CreateSpace Offer

AnonymousWriter

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Since Nano is finished (well sort of...for all you writers still writing, keep going!), the details for the free "proof copy" of the winners' novels have been uploaded. I've taken a look at the createspace website and their formats etc. look complicated for creating a cover etc. I have no idea how I'm going to create one of these things when I come to taking them up on this offer. Anyone else taking advantage of the offer?
 

dclary

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I'm not. I'd rather have Simon and Schuster publish my work, instead of Clary and Scooter.
 

BenPanced

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I took advantage of the offer for the 2007 winners and it was a total PITA, not including the 40 kabillion hours I spent formatting the thing in Microsquash Word (We're Microsquash. We Know What's Best For You[sup]tm[/sup]). If you have a current version of Word, you can save a document as a .pdf file, which is how I created the cover for mine. You also have to size the document according to their specifications based on the final size of the book, including thickness/number of pages (they have the formula on their site).

Anyway, you also have to send the text file in .pdf format. From what I remember, there's no conversion capability, like uploading a Word file and they create a .pdf for you.

Then there's the wait. You send them the files and somebody at the other end compares them. If the title information on the cover is different than the title page of your text file, you have to make the corrections and resubmit the files. I submitted mine on Saturday night and had to wait until Monday morning to get an answer, since the humans weren't working. Surprise! My titles were off by one word, so I had to resubmit the text file and wait for another 24 hours.

Gift horse's mouth, I know, but I'm seriously considering not doing it again.
 

Saint Fool

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Darn, that sounds like too much trouble for what I wrote. Especially since I was thinking of retitling it "Rambling Through NaNo with a Man-Eating Housecat."
 

thethinker42

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My biggest concern with it was whether it's considered "published" at that point. There was a lot of discussion about that on NaNo's forums, with the CS website not being overly clear about it. I would dearly love to have a bound copy of my book, but not if it stands even a teeny tiny chance of jeopardizing my chance of getting it published.
 

BenPanced

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The general consensus is if you take the free proof copy, it's pretty much the same as taking the file down to your local print shop and getting a bound copy. As long as you don't make it available to the general public, you'll be fine.
 

Jeffery E Doherty

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Since Nano is finished (well sort of...for all you writers still writing, keep going!), the details for the free "proof copy" of the winners' novels have been uploaded. I've taken a look at the createspace website and their formats etc. look complicated for creating a cover etc. I have no idea how I'm going to create one of these things when I come to taking them up on this offer. Anyone else taking advantage of the offer?


If you are stuck creating a cover, I can create one for you. I'm doing a commission for another Nano author on the create space specs as well. I have done a cover for my own book too but I am going to try the traditional publishers for my book once I've edited it.

You can check out my cover here:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user%2F207715


Jeff
 

Yeshanu

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If you're thinking of going the CreateSpace route, I found a blog article that tells you how one author went about getting her book into shape for the proof copy.

Note that the book took more than one proof to come out the way she wanted. So if you're like me, and all you want is a single proof copy, read carefully about blank pages and cover art. :)

Also note that she intended to self-publish all along, something I wouldn't recommend for novel writers. But it's not considered published until you click on the links that puts it in the stores and online, so a single proof copy shouldn't cause any copyright problems. :)