And so the createspace debacle continues. I would love to say that because I was so thorough with my editing, the book took less hassle and time to produce, but sadly that is not the case. They no longer do the 'interior changes form' and that is a good thing since it was meticulous and time-consuming in the extreme, but...I got the digital proof back with all sorts of weird formatting issues (numbers and letters where words should be)and dotted lines that didn't belong that I can't get rid of--things that were NOT in my original MS... I called them and of course it's on me to go through the entire book AGAIN and correct their mistakes. Deja-vu anyone? What is it with them?
I know what it is--they don't look at what they're doing. It is VERY annoying to pay a lot of $ and then have to clean up the mistakes they add. But on the good side I have been rewriting some rough spots--of course I could edit forever...
The other issue is that I've decided not to go with the cover they did for me, but when I asked if I could change it, they said no--only if I submit my own artwork...I guess what they meant was no unless you pay the original fee all over again. Well, on that note, I found Viola at-www.EstrellaCoverArt.com--and discovered a cover that I like a lot. And for a nominal fee I can have it altered to suit. And so this all pushes the book release back again. But what does it matter? I'm in no rush and I mainly want it to be right.
So any suggestions for my next book? Has anyone had experience with Lightning Source? Or are they the same company; everything seems to be merging these days. Or maybe I should have it formatted myself...it probably wouldn't be any more difficult to do everything piecemeal. And it might cost less too. My main concern is getting it up on Amazon as POD as well as Kindle. Guess I have some research to do...
About Me
- nikki broadwell
- working writer wending her way through the labyrinth that is self-publishing
I worked with Bookbaby. They format and deliver to amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and several other retailers. I didn't pay for proofs, but haven't heard about problems from anyone who's seen them. I found them very easy to work with. They have a base fee, I think the better package is about $250, then you get 100% royalties, with a small annual fee. So it's not as cheap as createspace, but nobody I've talked to on createspace really put up their book free, or for $40, or whatever they say it is. I know you're spending a lot more than that.
ReplyDeletethanks Rachel--I'll look into them...sounds WAY cheaper than what I've been doing!
DeleteI'd also recommend Maria Zannini for book covers. But sorry to hear of your debacle with Create. In the words of that sergeant in Hill Street Blues - it's dangerous out there
ReplyDeleteI formatted my book myself for CreateSpace, in Word. I tried using their pre-formatted templates, but it drove me crazy. So I just set up my own page template in Word, using CreateSpace's recommended margins for my trim size, set up different sections for the book (this is where I had to dig in and learn more about Word than I have before) so that I could have the roman numeral page numbers in the front matter and the regular numbers in the main part of the book, set it all up with headers and footers, then pasted in my text and did the formatting. It was a little tricky to figure out at first, there was definitely a learning curve, and it took a little time, but it came out beautifully, perfectly formatted. When I format my next book (coming out in June), I should keep track of the steps and do a tutorial.
ReplyDelete