The LuLu, Smashwords, Kindle, POD information thread

[boboratory]

AmethystBritney-

You should not judge the quality of your work by the number of copies it sells. There are many talented writers who unfortunately don't sell enough to support themselves, it does not make them less talented, just less read. If you are looking for a temperature gauge on your success, talk to people that read the work, and even then, give yourself the opportunity to meditate on their feedback objectively (as you can) and decide if you can concur.

You're not a hack if you are willing to work, and sometimes becoming a better writer takes work.

Hello, Mr. Preston. Thanks for your kind reply and encouragement. No, it's not the judgment I fear, it's not selling, therefore proving I'm a hack.


I seek out judgment, feedback. I upload videos to YouTube rendering random opinions about anything pop culture, all the time. I hope I don't get in trouble for mentioning YouTube because in other sites that name is forbidden, but hey...what I fear is people showing me they don't like my stuff through the sales. That's different. Negative opinions, even destructive ones, help me become better. I've learned to twist the negative around to turn it into positive.


Thanks to everyone and have a great day!
Magali.

[Blue Road Blogger]

This is just the reason I wanted to be a oart of this forum. Great info from people who have been there promoting and publishing their work, and discussion from others heading in that direction.
Thanks for the insight! I will probably be looking at doing digital publishing. PoD sounds a bit exhaustive? Again, I appreciate all the ideas and encouragement found here!

[L M Weaver]

Hello I have just uploaded my first novella to Smashwords and had to resubmit a few times to get the format right. The user guide is good but a such a length that I started nodding off half way through. It is very in depth but only if you are using Word. I used OpenOffice and couldn't find what they were going on about with the layout requirements.

I also can't find a way to view my own book to see how it now appears on various devices.

[MJ Preston]

I also can't find a way to view my own book to see how it now appears on various devices.

Depending on the format you can use other programs to view your files.

For ePub's you can use Calibre which is free to download.
For PRC files which are Kindle you can download a free kindle reader for your computer
And PDF will read in any browser.

[MJ Preston]

This is just the reason I wanted to be a oart of this forum. Great info from people who have been there promoting and publishing their work, and discussion from others heading in that direction.
Thanks for the insight! I will probably be looking at doing digital publishing. PoD sounds a bit exhaustive? Again, I appreciate all the ideas and encouragement found here!

Actually I found POD to be the easiest of all, especially with Lulu. All you have to do is format your word to meet the specifications. There's tons of free helpful articles on that. Converting to ePub and Kindle is a bit trickier.

[kennyc]

Thanks all for the wealth of info in this thread.

[MJ Preston]

Hey folks just a quick update on createspace. In the Motley article I wrote: LULU vs CREATESPACE I mentioned that if you purchase their Pro-Plan for $39.00 that you get your books at a reduced rate.

Here's the quote:

Purchasing Copies: The Breakdown.
Lulu – Based on a purchase of 27 Copies
Subtotal: $297.96
Shipping: $70.19
Tax Collected: $0.00
——-
Total: $367.19
Createspace – Based on a purchase of 27 Copies
Subtotal: $147.96
Shipping: $48.19
Tax Collected: $0.00
——-
Total: $196.15
Even when you add in the annual Pro-plan cost of $39.00 your total cost with Createspace is: $235.15. And you don’t pay that again for another year so if you order 100 books the rate stays the same.

Createspace has retired the pro-plan, but made the advantages of it including: wider distribution, lower cost books and higher revenues is now available to all writers who choose to publish with them.

PS I'm not working for Createspace. If you check out the Motley Article keep that in mind. No more $39.00 annual fee.

[Baron]

Createspace isn't such a good option for those based outside of the US. There are taxation problems and drastic increases in shipping costs. As Lulu have local printers and distributors in several regions, this makes them a far better option for non US residents.

[MJ Preston]

Createspace isn't such a good option for those based outside of the US. There are taxation problems and drastic increases in shipping costs. As Lulu have local printers and distributors in several regions, this makes them a far better option for non US residents.

I guess it's really a balancing act. I have found in Canada that createspace meets my needs as far as ordering my own books. I do not pay tax on those books by the way. The issue of IRS withholding 30% for non-US citizens is definitely a sticking point. You can avoid this by getting an ITN number, but that in itself is a pain.

Out of interest, has anyone tried to ship from createspace to the UK or Europe?

I found shipping to be much cheaper than Lulu as well a wholesale purchase being much cheaper.

It would benefit Createspace to set up shop in a few of the Countries it publishes for. A POD printer in the UK or even Canada would reduce their costs as well.

[Frances]

I found Lulu.com to be easy and reasonable price wise, for printing

[markcarraway]

I looked at LuLu and several other companies before settling on createspace. I have to say I was rather pleasantly surprised at the quality of the final product and the affordability. The products I looked at with LuLu were saddle-stitched with cheap paper and ridiculously priced at that. The createspace books were perfect bound with excellent quality and I really have a hard time understanding how they make money at all on books that they sell to the Author (which seem to be priced very near cost)

I live in the US and so payment has not been an issue, but on the other hand, I have yet to be paid a dime of commissions on my UK Sales on KDP!