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If anyone's interested in laying out their own books for POD publishers, I've started putting some tips on my blog.http://timctaylor.wordpress.com/2012/... I hadn't been on Createspace for a while. They do seem to have improved recently. Someone mentioned that Lulu lets you see the PDF. Well, Createspace have an excellent 'internal reviewer' that gives you a mockup of the book and highlights any issues and auto-fixes some. You could always get your pdf from Lulu and then feed it into Createspace to check (and then print from Lulu -- a bit cheeky, I know.)
Carole wrote: "I am considering both CreateSpace and Lightning Source to print my 112 page full color book which will have 45 full page paintings. My concern is color quality on interior pages. In an email to Cre..."Hi Carole,
I've seen some full-color books from CreateSpace that looked quite good. If you'd like to see one, there's a write-up with pictures here:
Self-Publishing a Craft Beading Book in Full Color at CreateSpace
The book is printed on uncoated paper and the color reproduction is good. Hope that helps.
Carole wrote: "Joel: I can't thank you enough for that link! Much appreciated!(Also, been a fan of your blog for awhile now...lots of good stuff to learn there!)"
My pleasure. It can be hard to find stuff on blogs sometimes. Good luck with the book.
So far, I've published ebook only, through Smashwords. I like Smashwords, I'm happy to wait for them to reach an agreement with Amazon, if only to simplify the paperwork my end. I'm in Australia and that causes difficulties. I have a question: my two books are 600 and 700 pages on paper. Is this size even done on CreateSpace, or other? Does that page count make them too expensive to be sold? I buy my indies in ebook and have no idea whether paper indies are common at this size.
Bryn wrote: "I have a question: my two books are 600 and 700 pages on paper. Is this size even done on CreateSpace, or other? Does that page count make them too expensive to be sold? I buy my indies in ebook and have no idea whether paper indies are common at this size."Bryn, a 600-page 6x9 paperback produced by Lightning Source (as an example) will cost you $8.70 for each book printed to fulfill orders, and $9.90 for each copy shipped to you. Unless you can command a premium price, you might be better off splitting it into separate 300-page volumes and charge a lower price for each. Hope that helps.
Joel wrote: "Hope that helps"Thanks, Joel, that's very specific. I'm totally enlightened.
Does anyone have photos of any of the paperbacks they've published through CreateSpace or Lulu that they can post? There has been a lot of debate about the overall quality of the paperbacks and I'm curious.
I have a proof copy pf one of my books from CreateSpace and it looks very nice. I was very pleased with it. Here's the linkhttps://www.createspace.com/3808173
The physical cover is better than the screen, or at least I think so :)
Gaynor wrote: "I have a proof copy pf one of my books from CreateSpace and it looks very nice. I was very pleased with it. Here's the linkhttps://www.createspace.com/3808173
The physical cover is better than th..."
I was hoping to see a picture of the physical cover.
Hello, I wasn't clear on what forum to post but since my question is about Create Space I think it's appropriate here. Thanks to the various comments, above, I now know that CS books are published in the USA which sort of makes sense in view of my question. I started the Create Space process and got held up by the incredibly complicated tax form you have to fill out. Add to that the fact that you have to send it by post and it takes weeks. Does anyone know if there's a way round this? I'd be very grateful. I am a VAT registered UK taxpayer with no business interests in the states. Thanks in advance.
Clodagh - the best thing to do is to phone the tax office in the USA. Prepare first by reading how at www.catherineryanhoward.com It took me 5 minutes - I phoned at 9am their time. Good luck!
Thank you so much Margaret. I'll give it a try - thanks for the link too. Will read that first.
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Wow. This topic is very popular. I just posted comments on two other groups. I'll post my comments here too.I use Create Space for softcover books. I've been using them for over 10 years now. They really are the most reasonably priced for POD author copies that I've found.
I've never had issues with my covers (I'm also a professional graphic designer) and any time there has been an issue with anything, I've received a response by email within 24 hours. They do have a phone number you can connect to online for immediate help and I've never waited on a phone call more than a minute or two. I agree with some other that have stated that they don't always know the answer, but I sat on a chat then a phone call for an hour yesterday with Amazon Kindle, just trying to figure out how to re-register my Kindle device with my new email without loosing my library of books that don't show up as archived. The three people I worked with didn't have a clue! I finally figured it out myself. You're going to deal with some incompetency with just about any company nowadays.
The CS expanded distribution option (which used to cost $25 but is now free) allows your print books to be picked up by other retailers and libraries.
For full color, softcover books, the quality is nice. They do not provide glossy paper so the color is printed on mat paper and does not have that high-gloss sheen.
For hardcover, full color on glossy paper (photobook) I went with Instant Publisher, http://www.instantpublisher.com
They were a LOT less expensive than LuLu, but you have to purchase a minimum print run and I really didn't care for their sewn binding quality. I have seen their perfect bound binding and it is comparable to other companies perfect binding. They also do not distribute.
I heard Lightning Source was a good place to check for HB & Soft cover books and also heard they now distribute much the way Amazon/Kindle/CreateSpace does. I have not looked into them yet though.
If anyone has more info on Lightning Source, I would love to hear about them.
ebooks:I have an ebook listed on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle. I figure, why not do both? I'm also thinking about looking into draft2digital, they apparently just signed up with a new distribution company to help with sales.
Create Space is awesome for print books! I've been using them for years for the photobooks and comics I create. They are a lot less expensive than Lulu or Ka-blam and the print quality is pretty good for photos.
There are no upfront fees to get your book uploaded to Create Space and it's automatically listed on Amazon once you upload and everything is approved. Authors set their own selling price but pay a different price for their own copies than the price they set for sales.
They also provide a free ISBN# if you can't afford one through Bowker. CS does show as the publisher but there's no publisher contract--Author retains all rights to publish the book with any other POD co.
I'm curious if anyone knows to how to read the Smashwords dashboard to check sales from other sites.
~Tia
A.V. wrote: "It's easy to check your sales from other sites now because Smashwords just add..."Thank you, A.V. I'll check that out.
Tia
Check out Reedsy. Authors can connect and collaborate with the industries best publishing professionals.
Here's an article we recently posted about finding the best self publishing companyhttp://solafidepublishing.net/index.p...
Tia wrote: "ebooks:I have an ebook listed on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle. I figure, why not do both? I'm also thinking about looking into draft2digital, they apparently just signed up with a new distribution..."
A friend of mine uses draft2digital and loves it.
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Books mentioned in this topic
How to Design a Book Using Adobe InDesign: Design a book for createspace with these simple instructions; Screenshots make it easy to do book layout design (other topics)How to Design a Book Cover Using Adobe InDesign: Design a Book Cover for CreateSpace or Kindle in a Few Simple Steps (other topics)
The Toad King: A Soldier's Story (other topics)
Very happy with Smashwords - once you're "approved" they distribute copies of your e-book to several retailers. That's FREE publicity! Amazon has not completed their contract with Smashwords - but apparently it IS in the works. Til then it's easy to publish on Amazon, but it takes at least 12-24 hours before your book is "up".