CreateSpace Merges With KDP

Tags

Amazon, CerateSpace, kdp, KDP Print

The day we’ve all been waiting for (or, in some cases, dreading) is here! CreateSpace has officially announced that CreateSpace (CSP) and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) will become one service. All titles it hosts will now move to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). As I had guessed, CS will, in effect, become one of Amazon’s production and distribution centers, printing the titles on behalf of KDP.

If you wish to compare the pros and cons of KDP compared to CreateSpace, check out my earlier posts, KDP Print Just Got A Whole Lot More Attractive and Moving Your Book From Createspace to KDP Print.

Also, Deborah Jay let us know that David Gaughran has done a great post on how to move your files from CreateSpace to KDP: http://davidgaughran.com/2018/08/16/switch-createspace-kdp-print-paperback/

CreateSpace Says…

Here is the official announcement in CreateSpace’s own words (text in bold emphasized by me):

“In the coming days, we will give CreateSpace members the ability to move their account and titles. To ensure a quality experience, we will add links to the CreateSpace member dashboard in phases so authors may see it at different times. As a reminder, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) now offers Expanded Distribution to sell your paperbacks to physical bookstores in the US, as well as the ability to sell your paperback books on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.au (Amazon.mx coming soon). With these features, KDP’s paperback distribution will be on par with CreateSpace’s distribution. KDP also offers features that aren’t available on CreateSpace. These include the ability to purchase ads to promote paperbacks on Amazon.com and locally printed author copies in Europe.

As a result of these enhancements to KDP and our ongoing efforts to provide a more seamless experience for managing your paperback and digital books, CreateSpace and KDP will become one service. On KDP, your paperbacks will still be printed in the same facilities, on the same printers, and by the same people as they were on CreateSpace.

In a few weeks, we’ll start automatically moving your CreateSpace books to KDP. Your books will remain available for sale throughout the move and you’ll continue to earn royalties. Once we begin this process you’ll be unable to edit existing titles or create new titles on CreateSpace.

If you have a release planned soon or you would like to start the move yourself, we are making updates that will allow you to move your entire catalog in just a few steps. During this transition, you can contact KDP customer support by email and access phone support in English.

There are a few payment and printing fee differences associated with the move. Going forward you will be paid on KDP’s payment schedule. CreateSpace pays monthly royalties 30 days after the end of the month in which they were earned while KDP pays monthly royalties approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which they were earned. As a result, you’ll be paid in September for any royalties earned in August on CreateSpace and be paid in October for any royalties earned in August on KDP.

To learn more about the move and review the latest, visit here. We’ll be in touch with more updates in the coming weeks.”

What It Means

Bottom line: you don’t need to do anything unless you’re in a hurry to transfer your titles to KDP. But for now, my advice is to wait for the option (coming soon) that will allow you to move your entire catalog in just a few steps.

But the change is almost upon us, so we need to watch out for any surprises. CreateSpace has notified me that some of my books will be charged a higher manufacturing fee once they are moved to KDP. Paperback printing costs are higher on KDP than CreateSpace for:

• Black & White titles under 110 pages printed in the EU,
• Black & White titles under 100 pages printed in the UK, and
• color titles under 30 pages printed in both the EU and UK.

Some people, like me, may want to update the list prices of our books to make sure we don’t end up paying money for each copy sold. As I’m not sure which books are affected, I will log into KDP after all titles are transferred, open all of the transferred titles, and visit page 3 to make sure I can still make a reasonable profit. While there, I’ll also check that Expanded Distribution is checked (or unchecked, depending on your preference). Learn more about KDP’s printing fees here.

Furthermore, my Greek translation of the Tao Te Ching will no longer be available on KDP Print, as Greek is not among the languages KDP supports. If you have a book in a language other than English, you can see the list of supported languages here.

Possible Alternatives: Ingram Spark

A few readers have left comments, suggesting Ingram Spark.

Vanderso said:

Many booksellers would rather buy from Ingram than from Amazon, so having your books in both places can be good. You can use the same interior and cover on both Amazon and Ingram’s platforms, so there’s no huge cost in time. I’m not suggesting that you publish only at Ingram, but rather than you consider having your books available through both. And definitely, buy your own ISBNs from Bowker! Unless something has radically and recently changed, you can’t transfer your free Amazon ISBN elsewhere.

And Judy Penz Sheluk had this to add:

I set up my book with Ingram Spark — it was easy… and if you’re ordering multiple copies, it was cheaper for me to order thru IS than CS: even though CS cost/book was less, their shipping (to Canada) was far more expensive. IS will also make your print books available to all booksellers/libraries — and Amazon. It is $49 to set up a title, but every now and again they have a free code (I uploaded free) and this month they have a 5% off orders of 50/more for publishers. I quite like IS and their print quality is great. They have strict cover art rules, but there is a template you can order (takes seconds)… Another thing IS offers is for $1/book you can have the copies personalized: i.e. To a Book club or for a special event/book launch etc. I’ve contacted customer service IS several times. It’s terrific. They do email or LiveChat.

Many thanks to them both. My only problem with Ingram Spark is that I have my titles on KDP Select, so that looks like a non-option for me at the moment.

In the near future, I’ll be moving one of my books over to KDP manually, so I can document the process for you, so watch this space for more!