Still, don't take this post as a slam against Lulu, because Lulu may yet be the better choice for some authors and publishers. With CS, you deliver a print-ready manuscript file and cover art file, and CS prints your book---end of story. With CS there is no quality control, no one is checking your content for errors, nor even ensuring that you haven't inadvertently left editing marks in your manuscript file. You must be willing to either do all the tasks involved in bringing your book to print by yourself, or hire out for them as needed.
UPDATE, 9/30/09 - Createspace now offers publishing packages with added pro services for additional fees, but such packages are optional and you can still opt to use CS strictly as a printing/binding service.
Lulu, on the other hand, offers author service packages for authors and publishers who don't intend to go it alone. Those of you who do intend to go it alone, read on. Note that prices quoted herein are accurate as of this writing, but subject to change going forward.
I've spent considerable time wading through the terms, services, help and FAQ pages at both CreateSpace and Lulu, among other places, and here's what I've found.
Lulu - Published By You, Or Published By Lulu
If you go through Lulu, you can choose 'Published by You' or 'Published by Lulu'.
With PbY (US$99.99 if you're in the US, Germany or Netherlands and $137.84 if you're in the UK or Ireland), you retain all publication rights to your book and automatically get Lulu's Expanded Distribution Service thrown in, which will list your published book with book stocking catalogs used by international booksellers and libraries.
With PbL (free), you grant Lulu exclusive publication rights to your ms and must pay $49.95 extra for the Expanded Distribution Service if you want it. While Lulu's site isn't terribly clear on the ramifications of this, I would take it to mean that you cannot publish the same edition of the same book elsewhere (i.e., publish through Lulu for international orders and through CreateSpace for US orders), and it may also mean you must return to Lulu if/when you want to publish new editions of the same book. Here's the relevant licensing agreement.
***4/24/09 - update...the word "exclusive" no longer appears in Lulu's PbY agreement; however, if you read through the numbered items in the agreement, they seem to grant Lulu a de facto exclusive publication right anyway. Like I said, the verbiage isn't completely clear on what rights you are and aren't signing over to Lulu. Compare to this, from CreateSpace's user agreement, under the heading of Ownership:
Subject to the licenses set forth in this Section 6 and the following sentence, and as between the parties, you own all right, title and interest in and to the Content, including all patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, mask work, moral right, trade secret or other intellectual property or proprietary right (collectively, "Intellectual Property Rights") therein.
The stuff in Section 6 pertains to licensing rights allowing CS to set your book up for Amazon listings, search inside the book, etc., and earlier in the agreement CS refers to itself as a Seller of your content, but never refers to itself as the "publisher" the way Lulu does. Here's a link to the full CS agreement. If you are seriously considering working with Lulu, I'd suggest you contact them directly and get more specific information in writing before deciding one way or the other.***
In fairness, I'll say that if you accept CreateSpace's free ISBN, CreateSpace remains the registered owner of that ISBN, which means you will not be able to list your book with catalogs like Bowker's and Nielsen's because only the registered ISBN owner is allowed to do so. However, YOU still retain all rights to the material, you are not asked to grant exclusive publication rights to CS, and the matter of registered ISBN ownership isn't as big a deal for most individual indie authors as some scaremongers make it out to be.
If you're in the UK or Ireland, you must agree to this, separate terms of service for the PbY service. Note that it says you will be required to accept an assigned block of 10 ISBNs from Lulu. However, even if you opt for the free PbL service, you still must pay the Expanded Distribution Service fee of $49.95 to get your book listed in international book catalogs. Confused yet? Let's take a look at a recap of these pricing options.
US/German/Netherlands authors/publishers:
PbY option = US$99.99
Expanded Distribution for PbY option = included in PbY option
PbL option = no charge
Expanded Distribution for PbL option = US$49.95
no requirement to sign the Ireland/UK terms of service
UK/Ireland authors/publishers:
PbY option = US$137.84
Expanded Distribution for PbY option = included in PbY option
PbL option = no charge
Expanded Distribution for PbL option = US$49.95
must sign the Ireland/UK terms of service
See Lulu's chart comparing the distribution options.
What Does Lulu's Distribution Service Promise To Deliver - Or Not?
So maybe you're willing to fork over the extra money for international distribution, but here's the zinger. Right in its terms, Lulu says:
"The decision to list a book is up to the individual retailer. Published By You and Published By Lulu distribution services gets your book listed with the distributor used by major retailers like Amazon. This means major booksellers will have the option and ability to list your book as available for sale, which they did not have before. In our experience, Amazon will almost always list a book for sale once they have access to it through the wholesaler.Then again, when you purchase a distribution service, it can take 6 to 8 weeks for your book to hit an online bookshelf. This is because most booksellers only update their database with new listings once a month."
In other words, while they will get your book into the major distributor catalogs, Lulu does not guarantee your book will be listed on Amazon or anywhere else. The catalogs Lulu lists with are Bowker (for US + int'l.) and Nielsen (for UK). I don't doubt that "Amazon will almost always list a book for sale once they have access to it," but I don't know that "almost always" is worth paying a fee for.
As it turns out, you can register to add your own listings to these services FOR FREE, but only if you are the publisher of record. That means that whether you publish thru Lulu or CS, if you want to be able to add your catalog listings (which accomplishes the exact same thing Lulu says they'll do for you with their 'expanded distribution service'), you must purchase your own ISBNs from Bowker, and possibly your own barcodes as well.
Bowker offers a package deal where you can get your own ISBN + barcode + Bowker catalog listing starting at US$150. That's $50 more than the $99.99 US Published by You option at Lulu, and $12.16 more than the UK/Ireland Published By You option at Lulu.
One advantage of listing your books through Bowkers and Nielsen, whether you do it yourself or let Lulu do it for you, is that doing so makes your books available for order through any retailer, bookstore or library. Personally, I don't feel indie books receive enough bookstore or library orders to make this worthwhile, but if your motivation is to make your book available to be listed on Amazon.ca, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble online and even Borders online, it's probably worth the expense.
In contrast, if you opt for the Premium package at CS (US$39, a one-time fee that keeps your per-copy production costs permanently lowered), plus the Bowker ISBN + barcode package (US$150), you'll be out up to US$89 more than if you'd gone with Lulu under PbY. However, you won't have been required to sign that UK/Ireland terms of use, and your book will have all the same international listing opportunities as if you'd gone w/ Lulu's PbY service.
At this point you may be thinking Lulu still looks like the most sensible option, even with the UK/Ireland terms of service, but you haven't taken per-copy production costs into account, and that's where Lulu really fails.
Per-Copy Production Costs Are The Bottom Line
Taking one of my own CS books as an example, a 346pp, perfect-bound, 6x9, black and white trade paperback with full color cover, with CS's Premium service my per-copy production cost is $5. That means I pay $5 per copy to buy author copies. The same book thru Lulu will run me $11.46 in production costs per copy, and $11.46 to buy each author copy.
Mainstream trade paperbacks of these approximate dimensions sell for US$14-16 in stores. Given that the bookseller's take is a standard 40% wherever you sell, online or brick-and-mortar, if I want to price my book right in the middle of that range ($15) the bookseller's take is $6. Just to break even, I'd have to raise the retail price on my Lulu book to just over $19, $20 or more if I'd like to make at least $1 profit per copy.
The CS book, by comparison, can remain priced at $15 per copy and I'll still earn $4 per copy in net profit/royalty. In fact, I can price my book at the lower end of the scale, at $14 (which in fact, I do) and still earn $3 per copy in net profit. That's a royalty of 21.4%, which is a damn sight better than mainstream authors get.
But what about that total expenditure of $189 you'd have to absorb ($150 to Bowker + $39 to CS for the Premium package), or the $100 ($138 in the UK) you'd spend on Lulu's Published By You program? Assuming you price your Lulu book at $20, you'd have to sell 100 - 138 copies before you break even. You wouldn't clear your first dollar of real profit on your Lulu book till copy #101 - 139 sells. However, if you've published through CS you can make back most of your upfront investment in author copies.
Recall that Lulu's author copies for this book are $11.46 each, and CS's are $5. You save $6.46 per author copy by publishing through CS. If you plan to order 25 author copies (for friends, family, hand-selling, and sending to reviewers), you'll save 25 x $6.46, or $161.50, right there. This leaves you with about $28 to recoup, which means if you'd have to sell 7 copies of a $15 book to break even and 10 copies of a $14 book to break even. Given that your CS book is priced so much lower than your Lulu book, it will be much easier to make those sales than if you'd gone through Lulu.
While it's true that Lulu offers production cost discounts on their POD books on a sliding scale based on how many books you order upfront, given that the whole point of going POD is not having to order a minimum quantity up front for hand-selling, such discounts aren't terribly relevant to the typical author seeking POD services.
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54 comments:
Excellent post, especially with all the actual numbers. You don't often see real-world examples to go by.
Having done both Lulu and CS (and LSI, for that matter), I have a few other notes:
1) Lulu can have insanely expensive shipping costs for both you and your customers (if you buy direct from them). For instance, to get a single copy of a 6x9 120-page book shipped across the border to Canada (to a major city), Lulu wants to charge $89. For a $12 book. CS's costs are in the $12 range for the same service. Lulu only lets you lower the price if you opt for a "it may never arrive, we can't promise anything" shipping service.
2) That said, CS only gets you listed in Amazon.com, not the international sites. So if your business plan depends on international sales, you need to find another option, or do some legwork to fulfill orders yourself.
Personally, I balance between CS and LSI, depending on the project. Lulu is a minefield of hidden costs.
MCM -
You're right about CS only automatically listing your book with Amazon in the US (if you've stated you want them to), which is why I mentioned the option of buying your own ISBN + barcode + Bowkers listing direct from Bowker, then also listing your book by yourself on Nielsen's (for free) after the book is published to make it available for listing on Amazon UK and Amazon.ca, + available to *all* retail shops, booksellers and libraries.
Listings with Bowker & Nielsen are free, but you must be the ISBN owner of record to create the listings. That's why you have to buy the ISBN yourself, instead of accepting the free one from CS or Lulu.
Blargh, yes, sorry, I lost track of my own thought there. What I meant to say was that the listing process takes a long while (perhaps only for Canadians), so you need to build that time into your business plans (which you also covered).
I'll make sure to finish waking up before writing blog comments again :)
Thanks for posting this! That has always been my dilemma is which POD to go through and the bottom line costs. I don't expect to be a millionare but then again I don't want $1 royalties either. Seams like I am leaning ever more towards CS!
latest book printed through Lulu, then took the exact same PDF to CreateSpace and had it printed there, The quality is identical. I got the free CS ISBN (plus listing on Amazon) which saved me that expense at Lulu, plus the per-book print price is $5 cheaper. I would recommend CS to anyone considering POD.
Thanks for a very informative post!
Marti_L at Twitter
I agree with everyone here who mentions CS only gets you listed on Amazon. However, this day and age, sometimes that is all you need if you are pursuing an online marketing campaign. My Kindle sales alone for my most recent book have surpassed any hard copies I sold through Lulu and I doubt the hard copies will ever catch up. You can read about my Lulu adventures in the POD Diary at http://lulubookreview.com/success/
-Shannon Yarbrough
www.lulubookreview.com
Shannon -
Good point re: Kindle/ebooks; I publish all my stuff in trade paperback, Kindle, and multiple other ebook formats. However, since I price the Kindle and ebook editions much lower than the trade paperbacks, even though I sell more copies in Kindle/e formats, I've still earned the larger portion of my royalties to date on my trade paperbacks.
Really great post - I'll be hanging on to this as a reference to show authors who ask me about POD options! Now, if only I knew how to make a print-ready PDF....
Thanks for reading and commenting, Erin. Glad you've found this helpful. =')
CJ & Marti -
Thanks to both of you too, for taking the time to read and comment. Considering how much time and effort it took me to boil the cost and rights comparison down into a single blog post, it's not surprising that many indie authors aren't clear on the bottom-line differences between CS and Lulu. I knew Lulu's per-copy production costs were higher, but the rights differences came as a bit of a shock to me when I researched this post.
Great post. I am at the stage of picking between LULU and CS and maybe others for books that I hope to interest libraries and BN.com in. Your book IndieAuthor also was good though Kindle parts were complicated. I haven't figured out if using LULU how much exposure on AMAZON I would get, would I get the purchase button or not?? Thank you for helping so many of us. MNTJOHNSON@GMAIL.COM
April, I'm a fan of the book you wrote on self publishing. I have a question that hasn't really been answered in any of the forums I've visited and it is this: If Lulu has a better ISBN purchase option and CS has a better royalty margin, why wouldn't an author register their book through Lulu via PBY, pay for the ISBN and expanded distro, and then take that ISBN to CS and upload it there for domestic Amazon US sales? That seems like it would be the most bang for an author's buck--paying less on the setup and getting more on the return?
Simbarashe -
The PbY license agreement specifies you must continue to work with Lulu for distribution, catalog listings, etc. on your title, that Lulu will be the sole source of bibliographic data to be provided to Bowker and Nielsen, and that you agree to purchase at least one proof copy from Lulu. In effect, they're making the ISBN usable only if you follow through on publishing with Lulu. Here's a link to the PbY service agreement:
http://www.lulu.com/en/help/index.php?fSymbol=pby_agreement
Great comparison.
Another thing to consider is that if you do need editing/other services, you can always step up from createspace to amazon's otherself publishing service, booksurge.
I myself have been very happy with createspace.
April, you say there are two options with publishing with Lulu. Aren't there three? Reading their FAQ, there seems to be a "default free option", separate from Published By You and Published By Lulu. This is the one I use.
Stop me if I'm misunderstanding something, of course, and apologies for the mispost above.
Graham
Graham -
I don't really consider the 'default free option' an option for indie authors at all, since there is no ISBN assignment (even if you buy your own) and the resulting book can only be sold through Lulu's own online store.
I guess it's OK if you're publishing something like a family cookbook or club memory book, where you can easily direct everyone in your family or group who would want to buy a copy to Lulu, but if you're publishing with a motive of making the book available for commercial sale just like any mainstream book, the 'default' option at Lulu isn't a good idea.
I'm glad that you admit to bias up front because you make some very big assumptions - essentially that amazon is the only viable marketplace for an independent or self publisher.
my experience is that amazon is one of the single worst outlets - in terms of return and in terms of sales.
the book I published a couple of years ago sold about 3% of total sales via Amazon - despite a push to sell it that way. And it sold over 50% direct (I sold it in other words). Since I made over 10 times as much money per copy when I sold them that was also a better deal. The last commenter made a very valid point - no ISBN - no cost.
You are arguing that you need the ISBN - but then are saying your sales are all going to be through amazon. IF that is the case, then createspace is indeed the way to go. But if you intend to sell direct it is a much closer thing.
In fact, the biggest advantage I can see of createspace over lulu is that it is happy to let you publish out of multiple sources - in other words I can use createspace for Amazon, AND use lightning source for bookstore etc fulfillment.
That is a big plus.
However amazon warns that taking this approach may lead to multiple listing detail pages on amazon.
Owen-
First off, why so angry?
You misunderstand me. I never said ISBNs were crucial, though I can see where it might seem like that's what I was trying to say based on the wording of my last response.
I mentioned ISBN in the same breath with Lulu because it's the lack of an ISBN that will make it difficult to get your book listed anywhere outside the Lulu store---not impossible, but difficult.
I don't doubt what you're saying about your personal experience with Amazon, but mine, and that of most other indie authors with whom I'm personally acquainted, has been different.
Some authors have better success hand-selling, and this is a topic I address in The Indie Author Guide. The sales channel that works best depends on the author, the book, and the market. There is no single right answer for every indie book or indie author.
I'm not sure why you're attacking this specific post, since it isn't even about sales channels. The post mentions sales channels to the extent your choice of publisher may impact your sales channel options, but that's it. The post is really *only* about which publisher is more economical in terms of using their printing services, and in certain cases there are good reasons for choosing a service or product that doesn't seem the most economical on its face.
I'm very happy I found this blog. Since February 2009 I was under contract, or shall we say a mere promise to publish my book with an Indie publisher who's name I'd rather not mention. I will refer to my Indie publisher as EePress, how's that?
EePress treated me very nice and promised a contract ones revision to my YA novel were complete, which it was at the beginning of June of 09. I got my contract, which I never worried about previously, in the middle of June. upon closer examination the contract proved to be poor and devastating alike. Breaking even would have been an entire new goal. So I started asking questions, I guess questioning the need for a publisher all together. I was pretty down. To make a long story short, two weeks later I was turned down for several bogus reasons and there is no need to go into detail. If you like the entire story, email me.
Anyway, my editor still supports my vision and she directed me to Lulu because of the reputation Lulu has with people who never worried about self-publishing, like me.
I was very confused by the two Lulu options, while I immediately suspected PBL was a way getting a piece of the pie for Lulu, I did get hooked by words like "Channels," and "Distribution."
Reading this entire blog including comments, I think I CS sounds a lot better, but I'm clueless as far as converting to PDF. One of you mentioned using Lulu's templates and carrying them over to CS. My cover art is complete and fitting the Lulu Template, but changing my manuscript from MW to PDF gives me the chills. Can I get pointers with this problem please?
--Martin (Bnzmn600@aol.com)
http://martinbartloff.blogspot.com/
Sorry I'm going to ask a 'Noob' question, but do I purchase the ISBN from Bowker first then upload with them with the ISBN in hand, slap in on the back cover using photoshop then get the proof copy?
Also do I have to upload a picture of the cover to Bowker? How do they know what book they are granting a number to is it merely by title or what? Is there a separate uploading process for Bowker?
Anybody that can answer this please do tell.
Thanks,
-C
Hiya
Things must have changed with Lulu in the past year because I self published a small book last year and don't recall any of these issues surfacing ...and I'm a pretty astute reader of fine print when I'm first getting involved in new endeavours.
However, this post has certainly opened my eyes to things to consider.
One point Canadian self publishing authors s/b aware of. Through the federal government we can get ISBN numbers for free! Check out this link: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/isn/041011-1010-e.html
One thing that surprised me about Lulu was that when my book arrived it had a bar code on it. A friend bought one for himself for approx $50 Cdn. That was a nice treat.
In terms of PDF, I'm a Mac user who creates documents in Microsoft Word. I simply choose Print and then the PDF option that appears in the bottom left hand corner of the Print screen. - Bob's your uncle.
When I used a PC I had invested in an Adobe product that created pdfs but that has been unnecessary since my shift to a Mac platform.
Right now my challenge is to figure out how to create my e-book covers in 3D in Photoshop Elements for marketing purposes. Wish me luck!
Gwen McCauley
I'm a Canadian children's book author and have used lulu in the past, but am now considering CreateSpace. It seems to me after a lot of leg work on the internet, that although CS seems to be cheeper per book, authour copies have a considerably higher shipping cost to canada, so unless you are ordering more than 100 copies, it seems more economical to go with lulu. Lulu also provides a free preview of your book online without actually purchasing a physical copy (This is particulary important when dealing with full colour pages with images that need to be formated just right). CS makes you order a proof. I wouldn't mind ordering a proof, but the actual book costs only 6.55 and the shipping is $28!!! That can get costly, and time consuming if you need to make a few alterations.
another important piec of info is that ISBN #'s are free for Canadians, no need to pay for them! My black and white Lulu books have been posted on Amazon for free - just selected distrbute to online book stores on the mylulu page. all that said, Amazon raised the perbook cost. Just for that reason, I am considering using CS for cheaper amazon prices.... but why won't the post it on Amazon.ca???
There is a free online source where you can convert your ISBN into a Barcode. You save it and slap it on your cover (in one of the many design programs). Easy and free.
http://www.tux.org/~milgram/bookland/
can an asian publish through any of the two websites?
i'm worried that both of them might by some kind of a scam, you know, when they don't actually pay you full, so can anyone tell which one is better?
Okay, group...sorry I've been so slow to respond to your comments...I was prepping for a conference talk, submitting proposals for another conference, running Publetariat, launching the Publetariat Vault...yeah, lots of plates to keep spinning! Anyhoo -
Martin - you can use primopdf, a free utility that's totally legal and legit, and can be accessed here:
http://www.primopdf.com
CNV - Bowker just sells ISBNs and barcodes, they don't need to see any of your book's content or its cover.
Gwen - good luck with your cover. I use MS Digital Image Pro 10 to design mine. It has the word "Pro" in the name, but it's actually a consumer-level graphics and photo editor program.
tannis & Cat - thanks for the tip for Canadians.
heatblast - you can publish through either CS or Lulu if you like, but the shipping costs on your proof and author copies will be high. Also, publishing thru CS won't automatically grant you international exposure on Amazon, your book will only be listed on the main, U.S. site. Lulu offers an international distribution option, but you must pay extra for it.
I would like to confirm a few questions.
I paid the first fee for a self-publishing company (AH) but then learned quickly about all the extra fees involved. At that point I decided to finish my book, researched everywhere for everything about writing (traditional versus self-pub, which company is the right company) along with all the other tasks that go along with completing a book.
I'm at the finat stages of editing and plan to publish within the next month or two. I am blogging, facebook, twittering, etc. to increase my platform.
I'm leaning towards CreateSpace but wonder if I'm not reacting quick enough to get things done in time.
Do you still believe that going to Bowker is the best way for me to get ISBNs and not thru CS because of international rights? Can you send me the link so I don't end up at the wrong site? (Almost happened to me recently on another site with payment).
Do I need to know my title to get an ISBN? I'm still pondering over a few titles.
Is MS Digital Image Pro 10 a software and is it free? I know CS has an area where you can create a title page but not sure that's the best option. Do you have a link to this site?
Are you saying that the shipping costs to customers on Amazon will pay large shipping costs or will that only apply to my purchases?
I'm a first-time author so I'm not sure I should worry about international just yet but want to be open to do what I want in the future.
Do you recommend me buying quite a few from CS and selling on my site or just the one copy? Do you know if I would pay huge shipping costs?
Thank you for helping me avoid anymore confusion than I've already encountered with so much information on the web.
sunshyne -
"Do you still believe that going to Bowker is the best way for me to get ISBNs and not thru CS because of international rights? Can you send me the link so I don't end up at the wrong site? (Almost happened to me recently on another site with payment)."
If you intend to sell internationally (and therefore need to register your book(s) with the Nielsen catalog), I would suggest getting your own ISBN(s) and barcodes direct from Bowker. Here's the link:
http://www.myidentifiers.com/index.php?ci_id=1479
I have accepted the free ISBN offered by CreateSpace for all my books to date, and have not regretted it because I'm not looking to get my book stocked in brick-and-mortar stores or libraries. But if those things are a priority for you, you should buy your own ISBNs and bar codes so they're registered in your name.
"Do I need to know my title to get an ISBN? I'm still pondering over a few titles."
No, not if you're buying direct from Bowker.
"Is MS Digital Image Pro 10 a software and is it free? I know CS has an area where you can create a title page but not sure that's the best option. Do you have a link to this site?"
Ms Digital Image Pro is software put out by Microsoft, and it's not free. I think I paid about US$40 for it, and it should be available in any store that sells consumer software. You can also find it on Amazon, I'm sure, though by now it may be in a higher edition number (e.g., Digital Image Pro 11). You can also search online for freeware and shareware graphics editors if cost is an issue for you, you just need to be sure that the software can handle "layers" (this will appear in the product/software description).
"Are you saying that the shipping costs to customers on Amazon will pay large shipping costs or will that only apply to my purchases?"
No, people who buy your book on Amazon will pay the same shipping as they would for any other product sold by Amazon, which means your books can qualify for shipping promotions like Super Saver Shipping. I've heard that the cost to ship copies internationally direct from CreateSpace is high, but this is a non-issue if you're in the U.S. (for purchase of author copies) and most of your customers will be buying from Amazon in the U.S.
"Do you recommend me buying quite a few from CS and selling on my site or just the one copy? Do you know if I would pay huge shipping costs?"
If you're in the U.S., your shipping costs shouldn't be anything unusual. As to how many copies to buy, that depends on how much hand-selling you intend to do, and how many copies you intend to give away as review or promo copies. I have never hand-sold my books, but some authors can really make it work if they're strong public speakers and not averse to basically becoming a vendor as well as an author. Be aware that if you sell copies from your website (as opposed to providing 'where to buy' links on your website), you need to be prepared not only to buy the books, but pay for packaging materials and shipping costs, too. Also figure in gasoline and automotive wear and tear if you don't live near a post office and can't get package pickup at your door.
Hope this helps. =')
I went to primopdf,but it's giving me a hard time saying I need to have 32-bit or 64-bit...which I have 64 bit. They don't specify in their site so I'm not sure where to go from here.
Do you know if it's me or the software OR of another software I could use??
http://www.primopdf.com
Last questions (here anyway): Do you know if CreateSpace allows B&W photos in their books and how I can confirm my photos are 300 dpi? I see a size but not sure how to check dpi.
Thanks for your help.
sunshyne -
Try CutePDF, here:
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
It's a freeware, no bells and whistles version of a full software package that sells for $50, but if all you need to do is convert from Word to pdf, the freeware version should be fine.
Createspace does allow photos in their books (my IndieAuthor Guide has lots of screenshots, for example). As for how to tell dpi, that's something you need to do in your graphics or photo editor program. Open the file in your program, then go to File > Properties. It should list file size, dimensions, dpi and more.
Thank you, April. You're great. All your answers worked.
sunshyne -
Thanks! Glad I could help, and good luck with your project. =')
Excellent resource. Thanks for all the great information and advice.
I have a manuscript and I've been looking at both lulu and CS. I'm at the point where I want to make proof copies and was hoping I could do that without an ISBN. I "published" (only for myself) in lulu, and it assigned a barcode... does that mean it gave me an ISBN? I haven't paid anything and I (hope) I didn't do anything to tie me to lulu, but I'm unclear if now I must go with lulu rather than CS.
In CS, it looks like you can't create a draft copy without an ISBN, so I'd have to make the decision of whether to use CS's free ISBN up front. Is that right?
So...my main question is am I obligated to stick with lulu, now that I've created a "private" proof copy? Did they give me an ISBN when they created the barcode?
Thanks so much for all your help.
Yvette -
I'm sorry to do this to you, but I'm afraid you're going to have to pose your question about the barcode to Lulu since I don't know which program you used when you signed up, and Lulu's terms of service are subject to change just like any other service provider.
A barcode isn't the same thing as an ISBN, though the barcode on your Lulu book may be a Lulu-specific identifier, or a Bowker barcode. Again, I can't really answer this.
Contact Lulu's customer support department, and if you can, come back and post your findings here. I'm sure other Lulu authors would like to know the answer.
RE: CS, yes, you do need to commit to getting your own ISBN or accepting the free one from CS before getting an author proof.
Thank you for this posting. I too struggled through both web sites and you boiled it down beautifully.
I live in Hawaii and my novel is set here, therefore a large percentage of my market (if there is one) will be here. I assume that won't make a difference regarding shipping costs from either CS or Lulu? Please let me know if you have read otherwise.
I would also like to use BookLines because they do brick and mortar distribution here in Hawaii. In that case would I buy author copies and give them to BookLines, or would BookLines buy them directly from CS?
You mention you do not do brick and mortar yourself and I am guessing that is due to the nature of your book? Do you have a link to explain your reasoning?
Here's what I found out from Lulu. By the way, the customer support person was much more helpful than any information I got from CreateSpace (which basically just cut & paste from their help files. They would not give me a personalized response.) I also found out that you could publish your book (same title, same content, different barcode) on both Lulu and CreateSpace.
From Lulu:
The barcode is different then the ISBN. Usually if you see the barcode there it is a placeholder for a future ISBN. It does not obligate you to publish fully with us, you have only printed your book. Lulu is non exclusive which means even if you do have an ISBN with Lulu you are free to publish the same book somewhere else, if you republished it you would need a new ISBN for the other publisher.
Yvette -
Thanks for the update, I'm sure it will be very helpful information to others reading this post. =')
Hi, this really is an excellent article and very eye-opening. Any chance you could do a similar comparison of the big self-publishing firms around? I've heard a great deal of positives about dogearpublishing.net, does anybody have experience of their work or print quality and customer service?
ellenc -
Wasn't sure if your question about brick and mortar stores was directed toward me or Yvette. If me, here's the link to a post explaining why I don't bother trying to get my books distributed through brick and mortar stores:
http://aprillhamilton.blogspot.com/2008/06/big-chain-bookstore-death-watch.html
Also worth mentioning - an author friend of mine had his book published by one of the biggies earlier this year, and within 4 it was no longer shelved in my local Borders or B&N. So even if you DO opt for bookstore distribution, and even if your book were released by a major publisher, the clock is ticking down till the day you'll be in the same boat as all the indies who never bothered with brick and mortar distribution anyway. At least those indies know what they're up against from the start, and aren't counting on brick-and-mortar sales to carry them.
DoctorK -
Try this site, where Mick Rooney offers many in-depth reviews of various service providers:
http://mickrooney.blogspot.com/
Personally however, I recommend against going with any package deals, or a subsidy publisher (if you have to sign over any publication rights, it's a subsidy publisher), or a service provider that requires you to buy a minimum print run. If you want to know why, look at my book (in the BookBuzzr widget in the right-hand sidebar - click on pages to zoom in for easier reading) and go to the chapter on Publishing Options.
Hi April
Thanks for the link, and especially for your advice. There is so much choice out there for publishing, it is all so confusing. I shall read and investigate further before I commit myself. Thanks again.
You mention the differences between Lulu and CS, but haven't heard anything about Lightning Source as a direct source. When I sit down and do the math of CS and LS it seems I would receive higher royalties. Do you have any thought on their service?
Second, and most pressing, question is the amount of ISBNs. I have one just about ready to go and 2-3 titles I hope to write in the future.
For this do I just need to buy one block of 10 ISBNs OR do I need to consider a much higher number if selling on say CS and plus my own stock on my website? I was a bit confused on whether or not the 1 ISBN prints on my book at CS and then I could purchase a supply of those without having a new ISBN.
Any help is greatly appreciated?
PS - On a very separate note....have you ever heard of authorsupport.com for graphical design of a cover?
Thanks,
Kim
sunshyne -
I have never published through LSI, but I was able to get my hands on their pricing information and as it turns out, their pricing for POD is actually higher than Createspace.
If you've already got an LSI account, you should have access to their pricing grid. Take that grid and compare LSI's POD options to Createspace's Pro Plan pricing, here ("Pricing & Royalties" tab):
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/
As of this writing, you'll pay a flat fee of $39 + $5 per year to upgrade to the CS Pro Plan, but LSI's setup fees are nearly twice that much (and that's assuming you're providing them with digital files for both your cover and interior, as you'd do for CS. If LSI has to scan your content, their pricing gets even higher). Also, LSI charges pretty stiff fees anytime you want to make revisions during the pre-publication phase (CS doesn't charge anything for changes), LSI charges an annual fee for keeping your book's ISBN listed for wholesale distribution (CS doesn't charge for this either, though their distribution is limited to Amazon), and LSI will only ship author proofs via express mail, which significantly increases shipping cost on proofs.
If you're ordering a minimum print run LSI's volume discounts may be able to beat CS's pricing. But if you're doing that, you're eliminating most of the benefits of POD.
Authors will often point to LSI's superior distribution as a reason to go with LSI instead of Createspace, Lulu, Wordclay, etc., but that doesn't quite wash with me, either. If it's a POD book, having the broader distribution LSI can offer just means people can special order your book from any major retailer, and it will be available for bookseller orders in trade catalogs. It *doesn't* mean your book will be stocked on brick-and-mortar store shelves; that will only happen if bookseller buyers decide to stock it, and given everything the big publishers are already pushing on them, that's not too likely.
As for the LSI book being "available for order" through any major bookseller, if a customer has to special order a book, aren't they most likely to order through Amazon, where they can get it cheaper and faster, anyway?
The Ingram catalog won't take on accounts for individual self-publishers or imprints with fewer than 10 titles in print, so it's true that if broad "available to order" capability is important to you, maybe it's worth going with LSI regardless of its higher per-copy production costs.
However, bear in mind that you could be talking an extra dollar's worth of expense or more per copy produced, which means an extra dollar's worth (or more) reduction in your profit per copy sold. Carefully consider how much you stand to gain for that tradeoff, because from where I sit, it doesn't make much financial sense for the typical, individual indie author. If you expect to be doing a lot of in-store events and can get the booksellers to order quantities of your book for those events, that may be a different story. But even then, once you've deducted all the expenses of financing your own book tour you'll find you'd better be selling a LOT of copies at those events if you hope to break even.
Sunshyne, I forgot to answer your second question...
RE: authorsupport, I've heard of them, but have not worked with them myself and don't happen to know anyone else who has.
Thank you, April. You are full of knowledge. I appreciate you taking the time to look at their price structures. I did take a look but apparently I wasn't seeing the price structure from an Indie author standpoint.
If I could bother you with two more questions.
What font do you recommend for text in a self-help book, 250 pages single-spaced manuscript.
Do you think it's necessary to pay for an internal page designer or just work with my editor to get to a pdf?
I'm trying to spend my money on the appropriate avenues as I have already made a couple mistakes in the process by paying for something that won't be used.
Thanks for all your help.
April - I did have another question about the number of ISBN's. For one book on CS that I intend to sell to bookstores too is one set of 10 enough?
Good comparison between CS and Lulu.
I am leaning towards CS now.
I just signed up for CS and they demand my tax ID, which is fine.
However, if I buy 100 copies of my book from CS, will a report go to IRS that I am liable for possible profits?
Walt -
First, the usual disclaimer: I'm not a tax professional and you should not take what follows as professional tax preparation advice. For that, you need to see a tax professional. Having said that...based on my own experience and my own questions put to CS...
CS won't report your purchase of copies of your own book, because they have no way of knowing whether your intend to resell those copies or not. For all they know, you intend to give them all away to friends, family, reviewers, etc. From the CS perspective, they're just selling you a bunch of books, it's entirely incidental that you're the author.
CS *will* report sales of your book from your CS estore page, but only if you sell enough copies to earn $600 or more in royalties (that's the U.S./IRS minimum threshold for earnings reporting). Similarly, if you sell enough copies on Amazon to earn $600 or more in royalties, Amazon will report those earnings to the IRS.
ellenc -
Forgot to answer re: BookLines. I'm not familiar with this outfit, so I'm afraid you'll need to ask them how their distribution arrangement works (e.g., do they order from CS or do you provide the books).
Sunshyne -
Let me refer you to an earlier post regarding your questions about ISBNs.
http://aprillhamilton.blogspot.com/2008/07/whats-deal-with-isbns-and-bookstores.html
Regarding your question about interior design (which font to use), that topic is covered in my book, The IndieAuthor Guide, which you can read for free right here on my blog in the BookBuzzr widget in the right-hand column. Click on the book cover or the 'read now' button in the BookBuzzr widget to open the book, then click on any page to enlarge.
Look up the section entitled "A Word About Industry Standards" in the Table of Contents to get the page number, then flip ahead in the BookBuzzr to that section.
April - Quick question. Almost 2 years ago I paid for AuthorHouse services (subsidy/vanity)which cost around $500. Since I'm not going to use their services after all do you know if I can get a refund? Someone mentioned that to me in passing but I assumed I was out that money.
Any ideas?
Thanks again for all your information.
sunshyne -
You'll need to comb over AH's Terms of Use / User Agreement / Contract to see what recourse you have to try and recover monies you previously paid to them. I'm afraid that from all I've heard about authors trying to get refunds from vanity/subsidy presses in general though, you're not likely to collect.
Also - a new wrinkle has come up now that CS has made a deal with Ingram to offer broader distribution as an option on CS Pro Plan books.
There's an article all about it here, on Publetariat:
Long story short, if broader distribution is important to you, you can get it much more economically by going through Lightning Source (LSI) than through CS. As of this writing you'll pay about 6% more in production costs going through LSI vs. CS, but the extended distribution option is built right into LSI's service model.
However, LSI doesn't do ANY handholding, and they charge extra fees for any revision requests prior to publication. This is because they were originally set up as a print provider to trade publishers, and print publishers have in-house professionals to get their manuscripts and cover files ready for production. LSI only accepts ready-for-print manuscript and cover files, and if you're having any problems meeting their specifications they will immediately refer you to a more full-service outfit, such as BookSurge. They do offer more size and binding options than CS though, and that's another plus.
Even so, I am personally acquainted with quite a few indie authors who've used LSI and are very happy with their decision. If I ever self-publish another book in hard copy, I'll likely go the LSI route too. Even though I *still* don't care all that much about brick-and-mortar or library distribution, now that I'm running a website (Publetariat) that has a large U.K. and Australian audience, I'm more interested in making my books available overseas than I have been in the past.
Hi, I just heard from Robert Sawyer, who is doing remarkably well now, that a publisher will not even consider looking at my work if I have self published it first unless I can show massive sales. Is this true? I had hoped to interest a publisher by showing him/her at least some positive response, well short of massive sales.
Ellen -
I can tell you that when Writer's Digest picked up my self-published book, The IndieAuthor Guide, for publication in a revised and updated edition for 2010, they didn't initially seem very interested in my sales figures to date. They eventually asked, but it seemed an afterthought that may have played into the terms of their offer, but (it seems to me) not in the matter of whether they extended an offer in the first place.
However, that book is non-fiction. Novels are a tougher sell, since reader tastes play so heavily in the question of how well a novel does---whereas in nonfiction, it's mostly a question of how useful and needed the information in the book is judged to be.
My agent told me she was surprised WD wasn't more focused on my sales figures, as in her experience, this is typically the first question a publisher will ask when considering pickup of a self-published book---followed closely by questions about author platform and online audience size. Even so, she confirmed that publishers aren't necessarily expecting to see sales on par with those of a mainstream-released book.
Another couple of wrinkles are buzz and platform. Quite a few authors have parlayed a quality web presence and large online audience into a book deal. If you can build a strong online presence with a large following, your sales figures won't be as critical.
To me, it seems a lot like the question of grade point average versus test scores versus extracurriculars when a high school student applies to colleges. If you're extraordinarily strong in one of the three areas, colleges aren't so critical of merely average performance in the other two.
If your sales are huge, your platform and online audience probably aren't as important. Conversely, if you have a fantastic online presence with a huge audience, your sales figures probably aren't as important. Finally, if you have both a respectable online presence/audience and respectable sales, it probably doesn't matter that you're not exceptional in either area.
Brilliant April! It's a new day, and it seems to me that POD is one of the many new formats for self-promotion, not a death knell for mainstream publication. Besides, I'm enjoying the process with Create Space and I like the web and it's endless possibilities for exposure, how bad can that be? Appreciate your help.
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