I love my CreateSpace print edition!!

[JulianneMacLean/EVMitchell]

My e-book THE COLOR OF HEAVEN is finally available as a print book, and I can't believe how great it looks!  I nearly died of happiness when I got the proof and held it in my hands.

If anyone has any doubt about a "self-published" book not looking as good as a NY book, you may rest assured.  This is as gorgeous as anything put out by NY.  I opted for the smallest size, and the font looks lovely, the glossy cover is ultra-professional, and the paper is a lovely cream, which also looks like a "real" NY book.  I would challenge any reader to be able to tell the difference between this indie book and a traditionally published book.  As long as you have professional looking artwork, the quality of the CreateSpace product is second to none.

I'm really excited!

[PeggyI]

Congrats!

It must be a day when the postal fairies are delivering happiness.

I just got off the phone with a writer who got his first proofs, and he's thrilled too.

[stacyjuba]

Congratulations!  I find CreateSpace great to work with also - beautiful glossy covers, excellent customer service, quick delivery. It's an exciting feeling to hold the book in your hand! 

[JulianneMacLean/EVMitchell]

Thanks guys!  I also wanted to mention how quick it was for the Amazon page to appear after I approved the proof.  Very impressive!

[Matthew W. Grant]

I got my first proof the other day too and I was just saying the same thing in another thread about the quality being so good.

I went to Target and compared the books there to the CS book.  Half of the Target books were of equal quality and the other half were clearly inferior.  Traditional publishers are putting out books with cheap, thin covers and newsprint cheap interior pages.

[JenniferS.]

EVMitchell how did you make your cover, if you don't mind me asking, it looks wonderful. I'm trying to figure out how to make my own and could use some pointers.

[ellin]

Yours looks great!

Is it an easy process and where do you begin?  I am new at all of this and would like to check out how to do the CreateSpace print.

Any helpful information would be great!

Thanks
Ellin G. Wood
Author of Bow Wow, Meow
Children's Picture Book

[Dana Taylor]

It looks great!  Figuring that out seems like a big challenge. Good for you!

Dana

[RM Prioleau]

I got my first proof the other day too and I was just saying the same thing in another thread about the quality being so good.

I went to Target and compared the books there to the CS book.  Half of the Target books were of equal quality and the other half were clearly inferior.  Traditional publishers are putting out books with cheap, thin covers and newsprint cheap interior pages.

I noticed that, too, with my proof. I don't see a difference between NY and indie. If you put two books side-by-side, I bet the average person wouldn't be able to spot the difference in quality.

The only gripe I have about CreateSpace's printing is that the laminate started peeling around the edges of the cover, but as one person pointed out in a previous topic, it's a typical occurrence for those types of laminated covers, so I guess it's not really CreateSpace's fault.

[Cynthia Justlin]

Good to know! I'm planning on working up a print edition of my book in the next month or so and I was definitely wondering about the quality of CreateSpace, so thanks!

[stepartdesigns]

Yours looks great!

Is it an easy process and where do you begin?  I am new at all of this and would like to check out how to do the CreateSpace print.

Any helpful information would be great!

Thanks
Ellin G. Wood
Author of Bow Wow, Meow
Children's Picture Book

Hi Ellin,

Here is the link to Kindle Direct Publishing --  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin.  The Kindle Publishing Guide has everything you need with step-by-step directions and templates to use to create your print book. 

The community forums are very helpful also.   It is an easy process if you are a do-it-yourselfer.  I was able to upload my book with relative ease.  And the print copy turned out wonderful!

Katrina

[sknight]

In May or June I'll start giving Createspace some real proper attention. I see that there are people out there who format novels specifically for Createspace. I have no problem generating documents in MSWord, but do you need an app that has a higher octane level, like Quark or Pagemaker for something like this?

I'm glad to hear the finished product looks great. Certainly encouraging, if nothing else... but I know I'll just eff my stuff up horribly.

[PeggyI]

I have no problem generating documents in MSWord, but do you need an app that has a higher octane level, like Quark or Pagemaker for something like this?

Nope, as long as your formatting is correct and the book looks good, you can just save it as a pdf from Word. Or if you have a lot of fancy formatting and pictures you can go to Adobe's site and take advantage of their free pdf converter and get and excellent product.

I do half a dozen books a month just from Word or Mac Pages.

[StephanieVoid]

I just got my proof copy yesterday... I feel exactly the same way! Createspace does such a good job.

[Josh_Stallings]

Yes yes and yes... So happy with my CS books.  Fantastic!

[Ottilie]

Aw congrats!  That is good to know because I'm reading my frist book with CreateSpace soon and it is good to know that you aren't finding problems!

[Decon]

I am tempted to relate my own experience of Create Space, but I guess that is not the reason for the thread.
All that glitters and all that. Good luck to you all. I am just grateful for Kindle.

[JMCornwell]

After all the whispers and warnings about books from CreateSpace being badly put together with upside down pages, poorly glued covers, etc., I was a little nervous, but when I got the proof, it was gorgeous. You're right about it being a quality product. They did a great job with mine, too. 

Congratulations on your new book in print.

[JMCornwell]

I am tempted to relate my own experience of Create Space, but I guess that is not the reason for the thread.
All that glitters and all that. Good luck to you all. I am just grateful for Kindle.

Do tell. Did you have a bad experience?

[SuzanneTyrpak]

Congratulations!

I know the feeling. Vestal Virgin just came out in paperback, and it is beautiful. Terry Roy formatted it to bring the cover design into the chapter headings--absolutely gorgeous.

[JMCornwell]

Congratulations!

I know the feeling. Vestal Virgin just came out in paperback, and it is beautiful. Terry Roy formatted it to bring the cover design into the chapter headings--absolutely gorgeous.

I did glance at it a few days ago because it came up, and I thought it looked very nice, especially the headings. I like the cover, too.

[stephaniejenkins]

Congrats, E.V.! The cover is beautiful!

[Andrew Biss]

Yes, they do a terrific job, don't they? I received my proof for The End of the World recently and I was very impressed with the quality. I've read some horror stories from other authors, but I'm wondering if most of those happened either before Amazon took the company over, or during the initial transition. In any case, Amazon seem to have put a lot of effort into making sure the finished product is professional and of high quality.

By the way, anyone interested in trying this should know that they offer templates that you can simply copy and paste your text into, so the formatting aspect is a breeze.

Andrew

[seanhrobertson]

My e-book THE COLOR OF HEAVEN is finally available as a print book, and I can't believe how great it looks!  I nearly died of happiness when I got the proof and held it in my hands.

If anyone has any doubt about a "self-published" book not looking as good as a NY book, you may rest assured.  This is as gorgeous as anything put out by NY.  I opted for the smallest size, and the font looks lovely, the glossy cover is ultra-professional, and the paper is a lovely cream, which also looks like a "real" NY book.  I would challenge any reader to be able to tell the difference between this indie book and a traditionally published book.  As long as you have professional looking artwork, the quality of the CreateSpace product is second to none.

I'm really excited!

Congrats. CreateSpace is a fantastic tool for us Self-Pubbies. I loved the proof from my first book of my series, too! They were awesome to work with! 

[Andrew Biss]

JenniferS, they also have quite a number of cover template options for you to choose from. You simply enter tthe text you want included and it converts it into the cover format, along with giving you several fonts options to choose from. You can also upload a photograph that you'd like to use and it's incorporated into the template design. Give it a go - it's not nearly as intimidating as it might seem. And until you're ready to pulish it, you can change it as many times as you wish.

Try it - get creative!