CreateSpace
Helpful Info for the Self-Publisher
The following contains information accumulated throughout my publishing career. Hope this helps. If you need clarification on certain aspects, or if time has made some of the info inaccurate, feel free to email me.
Information provided by fantasy author, Brian S. Pratt
self-published since Dec 2006 with over 7000 books sold
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CreateSpace...or...Booksurge? Which one is best?
That all depends on what your capabilities as far as doing it yourself is concerned. Plus, are you in it to make money, or just to have a copy or two for family and friends?
Booksurge, at the most basic level, is $299. But for that price, you have to supply---------->
The Author's Express Publishing Program is specifically intended for writers who have:
A professionally designed and formatted book
The fully formatted interior file in Adobe PDF, according to our PDF Submission Specifications
The fully formatted cover file in Adobe PDF, according to our PDF Cover Submission Requirements
Trim size no smaller than 4" width x 6" height
Trim size no larger than 8.25" width x 10.5 height
If you can do this, neither will be the best choice. Instead, go to LSI. It only costs a total of $87($75 submission + $12 yearly fee). You will make more per book, so the yearly fee is negligible.
Booksurge
27 May, 2009
Booksurge's cheapest package is $799 and you get everything you really need. The extras, as far as POD's go, won't go very far in boosting sales.
Okay, suppose you go for the $799 package, how many books will you need to sell in order to see a profit? Figure your book will be priced at $18.95(If it's priced over $19.95, assume your sales will be cut in half. Not many will put out over $20 for a self-published book by an unknown author.) I'm not sure on this, but figure there to be a wholesaler discount applied (there always is). They usually run 40%. So now your book is priced at the wholesale level, $11.37.
Booksurge offers a 35% royalty, but figure that to be on the $11.37 price. So each book will generate $3.97 per sale.
Most self-published books sell less than 200 copies, of those, figure 80% to be less than 100.
100 sales = $397
200 sales = $795 Still not what you paid.
The one nice thing about Booksurge is that you get a wider distribution than you would for CreateSpace. From my four years publishing experience, most sales for English books tend to be in the US and UK.
You have access to Amazon.com, which is a biggie, as well as other markets.
To publish only costs you the price of your Proof Copy + shipping which together runs roughly $12 depending on size of book. For the same book as I used in the Booksurge example, if the book is 350 pages, your royalty will be roughly the same.
CreateSpace does have a Pro publishing package which costs $39. Using it will raise your royalty about $2.50 per sale to the neighborhood of $6.30.
$12 (Proof Copy) + $39 (Pro Plan Upgrade) = $51 (Total Cost)
Sell 9 copies and you're already making a profit. Much better than selling 200 copies with no profit at Booksurge. Also, CreateSpace allows you to set a discount for sales generated through their E-Store (Not Amazon.com). Which comes in handy when running specials. A 25% discount at the E-Store will generate the same royalty as regular sales through Amazon.com, only your customers pay less.
CreateSpace now has a Cover Generator that takes no skill to use. The covers look good, and are somewhat customizable.
All you really need to be able to do is format the interior files and convert to PDF. I can give you some pointers in that respect.
When you purchase copies of your book through CreateSpace, they are dirt cheap. A 350 page book is only about $5.60. You have to pay shipping too, but the more you buy, the less it's going to cost per book. After 5 copies, you're only paying around $1 a book. Buy copies at $6.60, sell them yourself at $18.95, make a cool $12.35 a sale!!!
Some of the smaller bookstores will do consignments, and CreateSpace is great for that.
No eBook available.
