Comments on: Is Amazon’s BookSurge Really a Raw Deal?

By: Wicked Sunny

Wicked Sunny — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:16:47 +0000

I am writing and publishing my books through createspace.com , they have waived the pro plan fees till this month’s end.

Regarding quality, living in India, I cannot say what quality you guys expect but my first two books proof looked amazing, much better than I believe any printer in India can provide.

Yes they have limited options right now, like no gloss paper, but I hope they will grow as huge as lulu.com soon enough.

customer service is A++++

I have been in constant touch with them for over one month now, with over 150 emails, average of two emails per day . They have been amazingly tolerant and patient in replying with adequate solutions to all my problems, even accepting and changing few of the options I suggested which would suit international writers.

I was not expecting such service when I started. I am going to stick with them for a long long time.

Already have created about 20 titles with them including recipe books. 2 books are published working on the third.

Plus you get your book listed on amazon without any hurdles.

By: Ted Bowman

Ted Bowman — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:52:28 +0000

We published with RJ last summer. Beautiful book. Looking to reprint soon. What do I need to do to keep our book available at Amazon?

Ted and Judith Bowman

By: Patricia Alvarado

Patricia Alvarado — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:17:30 +0000

Piggy Press is a small publishing house in the Republic of Panama, where the market is limited. In an effort to have a larger presence online, we signed up with Amazon Advantage in 2004. This didn’t work well for us because of shipping and handling problems. So at the end of 2004, when I heard about BookSurge and its connection with Amazon, I signed up and was more than pleased with the professional attention I received. When Amazon acquired BS in 2005, things got even better. Piggy Press now has over 40 titles listed on BookSurge/Amazon, and we are also working with CreateSpace to produce our audio books on demand. The books and CDs that BookSurge and CreateSpace produce are top notch.

By: Tony Burton

Tony Burton — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:10:29 +0000

I don’t know about BookSurge quality. I have heard complaints even in the last couple of weeks about product quality from there, and read about books not being available that are BookSurge books, even though they are POD.

One thing that really bothers me, since I can’t pin down the quality or availability issue, is Amazon’s tight and one-way grip on pricing. Let’s say I let them print a version of my book through BookSurge, and the retail is 10.95. From what I have read, I cannot price it anywhere else lower than that, even on my own publisher’s website. Yet, Amazon can discount it as much as they like! I don’t like it when someone else has more control over my actions than I have, in the pricing of my own products. If they want to say, “We won’t discount it and you can’t either,” even though that sticks in my craw, it still would be better than, “You can’t discount the book’s price, but we at Amazon can! We can undercut you, so sod off!”

In that aspect, they *are* being a big, bad bully, and it’s unacceptable.

By: Bill Adams

Bill Adams — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:18:27 +0000

If BookSurge is really using cutting-edge production equipment now, why not tell you what it is? Seems odd. Complaints about bad quality books that I’ve seen are all post-Amazon buy, often within the last year.

And you don’t mention the high discount rate. Six months ago, we could work through Lightning source and get a 25% short discount rate on Amazon sales. Booksurge takes a lot more.

CreateSpace Pro does offer offer a 20% short discount off their CreateSpace store, though no better than 40% off Amazon sales. Still, not a terrible deal — _if_ and only if, the poor production stories aren’t true.