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Createspace problem after I updated interior
Oh, Marie, how sad and frustrating. Since Createspace made this error, I believe they should correct it by replacing the copies that were purchased with the incorrect cover. I hope they replace/return your cover soon. If it makes you feel any better, the blue looks like part of a cloak she's wearing. Consoling Hugs
I am saddened Createspace won't replace the books. As authors, we know to complain, but readers may not know that it is a mistake. Createspace once completely deleted my cover after making interior changes. And that was done 3 days after the new interior files were approved...luckily I had no sales during that time. Sorry about your frustrations Marie.
I am sorry for the problems you're having with Createspace. It's rather strange that it did that if the cover wasn't changed or touched. :(I am also sorry to have to ask you to remove the link. I know it's relevant to the post and without it, it doesn't say much about the problem, but it's our rule: No links. To books. To blogs. No link.
Thanks.
Okay, sorry about that G.G.The Createspace rep offered to "retire" the title until they get the issue fixed but I was worried that would hurt more than help. So I'll just wait now and hope it's fixed soon.
Create space has a way of being very insensitive to problems they initiate.
NP Marie. It was just a slip :PI'm lucky I've never had problems with Createspace, but I am also always scared to make any changes to it too. I never touched the covers.
Have you tried uploading a new file? Maybe the old one got corrupted somehow? To be honest, I am sticking with Createspace but if something like that were to happen to me, I'd consider moving to KDP print. :/
I'm sorry to hear that happened, Marie! I'm surprised you weren't forced to do something with the cover when you originally uploaded a new interior because every time I upload a new interior it makes me do the cover too, regardless that I'm not changing that part. I think it always says something like, "because your dimensions were changed, you have to reupload your cover", although I never change much in my interior. Maybe a line or two here and there, so it's not like my dimensions really change. It drives me up the wall. Hope they fix it soon or already have!
Thank you for the comment, Amanda. That's interesting. I have updated my first book's interior a few times but never had an issue with the cover. I should have listened to G.G. and just uploaded the cover file again as soon as I saw the problem. Createspace was no help so I basically waited for 4 days to get an email from them saying they couldn't do anything about it. I uploaded the file again and now it looks normal :). I'm just not crazy about how glitchy CS has been lately. Sometimes it will let me use the digital previewer but most times it comes up with an error message about how I need the latest flash player. The pdf proof does not show the cover.
Glad it's back to looking normal. Most of the time, I don't have issues with them. I keep going back and forth between Chrome and FireFox (currently using FireFox) and sometimes I get the flash player message on certain sites...and I think createspace was one of them recently and it was FireFox I was using. I switched my browser to Chrome and it worked like a charm. I can't figure out what one I like using better yet. lol
Ah! I've gotten that flash player message too and it annoys the hell out of me. I've got chrome set up to automatically download the latest, so I know that's not a real issue.
Hi Marie, Ive had similar problems with Createspace over the past few weeks, Im still in the proofing stage of my book, and one proof arrived with the first 4 pages missing, it started on page 6. I called CS and they sent me a new one and I asked what if a member of the public ordered it and they said they would send a new copy out if that happened too, but like Erica said, if someone ordered my book they wouldn't know it was missing pages. And I just ordered another proof, I had lightened this copy in the PDF and somehow it's darker than the last proof and the pages that I didnt change are darker too, so there doesn't seem to be consistency with each printing and Im losing faith in Createspace as a printing company.
Claudine wrote: "Hi Marie, Ive had similar problems with Createspace over the past few weeks, Im still in the proofing stage of my book, and one proof arrived with the first 4 pages missing, it started on page 6. I..."I thought I would update my comment as I have contacted Createspace, they sent the issue of color variations and pages missing (I placed an order for 2, one came missing the first 6 pages and the other, within the same order, came with all the pages??) in proofs to the technical department an got a reply 2 days later which said the problem is not with their machines in regards to the color variations, but did not address the missing pages issue.
Thank you for the update, Claudine. So weird (and concerning) that entire pages would be missing. I hope it doesn't happen again!
This is an interesting discussion especially for me because I have had troubles with the last two covers one of which was print coloration (not sure that is the correct term) and this last cover the wrap where the spine corner is supposed to be kept coming out wrong. I use a professional graphics company for these covers and it has been less than a pleasant experience. I will say Createspace people were pretty quick to respond just not as helpful as I'd like. They did sent a free corrected proof. Still missing pages and other cover issues makes me wonder if I should stick with them.
Hi J, i'm sorry to hear you've had problems too, especially after paying for a professional graphics company to make your cover. Createspace replied today about the missing pages and said it was a manufacturer fault that is rare, but on occasion does happen. To be fair, this is the first time it's happened to me but I haven't published a book for two years. I would say createspace's customer service is the best from my experiences with them, i can always get hold of someone quickly on the phone and they're always quick to fix issues and take them seriously. I find Ingram spark very hard to get hold of, and nook press doesn't even have a support phone number- which is part of why Im choosing not to use them. Good luck with your book! I'm sure we'll get a good proof soon 😉
I have published four books through Createspace. From the first one- just learning, six years ago to the last one last year I can say I have never seen a program/website to well designed and run. Any problems I had, which were few, were always my fault. I have looked into Ingramspark, mostly because they have hardbound publishing, but because I cant imagine as foolproof a system as Createspace, and because of all I've heard about other self-publishing companies, I'm sticking with Amazon. The problems you are having are isolated, im sure. Keep going!
That's great to hear you've never had a problem, Jim. I'm hoping it is really rare to have missing pages 😊
Marie thanks for your post. It's frustrating that you can't quality control how you would like. I have had some issues with Createspace printing some of my books with marks through a few pages, which blurred the text and they do have a policy of refunding or replacing books - yes the recipient needs to complain but its good that they do that. Other than that all my queries and issues have been handled really quickly and professionally. Can you upload your cover again and see if it looks better? Has the problem been resolved?
Well now I have a new issue at Createspace. My latest novel was released in July and since I rarely sell print copies of my books I have not been surprised that so far there have been zero sales. Until I got a message saying someone just got their copy from Amazon and they were excited to read it. That means at least one copy was purchased and still I have no sales as far as CS is concerned. So far discussion with CS has only brought an explanation into how royalties are tabulated and no investigation into what glitch is causing this. Makes me wonder if there are other copies out there that I haven't gotten credit for either.
Hi J. I wonder to if I'm not seeing leakage. I'm inclined to buy a copy of ebay to see if I get a royalty?
I get leakage for books that have copies floating around. But in this case if no books have been printed yet (as CS sales numbers indicate) there can't be any out there yet. I'm just waiting to see what they say about it.
Not sure if this helps, but I order my own books from Amazon to ship directly to giveaway winners, and I usually see the sale on Createspace within a day (I think the sale shows when the book actually ships). If your friend got a paperback, it's really not cool that it hasn't appeared in your dashboard.
CS response was that sales are credited when books are printed and asked me if I could get the data from the back page showing print run number and date. In this particular case I could (probably would have been impossible except I had an email address to get ahold of the reader) and did but how do I know there aren't other books printed that I didn't get credit for? I am waiting to see how they respond. This does not build my confidence in them and IMHO is a much bigger problem than getting covers right.
Or that they have a date. I have a book that didn't have any dates on when I ordered copies for myself after I re-uploaded the content last year. All others always had dates.
Oh, no! Very disconcerting, J. Please keep us updated if you can. I'd like to know how they handle the issue.
So far CS people say they've checked and all my sales are reported correctly. Something I know is incorrect based on at least the one book I sent them info on. Not sure how they keep records but obviously they did not find this book. I'm waiting for more now that they have the print run number.
I have also complained, as I have suspected that I was not receiving credit for all of my sales. I've had people claim that they bought my book, but no royalties have shown up. If there are multiple sales there is no way to check because Amazon refuses to divulge buyers. I have said to Amazon to have a voluntary form for buyers to divulge their names to authors as I felt it would benefit all, including Amazon.
Latest response from CS is that the book was printed 7/23 through Expanded Distribution Channel so payment will not show up for up to 8 weeks. However I know the book was purchased through Amazon which according to CS it should show up within 3 business days. Something is still fishy here and I've asked them to sort out what is really going on. I understand that books that have been printed and I've been paid for can be shared, resold etc and I do not get another royalty payment. Since there are no other copies of this book in print, that cannot be the situation.
Interesting, J. Sometimes books purchased on Amazon will be through expanded distribution sellers though. So if your friend happened to click on the listing that did not specify "fulfilled by Amazon", even though it was on Amazon, that could be the case.
Hey Marie, thanks for that info. I hope that's all it turns out to be. I'd feel better about continuing to do business through CS.
Well I just checked, thanks to Marie's comment and had the buyer forward me a photo of the packing slip which says Amazon Fulfillment Services. So, I am back to wondering what is going on at CS.
Ah geez. That seems pretty clear! C'mon, Createspace!
Well this afternoon I got a call from CS and talked with them about what was going on. It seems that since I have the Expanded Distribution Channel active other outlets can buy copies of the print book at wholesale and then resell them. In this case, evidently, an Amazon linked sales channel bought a copy through EDC and then acting as a sales agent for Amazon filled the Amazon order. And thus the sale will not show up for about 8 weeks and my cut will be a few cents instead of the couple bucks I'd get from a direct Amazon sale. After some further discussion with the CS rep it seems the best action for me is to shut down the EDC for all my print books which means anyone who wants a print copy will have to order it directly through Amazon. B&N so sorry but then again I think in the last 3 years I've sold maybe 3 or 4 print copies that were not through Amazon. In some ways I'm still trying to decide exactly how I feel about this but for now, it's no EDC. At least I have regained confidence that CS is not short changing us.
You can publish your book to Ingram/Lightning source for expanded distribution. The royalties are better than on expanded with Amazon. There is a fee like $49 to list titles, but they usually have a coupon code for indies to get this fee waived.
Thanks Marie. I will have to look into it. Right now I'm going back to writing for a few days and letting the "promotional department" take a week off.
I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but the situation you're describing just sounds shady on Amazon's end. They are already taking a cut of the royalty for the book to be sold on their channel. When a customer buys from Amazon or "acting sales agent for Amazon", you should get the full Amazon rate royalty. If it was purchased on B&N, that would be different. How can some random outfit buy a book wholesale, one unit at a time, when it does not even exist in print, to resell to the first customer to click buy on Amazon? That's just...not right. And I say this as a devoted Amazon fanatic. Disappointing...
Yes, that's what I think too but since I can't change the rules, I'll just have to do what I can to mitigate the damage.
I thought I would reply again as I just had my third defective proof from Creatspace. Out of six proof orders I've now had three that are defective, one missing was pages, the second had blue splotches of ink on different pages in the same place on each page and now the third has lines across the bottom of the images (which are definitely not in my pdf.) Each time it's happened I have sent CS photos of the defects and they have apologized and replaced the proofs for me and each time said its rare, but it's happened three times to me in the past 6 weeks and I'm concerned about the quality of the books that will be sent out to customers. I'm starting to lose faith in createspace's printing quality, which I always thought was very high until now.
Yeah, that's pretty disconcerting. I've ordered probably 30 books from CS for myself, and there were issues with 2 of them. One was trimmed improperly and had a white border on the cover and extra wide pages. This was from an order of three of the same book, so it was obvious that only that one had the issue while the other two were correct. The other defective book had the interior printed at a slant. ALL CS book covers come out darker than the cover image should be, in my opinion. Even a defective rate of 10% is alarming. So in Claudine's case, to see 50% of the proofs with issues is really scary. I wonder if the quality issue is a more recent thing or if it has always been like this.
Claudine, thanks for the info. Not sure but seems like things are going downhill at CS. I'm not changing printers just yet but if things keep going in this direction I just might.
The thing about CS is every single time you make a change(even if you actually did nothing at all but have to resubmit the interior files)they tell you that you have to reupload the cover. I don't get it either, but I've always done it. Its stupid stuff like this from CS, not to mention the long wait time only to find out you have to still correct a problem and then wait another long time and so on, is why I just pulled all of my paperback versions away from there and went with KDP. I just got fed up with the nonsense and ensuing headache every single time I needed to make a change. It's not that hard on KDP for ebook, so I don't know why the paperback portion on CS can't get it straight since they are all part of Amazon.
Erica wrote: "The thing about CS is every single time you make a change(even if you actually did nothing at all but have to resubmit the interior files)they tell you that you have to reupload the cover. I don't ..."I've re-uploaded the inside plenty of times and I never had to re-upload the cover. They ask you but you can skip that part.
From my understanding, Amazon is pretty highly focused on Kindle and taking over the eBook world. As such, I don't think they are putting much into the physical book side of create space. I've also noticed in most of my support cases how much things have to go through "Amazon". I've sent several suggestions over on improving the process, some of which were back in 2009. When I published my latest book this year, I noticed no differences in the UI. Working in the software industry, this baffles me. All that to say -- I feel your pain.
Yikes! I'm planning to re-upload my interior this week. After reading this thread, I'm a wee bit nervous.
Frankly, I am now terrified. My book Wildflowers went for copyediting this week. I had high hopes for self publishing until reading this thread.
Delores wrote: "Frankly, I am now terrified. My book Wildflowers went for copyediting this week. I had high hopes for self publishing until reading this thread."Issues happen in all aspects of life, and just like with everything else, they get resolved. I wouldn't worry too much. Most everyone here has had a positive experience with Createspace. Don't let things that haven't happened yet frustrate you.
Agree with Christina, no need to be too worried. Just be sure to check the proof before letting it go live. Unfortunately, the cover was not shown at all on the pdf proof, and the digital proof launcher was too glitchy to use, so I couldn't see the problem until later. It really is best to order physical proofs.
Thank you so much for your comment Marie and Christina. I was so looking forward to seeing the book, the ad, all of it. And reading the concerns of others was frightening.
I called Createspace to report the issue and they said they don't know what happened but they would have to escalate it to the technical dept who would contact me in 1 or 2 days. I'm bothered because I've had recent sales on this book and I asked if the customers got the bad cover. Createspace said yes but they won't do anything about it unless the customer makes a claim through Amazon. I'm not very happy about that part because I think it reflects badly on me and there was nothing wrong with my cover file. Anyway, I looked at my other titles just to be sure they still looked right and they were fine. I'm thinking that there was a glitch when my new content uploaded to the dashboard. I guess the moral of the story is to check your books often to make sure this sort of thing isn't happening.