CreateSpace has merged with KDP.
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[fusion_li_item icon=””]Existing CreateSpace Customers: All CreateSpace titles have been migrated to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Use your Amazon account username and password to log into your KDP account. Click here to go to the KDP page on Amazon. If you did not create an account on KDP, go back to CreateSpace and reclaim your account by entering the email address you use to access your CreateSpace account, then go from there.[/fusion_li_item]
[fusion_li_item icon=””]New CreateSpace Users: If you were planning on using CreateSpace to print your book and sell it on Amazon, CreateSpace has been replaced by the Amazon service Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP is used to set up both paperbacks and ebooks on Amazon. Click here to go to the KDP page on Amazon. KDP does not offer services to authors other than linking the books to Amazon to sell and providing sales reports. If you require author services such as book design, cover design, typesetting, editing and book marketing, we can help you. We offer the above author services and more. Contact us at 1106 Design.[/fusion_li_item]
[fusion_li_item icon=””]Your published book on Amazon is not impacted by the closure of CreateSpace’s self-publishing services division.[/fusion_li_item]
[fusion_li_item icon=””]For over a decade, 1106 Design has proudly provided top-quality self-publishing services to indie publishers and authors. Learn more about 1106 Design here. To inquire about author publishing services, please email us using our Contact form. File adjustments start at $200 US. Print and eBook packages start at $3,000 US.[/fusion_li_item]
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Authors who once relied on CreateSpace for self-publishing services such as book design and editing were left with two challenges after the company stopped offering these services on April 20, 2018:
- How to change an existing book without access to the original application files.
- Where to find self-publishing services for new books.
Before we explore these challenges, it is worth noting that authors who use CreateSpace only for uploading their book’s PDF for selling through Amazon may continue to do so. Amazon is offering an alternative service called Amazon KDP for making books available on the online book sales platform. Although “KDP” stands for “Kindle Direct Publishing,” the service is now available for paperbacks as well. As with CreateSpace, books uploaded to Amazon KDP must be in the proper PDF format as no assistance is provided by Amazon to authors in this regard.
Hence we are left with our two challenges:
How to Change a Book
Application files are the files created by the book designer. When CreateSpace offered self-publishing services to authors, these were the files created by their on-staff designers and editors. Any changes made to the book after typesetting (e.g., typos found by a proofreader) or made after publication (e.g., a new edition) are made to these application files. Application files include the files for your book cover and interior pages and may be created using InDesign and/or Photoshop or Illustrator. These files must be turned into PDF files for uploading to CreateSpace (and thus, Amazon). Word files cannot be uploaded to CreateSpace.
When CreateSpace stopped offering self-publishing services, they did not release the application files to authors, citing issues with font and image licenses. They would release the original manuscript files and the final PDF, but neither is much good for the author who must make substantive changes to a book.
Authors who have invested much time and money into their cover and brand (i.e., just about every author!) understandably want to use as much of the existing PDF as possible. Since CreateSpace stopped providing self-publishing services, 1106 Design has helped many authors make the best use of their PDF files, both cover files and interior page files.
However, only minor changes to a PDF are possible. Each situation is unique, meaning that minor changes can still take a few hours. I won’t bore you with the details, but recently, on a 200-page book, the process took four hours. We were able to catch a couple of things that would have ended up with the author spending additional money needlessly when printing the book. For example, we converted the PDF to grayscale. Even though the intent was to print a one-color (black) book, the original PDF was a full-color PDF using the CMYK color space. Printing costs would have doubled if this PDF had been used as is.
Do you want to update and publish an existing book? Contact us to for a quote. Depending on the complexity of the job, the fee for fixing a PDF starts at $200.
Self-Publishing Services for New Books
While there are many possibilities for authors to distribute their books, we recommend that CreateSpace be used for distribution via Amazon and IngramSpark be used for distribution to all other outlets including brick-and-mortar bookstores.
Regardless, each avenue to book sales has exacting specifications for the PDFs that must be uploaded. Authors have many options for book design and PDF generation, and CreateSpace’s self-publishing services were one popular option. In the absence of CreateSpace, authors can do anything from designing and formatting their own book covers and interior pages, to sourcing freelancers, to hiring a company like 1106 Design that provides all the services under one roof.
How do you find quality self-publishing services? The Alliance of Independent Authors and The Center For Book Publishing offer unbiased vendor reviews. We’re happy to report that 1106 Design is rated “Excellent” by both organizations.
Whichever route you choose, we urge you to manage your own distribution and print-on-demand via CreateSpace and IngramSpark. In doing so, you can be confident of earning the maximum profit per book, which should amount to retail price less the fee due to the bookseller, less printing costs. Be wary of self-publishing service providers that pay you a small royalty instead of the full amount. While their fees may be cheaper up front, lost profit on every book, over time, can take a big chunk of money out of your pocket.
Are you exploring self-publishing options? Contact us for a free consultation and quote. A package that includes cover design, interior layout, proofreading, and eBook formatting for books 50,000 words and under starts at $3,000.
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