CreateSpace

[longknife]

Has anyone used CreateSpace?
What was your experience with interior formatting?
And creating a cover?

[Collectonian]

Since NaNo gives you a free proof for "winning", I've done one with them. After reading the instructions and going down them while working with my Word doc, I was able to get the formatting done nicely. I used their cover creator web app, using a photo I took as the main image. All in all, I found it easy to work with, though it might help that I'm a web developer by nature so some that I saw others stumbling wasn't too confusing for me. I did mine as in the 5.5" x 8.5" size.

I loved the final proof. Looking forward to doing one with another novel this year, if I can finish the ending in time LOL The text was very clean and crisp, and the pages felt nice. The cover came out just like I wanted. I have some pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/collectonian/4783868887/ (cover)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collectonian/4784503076/ (inside_

[trixie]

Collectonian, I can't see your pics. They seem to be flagged as private?

I used CreateSpace for my 2009 NaNo, but pushed my luck trying to submit everything before the "free" copy code expired. No luck. Before I sent it all back, since I was going to have to pay for it, I figured I might as well do some good edits to the book and make a better cover. Since then, I've done slim-to-none on the book and soon moved on to my 2010 NaNo.

However, the instructions seemed relatively easy and the forums were SUPER helpful. Yet, I was still pretty confused on where to leave a blank page at the front end so my story would begin on the right-facing page. So many things to think about!

[Collectonian]

Woops, forgot to put a guest pass on it. These should work:

http://flickr.com/gp/collectonian/620i8E
http://flickr.com/gp/collectonian/6SQJNr

:-)

[BookFormatterJen]

Most of my client's book that I have formatted are published in CreateSpace. I think they are satisfied with its service and policy.

[Ryan]

This post probably belongs in Self Publishing but here's my two cents.

CreateSpace is a nice one stop shop because they can help you with design work. It's a good and bad thing. Good for artists with limited resources and bad because the ability to get it all done quickly can lead to haste. Most people I know who have used them are happy. Personally, I believe that a project as big as a book deserves a little respect so if you can swing it, get someone to help you with some of the details.

(Mini Rant)
People spend tens of thousands to go to college to earn a degree in "What the hell am I going to do with this?" then people write a book that takes them a half decade or more and they don't want to spend money on an editor or designers (book, web, cover, etc).
(End Rant)

I never thought 'designing' the book's interior would be so involved. Getting the margins, spacing, and bleeds correct takes a lot tweaking. One never notices a well designed book but one instantly notices a poorly designed book.

Another option besides CreateSpace is setting yourself up as a publisher and doing direct business with Lightning Source, the printer used by half the publishing industry (shooting from the hip on that stat).

Check out Aaron Shephard's book called POD for Profit if you want to learn more about Lightning Source.

Good luck!

[polymath]

I've published clients' works through CreateSpace and Lulu. Lulu stays out of the petty feud between Barnes and Noble and Amazon, CreateSpace being a division of Amazon. CreateSpace's distribution package, however, posts books to Amazon six to eight weeks sooner than Lulu. though Lulu's posts to more online bookseller shops than CreateSpace.

[longknife]

That brings one other thing to my mind - Kobo.
I have indie stuff on Kindle and Nook. Wonder if it's work also uploading to Kobo.
Feedback please.

[polymath]

Like other e-reader formats, Kobo supports the cross-platform and cross-application compatability standards: PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and TIFF.

[amberpolo]

I was pleased that my book Relaxing the Writer;s print edition through CreateSpace was also available through Barnes & Noble and quickly. I also liked that I could chose a size that didn't look like all the other POD titles. The result looked like a mainstream publisher's format.

[polymath]

Some of the Amazon and Barbes & Noble feud settled down, I see.