We sell books through Amazon because a whole lot of people go there to buy books. But, we are also very successful at having our authors push sales through our bookstore – where their royalty is much higher.

The one thing about Amazon that works for me is — they don’t take returns. Since we don’t take returns, that works for me. The traditional publishing world is gradually noticing that POD firms don’t have to warehouse and grind books to pulp. And, our books never have to go out of print.

So, Amazon is helping kill the return system, which is the only reason physical bookstores don’t carry POD books. Once the return system is dead… we’ll be in all the bookstores. Or, everything will be online.

As for why I’m self-publishing: I’m trying to produce work that comes from me, and not made for my publishers [I still love them, and work for them, but I'm essentially writing for their market goals, and not always my creative ones. ^_-]

Thanks you for your advice though. I find your articles very helpful, including this one! I’ve spoken to one young man at Createspace so far [trying to hammer out the details on a graphic novel submission] so I think it’s going to be trial and error, and hope they get it right in at least ‘two proofs’. I’ve found, through dealings with my publishers that with graphic novels, even the offset printers run them through a rigorous and pricey proofing process until ‘everyone’ gets it right. I’m used to digital pre-press being very important with my publishers, before it even makes it to the printer; this helps them reduce the possibility of returns due to quality issues. Thanks for heads up about their ‘returns’ policy.

-Tina

I\’m about to use Createspace in order produce a graphic novel, and then a novel [the mode works for me because I create a certain sort of erotica, and my buying market is primarily centered at Amazon]. I\’m curious about their production values are of interest to me.

^_^
Tina

Interesting question. The CreateSpace final product was not bad, for digital printing.  Of the three I tested, Lulu actually had the best quality, followed by CreateSpace (BookSurge) and then by Lightning Source. To be honest, I don\’t associate \”quality\” with any of them.  If I were you, I would try it and order a copy for yourself.  Remember that you sign that you will accept returns with CreateSpace so if your customers are unhappy with the quality, they return the book and it comes out of your pocket. This is the biggest difference between going with CreateSpace vs. Lulu or other LSI reseller. I really think that authors, who are serious about publishing, should print an offset run (500-1000) for their primary sales and only use POD to supplement their other marketing activities.

Ron

We would love to hear of your experiences. It\’s a real \”hot button\” subject that needs some realty mixed in with all the hype.

Ron

Amazon is constantly bending the truth to control opinion on their site. When my first book appeared on Amazon it was listed as a single-run printing that would take several weeks to be received, which was untrue. Infinity was the publisher who has their own printing shop and prints on demand. My experience is they can print and ship much faster than Amazon can.

I sent a letter to Amazon explaining that the listing was deceptive and would hurt sales. It makes people think twice about buying a book that would be “very hard to receive in a timely manner.” They changed the listing to normal shipping times, but added that the book could also be purchased in used format – not true again. All my books are published by Infinity Publishing that prints the books as soon as the electronic order hits their computer. There are no used copies around. This was done to masquerade discounts, I must assume. Used verses discounted sounds better, I guess.

The next thing Amazon did was remove a review a friend of mind made that favored the book. Then when other people that read the books tried to make a review they were blocked, because they hadn’t purchased the book from Amazon even though their criteria for a review was only, “I own the book.” It doesn’t require the purchase from Amazon. I queried them on this practice as well and they lifted the restriction.

The problem lies in the fact that Amazon is now in the publishing business and not just a distribution outlet. Now they feel the need to sway markets. It’s a conflict of interest that leads to deceptive practices. They receive the largest discount of anyone in the publishing chain. They shouldn’t be so greedy. Most authors are lucky to receive 10% of retail, Ingram sees 12 to 20%, and retailers like Amazon see 40%. The rest goes to the original publisher.

It is so slanted against the author that I recommend buyers go to the publisher by all means and avoid Amazon. I receive three times the royalty this way that would otherwise disappear into Amazon. So far I have never seen discounted books from Amazon inside this 40% margin, so they are taking the whole thing unless disguised as used books. All of this is to the disadvantage of the author. I do realize books that have been on the market for a long time have used components and they are listed and distributed by Amazon as such, but brand new books are treated the same way.

Then comes the next wave of bullies on the block – the larger self-publishers that are merging and downsizing, wielding very high costs and complex contracts, getting ever bigger, and owned by big corporations, heading toward shady practices as well, I would predict. How can you justify multiple companies or sub-companies within a corporate entity that all do the exact same job in the same facilities? Does this not smack of some sort of groundwork for deception? Enron was the champion of such practices to hide loses. It makes one wonder.

My whole point of view and advice to authors, since you stand alone, unprotected in the business world, is to avoid these complex entities or you will be taken to the cleaners. There is a movement afoot for self-published authors. Take advantage of it. See AuthorNation.com or NothingBinding.com. The idea is to provide unfettered books to the public at a fair price from the author to the buyer – no monkey business.