Notice: The name publishing name CreateSpace has been changed to KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), but otherwise it's still a product of Amazon.com and works the same way. KDP is a self-publishing service that doesn't cost a cent, if you do everything yourself. I've published 3 novels using KDP already and they are available on Amazon.com. I also finished rewriting the novel Red Flag Warning and am in the process of publishing it, too, on KDP.
Why am I publishing this book again on KDP?
1. In 2012, before I knew about inexpensive do-it-yourself publishing, I paid Infinity Publishing to be my publisher for this book. I'd already gone through the traditional publishing model, where I searched for an agent and sent chapters to what few publishers took unsolicited manuscripts. After some time passed without results, I learned about "vanity presses" as they were called then. I talked to some fellow writers who had self-published and decided on Infinity Publishing. After paying for them to design the cover and put my book into print, they put it on Amazon.com for me in paperback and kindle versions. I only sold a few copies, which was OK.
2. After I wrote a few more books and published them on KDP I saw that Red Flag Warning had been marked way up in price. I contacted Infinity Publishing about it and they changed the price back to what it should have been. But when I searched the Infinity Publishing website, I found that it had been sold to another company. My feelers went up when the website also did not work very well. I contacted the agent again about buying author copies and learned there were a minimum number of copies I had to order and it was expensive. Not so with KDP. An author pays how much it costs to print each book, with no minimum number of copies required, plus shipping. I then looked up Infinity Publishing in the Better Business Bureau and it got an "F". That did it for me. I asked them to free me from my contract, which they did.
3. Now was my opportunity to have total control of Red Flag Warning! I reviewed the manuscript, which I saved, and saw many ways to improve my writing. KDP allows the flexibility to change a book at any time. One still has to go through all the steps again, which can be a pain, but at least the author has the opportunity to change his/her book without payment. In the finished project, my story is exactly the same, but I made it smoother and faster to read.
4. I get 100% of the royalties for any books and kindle copies sold!
Drawbacks to using KDP
1. If you want a decent cover, you need to hire a graphic designer to do it for you. For my book Remember Me, I did just that (my son's girlfriend, who is a graphic designer).
As you can see, she did an excellent job and it helped me win several awards--first place in the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the suspense category and an honorable mention in fiction in the 2018 Hollywood Book Festival. Since many writers enter these contests, I finally feel validated that I'm a good writer. For Red Flag Warning, I am using the front cover I paid for and had to make up the back cover myself (which is not nearly as polished as theirs--but that's how it goes).
2. There are a lot of steps to go through and you need to check everything to make sure it is correct. Self-publishing also requires a thorough edit and knowing how to set up a book. Some people will pay for an editor, but I am very lucky to have my husband and a few friends point out my mistakes. Since I was originally trained as a botanist and am largely self-taught as a writer, I definitely need the help! As for setting up the book, the author needs to have fairly extensive word processing skills. I was forever looking things up at first, but now I think I have the hang of it.
3. The author must market him/herself. I'm not much of a marketer so I'll probably never become famous or make a lot of money on my books. Oh well; all I want is to get my books out there and to be read by someone, instead of piles of paper in a drawer. If a person doesn't have an Amazon.com account, that can be a drawback as far as sales go, too. But there are ways around that. That's one reason I send out this blog!
