CreateSpace.com Report Card

Bottom line Up Front (BLUF): I released the first book, Homecoming, of my science fiction series Osguards: Guardians of the Universe on 8 Oct 09 through CreateSpace.com. This blog is to respond to a question on how I liked dealing with CreateSpace.com.


I have published three of the four books prior with Iuniverse.com. I thank Iuniverse for extending the opportunity to me, but I felt like I was doing all the work and they were reaping all the benefits. Even though I have severed my relationship with them, I still see my books trading, although slow, on-line. Therefore, I decided to branch out on my own and start my own small print publishing for my books.

A few months ago, I asked the group about CreateSpace.com as a business to produce my books. Responses were mixed, but I decided to go with them anyway. CreateSpace allowed me to publish under my own brand, so I decided to publish my Osguard series under Rage Books.

The process was long, due to my pace. I didn't want to rush into things. I really had only one problem. That was the production of the book cover. I initially was going to use their cover program (which was quick and easy), but since I'm paying for both my daughters to go to college to learn how to do things like that (one is a digital animator and the other is in graphic communication) I charged them with doing the cover. That took more time. Unfortunately, the instructions on how to use their template for self-produced covers were not clear when it came to the bleed zone. It took me five attempts and even after that three proofs to get it right.

Other than that, excellent knowledge of Microsoft word and how to set up a page was most helpful. The interior was accepted on the first try.

However, I must tell you, there is something exciting about putting your book together from all perspectives, rather than just handing someone the manuscript. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So I would have to say I give CreateSpace.com a four out of five so far. Now, let's see how their support will be during marketing. Today, I placed the book live on my websites: www.osguards.com and www.ragebooks.net. The book is also available on the CreateSpace.com website. It will take a few weeks before it gets to www.Amazon.com. The beauty of that is I will also try to market the books on the kindle application.

Oh yeah, if you do it all yourself (writing, production, art etc) it is free. However, I paid about $40 for the pro plan which allowed me to keep more of the sale price as royalty. So if you are a perfectionist...this is the way to go. It can’t do you any harm to check out createspace.com.

Malcolm “RAGE” Petteway
http://www.ragebooks.net/