the file to make sure everything is okay. I had one little format error that they corrected for me. I accepted their correction and moved on to the Cover step.
Although I had a cover that I used for my eBook, getting it sized properly was problematic until I found the cover template download. It gives a template for Photoshop, a program I have access to. Luckily, I also have access to someone who knows how to use Photoshop. Together we were able to get a finished product after about three hours work, not counting the time I spent trying it on my own.
We completed the cover file upload in the early afternoon yesterday and I received an email this morning telling me that everything was okay and I could order a proof. Now I have an email into the support people to find out how long the proofing process takes and what to expect because I am not at home and actually not even in the country. So, my timetable is going too slow things down, but I have to say that CreateSpace worked well for me.
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