Self-publishing for free with CreateSpace is a fantastic bargain; however, free is not even the best part.
Low cost books are essential to an author's success, and CreateSpace's Pro Plan ($39.
00) provides the lowest prices available from a self-publishing company.
Publish your book for free, and if sales take off, switch to the Pro Plan.
Nearly all self-publishing companies gouge authors by padding book prices.
Hopefully, CreateSpace's free and nearly free publishing programs will put an end to book price gouging.
Self-publishing for free with CreateSpace has many advantages: • Your book will be published • You will get an Amazon.
com book detail page complete with the "Look Inside" feature • You will retain all rights • You choose the size and set the price • Short turn around-your book will be published in days instead of months • No long term contracts • Low book costs-you make more per book • Free ISBN • No setup fees • No minimum orders • No inventory • No warehouse fees • A program to create your book cover • Cover Templates for those who are skilled with image editing programs Are there any disadvantages? Of course.
You have to do all the work yourself.
You have to know the essential parts of your book.
You have to format your book.
Microsoft Word will do nicely.
You need to convert your book to PDF.
And, you need to create a cover, either with an image editing program or CreateSpace's cover creation program.
If you are starting from scratch that is a lot to learn, but think of the pride you will have knowing that you can write and publish a book anytime you want.
And, if you become skilled at any of the tasks involved, you can easily make money performing those tasks for less intrepid authors.
You can actually make more money publishing for free with CreateSpace than you would make with a traditional publisher.
To determine how much you will make from each book sold on Amazon, subtract Amazon's 40 percent from the list price (the price you set for your book), and then subtract the cost of the book.
The balance is yours.
It is as simple as that.
For example, if you price a 160-page book at $14.
95, subtract 40 percent: $14.
95 - 40% = $8.
97.
Then subtract the cost of the book, which is $1.
50 for the cover and $0.
02 per page, which in our example comes to $1.
50 plus $3.
20, or $4.
70.
Now then, $8.
97 - $4.
70 = $4.
27.
You will never get that much from a traditional publisher.
But wait, it gets better.
CreateSpace has a Pro Plan for $39.
00 plus $5.
00 a year maintenance fee that will drastically reduce the cost of your books.
Instead of $1.
50 for your cover, try $0.
90.
And, instead of $0.
02 per page, try $0.
012.
The cost of your book now becomes $0.
90 plus $1.
92 or $2.
82.
Now, $8.
97 minus $2.
82 is $6.
15.
Unbelievable! If you are selling more than a few books, you will definitely want the Pro plan.
You can switch at any time, so there is no risk.
CreateSpace only gets 20 percent of the list price, so you will make 20 percent more on books sold at CreateSpace.
If you sell your own books, you would make $14.
95 minus $2.
82, or $12.
13 on each book.
This is the reason you want to publish with CreateSpace.
You can't make that with a traditional publisher.