CreateSpace- Free plan? Or Pro Plan?

[Paul D. Dail]

I would be curious to hear from those of you who are using CreateSpace.  I'm still waiting on my designer for my cover so I can proceed, but I've heard some interesting things about the ProPlan through them (essentially paying a fee--- $40?--- in return for higher royalties and cheaper author copies) as opposed to their regular free plan.  Has anyone run the numbers on this, or can speak on this further?

 

Thanks in advance, 

Paul D. Dail

www.pauldail.com- A horror writer's not necessarily horrific blog

[E. S. Lark]

I've done both and while the free plan is nice, it causes the price of your book to be higher than one might pay. The pro-plan is better in the long run since you can keep the price low. I feel it's worth the $40 to lower the price while still getting more per book. You'll make back your investment so long as you market correctly.

[Paul D. Dail]

Thanks for the comment.  Yes, I think you have to do the sell-through point to figure that.  However, it was interesting to see Moissanite's comments (below).  Still a little confused on the pricing.

[Moissanite Jewel]

Now this all depends on what you are wanting to gain in the first place, plus how long your book is. The price is greatly affected by how many pages your book can be. I think one of mine without a pro plan that is 444 pages is $16.99. I don't know who would want that. At the pro price it lowers significantly to a much more reasonable number and can be sold better.

 

The only thing I don't like is the advanced distribution option you get with pro. If you want to include advanced distribution so that your book can be in many more places (anything from small shops to Amazon UK) your book will go extremely high again. (There is also no guarantee which platform/store will accept you.) So who would want my paperback for $16.99 even though it's now available everywhere? Add whatever shipping price that will be, and it's a pain. There's also no way to lower that price.

 

I would gladly pay a little extra to createspace to make books priced reasonable on the pro plan's advanced distribution, but c'est la vie. I don't think that's possible since everyone needs to make money off the book that way.

 

 

 

 

 

[E. S. Lark]

This is why in addition to doing softcover with CS, I'll be publishing ebooks through Smashwords and Amazon. I've read it's best to do both CS and Lulu, since it will widen your online presence, but I've never used Lulu, so  can't say anything about it for sure.

[Paul D. Dail]

Interesting.  Again, I'm still waiting on my cover image, but I was under the impression that you set your own price.  I know their cost for production is based on pages, but it set the price for you?  Is that the lowest price you can set it at and still see royalties for that page number? 

 

And advanced distribution is basically saying Joe'sbooks.com could sell your book possibly, right?  Hmm.  While I can see going with Amazon UK, I think I can agree that it doesn't seem beneficial to branch outside of Amazon, at least not at the outset.

 

Thanks for your response, and if you get an opportunity, I would be curious about the pricing.

[E. S. Lark]

Paul, I'll give you an example right now. I have a book I published a proof of for editing purposes. It's around 250 pages long and I decided to do a 5.5 X 8.5 trim with cream pages for the interior. To actually have the book listed on Amazon, I need to set the price over $11 without the pro plan. Right now, I have it at $12, which in the end, would only get me $0.62 per sale. If I chose to use the pro plan and kept it at $12, I'd make $3.31 off of each sale instead.

 

The pro plan allows us to price our books lower, or to get more from every sale we make. There's a minimum CS requires you to price your books at, and this all comes down to the thickness of the spine as well as if your interior is black and white or has color images.

 

As it stands right now, for this one title without the pro plan, the minimum price I can set for my own books is $6.58, but then I won't be given the option to list them on Amazon or through the Createspace store. The only way I could sell my books at this price is if I were to order them myself and sell them through my own website.

 

Once you start getting your files uploaded, you'll see the options for your book on the "Sales Channels" tabs. You can always start without the pro plan and upgrade later.

[Paul D. Dail]

Okay, that makes sense.  I appreciate it.  Sounds like the Pro Plan is the way to go (which I realize you've already said :)  Thanks again.

[Paul D. Dail]

Interesting response in comparison with Moisannite.  Are you calling the wider distribution the same as the advanced distribution?  And you are finding good success outside of the Amazon storefront?

[Moissanite Jewel]

Ah. This was a great thread, especially with Shawn Lamb's info. Currently I'm reworking the book again to change the trim, spacing and font size. Since this was a longer book it cost more, but the trim difference has shortened itself extensively. I am going to be ordering proof copies first though to make sure this edition is still nice and convenient for reading before moving on with another pro plan.

 

As for UK, I plan on selling myself at a lower price with a standard market plan until cheaper sellers come along or Amazon UK picks it up itself. Otherwise it's 17 pounds for a paperback right now. However without advanced distribution I don't think I could sell it on UK.

 

 

[Nicholas Borelli]

I used the free plan. But at some point, my eyes run over the typos and I can't see them anymore.  If you're like me, it might be worth the investment.