Createspace or Lulu?

Binding problems with Lulu

FYI FWIW, my latest couple of orders from Lulu (I am using it for preview copies/ARCs) have had crummy binding (cracking, pages falling out after some use), decidely poorer than what I've been used to, and radically poorer than what I get from Lightning Source.

--Ken

Lulu and Createspace can be useful to self-publishers. But there is a learning curve and a lot of potential pitfalls. You'll have a lot of homwork to do.

I've never heard of Vervante. Apparently it is one of many of its type. It would likewise have potential pitfalls and a learning curve.

(I am guessing that your post might have been a sly way to promote Vervante, though.)

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Thanks!

I am in the fitness field. And couple of authors in the field have used that. But I got no clue whey they picked that instead of lulu or createspace. You can see those in their testimonials too.

I googled and lot of people in the warrior forum were talking about vervante. So just curious.

anoopbal said:

Thanks!

I am in the fitness field. And couple of authors in the field have used that. But I got no clue whey they picked that instead of lulu or createspace. You can see those in their testimonials too.

I googled and lot of people in the warrior forum were talking about vervante. So just curious.

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Honestly, you keep posting about this company. They look like the stuff that you can get by going to the back end of any Office Depot store. If your freinds have used it and they liked it, then perhaps they can answer your questions. But you do come off as sort-of, kind-of trying to promote this company and that is a big red flag for me. So, based on your posting, I wouldn't touch them even if they offered their service for free.

/end crankiness

I went with Createspace myself and found the process easy, but a bit long for the formatting and stuff. Given it was my first selfpublished, I had to redo it quite a bit to have the pages right, titles okay, etc. But I am very please with the results.

Cheers,

CD

ResearchGuy said:

P.S. Look into www.bookbaby.com . I might be using that service soon.

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What's the appeal of Bookbaby over CreateSpace, Ken, in your opinion?

Chrisla said:

What's the appeal of Bookbaby over CreateSpace, Ken, in your opinion?

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Reports I have heard give Bookbaby better marks on formatting. And Bookbaby gets into Kindle, which, last I heard, Smashwords does not. The two work differently, and are not directly comparable. At least one of my self-publishing friends swears by Smashwords. In due time I will be using Bookbaby, but at the moment I only have a couple of titles directly in the Kindle store. FWIW.

--Ken

It looks like bookbaby charges you up front for services and allows you to continue to manage your book posted to the various retail sites. From their site, you pay an annual $19 fee (after the initial fees) to keep the book there, but you get 100% of your own royalties. There are also fees for changes, updates, etc.

I'd sort of call it a technical outsourcer that provides ongoing TECHNICAL management.

If I'm not mistaken, smashwords has no upfront costs (and provides no upfront services) but they get a percentage of royalites for the books you manage through their site.

I'd love to know what books they've processed so I can check out how good the formatting, etc is.

How does Lightning Source compare to CS?

Coco82 said:

How does Lightning Source compare to CS?

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Apples and orangutans. Not a simple comparison.

--Ken

Okay. I'm new to the self-publishing thing, so I don't know really what companies do what or are comparable. This thread has been helpful though.

Coco82 said:

Okay. I'm new to the self-publishing thing, so I don't know really what companies do what or are comparable. This thread has been helpful though.

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Remember that the only self-publishing company is the author himself or herself. No one can "self-publish" on the author's behalf.

--Ken

I'm curious to see from those who've used POD and ebooks, do you find the POD venture pays off? How do the sales compare to ebooks?

My e-books sell in greater numbers than POD.

Create Space Or Lulu?

In doing my research, I've found that there are several avenues which I could use to bring my ms to publication. The ones I've concentrated on are Kindle Direct for E-pub and its related Create Space for a soft cover book. I was also looking at Nook as a secondary outlet for the E-pub. There's also Smashwords for E-pubbing and LULU for both E-pub and book versions. What I'm wondering is which ones to chose? What I'm looking for here is personal experiences with these companies by authors. Which ones would any of you who have done this before chose if you were starting out all over again with your first novel, but know what you know about self publishing today. Would Kindle and Create Space offer me the widest distribution? Is Smashwords a good platform, even though there have been reports that authors' works are easily pirated off them? How good is Lulu? This is a new phase I am entering now with my ms, and I really can't afford to not get it right the first time. Any comments would be welcome. Thanks.

Well, I wrote my last post with almost the same thread title as this thread before I knew it even existed. Good stuff here. My questions are as follows:

I formatted a copy of my Word ms as per Smashwords' formatting guide. Is this good enough to upload to Kindle Direct or is there more that has to be done to it?

I also formatted a copy of my ms to Create Space's 6x9 template from a "normalized" Word document. Again, what more do I have to do here before I upload?

In both cases, I am having a cover image done up for me by a very reputable graphic artist. I will not need the cover creator of any of these self-pubbing sites as I'll have my own cover to upload already, once it's finished that is. Will this be a problem?

I use Windows 7 with IE 8 as my browser. Any uploading glitches with that system and how it interfaces with Create Space and Kindle Direct?

Should I also put my ms out through Smashwords or the Nook? Would it make any difference if I didn't?

I want my ms to fly, but I have no idea if it will make it to the end of the runway the way I have it formatted right now. How do I know if I've got it properly trimmed for take-off?

Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

John