I know, I know! It’s been over a month since I promised part 2 for ‘A Step-to-Step Guide to Publishing with Createspace for Intelligent People’ would come out. (You can read part 1 here, by the way.)
I do have an excuse, though. Createspace is a pretty easy-to-use, simple self-publishing site, and if you’re really an intelligent people, well, what are you doing here? 😛
We left off last time with file review. File review just makes sure everything’s in order. It lets you know if you need to resubmit the files. For instance, if there are pictures in the interior that are overlapping where they shouldn’t, or if there is text on the cover where it shouldn’t be, which is anyway 0.5″ away from all edges of the cover, they’ll let you know … not that I ever have troubles with that …
Usually, however, the files are all right by Createspace standards, and you don’t have to start all over again.
When your file review is finished, you’ll probably receive an email letting you know that it’s finished. You follow the link to the proof page.
You’ll either be able to order a paperback copy for proofing or proof it online with digital proofer/download a PDF copy to proof (which is what I always do).
It’s so easy I’m not even going to open another tab and screenshot the process.
Once you’re proofed, the page should look something like this:
Hooooold it a moment! I forgot! I didn’t tell you to do your sales channels while waiting for Createspace to review your files! Better go through that. 😀
After you’ve proofed your book (or whenever you do your sales channels … because you can do them before you proof the book, too …), you’ll be carried to the sales channel page.
As you can see, I selected all the sales channels. I suggest you select at least Amazon.com and the CreateSpace eStore. If you choose the CreateSpace eStore option, remember to go to ‘eStore Setup.’ I can tell you more about that if you comment and ask, but I’m not going into it here.
After that, you continue on to pricing. Now, this is one of those things that it’s hard to judge. How much do you charge people for a copy of your novel … well, the schools of thought vary. However, I wouldn’t go over $10. That’s just me, though.
Although it looks as if you get a small percentage of the cost of your novel, remember that self-publishing is not a get-rich-quick (or even get-rich-slow scheme)! Self-publishing is for sharing your novel with the world. It’s for the shear joy of getting your novel out there.
Besides, you can’t expect Amazon and Createspace not to take a bit of the royalties. Think about it. Createspace is only taking a little more than half of the royalties, and they’re doing most of the work for you! I think it’s pretty fair. Then Amazon takes some more (a little less than half of what you’re left with), which is also only fair. You actually get more royalties than most self-publishing sites, I think. That is, more royalties while not paying fees for publishing or something like that. 🙂
So, I charge $8.99 for a paperback copy of The Dressmaker’s Secret. I don’t think that’s too unreasonable considering the amount of work I put into it, etc.
Next, you go on to cover finish. Either choose Matte or Glossy. Just … choose one. Matte is more for novels, Glossy is more for nonfiction, but that could just be me. XD
Next, there’s description. This is how the description page for The Dressmaker’s Secret looks all filled out:
Click on the image to see it bigger and get a Guide to Descriptions of Createspace for Intelligent People. 😉
After you’ve saved that, you should get an option to publish on Kindle using kdp.amazon.com. I’m not going to talk about that much, but it’s pretty simple. There are a few tips I could give you sometime … but I’m not going to here. 🙂
Thanks for reading and have a nice Wednesday (or whatever day it is when you’re reading this),
~Kellyn Roth
p.s. remember to vote for me! 😀 Not to brag, but awesome stuff is gonna happen if you elect me blogger president.
20 Responses
Thanks Kellyn! This will be so much help in the future!
You’re welcome! I hope it is. 🙂
Awesome!!! I’m thinking of publishing my NaNo novel, so this will come in handy!! There’s also Lulu.com, but I don’t know if it has the perks of CreateSpace!
I decided to use Lulu.com instead of Createspace (Createspace is an Amazon company, and Amazon doesn’t make the bestt choices… :/) For the most part, it’s simple, but then we got to the cover part. Lulu does not have very many options on their ‘Create a Cover’ page. But you can design your own, so that’s good. It’s a hard decision to make; I bet you’re really excited to publish a novel! (Is it your first one?)
CutePolarBear
Nice post! Thanks for sharing, Kellyn!
I haven’t had the chance to read this post or the one before it, but I just wanted to thank you for writing these, because I’ve been really curious what it was like to go through CreateSpace. I really hope I have time to actually read these posts soon.
I hope you don’t find them full of completely useless information! I’ve kind of been worrying about that lately … 😉
I’ll let you know what I think of them when I get the chance to read them. Hopefully this weekend!
What is the CreateSpace eStore? What do we do if we want to publish on Kindle? What is Expanded Distribution? Thank you, Kellyn!
The Createspace eStore is basically a place you can buy all books published on Createspace online. It also gives you a higher percentage of the money, so … yeah. I always encourage people to purchase my books on Createspace. 😉
Expanded distribution has three options, if I remember correctly – bookstores and online retailers, libraries and academic institutions, and Createspace direct.
Createspace direct: allows booksellers such as independent booksellers to buy you book directly from Createspace.
Libraries, etc.: makes your book available to libraries and schools and such.
Bookstores and online retailers: your book can be bought from Createspace by various professional online retailers, etc., hopefully giving you a wider audience.
Before selecting any of these options, I’d suggest reading up on them. You can find tutorials and such on Createspace.
As for publishing on Kindle, after you get all your Createspace stuff set up, Createspace offers to send your files (cover and interior) to KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing – kdp.amazon.com) for you. I did this with The Dressmaker’s Secret, although I late uploaded the files myself to KDP (it’s extremely simple). You have to have an Amazon account. I have my own (separate from that of my parents; it doesn’t cost money or anything) although I don’t buy anything with it. I just post reviews and, of course, publish books. Your KDP account is the same as your Amazon account, essentially. With The Lady of the Vineyard, I uploaded the cover and interior files myself. I’ve found DOCX and JPG are best for KDP while I think I use PDF and PNG for Createspace.
Anyway … probably a lot of that didn’t make sense, but I’d be happy to explain what didn’t. 🙂
Thank you so very much!
You’re welcome! I hope I was able to help a bit. 🙂
You were!
OK, just one more question. Do they just take money out of your sales, or do you have to also pay a fee?
They just take money out of your sales.
Thank you so much!
OOH THIS WAS REALLYYYY HELPFUL! Thanks to you and this post, I may publish my book in the future (once I finish writing it). Thank you so so so so much!
~Mya
I hope you do! It’s really quite rewarding. 🙂
Yeah, I bet!