Sorry, yes you are correct. It was a year ago so I forgot. I paid I think about $39.00 (something like that) for the Pro-plan which really brings down the price of the printed book. I think it also (supposedly) gives you a higher percentage of the profit when you sell your printed book, not that I'm seeking to become the next Stephen King.
I have ordered about 15 copies in total, which easily recouped my costs if I hadn't done the 'Pro-plan' thing. You never know, if I should suddenly get interest in my book then I might want to order quite a few copies, so it seemed like a good option.
Yes, 600 pages (150,000) words is a lot. I got carried away, but I was really pleased with the finished article. The colors really pop and the text is clear and exactly as i'd formatted it. No surprises. My cover has gold's/yellow's/brown's, so it's quite lively. I had heard rumors from other Createspace users that darker covers don't show so well so that was partly why I stayed away from doing a dark cover.
If you do decide to publish your own book you might as well do the editing, formatting, blurb, cover, back cover and spine yourself. Why pay people to do all that, and anyway it's far more satisfying having really self-published without any help at all. It really becomes 'your baby!' that way.
'Createspace' provides the template's for some of the book sizes, and together with photoshop (You can get a free 30 or 60 day trial version online) you can do your own. But only do that after you have the exact page count from your formatted text. You have to enter the page count to get the correct spine-size, when doing your cover.
@markblyn , great information. Thanks for the contributions. If you ever want a free and powerful graphics editor for making book covers, I've done all of mine with Inkscape. A bit of a challenge to learn, but once you get familiar with Inkscape you can design anything.
RE: @MAYKITHRT about book prices. My 'Createspace' book 'The Occasionally Disgusting Adventures of Brian and Sprig' is 8" x 5.25". It cost me approx $8.00 per book when I bought 5 or more. My book is fairly lengthy...600 pages, which is longer than most, so I was quite happy with the pricing. Very reasonable. Now I have it up on Kindle $0.99, which is selling a lot better for me than the physical book $15.99 (The lowest price I could sell it at & still make a buck).
@markblyn , That's good to hear. Just curious, did you pay the extra for the Pro Plan with CreateSpace? If not, that would lower the cost of your books, but 600 pages is a lot.
Hi TarheelJ, can createspace rework my existing 8.5 x 11 pdf into the 6x9 trim size that I'm asking for? Or is there a program that could help me convert the book into a 6x9 pdf? Just curious.
@wildpianoman16, CreateSpace probably could but that would be with their paid services. If you want it all for free you need to do it yourself. Do you have Microsoft Word? If not you can download Open Office, which is a free and good substitute. Then you can copy and paste your pdf into either Word or Open office and make changes to the trim size and everything else.
@TarheelJ , Hey. I wanted to say that I bought your book on creating and selling ebooks for free. I can't tell you what an incredible source of information it is. It has really helped me know about all of these "hidden" free things that self-published authors can do to avoid going broke. I plan on buying some of your other books too. Thank you for sharing your information with us. One question I have is about the creating the website. Webs.com is one free forum you use correct?
@wildpianoman16 , Thanks for that! Let me know if you want a free pdf copy for your computer, handy with all the hyperlinks.
I like Webs and Yola the best for free websites, Wordpress and Blogger for blogs which can also be used just like a website. Yola is easier to use, has more bandwidth and no forced ads, but I like the customizable headers better on Webs. There are so many others including Weebly, Webnodes, Google Sites and more. Sometimes you just need to play around a little.
@wildpianoman16 , Thanks for that! Let me know if you want a free pdf copy for your computer, handy with all the hyperlinks.
I like Webs and Yola the best for free websites, Wordpress and Blogger for blogs which can also be used just like a website. Yola is easier to use, has more bandwidth and no forced ads, but I like the customizable headers better on Webs. There are so many others including Weebly, Webnodes, Google Sites and more. Sometimes you just need to play around a little.
Hi MAYKITHRT, thanks for the comment. Page length of my book is 154, though it's a few more pages now (updates) than when I made this video. I understand the price seems surprisingly low, but I'm not exaggerating the number. It really cost just over $3/book when I ordered 15 at a time and about $6 to order just one book with shipping. Of course, I choose the economy shipping speed. Quality of work is fine.
What is the page length of your book? I'm curious because of the number that you ordered and what you paid for them seems questionable, at least, to me. How's the quality of the print job e.g. the cover (laminated or not), page quality, consistency of the prints from book to book. I've used Lulu in the past and they're inconsistent and I'm thinking about changing.
@MAYKITHRT, thanks for the comment. Page length of my book is 154, though it's a few more pages now (updates) than when I made this video. I understand the price seems surprisingly low, but I'm not exaggerating the number. It really cost just over $3/book when I ordered 15 at a time and about $6 to order just one book with shipping. Of course, I choose the economy shipping speed. Quality of work is fine.
I like your video. I would really like more information. What if your an amature. I have done most of the layout of the book, have isbn and I am looking into createSpace. Will they let me use my own isbn? Do I have to do my own book cover? Do they have someone to assist with these things if you want to pay a little extra, to ensure its done right for those of use that are nervous on our first roller coaster??...
Yes, they will either give you and ISBN or let you use your own. You can either create a book cover or use one of their premade templates, which are a bit limited. You can get help but it does cost money. Free for do-it-yourself or reasonably priced for paid help.
I just ordered 'Aiming at Amazon' a while ago. I was trying to figure out what would be a great company to turn to in order to sell books one writes. It never dawned on me that Amazon is THE 800 lb. POD company. Thanks for posting.
CreateSpace is a good way to go for many first time authors and those who want a true POD solution.
AuthorsBroadCast 5 months ago
Sorry, yes you are correct. It was a year ago so I forgot. I paid I think about $39.00 (something like that) for the Pro-plan which really brings down the price of the printed book. I think it also (supposedly) gives you a higher percentage of the profit when you sell your printed book, not that I'm seeking to become the next Stephen King.
markblyn 7 months ago
I have ordered about 15 copies in total, which easily recouped my costs if I hadn't done the 'Pro-plan' thing. You never know, if I should suddenly get interest in my book then I might want to order quite a few copies, so it seemed like a good option.
markblyn 7 months ago
Yes, 600 pages (150,000) words is a lot. I got carried away, but I was really pleased with the finished article. The colors really pop and the text is clear and exactly as i'd formatted it. No surprises. My cover has gold's/yellow's/brown's, so it's quite lively. I had heard rumors from other Createspace users that darker covers don't show so well so that was partly why I stayed away from doing a dark cover.
markblyn 7 months ago
If you do decide to publish your own book you might as well do the editing, formatting, blurb, cover, back cover and spine yourself. Why pay people to do all that, and anyway it's far more satisfying having really self-published without any help at all. It really becomes 'your baby!' that way.
markblyn 7 months ago
'Createspace' provides the template's for some of the book sizes, and together with photoshop (You can get a free 30 or 60 day trial version online) you can do your own. But only do that after you have the exact page count from your formatted text. You have to enter the page count to get the correct spine-size, when doing your cover.
!
markblyn 7 months ago
I know I know, too much information. You only asked about the price, but I thought I'd add my 10 cents worth!
markblyn 7 months ago
@markblyn , great information. Thanks for the contributions. If you ever want a free and powerful graphics editor for making book covers, I've done all of mine with Inkscape. A bit of a challenge to learn, but once you get familiar with Inkscape you can design anything.
TarheelJ 7 months ago
RE: @MAYKITHRT about book prices. My 'Createspace' book 'The Occasionally Disgusting Adventures of Brian and Sprig' is 8" x 5.25". It cost me approx $8.00 per book when I bought 5 or more. My book is fairly lengthy...600 pages, which is longer than most, so I was quite happy with the pricing. Very reasonable. Now I have it up on Kindle $0.99, which is selling a lot better for me than the physical book $15.99 (The lowest price I could sell it at & still make a buck).
markblyn 7 months ago
@markblyn , That's good to hear. Just curious, did you pay the extra for the Pro Plan with CreateSpace? If not, that would lower the cost of your books, but 600 pages is a lot.
TarheelJ 7 months ago
Hi TarheelJ, can createspace rework my existing 8.5 x 11 pdf into the 6x9 trim size that I'm asking for? Or is there a program that could help me convert the book into a 6x9 pdf? Just curious.
wildpianoman16 9 months ago
@wildpianoman16, CreateSpace probably could but that would be with their paid services. If you want it all for free you need to do it yourself. Do you have Microsoft Word? If not you can download Open Office, which is a free and good substitute. Then you can copy and paste your pdf into either Word or Open office and make changes to the trim size and everything else.
TarheelJ 9 months ago
@TarheelJ , Hey. I wanted to say that I bought your book on creating and selling ebooks for free. I can't tell you what an incredible source of information it is. It has really helped me know about all of these "hidden" free things that self-published authors can do to avoid going broke. I plan on buying some of your other books too. Thank you for sharing your information with us. One question I have is about the creating the website. Webs.com is one free forum you use correct?
wildpianoman16 8 months ago
@wildpianoman16 , Thanks for that! Let me know if you want a free pdf copy for your computer, handy with all the hyperlinks.
I like Webs and Yola the best for free websites, Wordpress and Blogger for blogs which can also be used just like a website. Yola is easier to use, has more bandwidth and no forced ads, but I like the customizable headers better on Webs. There are so many others including Weebly, Webnodes, Google Sites and more. Sometimes you just need to play around a little.
TarheelJ 8 months ago
@wildpianoman16 , Thanks for that! Let me know if you want a free pdf copy for your computer, handy with all the hyperlinks.
I like Webs and Yola the best for free websites, Wordpress and Blogger for blogs which can also be used just like a website. Yola is easier to use, has more bandwidth and no forced ads, but I like the customizable headers better on Webs. There are so many others including Weebly, Webnodes, Google Sites and more. Sometimes you just need to play around a little.
TarheelJ 8 months ago
Hi MAYKITHRT, thanks for the comment. Page length of my book is 154, though it's a few more pages now (updates) than when I made this video. I understand the price seems surprisingly low, but I'm not exaggerating the number. It really cost just over $3/book when I ordered 15 at a time and about $6 to order just one book with shipping. Of course, I choose the economy shipping speed. Quality of work is fine.
TarheelJ 10 months ago
What is the page length of your book? I'm curious because of the number that you ordered and what you paid for them seems questionable, at least, to me. How's the quality of the print job e.g. the cover (laminated or not), page quality, consistency of the prints from book to book. I've used Lulu in the past and they're inconsistent and I'm thinking about changing.
MAYKITHRT 10 months ago
@MAYKITHRT, thanks for the comment. Page length of my book is 154, though it's a few more pages now (updates) than when I made this video. I understand the price seems surprisingly low, but I'm not exaggerating the number. It really cost just over $3/book when I ordered 15 at a time and about $6 to order just one book with shipping. Of course, I choose the economy shipping speed. Quality of work is fine.
TarheelJ 10 months ago
Hi Jason,
Love the vids. Quick question, I am having some issues with the layout of my book. Is it best to email you rather then on here?
Tim, UK.
wiselifepublications 11 months ago
@wiselifepublications , sure thing Tim. You can email me directly at Jason(at)thelittleuniverse(dot)com
TarheelJ 11 months ago
I like your video. I would really like more information. What if your an amature. I have done most of the layout of the book, have isbn and I am looking into createSpace. Will they let me use my own isbn? Do I have to do my own book cover? Do they have someone to assist with these things if you want to pay a little extra, to ensure its done right for those of use that are nervous on our first roller coaster??...
Karmmelk66 11 months ago
@Karmmelk66, thanks so much for your comment.
Yes, they will either give you and ISBN or let you use your own. You can either create a book cover or use one of their premade templates, which are a bit limited. You can get help but it does cost money. Free for do-it-yourself or reasonably priced for paid help.
Let me know if you have other questions.
-Jason
TarheelJ 11 months ago
cool
maskedmillionaire 11 months ago
I just ordered 'Aiming at Amazon' a while ago. I was trying to figure out what would be a great company to turn to in order to sell books one writes. It never dawned on me that Amazon is THE 800 lb. POD company. Thanks for posting.
waterfordel 1 year ago
KICKASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5*****
00MORDRED 1 year ago