CreateSpace book quality

[I. J. Parker]

If any of you has published with CreateSpace and actually held the result in your hands, were you satisfied with what you got?

 

I've encountered some comments elsewhere that the quality is poor compared to traditionally published books.  But on closer investigation this seemed to be a formatting matter.  A sample I saw had no paragraph breaks!

 

I'm tentatively thinking of hardcover.  Any reactions?  Also what do the up-front costs look like?

 

Many thanks!

[Jed Power]

I have an 8" x 5.25" paper book.  I can't speak for anyone else but I'm very happy with the outcome.  I made a few extra copy-editing changes after the proof.  That was it.  I can't honestly think of one thing I would have CreateSpace do differently.  I can't tell you off the top of my head about price; I'd have to go through my records.  I did have some formatting help, etc. but I did do my homework beforehand and I was convinced, that for me, CreateSpace was the way to go.  I'm sure that's one thing I didn't make a mistake on.  Unless something unforeseen comes up I'll use them again within the next couple months.

[I. J. Parker]

Oh, thank you, Jed.  That's very good to know.

[Charles Kelly]

I, too, was very pleased with the quality of the book I did through Createspace: 6 X 9, on cream paper, with photos. I hired professionals to do the formatting, and because I had a lot of changes, and the photos required special attention, and because I hired a designer for the cover, everything wound up costing me about $600, which I know is a lot, but once that was done, Createspace produced the book for no additional fee. And, frankly, it is a beautiful trade paperback.  I've ordered a lot of author's copies, and they all were of excellent quality. People who read the book are amazed that it is a POD book, rather than a book from a traditional publisher.

[I. J. Parker]

That's great!  And if I can figure out how to do the spine and back, I'll manage to get by with 250.00 for formatting.  :)  Thanks, Charles.

[Charles Kelly]

Get Publishing Made EZ by Jon Roetman. It's the best book for self-publishing on Createspace. Get the paperback version rather than the Ebook.

[I. J. Parker]

Thanks again.  Will look into it.

[M.E. Purfield]

Formatting on CS is not that hard. You just need to use the word template they give you and work from there. The only prob is that the paragraphs dont break at the end of a page. So let's say you have a huge one at the end, the doc will bring that huge chunk to the next page instead of breaking it, leaving you a big block of white on the previous page. Of course this can be fixed by breaking it manually. :-)

[I. J. Parker]

Ah.  Thanks for the warning.  I'll probably have it done.  I can't worry about everything.  I'm already planning to do the covers.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Yes, and here's the video about it.

[I. J. Parker]

Wow!  That's a great video.  And your book looks fantastic.  I love the dropped initial letters.  All of it looks very, very good.  Plus, I gather you get a proof so you can make adjustments.  Thanks so much.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Thanks! It's what you make of it that counts. CreateSpace is just a tool, but it allows for your customization needs to go wild. You can get as many proofs as you want before it goes for sale. The proofs and author copies you have to pay for, but the price is more than reasonable.

[I. J. Parker]

Do I take it they are below the sale price?  Wonderful!