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I've got POD with CompletelyNovel and I quite like it. There's a 7.99 monthly fee to have two isbns and publish two books to have it listed on Amazon, Waterstones and WHSmith which is quite good really. They're also really helpful and you can email them if you have any questions.It's just the delivery that's a little expensive :(
Hope that helps!
I always do the ebook first, since they far outsell paper. I use Createspace and Lulu for my hardcovers and paperbacks, and have had no problems. We have another thread in this group that discusses the formatting of paper books in depth.
There are no horror stories with Createspace. It cost the author nothing to publish with them. It's an awesome quality. There are templates to help you out and loads of video on youtube to show you how to format step by step. Good luck although you shouldn't need it. :P
I have published all of my books through KDP and Createspace simultaneously, adding onto Ingram at a later date when I have a coupon for set-up fees. I haven't had any printing issues with either Createspace or Ingram. Createspace is a bit simpler and more user friendly, and doesn't charge for updates.
G.G. wrote: "There are no horror stories with Createspace. It cost the author nothing to publish with them. It's an awesome quality. There are templates to help you out and loads of video on youtube to show you..."I echo this. I've used CreateSpace for paperbacks. It's free to publish and they distribute to Amazon and others.
Maybe it's just the way I go about it, but I do have some extra steps to the paperback v. e-book versions.
For an e-book you don't need to fuss too much with the interior layout (in fact, it's a good idea to go with the simplest possible), and it's relatively easy to produce your own cover to upload.
When it comes to a paperback, interior formatting matters far more to get a professional-looking product. Also the cover is more complicated because you have the spine and back (including barcode) to take into account. I use a professional book designer for both those aspects, and get the cover for the print version sorted out first then get him to produce a JPG of just the front cover for the e-version.
G.G. wrote: "There are no horror stories with Createspace. It cost the author nothing to publish with them. It's an awesome quality. There are templates to help you out and loads of video on youtube to show you..."Hi G.G. - It wasn't long ago I suffered Fear of CreateSpace. Thanks to members like you, and purchasing a detailed instruction book (complete with screen photos), I now look forward to performing that exciting task!! Thank you!
Ian wrote: "G.G. wrote: "There are no horror stories with Createspace. It cost the author nothing to publish with them. It's an awesome quality. There are templates to help you out and loads of video on youtub..."True...with the ebook, the simpler the better. You don't need to fuss about the font you use either because most ereaders will let the user choose the one they like.
For paperback, if you only want to have it in print, there is not much fuss either. Even the simplest setting will do. It will be out there for people to buy but you might want to work a little on it to personalize it and make it look a little more finished. That's nothing that can't be done by yourself if you don't mind putting a little bit of time in it. The minimum I would add is page numbers. It's not hard to do. It gets a little more complicated if you follow the guide and skip pages where a chapter starts. Another thing that can add to a print is the name of the author on one side and the title of the book on the other. Again, there are youtube videos to help you with that.
There are lots of other things you can work with if you want something more personalized: drop letters when starting new chapters for example or little special design for breaks inside a chapter, or special chapter headings, and lots more.
Yet, all these are not entirely necessary. If you can't do it yourself and don't want to spend money, you can still publish your book in print.
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "G.G. wrote: "There are no horror stories with Createspace. It cost the author nothing to publish with them. It's an awesome quality. There are templates to help you out and loads of video on youtub..."If you have any question still (because, we all know sometimes instructions, even with pictures may be confusing), don't be afraid to ask. There will certainly be people here more than willing to help. :)
I'm glad your fear is over. Createspace isn't that scary once you do it. You'll see. :)
G.G. wrote: "I'm glad your fear is over. CreateSpace isn't that scary once you do it...."I forgot to thank you for suggesting YouTube!! I go there to learn how to paint ocean waves and clouds, {smacking my head}.
So many of you here have been so patient and understanding of all my questions (Sorry Dwayne). All your advice is greatly appreciated.
That's what the group is for: helping each other without judging. :)
Thanks for all of the comments. I was leaning toward Lulu simply because of their expanded distribution, but perhaps Create Space is the way to go. It seems that most of you have had a positive experience, which is reassuring for somebody new to the process.I suspect that I will have to outsource the formatting. I don't trust my techno-skills, and I am realistic about my frustration tolerance. Wonder how much this endeavor is going to cost me to see it to fruition? Each item on my to-do list has a price tag attached. But I keep reminding myself that I am investing in my own talent. That makes it worth it, right?
Two additional questions:
1. Do you use the free ISBN they offer for free or buy your own? I think if you want to market anywhere other than Amazon, it is best to invest in your own number. It seems pricey, but worth it. What's the consensus here?
2. Are barcodes also provided or is that a product you have to obtain from an outside source?
I am so grateful for the sound advice from those of you who have been in my position. Thanks!
Here's the thing. It may take a bit to learn how to do it yourself, but if you're planning to publish a lot of books, it could be a time investment worth while. You'd end up saving a lot of money for sure.1- I use the freebie one but I think you can get a deal from (someone can help me here for the name) at 10 for
Createspace offers wide distribution too so there's really no need for paying for your own though.
2- createspace provides for the bar code (when you get their ISBN. I'm not sure they do if you don't). You just need to be careful and leave room for it. (Like not to hide the blurb etc.)
Edited to add and correct things
someone said it's 10 isbns for$250. I recommend watching this as it talks about the subject of isbns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7KC0...
Or if you are outside of the US, your country may offer ISBNs for free.
The cool thing about Createspace is their virtual preview. You can "flip" through each page and carefully check for any issues before you approve it for printing. Personally, I always upload a pdf to avoid reformatting issues like there could be with uploading a Word doc. They also put their own human eyes to it, though they urge authors to do so carefully themselves. I once edited my margins which reduced the page numbers. I forgot to redo the full cover (the spine changed in thickness because of it). Though it was a minor change in spine width, they caught it, and I adjusted it before I approved it for print and publish.
As for the cover (color and image quality), they don't tweak anything on their end, so what you send them is what you see in your printed result. Using/embedding the right color profile and giving them the right print size is key. Eg, if you use an image file that's made for web viewing, it'll look pixilated (ie not attractive) in the printed book.
I can't speak on other companies, since I've only ever used Createspace. Their cover templates are simple to use if you have a fair understanding of Photoshop. They're easy to get on the phone (it takes a few days for an email response, so I always call them). Yeah, I'm happy using them for sure.
Createspace will adjust your cover if it is mis-sized as well. Not always perfect, but they'll do their best job of it. Ingram doesn't make changes, just tells you what you need to change. And they are impossible to communicate with customer support on. Canned answers only, if any.
P.D. wrote: "Createspace will adjust your cover if it is mis-sized as well. Not always perfect, but they'll do their best job of it. Ingram doesn't make changes, just tells you what you need to change. And th..."
Yep. In fact, they tweaked that spine issue, but it didn't compensate for my name and title staying centered, so I just redid it with the right template myself.
Segilola wrote: "someone said it's 10 isbns for$250. I recommend watching this as it talks about the subject of isbns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7KC0..."It's $295 for 10 from Bowker. I suppose if you buy the bundle, you will be encouraged to write books so that you can use them.
In the UK you use Nielsens instead and it is £149.00 for 10 for a new publisher, £92 for an existing publisher (because they do a registration also for a new publisher). Canada apparently provides them free.
What have everyone's experiences been with Lulu, if any? Their site seemed pretty user-friendly when I looked at it, but other than that I haven't heard a thing.
Pam wrote: "In the UK you use Nielsens instead and it is £149.00 for 10 for a new publisher, £92 for an existing publisher (because they do a registration also for a new publisher). Canada apparently provides ..."Canada does indeed provide ISBNs for free. I can vouch for that. You just need to register with the Library & Archives Canada site.
For other Canadians reading this, one of the stipulations I noticed on the site was "Publishes from an official office of business that resides within Canada". Not sure how strict their vetting is and how official your business needs to be. I went the path of declaring myself as a sole proprietorship, getting a business license from the municipality, and filing the appropriate tax returns. I don't know how they'd view your application if you just strolled in as a private citizen without making any effort to look like a business. Just something to look into...
I just want to echo: There is no need to pay any fees if you are willing to learn the interface and format it yourself.
Hi Quoleena,You mentioned in message 17 that you use the CreateSpace cover template and PhotoShop. Please understand I haven't gotten this far, so this question may seem rhetorical (aka stupid). Is it possible to take a photo with a digital camera, upload it to photo software, and upload it to the CreateSpace template and use that as a cover? I have an idea for my cover, but prefer to use a photo I take.
Thank you.
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Hi Quoleena,You mentioned in message 17 that you use the CreateSpace cover template and PhotoShop. Please understand I haven't gotten this far, so this question may seem rhetorical (aka stupid). I..."
yes. Easy.
You can experiment with it. Give it a try. It's free.
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Hi Quoleena,You mentioned in message 17 that you use the CreateSpace cover template and PhotoShop. Please understand I haven't gotten this far, so this question may seem rhetorical (aka stupid). I..."
Make sure your camera takes good pictures (300 DPI) or else Createspace may refuse it. That's not to cause you problems but rather to make sure the cover is the best quality possible.
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Hi Quoleena,You mentioned in message 17 that you use the CreateSpace cover template and PhotoShop. Please understand I haven't gotten this far, so this question may seem rhetorical (aka stupid). I..."
Hi Sue. Never hesitate to ask questions :)
I design my covers using my photos. In fact some authors here use their own artwork for their covers, so you can definitely use your own photo.
Regarding the Createspace template, download the file to your computer. Also, when you have a page length of your book, you enter that number in their template generator. (I can't remember the exact steps off the top of my head, so pardon the vagueness. Feel free to ask for more details if you need it.)
Their template comes in both a Photoshop file and png. I use Photoshop. What program are you using? I can give more details if you need them and if you're using Photoshop. If it's another program, I'm sure others out there can hop in for guidance, especially if you start a thread in the author help folder.
Hope this helps!
And to piggyback off what GG just said, yeah make certain it's a 300dpi image file, since it's necessary for a print. You may already know this, so feel free to say so :)
Thank you Martin and G.G. Hmm... our camera takes good photos, but is around 10 years old. I'm not technical, so I don''t know how to find out the dots per inch on the JPEG files, but the dimensions are 3648 x 2746. Are those the DPI? I'll play with it and see what I can do. Thank you again.
Quoleena wrote: "And to piggyback off what GG just said, yeah make certain it's a 300dpi image file, since it's necessary for a print. You may already know this, so feel free to say so :)"Embarrassingly enough, I do not know that. Laughing at myself. I really gotta learn this stuff! : )
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Thank you Martin and G.G. Hmm... our camera takes good photos, but is around 10 years old. I'm not technical, so I don''t know how to find out the dots per inch on the JPEG files, but the dimension..."Those dimensions sound more than good enough for JPEG files. Not sure about CreateSpace, but Smashwords recommends about 1600 x 2400 for their covers.
Edit: I meant to say, those dimensions are the number of pixels (width and height) the image contains. In an electronic file like a JPEG, DPI is meaningless until you actually print it out. If you think of a fairly standard book cover as being about 5" x 8", then your image would need to be 1500 x 2400 pixels to give you 300 DPI. The dimensions you gave are comfortably in excess.
To add to what Quloeena said about artwork and photos, I do my own artwork and then snap it with my digital camera so I guess I do both :)
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Thank you Martin and G.G. Hmm... our camera takes good photos, but is around 10 years old. I'm not technical, so I don''t know how to find out the dots per inch on the JPEG files, but the dimension..."If you are on windows (I have no clue on Mac), right click the picture. Go to properties then to details (usually third tab) you should see it under 'image'.
Now, if you have a 300 dpi and Createspace refuses it saying it's a 299, just reclick the submit button, it should accept it the second time around. It happened to me with my latest book. :/
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Quoleena wrote: "And to piggyback off what GG just said, yeah make certain it's a 300dpi image file, since it's necessary for a print. You may already know this, so feel free to say so :)"Embarra..."
Don't feel bad! It's just a pet peeve of mine to "preach to the choir," so I like to ask.
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Quoleena wrote: "And to piggyback off what GG just said, yeah make certain it's a 300dpi image file, since it's necessary for a print. You may already know this, so feel free to say so :)"Embarra..."
Nothing embarrassing about not knowing something. I don't know many people who can honestly say they know everything. There's always something somewhere they don't know. :P
G.G. wrote: "Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: "Quoleena wrote: "And to piggyback off what GG just said, yeah make certain it's a 300dpi image file, since it's necessary for a print. You may already know this, so feel free ..."But...you HAVE known 15-year-olds, right?!
Ian, Qualeena, and G.G.Thank you all for this great advice. I'm going to write everything down in a notebook I started in January. Filling it up fast. I downloaded the CS 5 x 8 template, saved it as the name of my book to preserve the original, and have been typing in that. I'm even learning more about Word. I never knew how to automatically create and update a Table of Contents.
Quoleena wrote: "But... you HAVE known 15-year-olds, right?!, ..."LOL!! I think a 5-year-old could figure out what I don't know!!
Sue (Dog Mom) wrote: " downloaded the CS 5 x 8 template, saved it as the name of my book to preserve the original, and have been typing in that. I'm even learning more about Word. I never knew how to automatically create and update a Table of Contents..."There is a template for the cover too.
G.G. wrote: "There is a template for the cover too..."My plan was to work on trying to make a cover after I finished writing the book, but I now believe I should download the template to see where I stand. Thank you all again.
Well you may wait.. I forgot you need the number of pages for the spine (unless you let Createspace do it for you).
You can estimate the number of pages and adjust the spine later. I do that all the time, because I design the cover before I write the book.
G.G. - Thanks for the reminder.P..D. - Thanks for the suggestion.
P.D. wrote: "You can estimate the number of pages and adjust the spine later. I do that all the time, because I design the cover before I write the book."I design the ebook cover first, leaving it open to make the full cover once the book is done. I always save the paperback formatting for after the ebook is ready to publish, since the paperback requires more tweaking and such.
Createspace is awesome. I generally load createspace and ingram with duplicate books and have createspace do amazon sales and ingram do everywhere else. Then, I also add a hardcopy version on ingram so i have paperback, ebook, and hardcopy, and ingram distributes that everywhere. I've had really good luck with it and wouldn't use any other way. I love createspace because of the free modifications and simplicity of use, but Ingram has better copies and can do hardcopy books. Just make sure you own the ISBN
I prefer the photography and design elements of the front to wrap around to the back, so I always do paperback cover design first, and then make any adjustments for the kindle cover design.
P.D. wrote: "I prefer the photography and design elements of the front to wrap around to the back, so I always do paperback cover design first, and then make any adjustments for the kindle cover design."Me too. I crop the ebook cover from the full cover. Though I prefer the image wrap look for my own, I've seen some sleek ones with a solid color for the spine and back.
I do intend to release an ebook, of course, and wonder if that should precede trying to create one in a tangible form. Which one is the cart and which is the horse?
My book is close to being ready, so I need some advice on how to proceed. I would appreciate it if you could share your experience.
As always, thanks for the advice.