It’s been a long time coming, as Amazon has finally added hardcover books as an option for self-publishers using their platform.
From their email:
In addition to eBook and paperback, KDP now offers hardcover publishing! With our new case laminate hardcover option for books between 75–550 pages, you can:
Reach more readers. Feature your hardcover alongside your eBooks and paperbacks and let readers choose their preferred format.
Earn royalties. Continue to earn 60% royalties on hardcover as you do with paperback. There will be an adjusted printing cost for hardcover.
Publish your hardcover books your way. Choose from two cover finishes, three interior types, and five trim sizes. Enter your book’s trim size, page count, ink and paper selections, and our new cover calculator and template generator tool will provide you with a custom cover template, sized to your book’s specifications.
Thank you to Giacomo Giammatteo for explaining the major differences between CreateSpace and Ingram Spark for self-publishing paperbacks. This article makes it very clear, pointing out your options. Giacomo is the author of gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family. And he also writes non-fiction books including the “No Mistakes” Careers series.
I have done a few posts on printing for the self-published author, but the more I play around with social media, the more confusion I see among indie authors. Most of the confusion stems from misinformation or old information regarding the two biggest players in the indie author printing game—CreateSpace and Ingram (either Spark or Lightning Source).
First, to clear up a simple thing that always bothers me—it’s Lightning Source, not Lightening Source. There is no ‘e’ in the name, just like there is no ‘e’ in the lightning that you see during a storm.
And to clear up a few other misconceptions—there are lots of options available to indie authors. In Choosing a Self-Publishing Service, Mick Rooney and I covered quite a few possibilities, and Mick’s site The Independent Publishing Magazine has plenty of articles on those options. But for this post, we’re only going to deal with two options—CreateSpace and Ingram Spark.
What To Compare
Determining what to compare is a major consideration for a blog post. If we go into detail on all the choices, it would require a book to do a proper justification. We don’t have time for a book, so I picked what seems to be the biggest concerns for most indie authors…(continue reading this article by Giacomo Giammatteo).
Indie Authors #57 features Nick Winters, Australian actor and writer, discussing movie stars, murder, sex and witchcraft in his novel, Hollywood Scent.
A novel approach for an ebook business? It appears Screwpulp has one. An innovative platform may benefit new authors and readers alike.
How are they different? “By giving away the initial copies of the book for free, in exchange for a mention on social media and a star rating, we quickly get your book into the hands of readers. This builds a fanbase for the author quickly and this exchange creates buzz around your work. As demand for the book goes up so does the price in one dollar increments.”
All books begin as free downloads then go to $1 after receiving 25 downloads. Will they go to $2 at 50 or 100 downloads? We’ll see soon as they are a fledgling company with a current best-seller topping the charts at 30 downloads. However, that will change quickly. My curiosity wanders to the price ceiling, which might come into play around the $3 or $5 or dare I say $7 to $9 mark. Will be fun to watch. But even for the $1 sales–at 75% royalties to the author, that’s good money compared to major retailers.
I asked Richard Billings, CEO of Screwpulp, how it all began?
I came up with a form of the idea about 3 years ago and inadvertently did customer discovery by speaking with readers and writers for a couple of years, which helped me to define Screwpulp to what it is today. We listened very carefully to both sides in order to create a marketplace that would be beneficial to all types of readers and writers. Our company was officially formed in February 2013 and launched in beta on May 1st 2013.
Who are the founders?
I am the original founder with Will Phillips Jr., our designer, coming on in July of 2012. I found through my discovery process that design was important to both readers and writers. We brought on Richard Batt for business operations, and Kris Spencer for development in Feb 2013. More recently Joe Wikert, a 20 year publishing insider who has spent the last several years focusing on change in the industry, joined the team as a board member and mentor.
What motivates you?
I’m an amateur writer and found several problems with self-publishing model. Also, like the rest of the team, I’m an avid reader. As a reader I found that most self-publishing sites weren’t very user friendly or visually appealing. They sold books by authors I didn’t know, with no ratings to base my decision on, for higher prices that I was willing to spend on so many unknowns. Our motivation is to make the self-publishing experience better for both the reader and the writer.
What sales growth are you seeing?
We launched on May 1st with 4 books, 4 authors, and of course 0 users. Today, nearly six weeks later, we have about 50 books, 45 authors (from 3 countries), and we’re approaching 800 users. This growth has been mostly organic as we done very little marketing.
Not bad to start. That will change dramatically soon. Where do you see book prices eventually rising to?
That’s hard to say. So far there hasn’t been a mechanism that allows the market to decide what prices should be. We think our crowd-driven pricing will give real indications about what readers are willing to spend on self-published titles.
How do authors upload and in what format?
Eventually authors will be able to submit through the website. We’re in early beta and will be adding features regularly. Currently the submission process is found at this link: https://www.screwpulp.com/?publish
Have to admit, this is a brilliant idea. Good for authors and readers. Here’s a YouTube video with a bit more:
Is your Facebook Group suddenly getting way more traffic or requests to join than normal? Are 30 newbies in line to be added today, and normally that total is 2? If so, you’re not alone.
Once again Facebook changes have come about. FB is recommending areas of interest to users based on what they’ve been doing and joining (ugly yellow arrows).
Smart idea? Probably. Group recommendations make sense although the new influx might overwhelm you, especially if you prefer doing a little research to cut down on the fly-by-spammer types.
How to avoid Facebook Group spam? Check people’s profile. If they just joined FB last week and are in 13 groups–not a good sign. If they only have one photo and no comments–not a good sign. If she’s smoking hot and you can’t understand why she’d want to join your group–not a good sign and she’s not really the girl in the picture (probably not even a girl).
Have fun, enjoy the bigger party. But don’t let these newbies waltz around thinking they can promote every one of their products and websites. Take a stand–this is your house.
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