- Joined
- Mar 26, 2005
- Messages
- 5,011
- Reaction score
- 697
- Location
- Sacramento area, CA
- Website
- www.umbachconsulting.com
Create Space Pro Plan is definitely worth it!!
- Thread starter valeriec80
- Start date
- Status
Richard L. Sutton
Registered
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2009
- Messages
- 30
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- Long Island, NY USA
- Website
- www.kivatrading.com
I published my first novel with Createspace, and they did a reasonably good job. I like the paper quality, and the cover lamination holds up well, and the colors pop. I'll probably use them for number two, this coming Summer.
When I first set out to publish, I had an idea that I wanted my book to price the same as or slightly lower than paper trades from known authors. I figured, I wasn't known, and at least with the first one, I didn't need to make a living from it (even if I did, it clearly wasn't an option). The main point being generating some buzz and learning the publishing ropes as well as possible.
Since I have a small business background, it was easier for me to look at it as a retail product: so much for cost, so much for margin. Eventually, the price came in at $11.95, which gave me reasonable margin -- mark-up. Royalties? Never collected one that I could remember, but mark-up -- that I knew about!
The only problem was the page count. In 12 point type, which is what I wanted for legibility, it would have come in over 450 pages, which would have made the retail much higher. I settled for 10 pt type, but I'm going to re-release it in a larger type size edition for a couple of bucks more. Since my reader is typically a bit older, legibility counts a great deal.
Proofing had only one glitch, when one of three proofs came back the previous file, not the updated one. They made good very fast, but I lost a week anyway. Annoyed me at the time, until I found a couple more typos I'd missed! Oh! For the luxury of a staff of grammar and spelling editors! Maybe later...
When I first set out to publish, I had an idea that I wanted my book to price the same as or slightly lower than paper trades from known authors. I figured, I wasn't known, and at least with the first one, I didn't need to make a living from it (even if I did, it clearly wasn't an option). The main point being generating some buzz and learning the publishing ropes as well as possible.
Since I have a small business background, it was easier for me to look at it as a retail product: so much for cost, so much for margin. Eventually, the price came in at $11.95, which gave me reasonable margin -- mark-up. Royalties? Never collected one that I could remember, but mark-up -- that I knew about!
The only problem was the page count. In 12 point type, which is what I wanted for legibility, it would have come in over 450 pages, which would have made the retail much higher. I settled for 10 pt type, but I'm going to re-release it in a larger type size edition for a couple of bucks more. Since my reader is typically a bit older, legibility counts a great deal.
Proofing had only one glitch, when one of three proofs came back the previous file, not the updated one. They made good very fast, but I lost a week anyway. Annoyed me at the time, until I found a couple more typos I'd missed! Oh! For the luxury of a staff of grammar and spelling editors! Maybe later...
Richard, well done on publishing your first novel. But I'm a little puzzled. You say CreateSpace helped you learn the publishing ropes. They are one of the most cost-effective and fine-tuned author solutions services at the moment - but, helping you 'learn the publishing ropes'??
For what CreateSpace do - they're pretty good. But nothing to do with the way real day to day commercial publishing works.
quick question, does your book get sold for less with the pro plan or is just your royalty return higher?
Quick answer - you get more royalty with the pro plan - the book sells for what ever price you set.
Regarding the "national library," stuff: people seem to be assuming it can't be a requirement in the U.S. because of the First Ammendment. Since when has the U.S. constitution actually restricted the powers of the federal government? Not for some time. In the U.S., The Library of Congress DOES actually have a mandatory deposit requirement:
Section 407 of the United States Copyright Act (title 17, U.S. Code) subjects all works published in the United States to a mandatory deposit requirement. The law states that the “owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of publication” in a work published in the United States must deposit the required number of copies in the Copyright Office within three months of the date of publication. Publication is defined in the copyright law as the “distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer
of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending.” The mandatory deposit provision ensures that the Copyright Office is entitled
to receive copies of every copyrightable work published in the United States. Section 407 states that they deposits are to be made “available to the Library of Congress for its collections or for exchange or transfer to any other library."
Copyright is "optional," but mandatory deposit is...well, mandatory. I don't think the state will be beating down the doors of self-published authors, however.
Regarding taxes, whether you are a self-publisher or a writer, you're still a sole propieter. Your business model doesn't change. Your purchase of the ISBN's would be a business expense. The only thing I think it would affect, possibly, is STATE SALES TAX - if you are selling the books YOURSELF, and collecting more than a set amount of $ per month, you have to collect state sales tax in some states (check your state's government website).
Section 407 of the United States Copyright Act (title 17, U.S. Code) subjects all works published in the United States to a mandatory deposit requirement. The law states that the “owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of publication” in a work published in the United States must deposit the required number of copies in the Copyright Office within three months of the date of publication. Publication is defined in the copyright law as the “distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer
of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending.” The mandatory deposit provision ensures that the Copyright Office is entitled
to receive copies of every copyrightable work published in the United States. Section 407 states that they deposits are to be made “available to the Library of Congress for its collections or for exchange or transfer to any other library."
Copyright is "optional," but mandatory deposit is...well, mandatory. I don't think the state will be beating down the doors of self-published authors, however.
Regarding taxes, whether you are a self-publisher or a writer, you're still a sole propieter. Your business model doesn't change. Your purchase of the ISBN's would be a business expense. The only thing I think it would affect, possibly, is STATE SALES TAX - if you are selling the books YOURSELF, and collecting more than a set amount of $ per month, you have to collect state sales tax in some states (check your state's government website).
Last edited:
I'm using CS, and I've upgraded -- and holy cow, what a difference! I'm so excited about it!
And sidebar -- VJ, we've been Myspace friends for a while, and I remember when you just wrapped writing Breathless, and you posted your first episode. Aww! So glad to see you come so far!
And sidebar -- VJ, we've been Myspace friends for a while, and I remember when you just wrapped writing Breathless, and you posted your first episode. Aww! So glad to see you come so far!
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2005
- Messages
- 5,011
- Reaction score
- 697
- Location
- Sacramento area, CA
- Website
- www.umbachconsulting.com
In California, you need a seller's permit from the CA Board of Equalization to sell any taxable goods, and you have to collect and remit sales and use taxes. (You can look up use taxes on your own.) I don't believe there is a minimum dollar amount. And in most cities and counties, you'll need a business license, too. Exceptions to the business license in my own area have become fewer and farther between over the years. (I don't know about business license practices in other states, but I suspect they are generally comparable.)
--Ken
Hey SeeCee! I feel just like an all-growed up kid. 
(erm, well maybe a frightened adolescent who hopes she's doing everything okay.)
(erm, well maybe a frightened adolescent who hopes she's doing everything okay.)
Congratulations! This is great! Best wishes to you.
Do you mind a question or two? I've been thinking about createspace. It looks a bit complicated, only because I'm not that computer savvy, and I'm worried I'd have to pay for "extra services" just to figure it all out. So my questions are basically: How easy was it to download and send to them, and are there hidden fees down the road? Lastly, would children's picture books cost a lot more on the investment side because of color printing, ink?
I've heard some very nice things about them, and obviously, you are very happy! So glad for your accomplishment!
Writer Friend[
Last edited:
Createspace does expect you to be able to figure out everything yourself. You have to send them a pdf of your interior and a pdf of your cover. Uploading those two things is very easy on the createspace side.
Creating them can be a little tough. I had fits with my pdf converter. I use Primo Pdf, which is a freeware program that works like a printer. However, the createspace forums were really helpful, and after some headaches, I was able to figure it out fine.
Making the cover requires a working knowledge of Photoshop, which I didn't really have, but I'm pretty good at figuring out programs just from playing with them.
I don't know about the color books and color printing. I bet that it would make the books more expensive. But there should be some information on the createspace site about how to figure out what your costs would be.
Creating them can be a little tough. I had fits with my pdf converter. I use Primo Pdf, which is a freeware program that works like a printer. However, the createspace forums were really helpful, and after some headaches, I was able to figure it out fine.
Making the cover requires a working knowledge of Photoshop, which I didn't really have, but I'm pretty good at figuring out programs just from playing with them.
I don't know about the color books and color printing. I bet that it would make the books more expensive. But there should be some information on the createspace site about how to figure out what your costs would be.
another really good pdf converter is cutepdf writer. for the cover you don't need photoshop, you can use any photo editor, you can even use paint. so the whole process is relatively easy and best of all, free!
Um...I would not lay out the cover of a book in Paint. I'm sure that if one was very talented, one could work within the confines of that program to make something serviceable. (But then again, I've seen webcomics that use Paint, and they have all been done with a bit of an ironic edge--like "I'm making this look crappy on purpose.") But you're right, you don't have to use Photoshop. It just so happens that Createspace gives you a handy cover template that opens in Photoshop and is relatively easy to use.
If you want to go a cheaper route and don't own Photoshop, I'd recommend using Gimp instead. It's a freeware program, which you can download at www.gimp.org. You can then open the .png template that you download from Createspace in Gimp and it should work just as well for you. (One thing I never could figure out was how to get nifty fonts into Gimp, however. But now that I think about it, it's probably just a matter of opening up Program Files and copying the fonts into the Gimp folder...)
Another option would be to use Microsoft Publisher. The downside is that you can't save a Publisher file as a .pdf. So...you'd probably have to run the Publisher file through Primo Pdf or Cutepdf, probably after you saved it as jpg or png. I wonder if the fonts would still be embedded that way?
Thank you for sharing! I have been looking into CreateSpace, also. It looked like a good plan to me, too. Are there any other up-front costs we should know about?
Thanks again and much success with your book!
I love CreateSpace!! I didn't like the idea of publishing with them before, but now I find it amazing!! I published 2 novels with them, "Deadly Sins" and "Out of Control". The publishing process is easy and the books are on Amazon without having to pay extra to get it on Amazon like we'd have to do with other POD publishers.
...But I didn't purchase the pro plan for either book. Just didn't have the money. Maybe later...
...But I didn't purchase the pro plan for either book. Just didn't have the money. Maybe later...
Probably gonna publish a book of poetry through CreateSpace. Maybe a stupid question, but do I need a tax ID number & if so how do I get one. I know I'm not going to make hardly any money off this book. I'm mostly concerned with getting as many copies out into the world as possible.
Also I saved all my poems into Wordpad files. How do I convert them to PDF - do I need to? Also do I have to combine them into one big PDF (as it would look in book)?!
Also I saved all my poems into Wordpad files. How do I convert them to PDF - do I need to? Also do I have to combine them into one big PDF (as it would look in book)?!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2005
- Messages
- 5,011
- Reaction score
- 697
- Location
- Sacramento area, CA
- Website
- www.umbachconsulting.com
For sales tax questions, start here: http://business.ohio.gov/efiling/
You might want to talk to someone at local office of SCORE (see www.score.org) for help in figuring out what you need to do and what direction(s) you want to take.
You can get a taxpayer ID number free and fast online from the IRS (www.irs.gov). That can be handy sometimes. But that is related to income tax, not to sales tax.
If you plan to sell copies yourself, you might need a business license. Ask your local jurisdiction (city, county).
As for converting file formats -- there is probably too long a learning curve, and certainly WAY more than can reasonably be explained here. You might want to pay someone to set up the file for you (and probably to design a cover).
--Ken
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2008
- Messages
- 3,794
- Reaction score
- 868
- Location
- Western New York State
- Website
- www.gahwny.org
I got a template for the interior pages from here, made for lulu, however it is a microsoft word template, I just found one the same, (or close, just adjust the custom page size) So it is set up with contents, right left pages, chapter breaks. Kind of nice.
The cover I'll do in MS Publisher, as I use it often just to create logos. I use cutePDF and it always embeds the files, my experience anyway. I don't think I've ever had a problem with cute pdf converting from any program now that I think of it.
Looking forward to uploading.
The cover I'll do in MS Publisher, as I use it often just to create logos. I use cutePDF and it always embeds the files, my experience anyway. I don't think I've ever had a problem with cute pdf converting from any program now that I think of it.
Looking forward to uploading.
Thank you both.
Also some of those don't list the trim size.
Is there a way of telling?
What would be a good size for a book of poetry?
Also some of those don't list the trim size.
Is there a way of telling?
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2005
- Messages
- 5,011
- Reaction score
- 697
- Location
- Sacramento area, CA
- Website
- www.umbachconsulting.com
I'd recommend that you scour the poetry shelves of some local bookstores (both chain stores like B&N and local independents) and see what they have. Take a ruler and take notes.
--Ken
I downloaded a couple and it looks like it has text in it already.
How do you edit the pages?
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2008
- Messages
- 3,794
- Reaction score
- 868
- Location
- Western New York State
- Website
- www.gahwny.org
Think it says on pg one chapter 1. You just highlight what you don't want in the chapter and then paste in your own text that you copied from your manuscript. There is a forum in createspace worth checking out.
- Status