CreateSpace is Amazon.com’s publishing arm. Their “free online publishing tools and Community can help you complete and sell your work. Distribute on Amazon.com, your own website, and other retailers without setup fees or inventory.”
The basic set-up is free. You upload your manuscript, and use their “Cover Creator” to design “an eye-catching exterior for your book.” You can use your own images on your cover, or select from among “over 2,000 high quality photos, all for use at no charge with your Cover Creator artwork.” Now you have a book ready to sell on Amazon.com and other outlets.
If you like, you can purchase additional services to improve the look and salability of your book. CreateSpace offers a number of packages, called “Solutions.” (The descriptions and prices of services are as of February 17, 2011.) For example:
- Author’s Advantage – This bare-bones solution allows you to “Select from our professionally designed cover and interior options to create a great looking book.” In other words, you select your cover and interior design from amongst several templates, and plug in your words and images. The price for this is $499.
- Total Design Freedom Standard – For $758, you can work with their designers to create “an eye-catching cover with a single image, plus cover text, fonts, and your author photo.” You also get a customized interior design, an ISBN and online distribution of your book.
- Total Design Freedom Marketing Pro – This $4,999 package includes “Comprehensive Copyediting” that eliminates errors in your text and offers “suggestions on how to improve your work”, a “Signature Book Cover” created in “up to ten hours of design time from one of our professional graphic designers,” a “Video Book Trailer” designed to “Hook readers across a network of video-sharing communities with a movie trailer-style preview of your book,” and “Press Release with Distribution,” for which a professional press release will be written and emailed to “media outlets specifically tailored for your product.”
There are even three solution-packages aimed for children’s books, ranging in cost from $858 to $4,852.
You can also purchase individual editing, layout and design, and marketing services. These include:
- Basic Copyediting – for $175, “a professional editor will review your manuscript and give you suggested corrections for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and consistency.”
- Promotional Text Creation – For $249, a copywriter will “shape your book’s key messages into marketing copy designed to suit a variety of purposes,” which you can use on your book cover, website, Amazon.com sales page and elsewhere.
- Custom Illustration – For $299 each, CreateSpace’s artists will devise “original artwork for your book based on your story and the mood you’d like to create.”
- Press Release Creation – For $199, you can have a professional PR writer “craft a well-written press release announcing the launch of your product, ready for distribution to the media.”
- Kirkus Discoveries Review – For $495-$595, depending on how rapidly you want the service, CreateSpace will print two copies of your book and send them to Kirkus Discoveries, where a professional book reviewer “will write an honest, impartial review of your work.” You can post this review on your book, website, Amazon.com page and elsewhere.
- Posters – For $299, CreateSpace will use your brief book description and cover art to create a poster promoting your book.
In addition to the various package solutions and individual services, CreateSpace offers access to the CreateSpace online community, where you can share a selection of your manuscript to get feedback from your peers, ask questions and get advice. In their online “Why self-publish with us?” video, CreateSpace gives these reasons:
- It’s “one of the fastest, easiest and most economical ways to make your books available to millions of potential buyers on Amazon.com and other channels.”
- You have access to the CreateSpace community of authors, who can offer feedback, information and advice.
- You set the list price for your book.
- You print on demand so your book is always on stock, but you don’t have to invest in inventory.
- If sold on Amazon.com, your book will be eligible for their “LookInside” feature and free SuperSaver shipping.
- Superior royalties.
- Low pricing for the books you purchase for yourself.
- A non-exclusive contract so you can republish the book with a standard publisher.
Author Jill Keto first published her book Don’t Get Caught With Your Skirt Down on CreateSpace, received good reviews and then Simon & Schuster republished her book.
We at Taylor-Fox can help you create your business book, health book, memoir, biography, inspirational book or other book and get it ready for publication. We’ve helped scores of people achieve their goals, and some of their books have landed on bestseller lists. Let us help you! Call us at 818-594-0379.
Note: All the information in this blog entry came from the company website. Before signing on with CreateSpace or any other firm, read the contract carefully and check review sites to see if there are any problems or special issues regarding this firm. I’ll deal with these issues in future blogs.
Nadine Taylor and Barry Fox write, ghostwrite, rewrite and edit books in many genres, including health, business, inspiration/ spirituality and memoirs. Their resume is long and varied but there’s one thing that never changes: They love to work with words, creating books that are clear, compelling and pleasurable to read. If you’re interested in writing a book, editing a book and/or publishing a book, you’ve come to the right place!
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This post is well written and informative. I was looking for more information for regarding Createspace and found what you wrote really useful, as I have just signed up with Createspace. Keep up the good work!