CreateSpace Review: Legit or Scam

CreateSpace is the online publishing company for Amazon. The company was created in 2007 after it had acquired two other companies, CustomFlix Labs, and Booksurge. The company CustomFlix Labs was established in 2002 to help independent filmmakers distribute their films using the on-demand DVD production platform. The company Booksurge was opened in 2000 by a group of authors to help writer self-publish their own books. In 2005 Amazon acquired both companies and decided that they should be merged into one in 2007. That was when Amazon changed the name to CreateSpace. The company is for DVD, books and music artists who want to self-publish their work. The company offers an on-demand publishing service to help you out.

How Does It Work?

1. When you decide to use CreateSpace to self-publish one of your books, you’ll be using the publishing software on the site.
2. The company doesn’t do any editing or corrections in your book. You must hire your own proofreader to make all your corrections before you submit the book for approval.
3. The website helps you publish your book with a step-by-step guide.
4. Before you print your book, you’ll need to use the previewer to see how it looks.
5. If you find any text is outside the security margins, this can be fixed before you publish the book.
6. You can also correct issues with the margins and blend.
7. Furthermore, you can check on all your graphics and make sure they are correct before you print your book.
8. You’ll need to use the site’s proofing tool to make sure your book is correct. If you proof you book online there is no need to pay for a proof copy of your book.
9. Once this is completed, you’ll need to pay to order a proof copy of your book.
10. It’s important to correct all the issues in your book before you print the book. This saves you a lot of time and money in the end.
11. As of March 15, 2018, CreateSpace is no longer offering paid author services. They are closing down their author service department.

What You Might Notice After Your Book is Printed:

1. Your books printed cover will look different than the image that you’ve uploaded to the site. This is a problem or issue with computer screens and the printing process. The colors on the printed book can look muted if you select a mated cover for your book. However, if you select a glossy cover the image looks more like the one you’ve uploaded.
2. The company doesn’t offer to print your book in hardcover. If you want your book available in paperback or hardcover, you’ll need to use another company.
3. Your uploaded file for the book can’t exceed 400mb. Normally this won’t be an issue if your book is printed on a word document and is mostly text. However, if you have a lot of illustrations in your book, you’ll need to reduce the size to fit the threshold of the site allows.
4. The company doesn’t have quality control when printing your books. At times you might find that a book will arrive with the spine and edges of the book off.
5. If you upload an update for your Kindle book, the company will also take down your print and paperback version of your book. When this happens your book ranking fall and it is hard to regain your sales on the book. Furthermore, this will reset the algorithm and this does even further damage to your sales.
6. Basically, you are going to need to spend a lot of time self-promoting your published book if you want to earn money by selling your book on Amazon. This can take a lot of time and energy to do this.

What The Company Offers You:

1. You will receive a free ISBN for each book you publish.
2. The company has multiple trim sizes to choose from.
3. You can have your book printed on cream or white paper.
4. The cover of your book can either be glossy or matte.
5. As long as you use the self-publishing software, it is free to publish your book.
6. The company can adjust the cover on your book to fit their format. If the text on the spine of the books is too wide they will adjust this too.
7. The company only offers to sell your books on Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, and Amazon Europe. You will miss a large market and they don’t offer to sell the book anywhere else. Therefore, you’ll be limited to how many books you can sell online through Amazon.

What Are Your Printing Costs?

1. When the company sells one of your books they recover the printing cost upfront.
2. The company charges:
   1. $0.012 per printed page in black and white.
   2. $0.07 per printed page in color.
   3. $0.85 per printed cover.

What Does the Company Do After Publication?

1. Basically, the company lists your book on Amazon US, Amazon Canada, and Amazon Europe. If you’d like to sell your book worldwide on Amazon this one won’t happen.
2. The company does have expanded distribution of your book. They offer your book for sale online and offline at bookstores like Barnes & Nobel, certified resellers and Ingram.

What Are Your Royalty Payments?

1. Book Royalties: When one of your books sells on Amazon it is printed and shipped out. The book can sell on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon France, Amazon Spain, and Amazon Italy, Normally your books aren’t distributed to all the Amazon stores worldwide. This service is basically for Amazon US, Canada, and Amazon Europe. The royalty payment is calculated as follows: the books sale price minus the per book charges, per page charges and the 40% revenue share that Amazon takes for its services and selling your book.
2. CDs and DVD Royalties: When one of your CDs or DVDs sells the company will create your item to send out to the customer. However, this will cost you $4.95 for the unit, plus the company takes a 45% revenue share on each sale you make. This is deducted from the total sales cost and your royalty payment is the rest.
3. Amazon Instant Video Royalties: You can request Amazon to add your video title to Amazon Instant Video. However, Amazon will have the final say-so if this is added or not. You can earn a 50% royalty commission on the purchase of one of your videos. This price will be calculated after sales taxes, shipping charges or any refunds, rebates or promotional codes and credit. If your video title sold for $14.99, you’d earn $7.49 on the sale. However, if a person rents one of your titles and it cost $3.99 to rent, you’d earn $1.99 on the rental cost.

How Are You Paid?

1. You will be paid on a monthly basis for each book you sell. The royalty payment is directly deposited into your bank account.
2. When creating your account you need to supply this information in order to receive your royalty payments each month.
3. The company pays you every 30 days.

Conclusion:

Using CreateSpace to self-publish your books is an excellent idea if you don’t have a lot of money to have them printed otherwise. Your books will be listed on Amazon US, Europe, and Canada. After all the charges and the commission, Amazon takes from each sale of your book, you’ll earn roughly 60% royalty fees when it is all said and done. The company has a way for you to proofread, edit and publish your books online. The platform has a step-by-step guide to help you through the process. Therefore, it is easy to publish your books online free of cost. However, once the books are published it is up to you to do all the promotions of the books in order to sell them and earn your royalty commission.

Looking forward to hearing about how you’ve self-published your first book. I’m curious about how it went for you. Please tell me all about it in the comments below.