Some people will never read an ebook. People have told me they
would happily read my novel
Queen Sacrifice if it was ‘a proper book, not
an ebook’. I have yet to
interest a conventional publisher, despite (or perhaps because of?) the
relative success of the eBook on
Amazon and
Smashwords, so I needed an alternative. I know the advice is to
use professional designers, both for the cover and the interior, but I was really
interested to see what you can do for free. Here is my experience of successfully using CreateSpace:
Step 1. Make sure your MSS is as good as it can
possibly be. Your starting point needs to be the edited version of your
book, ideally in Word, with all the front pages, copyright wording,
dedications, foreword etc. sorted. (I looked at a range of printed books by my
favourite authors and copied the layout). This is the time to make any
changes. Just as with eBooks it is easy
to make any changes later - but your book will show as ‘out of stock’ while it
goes through the checking and review process.
Step 2. Set up a free
publishing account on CreateSpace and start a Project for your book. This was easy, as the screens are well laid out and I simply
used all the information from the eBook. There is plenty of help and guidance if you need
it, including links to articles on how to write an effective book description (recommends
150 words max – I managed to get mine down to 200) and some advice on titles. You can also opt for CreateSpace to assign a
free ISBN to your book. (This ISBN can only be used with the CreateSpace Publishing
Platform, but as that includes Amazon it was OK for me).
Step 3. Upload the
Interior content. Before you upload the file there are a few important decisions
to make. Black and white will keep the costs down and the size is also important,
as some distributors insist on stock sizes.
The default is 6 x 9 but I got the ruler out and found that most are
more like 5.25 x 8 so that’s the one I chose.
(If you change your mind it means starting all over again!) Next upload your book file and wait while
they ‘process’ it into the chosen template. You can then preview it online
using the special viewer. Look out for little yellow pointers that show you if
any changes are needed. I saved the template and edited it in Word, adding a
few page breaks and tidying the page numbering until it looked right. If you
need any help there is a detailed guide to formatting your book's interior,
with full information about gutter margins and layouts.
Step 4. Use the
online cover creator. If you already have a great cover or can use Photoshop take
a look at Ceri Clark’s
post
on making print book cover designs for CreateSpace.
If, like me, you were never really happy with your eBook cover, this is a great
time to do something about it. There at
30 templates to choose from and you can use your own photos, logos and text. The
‘cover creator’ automatically formats the cover based on your book's size and
page count. The problem with templates, however, is you want control over how
your book looks – and for it to stand out from the rest. Sadly, people DO judge
a book by its cover. I chose the ‘Palm’ template that allows you to upload
images for the front and back covers, then sorts out the rest:

You need to make sure nothing important is in the shaded
area, as it may be ‘cut off’ in the publishing process. You also need to make sure your uploaded covers are at the highest resolution possible – anything less
than 300 dpi will be rejected. (I decided to pay for an image from a specialist
agency and used layers in Paint Shop Pro to add the title).
Step 5. Review the Proof
of your book and update. CreateSpace recommend you buy a copy of your book to approve
the proof, which I did. The problem was
that as soon as I had it in my hands I saw several things I wanted to change,
such as removing the header on the chapter start pages. My recommendation is that you download the
pdf proof and study it carefully first, making any changes and going round the
loop again (you can do this as many times as you like) until it is as good as
you can get it, then buy a copy.
Step 6. Decide your
pricing and distribution. There is plenty of advice on book pricing strategies, much
of it contradictory. I decided to set my paperback price at about three times
the cost of the eBook version. The way the CreateSpace distribution works is
that people viewing the paperback version on Amazon are informed if an eBook
version is available, so it could actually lead to more eBook sales. As well as Amazon, you are also offered the
free CreateSpace ‘estore’ and the option to pay for wider distribution. It
takes a few days for CreateSpace to set up the printing and distribution after
you confirm approval of the proof, then you should get an email letting you
know it’s available.
Conclusions: Good things were it was easier than I expected, it was great
to actually hold my book in my hands at last - and people started buying the
paperback version as soon as it was available. Not so good things were high
shipping costs (I live in the UK), insistence on high resolution graphics (min
300dpi) and fiddling with the page numbering in Word using section breaks.
All things considered, this is well within the skills of
anyone who has already created an eBook and doesn’t cost anything other than
the cost of your one copy - which is nice to have anyway, unless you pay for
graphics or design. Although it will
never compete against a professionally designed book, the finished book is
professionally bound, with a nice glossy cover and can easily be updated at no
extra cost.
Click HERE to visit CreateSpace Publishing