From Author Imprints:
The convenience of managing your Kindle eBook and paperback in a single account is undeniable. Using a single login, you can upload book files, access sales reports, create and manage AMS ads (Amazon Marketing Services) and manage book metadata using KDP Print.
But is using KDP Print better than using Amazon’s CreateSpace to produce your paperback? What do you give up, or gain, using one vs. the other?
. . . .
Here are the key differences between CreateSpace and KDP Print. If something like royalties isn’t mentioned, it means it is a wash—it is the same for both so it doesn’t matter which you use.
- Selling books in other Amazon country-specific stores. Both get your book on Amazon.com (US) and Amazon’s European stores. However, only CreateSpace will get your paperback into Amazon’s stores for Canada and Mexico. On the other hand, you must use KDP Print to make your paperback available in Amazon’s store for Japan.
- Distribution of your paperback to non-Amazon stores. This is accomplished on CreateSpace by using Expanded Distribution. It is not currently available with KDP Print. That means your paperback will not appear in the Barnes & Noble online store, for example. Nor can someone walk into the store and order it.
- Using CreateSpace files with KDP Print. Newer CreateSpace files for standard book sizes will work for KDP Print. Contact CreateSpace if they created your original files.
. . . .
A final note is that you cannot return your book to CreateSpace once you’ve moved it to KDP Print. Nor can you move a book to CreateSpace from KDP Print.
Link to the rest at Author Imprints
might be best to look at alibaba if one wants a small run of say 2-500.
Dont want to not be able to move freely
I’ve seen a couple of short-run printers in the US who specify they’ll work with indies. One is PrintNinja, which has a handy guide to RGB to CMYK conversions for your covers. Hint, if you’re in Photoshop, do NOT go to Image–>Mode. Instead go to Edit –>Assign Profile and chose the profile the printer is using. Caveat: I haven’t had a chance to vouch for this process, but I think a couple of people on KBoards said they do similar.
The other is Bookmobile, who even goes into detail about partnering with various authors’ Kickstarter campaigns.
There’s another POD company called 48Hour Books which offers cover options CS doesn’t. If I recall correctly, you don’t actually have to use the 48-hour window, that’s just the quickest they promise to send them.
I can vouch for none of these! I just discovered them browsing on the web. If anyone has one they can vouch for, let us know!
Does KDP Print now allow proof copy and/or author copies yet?
Publish Your Paperback on KDP (Beta)
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202059560
[quote]
You can publish paperbacks and eBooks on KDP. Publishing a paperback can help you reach new readers. KDP prints your book on demand and subtracts your printing costs from your royalties. That means you don’t have to pay any costs upfront or carry any inventory. You can also order proofs and author (wholesale) copies of your paperbacks on KDP. We’ll be adding expanded distribution in the future.
[/quote]
I got that, but when it launched, the author had no option to order a proof or order discounted copies. The only option was to place it for sale and purchase from the store.
I like the “proofs” option. Not having it go live or have ISBN. I have a number of books I want to experiment with and not have them be published.
This way I get a paper copy I can hold in my hands. Those books will go into my “Black Library” just for me. <—–[Insert Mad Scientist Laugh HA!]
KDP Press proofs have a printed band across them that says “Not For Resale.” Your Black Library will be very exclusive.
Excellent!
It’s been available for everyone since mid-January, yes, and was available for a testing group since August of last year. KDP Print still lists itself as being in Beta, so new features are still being added… (though it seems to be going slower than I thought it would).
“That means your paperback will not appear in the Barnes & Noble online store, for example. Nor can someone walk into the store and order it”
Ah, is this humor?
Take care
I’ve seen orders for my paperbacks coming through expanded distribution from places like Montana and Idaho. I know I am a very small fish in a very large ocean, so no brick-and-mortar bookstore keeps my books on its shelves. Which means that a customer did indeed walk into those bookstores and…ORDER MY BOOK! It happens.
I hate to point this out, but the last few weeks, each Amazon shipment of books, CDs, DVDs has been loose in the box or bag, with dread results. When I went to “Leave Packaging Feedback” to complain, the button was gone.
So it’s not exclusive to KDP.
Maybe robots have trouble with bubble wrap?
Amazon still uses bubble wrap in the USA? All my recent UK deliveries – well packaged – use scrunched up rolls of brown paper. The vacuum cleaner that turned up a couple of days ago had a distinctly overcharge box packed out with about 100 feet off the paper roll.
Another concern I have is with the quality of the packing at KDP. I’ve seen a couple posts on the 20Books group complaining that they’re tossing the books loosely into the box, damaging them.
In general, I see no reason to move over to KDP.
CreateSpace still uses careful packaging. Amazon does not. With my last book, I needed 4 of my CreateSpace copies fast, so I ordered the 4 through Prime (2 day shipping.) Then I ordered 10 more direct from CreateSpace (10 day shipping.) Yes, Prime was fast, but all four books were slightly damaged. CreateSpace wrapped the books in brown paper and they came through with no damage.
That may vary, though, depending on where the CreateSpace facility is. I’ve seen writers on KBoards who say that CS quality control varies according to the facility the books are sent from.
A year ago I ordered some books through CreateSpace, and after a delay (they had flooding in that part of Kentucky) they sent them to me. The books were damaged, and the packaging was remarkably slapdash. As in, the box wasn’t quite big enough for the books. They used tape to overcome the fact that the flaps couldn’t possibly close down. There was a gap large enough to stick a candy bar through, not that anyone did. I could only guess that the proper boxes had drowned in the flood.
When I’d called earlier about the delay, the nice lady had the order routed to their North Carolina facility. Free of charge. So the very same day the damaged books came, I also received the books from NC. They were packaged properly, and intact.
Though to be fair, the Kentucky facility’s crappy packaging was an aberration — most books I order from indie writers are printed in Kentucky, and they’re perfectly fine. I’m assuming CS ships from whatever state is closet to the customer. It’s something to keep in mind; you may just be lucky to live near the “good” facility.
I’ve only ever received books from the NC location, and they’ve always arrived very quickly using the standard shipping and have been in good shape. I agree that location is probably a big factor in whether or not you’re getting the best service.
I’m pretty happy with CS and don’t see myself moving to KDP Print until/if I have no other choice. Enough of my paperback sales come from expanded distribution that I wouldn’t want to cut that off either.
The biggest problem I have with CreateSpace is ordering author copies. I live in Germany, and it’s both unacceptably expensive and slow to order author copies from CreateSpace, since they insist on printing in the US, and shipping from there. (My biggest beef with them, and something I’ve been telling them in *every* poll they sent me.)
(KDP allows printing in Europe, but that’s not the point I’m making just yet.)
So I usually order copies directly from Amazon for the full price (yes, ouch!), but at least I get the royalties from those orders, and they get to me within three days!
Since ordering books from Amazon means they are printed in Europe, I have some experience with the printing quality of different locations. And yes, I did order books directly from CreateSpace once, and will not ever do so again.
US printers are worst. Bad paper quality, bad trimming, horrible glueing. You have no idea what you’re missing if you’re in the US. Sorry. Horrible quality.
UK printers are slightly better. Still very bad paper quality, but at least the glueing is better, and the trim is… barely acceptable.
Polish printers are the best. Really good paper, perfect folding, good trim. Fast delivery on top.
For my German books, I will definitely choose KDP, since the wider distribution CS offers has no real value for those. With the English ones… I’ll have to see how it goes.
Hi Hannah,
Is it correct to assume that a European author can’t specify they’d like their books (author or customer copies) to be printed at the Polish facility?
When you order a pre-publish proof copy from the US and then find that the author/customer copies printed in Europe are superior, does that defeat the purpose of ordering a proof? Wouldn’t you be sending corrections to Createspace that are potentially redundant?
Thanks.
Out of curiosity, have you tried Lightning Source? I think I’ve heard of indies using LS for expanded distribution, and a few videos and such on the web suggested they do superior printing. The colors are a little more vibrant. I have noticed that after a while the CS books start to lose their lamination (peeling along the edges).
I sometimes wish for a Consumer Reports** for indies, where they review the long-term quality of printers as well as the basics like packaging.
**If they don’t have CR in Germany, it’s a magazine that tests cars and appliances and so on for durability, and lets you know which brands are prone to breaking down.
Ordering off Amazon and KDP Print are two different things. One is one-off printing, likely in an Amazon facility and fulfilled by Amazon, the other is batch printing fulfilled by the print shop.
CS and KDP Print probably ship mass author copies similarly. Probably in the same facility and on the same printers.
CS and KDP Print are just programs integrated differently but most likely printing on the exact same printers and binders.