tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post1361110542439597642..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Adventures in CreateSpace – Chris LongmuirKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-6364327859326405282013-04-06T11:42:06.070+01:002013-04-06T11:42:06.070+01:00Really great advice Chris especially for a newbie ...Really great advice Chris especially for a newbie like me :-)Wendy H. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04022089775887274043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-12834460544662951192012-11-19T14:23:11.459+00:002012-11-19T14:23:11.459+00:00Hi Dan, 20 copies of my book (345 pages) cost me £...Hi Dan, 20 copies of my book (345 pages) cost me £88.36 which works out at £4.42 a copy (£3.13 for the book and £1.29 for the shipping)The cost of author copies from my publisher for a book with the same selling price of £9.99, is £6, so I'm quids in with Amazon. However, my share of the selling price when sold through Amazon is much the same as my share of my £2.55 ebook! Funnily enough with the paperback I get a larger share from American sales than I do from UK sales. Hope I'm not giving away too much info here, and if any readers are listening in, I'm not making a fortune because quite a few of those 20 copies will be doled out free for promotional purposes, reviews etc.Chris Longmuirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02488093821886798927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-76149904098959625792012-11-19T10:48:06.500+00:002012-11-19T10:48:06.500+00:00Yes Chris,there's still a place for paperbacks...Yes Chris,there's still a place for paperbacks and it no more makes you a 'self/vanity' publisher than ebook publishing does. Indeed as you've described your journey you have become an 'indie' publisher in another medium - giving your market what it wants. <br />I have been publishing print copies for a number of years and using various channels. A couple of 'tips' to take or ignore are:<br />1) YES do fiddle with templates and get the book the way you want. Standard format is around 8x 5 cream (well, actually not cream but bookwove an option createspace doesn't offer) and use the on line proofing to its fullest.<br />2) Though they offer you discounted author copies from US if you're only ordering a couple it's cheaper just to order them and pay the whole price through UK - you get your royalty 'discount' of course and clock up a couple of sales.<br />3) there's a tipping point at which it becomes CHEAPER to actually do a short run print from a PRINTER (with experience in book printing) than order multiple copies from Createspace. For me, given books of around 300 pages 8x5 priced at £7.99 this turns out at about 15 copies. Any more than that it's cheaper to get a short print run done and you can STILL have it available on POD. <br />I have to say having looked at all other POD systems recently Createspace does offer ease of use and no cost unlike 'hidden' costs of other POD companies. Times will change of course, but as long as you are willing to brave the technology I'd say that AT THE MOMENT getting POD copies out there via createspace isn't a bad thing - it only costs your time. And it's a publishing and 'publishers' decision - electric is not the only way (yet!) But certainly POD helps save money and the planet! Diversification may be the rule for 2013. Who knows? On the other hand, anyone thinking of paying hundreds of pounds to get their work published in print or ebook format needs their head read! Getting a short run print done of 20 or so copies can be seen as a direct marketing tool though. If and when Amazon will give us author copies direct from UK the situation will change again of course. And the one thing we know about this marketplace is that it's constantly changing but we are indie publishers so we can change quicker than the TRAD mainstreams! And for the reader, they just want BOOKS in the format they want to read! As of yet the 'markets' are not fully converged so for us to diversify is fine. Congrats! CallyPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15481379296340077102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-49832799532066118372012-11-19T10:39:43.313+00:002012-11-19T10:39:43.313+00:00very interesting, as someone who's always used...very interesting, as someone who's always used Lulu (largely owing to fear of shipping costs). May I ask how much 20 copies came to including the shipping?Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-35166938613652570392012-11-19T10:30:45.246+00:002012-11-19T10:30:45.246+00:00I followed the same route, Chris (although I can&#...I followed the same route, Chris (although I can't match your readers clamouring for print versions). It's remarkably trouble-free, isn't it? The thing that bothered me with the first one was their warning about 'some fonts couldn't be reproduced, etc.' Fortunately, they give the option of ignoring the warning, so I did and there's nothing in the printed version that explains what they were on about.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-79728134077609629342012-11-19T10:18:40.429+00:002012-11-19T10:18:40.429+00:00Good luck, Chris! I'm thinking of having a dab...Good luck, Chris! I'm thinking of having a dabble with Createspace myself, and you encourage me!Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.com