After I made my self-published book available for reading on Kindle through Amazon, I wondered how I could make print copies available across various countries. Not really knowing how many sales would take place, I definitely did not want to spend any money which I would have had to do if I used say, Ingram. I decided on CreateSpace since it is free. Also it is a subsidiary of Amazon, so linkages are easier.
I found that the site tends to be slow but uploading the interior was easy. I had already obtained my own ISBNs ( see my earlier post How I obtained ISBNs as a self-publisher in India.). This ensured that I could always add or move to other companies for my Print-on-Demand requirements.
Since I had already self published my book, the cover was an issue. I definitely did not want to change the cover which I really liked.
I did try to upload my own cover directly but found it not worth the effort of calculations of margin, spine thickness etc. I therefore selected their cover designer option which allowed me to upload my own front and back cover images without having to bother about the designing aspects. I did however get stuck on the colour of spine since CreateSpace only give a limited choice. I had to make do with the best match I could find - I was not too happy about that, but all said, I found the experience quite satisfying.
The impossible aspect, for persons like me based in India, is that I do not expect to ever receive any royalty from them - ever. They ask for me to have a bank account in the US, UK or a few other countries. Else they will pay when, and only when, the earnings cross 100 units in the concerned currency. So my accrued royalty may be Dollars 99 and Pounds 99 and Euros 99, but the amount they will pay me is zilch, zero, That is how the cookie crumbles with them. Incidentally Amazon has a similar process but the saving grace is that there is no threshold requirement for dollars or rupees.
Anyway my book was uploaded, became available at Amazon really quickly and so sales in America started. Here is the link Our Heritage Revisited : A glimpse into ancient Indian texts.
Do let me know about your experiences.
I found that the site tends to be slow but uploading the interior was easy. I had already obtained my own ISBNs ( see my earlier post How I obtained ISBNs as a self-publisher in India.). This ensured that I could always add or move to other companies for my Print-on-Demand requirements.
Since I had already self published my book, the cover was an issue. I definitely did not want to change the cover which I really liked.
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| Our Heritage Revisited |
The impossible aspect, for persons like me based in India, is that I do not expect to ever receive any royalty from them - ever. They ask for me to have a bank account in the US, UK or a few other countries. Else they will pay when, and only when, the earnings cross 100 units in the concerned currency. So my accrued royalty may be Dollars 99 and Pounds 99 and Euros 99, but the amount they will pay me is zilch, zero, That is how the cookie crumbles with them. Incidentally Amazon has a similar process but the saving grace is that there is no threshold requirement for dollars or rupees.
Anyway my book was uploaded, became available at Amazon really quickly and so sales in America started. Here is the link Our Heritage Revisited : A glimpse into ancient Indian texts.
Do let me know about your experiences.
1 comment:
Nice post, things explained in details. Thank You.
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