What is CreateSpace?

CreateSpace is an Amazon company that facilitates the preparation of your book for sale and distribution. On the site, you will register the title, subtitle, and author name, be given an ISBN (or register your own), upload your book contents, upload or create your cover design, designate the sale price for your book, and choose your desired channels of distribution.

CreateSpace is a print-on-demand publisher. That means your book is printed only when someone buys your book on Amazon or other online outlets. The plus side of print-on-demand is the lack of upfront costs. If you format the manuscript, design the cover, and upload it yourself, it will be listed on the Amazon website at no cost to you.

There is a fee, of course. The fee for printing and profit for Amazon is taken whenever a book is purchased. The remainder is the royalty you receive. The royalty will vary depending on a few different factors. You can estimate the royalty for a book at www.createspace.com/products/book/#content6:royaltycalculator. To give you an idea of what a royalty might look like, a one hundred and fifty page, black and white book with white paper sold at $10 would yield a royalty of around $3.25.

What I like about CreateSpace is its user-friendly, step-by-step interface. I found it to be written for the non-technical publishing neophyte. Where I had questions, there were articles and a community forum to help navigate through the information.

Go to www.createspace.com and register by clicking “Start a title for free.”

If you would like more information about CreateSpace or how to self-publish, check out The Self-Publishing Roadmap on Amazon and Kindle.