Heads up to Indie authors with paperbacks using CreateSpace and the Pro Plan, which is something I use too. As of today, Jan-18-2011, the feature is being discontinued. The Pro Plan cost $39/year/book and allowed authors a reduced price when purchasing their own books. It also enabled better royalties on all sales along with Expanded Distribution channels to more booksellers, libraries, etc. For just $39/year, it was something that definitely made sense to do, easily paying for itself after a few dozen orders.
CreateSpace just sent me this letter, which says;
We’ve discontinued Pro Plan and now all authors receive the benefit of lower member order costs and higher royalty payouts previously available through Pro Plan, for free.
Where is the Pro Plan star icon?
Since we’ve discontinued Pro Plan, the star icon has been replaced with a solid blue book icon for all paperback books.
How do I get Expanded Distribution now that Pro Plan is gone?
Expanded Distribution is now $25. To purchase Expanded Distribution and enroll your book through these channels, click “Channels” from your Project Homepage and then click the orange “Add to Cart” button.
What happens to my existing title enrolled in Pro Plan?
Royalties and member order rates will remain the same for titles that were previously on Pro Plan. These titles will also remain available through the channels you selected within Expanded Distribution. If your Pro Plan title is not already enrolled in Expanded Distribution, you can enroll it for free at any time.
What happens to my existing title not enrolled in Pro Plan?
Your member cost for book orders will drop and your royalty earnings will increase. Use our order calculator and royalty calculator to determine your rates. These titles can be enrolled in Expanded Distribution for $25. Confirm your title’s Expanded Distribution before purchasing.
Guess my only question is if they’ll reimburse us the $14 difference? Probably not, but I still love CreateSpace as my preferred method of making paperbacks for free and selling them on Amazon.
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January 19, 2012 at 1:22 am
I think the major benefit of this is that more authors will be able to compete in terms of price. Price being a major factor in why self published print books don’t sell as well as ebooks or traditionally published print books. I think this is a good thing.
January 19, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Makes sense–I’d agree. Thanks for that, Claire.