Primary Author - CreateSpace

CoffeeBlack · Aug 15, 2012

CreateSpace looks to have a project service which helps you upload your book. I am not sure how this is different from formatting it myself.

I have been messing around with it but right away I am stuck because it asks me to list a primary author. My book has 25 chapters and 25 authors, and two editors, I am the first editor. Does that make me primary author?

What do people think about this project service at CreateSpace to get your book in their catalog?

merrihiatt · Aug 15, 2012

Sorry, I don't have any idea what you're referring to. I've never heard of "project service" through CS.

Old Hack · Aug 15, 2012

Could you perhaps provide a link to the service that you're discussing, Coffee? That might help us work out what's going on.

J. Tanner · Aug 16, 2012

I'm guessing that it for an anthology you could use any of the author names in that field and this author will be the first on the list after "by" appears. Here's an example of where I'm guessing they decided they chose to fill the term "Various Authors" in the Primary Author field to avoid any single author getting that distinction:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1452851069/?tag=absowrit-20

So it's guesswork, but I think you can't really go wrong with which one you fill into that metadata. If you're nervous, email their customer service and ask for their advice for how to fill it in in your case.

(The project thing is beyond even guesswork...)

shaldna · Aug 16, 2012

Createspace will format etc your book for you for a fee.

However, you can do it yourself, using their free templates, for nothing.

Which is what I recommend to do - you just open the template size you want into word and past your book into it and then upload it direct to the site.

It's pretty easy.

CoffeeBlack · Aug 16, 2012

Old Hack said:
Could you perhaps provide a link to the service that you're discussing, Coffee? That might help us work out what's going on.

I apologize for not being clear.

1. Go to the CreateSpace main page: https://www.createspace.com/

2. Click on "start a title for free"

3. Type in a title and choose "paperback"

4. Then, on the "Title Information" page I am asked to type in a primary author. Because I am new to this, I do not know the significance of this choice. As I said in the earlier post, I am the first of two editors of the book which has 25 authors. So, I don't want my colleagues and friends to view me as a publicity hog

But I also don't know who to put in there. It seems there should be an option for editors, not authors.

Any ideas?

CoffeeBlack · Aug 16, 2012

J. Tanner said:
I'm guessing that it for an anthology you could use any of the author names in that field and this author will be the first on the list after "by" appears. Here's an example of where I'm guessing they decided they chose to fill the term "Various Authors" in the Primary Author field to avoid any single author getting that distinction:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1452851069/?tag=absowrit-20

So it's guesswork, but I think you can't really go wrong with which one you fill into that metadata. If you're nervous, email their customer service and ask for their advice for how to fill it in in your case.

(The project thing is beyond even guesswork...)

Wow, this is very helpful, thanks!

The way it is setup, I get the feeling that the people who designed CreateSpace don't actually use it. I hope that doesn't sound rude, but so many books every year are anthologies that there should be an "Edited by" option.

shaldna · Aug 16, 2012

CoffeeBlack said:
I apologize for not being clear.

1. Go to the CreateSpace main page: https://www.createspace.com/

2. Click on "start a title for free"

3. Type in a title and choose "paperback"

4. Then, on the "Title Information" page I am asked to type in a primary author. Because I am new to this, I do not know the significance of this choice. As I said in the earlier post, I am the first of two editors of the book which has 25 authors. So, I don't want my colleagues and friends to view me as a publicity hog

But I also don't know who to put in there. It seems there should be an option for editors, not authors.

Any ideas?

In an anthology type work - be that fiction, or academic etc, especially where there are many authors, you will usually find the editors are listed and not the authors, so you'd have

'The combined histories of cheese' edited by Cheesy Stilton and Runny Brie

for example

Old Hack · Aug 16, 2012

CoffeeBlack said:
I apologize for not being clear.

It seems that I wasn't clear either. I was responding to this part of your original post:

CoffeeBlack said:
CreateSpace looks to have a project service which helps you upload your book.

I wasn't the only person confused by that:

merrihiatt said:
Sorry, I don't have any idea what you're referring to. I've never heard of "project service" through CS.

Anyway, it seems you're sorted now.

Deleted member 42 · Aug 16, 2012

CoffeeBlack said:
Wow, this is very helpful, thanks!

The way it is setup, I get the feeling that the people who designed CreateSpace don't actually use it. I hope that doesn't sound rude, but so many books every year are anthologies that there should be an "Edited by" option.

That's actually handled in the metadata. This is not Amazon's own language choice, it's standard cataloging data terminology.

The "primary author" for an anthology is the editor. They're interested in the name associated with the book for bibliographic and cover purposes.

CDancourt · Aug 19, 2012

Personally, I won't recommand using Createspace formatting services.

Formating the text is easy to do with MS word or any software you are using. Just select all your text at once, and select your font/size. Dent your text at the same time.

The process of creating a proper ebook is a bit long (a lot of back and forth with their "download preview" option until you have the results you want), but easy too.

Do it yourself and save your money.

Primary Author - CreateSpace

CoffeeBlack

merrihiatt

Writing! Writing! Writing!

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

J. Tanner

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

CoffeeBlack

CoffeeBlack

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Deleted member 42

CDancourt