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September 26, 2007
Anyone Have An Opinion on Createspace?
Posted by Alan Wexelblat
Self-publishing and vanity publishing have been around for almost as long as the book has been with us. Back in the early enthusiastic days of the dot-com bubble there was a lot of talk about print on demand (PoD) being the next great thing. Inventory costs and the Reagan-era tax law changes on inventory depreciation more or less killed the backlist and midlist publishing business.
Amazon brought that back with its winning bet on the long tail but still PoD eludes us. If you want to buy a book, it needs to be there because someone printed it in anticipation that you'd buy it (or download it). Or does it?
Createspace looks like it's out to change that by making book, DVD, CD and video publication on demand possible, and maybe even cheap and convenient enough to appeal. As an Amazon company they're hooked into a big marketing and search machine - if I want to write about intellectual property issues and have people on Amazon find my book when they search, this may be the way. (No I'm not writing a book, I promise.)
In addition, Createspace is prominently featuring a "you keep the rights" slogan on its front page. Of course the devil is in the details, but from my fast skim it appears you keep the essential rights and the company gets rights to reproduce your work because they need to do that after they receive a customer order.
I'm always concerned about what the experience is of the person using a service and it appears that from the customer's point of view, Createspace will be invisible. Just like ordering from any other Amazon merchant, I place an order, pay (including Amazon's commission), and stuff gets downloaded or shipped to me. Could be a nice win, even if it's not earth-shaking.
Comments (16)
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1. Crosbie Fitch on September 26, 2007 3:37 PM writes...
I think it's bloody marvellous!
However, I hope they haven't forgotten copyleft and copyright-unprotected works.
At first glance it appears they assume that books (or other works) will be submitted by their copyright holders (typically authors), i.e. they rely upon the existence of only one party who may submit a particular work.
I'm wondering what they'll do when umpteen maverick chancers start submitting copyleft and copyright expired works.
This isn't intrinsically a problem or even unethical (no matter what royalties are obtained), it just means there may be a thousand different editions of the same work.
They could have a "Copyleft works printed strictly at minimum cost - royalty free" option. This would mean that works that could potentially be printed by anyone can be requested to be added to CreateSpace's 'Royalty free libary' so they can be given an ISBN (if one doesn't already exist), and presumably an internal team will produce a bog standard format. Naturally, they may accept enhanced formats produced by voluntary/collaborative efforts.
What about all the FDL manuals waiting to be printed? Will they still refuse submissions from anyone apart from the copyright holder - even though FDL permits printing by anyone?
Permalink to Comment2. walt crawford on September 26, 2007 7:55 PM writes...
What's new about CreateSpace is the free ISBN and direct link to Amazon with no up-front costs. Otherwise, what they offer (at least for books) is a subset of what Lulu.com has been doing for some time, with slightly higher fees and a considerably less user-friendly process.
I'm using both. Both have their points. And since neither requires an exclusive agreement, using both doesn't appear to be an issue. But as far as making PoD possible, affordable, and convenient: Lulu.com has been doing that for a while now.
Permalink to Comment3. Anonymous on September 27, 2007 8:12 AM writes...
Crosbie: I'm not so sure uncopyrighted works are such a problem. Today in the bookstore I can find three or four publications of Homer's Odyssey and nothing stops there being a fifth one tomorrow.
I agree it's be nice if they would work with Creative Commons to make things more flexible but really all they need is a grant of reproduction right - the rest is up to the author(s).
Walt: I wasn't aware of lulu.com - I'll check it out.
Permalink to Comment4. Crosbie Fitch on September 27, 2007 11:24 AM writes...
Anon, the problem is that in the bookstore for each publication someone has invested in setup costs, whereas with CreateSpace, they appear to remove that disincentive.
I suspect they'll have to institute at least a token setup fee.
Permalink to Comment5. drwex on September 28, 2007 9:45 AM writes...
Sorry, anonymous up there was me. Problems of being in a hurry.
My sense is that CreateSpace give you the option of a direct placement within Amazon or a separate store link. The costs for that are probably already sunk by them and are recovered as part of the per-item charges they make against publishers.
Permalink to Comment6. Mary Kay Aufrance on October 23, 2007 3:05 PM writes...
My experience was very good. CreateSpace has made an audio CD of our Celtic music CD Ramblin' Irishman and our store is at http://www.createspace.com/1700186
Permalink to Comment7. Jim Smith on March 22, 2008 4:55 PM writes...
For CD and DVD self-publishing http://kunaki.com is higher quality, faster speed and much lower priced. Kunaki is good.
Permalink to Comment8. Al Olmstead on April 8, 2008 5:22 AM writes...
I am filing a fraud action against Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com executives in the 118th District Court of Texas (Howard County). Even after you PAY them to sell your work, they never pay any sales commissions AT ALL. Why? Gee whiz. Guess who forgot to include a payment method (bank routing number) on their website? Look at their balance sheets. They never intended to pay anything to anyone. That's why you can't get an answer, even from their attorneys. They got caught.
Permalink to Comment9. austen on June 25, 2008 10:30 AM writes...
My experience with createspace has been disasterous.
They’re integration with Amazon is completely broken…..selecting sell on Amazon may get you listed on amazon or it may not. You might come back after selecting “Sell on amazon: YES” to see “Sell on Amazon: NO” You might change it several times back to “YES” only to see it switch back as if you changed it (even though you didn’t).
What else. The site is running so slow today I can’t use it.
For Amazon Search Inside? Please. Everyone in the community that I’ve talked to who has tried search inside for createspace books have resulted in failure. Search Inside doesn’t work…months after you submit it still will not be enabled.
Don’t do createspace unless you want to have a horrible experience with a bunch of backwards people who will not answer your questions properly.
You’ll just get a bunch of automatic replies “Post take 15 days to post on Amazon” etc. DO NOT USE CREATESPACE.
Permalink to Comment10. David on July 11, 2008 12:11 PM writes...
austen, your spelling is "disasterous".
I have found the absolute opposite to be true in my experience with CreateSpace. For example: I published my first CD, jumped through the usual routine such as sending the materials, awaiting the proof, etc., and although it says that it MAY TAKE 15 days for it to appear on Amazon.com, my title was there after 3 days, two of them being weekend days.
My 2nd and 3rd titles are currently in the works and I expect the same output for these.
Are you sure you were using the system correctly?
Permalink to Comment11. Summer on July 26, 2008 12:16 PM writes...
I have used CreateSpace to publish a book, and the process has been disappointing: Some unexpected print limitations along the way. Delayed order processing. Poor communication. Questionable billing procedures. Very slow website. Frustrating customer support (multiple emails always required to solve problems). Changing fee structures. Completely different than Amazon experience.
The one good thing is that the print quality seems to be good for the price.
Probably will not use for future book publishing unless they clean up their act!
Permalink to Comment12. Frogman Noel on August 7, 2008 8:10 PM writes...
I have been with an in-demand publisher for 6 years, then put some books on lulu.com.
CreateSpace is a bit more demanding concerning format that Lulu...BUT DEFINITELY worth the extra effort. My most recent book showed up Amazon within 5 days.
I recommend it very highly. If you are not patient and willing to take more time to get it right...this may not be the place of you....
Permalink to Comment13. MDahlberg on September 2, 2008 7:14 AM writes...
Their business concept is downright brilliant.
Permalink to CommentUnfortunately their web designers are not quite that good. There is a perpetual conflict between the instructions given by customer service (for example to click on the "submit" button) and the design of the website (that has no "submit" button after the content has been updated), resulting in weeks of delay and ever more communication between the author and customer service.
Once they fix that (and they are looking for web designers as we speak) it is the ideal partner for publishers and/or authors.
14. MDahlberg on September 2, 2008 7:14 AM writes...
Their business concept is downright brilliant.
Permalink to CommentUnfortunately their web designers are not quite that good. There is a perpetual conflict between the instructions given by customer service (for example to click on the "submit" button) and the design of the website (that has no "submit" button after the content has been updated), resulting in weeks of delay and ever more communication between the author and customer service.
Once they fix that (and they are looking for web designers as we speak) it is the ideal partner for publishers and/or authors.
15. Jeff on September 10, 2008 10:46 AM writes...
I really liked the creation process for my book through CreateSpace, understanding that all they really do is print what I send them. It took 3 proofs to get it right, but that was my fault, knowing they only print what I send them.
Customer service, on the other hand, is horrible. I ordered 20 copies of my book 10 days ago and have not gotten any information since then. I don't know if they have fallen in a black hole, if my request was ignored, or what. The title did appear on Amazon in short order -- a couple days -- and I already have one sale through Amazon, as well as one through my e-store. The "Member Dashboard" shows the proper royalties, though they have not paid anything yet. However, they do say they only pay in multiples of $20 and I have not hit that mark yet.
Permalink to Comment16. nikki on November 19, 2008 3:25 PM writes...
Sent for my second proof at Createspace and my book came with someone else's inside my book cover too! I hope they have a better QA for the non-proof books. I would be very embarrassed if someone's "Poetry" book showed up with my Heath Study guide. Very annoyed, and there is no phone support so now I have to wait on them! Grrr. Plus, their website just went down. Frustrating!
Permalink to Commenthttps://www.createspace.com/3359550