Wow! I’m done!
CreateSpace was really helpful with that big ISBN mistake. PLUS, they put an ISBN barcode on the book themselves, where as with LuLu, I had to place a picture of the ISBN that I got from Tux. Tux’s barcode was a great picture and looked ok, but CreateSpace looked clearer when it printed out. Did I mention about getting a Barcode for free? Yep. It worked great. Now if it scans well, who knows. But my book isn’t in bookstores–just online.
CreateSpace had a message saying that it would take like 3 weeks or something for me to receive the proof of my book. It didn’t take that long at all! I ordered it on Jan 12th, and it came in by Jan 16th. Not bad at all! As for the cost of the proof. See below for my 447 page book. Oh! 448. CreateSpace added an extra page automatically because they need an even number of pages.
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Order Total:
Subtotal: $10.46
Shipping: $6.55
Tax: $0.00
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Total: $17.01
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The price is cheaper than Lulu’s but the book itself is much more expensive to by off of their website: $19.50, and then there’s the shipping and handling to go along with it.
Sigh.
But at least it’s done.
CREATESPACE PRINT VS LULU
Actually there wasn’t much different. The front cover of LuLu’s was a bit sharper for my bookcover. So I liked LuLu’s cover better, but you really can’t tell that much of a difference. (Oh yeah. The bookcover issue with CreateSpace. I just sent them the 6×9 pdf file that my book cover designer had create for me and they accepted that. It was great!) CreateSpace didn’t bleed slightly over from the front to the binding like LuLu, and the Title was printed in the middle of the Binder, whereas LuLu’s was more to the left edge and not centered. I think with LuLu that had something to do with my uploading my picture and doing that all myself. Oh well. It’s still decent.
I Like CreateSpace’s interior print. The paper is a bit darker than LuLu’s, but both LuLu and CreateSpace printed my illustrations wonderfully. CreateSpace did send me messages multiple times that the dpi of my interior pictures was 98 and that they suggest 300 dpi. Well, I couldn’t figure out how to change it, and since LuLu’s printed fine, I just said, “What the heck,” and I left it alone. Came out just the same!
My book on CreateSpace can be found here. Now when it shows up on Amazon, should be within 15 business days, is what the site says.
MOBILPOCKET W/ AMAZON
Amazon sent me an email (from digitalrights@amazon.com) to complete a form to allow my ebook to be sold on their site. So that will be the famous Kindle. The bad news is that you either have to fax the form to them or mail it in to Seattle, WA. I don’t have long distance on my phone, but I do have a fax machine, so I had to use 10+10+321 to fax it out which is 20cents per call. And I had to do it twice since my fax machine went haywire the first time. Even then, I’m not sure if my fax worked right to send it to them. My fax report said it went OK. But who knows. That was on Jan 11th. So I scanned the document that I signed and emailed digitalright to let them know that I did fax them the signed form and attached a pdf of the same form to the email. I sent that yesterday Jan 17th, so I’m sure I won’t get a response until one of the work days this week.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Well…since the prices on LuLu and CreateSpace, and I’m thinking even on Amazon when it gets there, is going to be high up there for people to buy my book, I’m thinking of looking into Lightning Source – The Power of One. I haven’t done much research on the company, but I did read that completing all of the criteria for them is a bit hard. But they have great Distribution resources. For Print-On-Demand they have: Ingram, Barnes & Nobles, Baker & Taylor, NACSCORP, and of course Amazon. And there there’s the UK places as well. So that will be 4 more places where my book can be sold besides Amazon.
So, I’m still debating on Lightning Source, but I’ll be sure to let you know of my decision. 🙂
