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Insights: My Self-publishing Experience with CreateSpace, KDP, Blurb, LULU, Smashwords, Peecho
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Some great information there, but amazon has a very healthy worldwide presence. Plus, now you can publish paperback copies via your KDP account rather than going through a separate process with Createspace.You should also consider Draft2Digital as both a publishing platform and a formatting tool.
Hi Emma :) Hm, I am happen to disagree with you about Amazon's world presence... In a few countries, yes... Amazon.com is big - the local Amazons don't seem to be so...
Ah, I totally forgot of their new service! ^.^ Thanks for the reminder, I will add that update to the post!
I have been on Draft 2 Digital when it started out, and didn't remember to add i to the post. I had very scarce few sales there... and problems with formatting :S - can be because I publish illustrated books, rather than just text. Have you used it? Did you like it?
Ah, I totally forgot of their new service! ^.^ Thanks for the reminder, I will add that update to the post!
I have been on Draft 2 Digital when it started out, and didn't remember to add i to the post. I had very scarce few sales there... and problems with formatting :S - can be because I publish illustrated books, rather than just text. Have you used it? Did you like it?
I'm in the UK, and amazon has a huge presence in Europe. many countries have their own amazon over here. Maybe it's different in your part of the world.I've only tried text files with Draft2Digital. It takes care of the formatting. You upload a plain word doc and a cover and it puts in a title page, contents page, copyright, also by, teaser for other books etc. But I can see how an illustrated book would be a bit of a problem for them.
Aha, I see!
It could be that some genres sell better on Amazon than others. Here in Scandinavia it has zero presence. In Brazil it is behind the national brands. And my books in distribution sell more on other European retailers... I guess it works differently for each author or genre...?
I had one book that was most text and it worked fine there, it was when I uploaded my 4th book, that I simply could not get it converted :(
Otherwise, it is a nice tool! :)
It could be that some genres sell better on Amazon than others. Here in Scandinavia it has zero presence. In Brazil it is behind the national brands. And my books in distribution sell more on other European retailers... I guess it works differently for each author or genre...?
I had one book that was most text and it worked fine there, it was when I uploaded my 4th book, that I simply could not get it converted :(
Otherwise, it is a nice tool! :)
I've had bad experiences with Blurb, Createaspace and KDP. Not only did I have problems with the formating and converting of Ebook, but the prices for publishing and delivery were doubled (due to the fact that I live across the border from the States....nice.)
To publish as an Ebook only....Kobo is fine. Infact, KDP and Createaspace is as well....but to create a book physically....I am so disappointed. I would rather have something in my hands to touch then to bring up on screen. The cost of doing so has changed my view of the publishing world completely.
I suspect that Publishing firms are the main reason for this pricing, so that the writer who wants that type of hard copy book, has no choice but to go to them. Maybe that's just my own view on the matter.
Great info, thanks Isis :) I've printed with Createspace and Ingram/Lightning Source and the books have come out very nice. I had them professionally formatted because I did not have a clue about how to make them look good in print lol.
Typesetting a print book to the same standards as (good) trade publishers is certainly doable, but it's a bit of a challenge, and I wouldn't trust most automated conversion processes to do it. Typography and layout have their own rules and conventions, and if you're going to be your own typesetter, you have to spend some time learning the basics.A good "honor system" resource for that (it's free to read online but you're supposed to pay for it!) is Butterick's Practical Typography:
http://practicaltypography.com
Personally, I love typography, but I am probably a bit weird. :)
I have experience of both Blurb and Amazon KDP having published 3 books with the former and 1 with the latter. Blurb's POD (print on demand) cost structure means that it does not cost you as the author much to produce a book and you don't have the hassle of warehousing and distribution, but on the flipside, it makes it prohibitively expensive for a customer to order one book at a time sent to one consignment address. However, if as the author, you order with the regular discount coupons available some stock at 40-50% off and then sell them direct to customer, it starts to make sense. Remember that you can also offer PDF and iPad versions for sale on Blurb's platform too which are obviously more economic. Amazon KDP is OK for text only projects but not as simple as Blurb if you need to incorporate images.
I Have some insights to share on my new blog post: My #Selfpublishing #experience with CreateSpace, KDP, Blurb, LULU, Smashwords, Peecho
https://tragicbooks.com/2017/01/02/my...
It is a looong, but hopefully helpful article.