Very useful, thanks Robin!  Much appreciated.  I'm with CreateSpace, and plan to stay with them for my next books.  I'm glad to see from all of your data that this is the right move.

 

Very thorough analysis! I have used both LS and CS, and I agree with your conclusions.

Thank you for taking the time to compile and share all that data!

 

Very helpful (and timely) information.  Thanks, Robin!  I'm debating this issue right now and am comparing notes with a fellow author.  She's used CS and I've used LS.  I'm halfway through the article.  Great points so far.

 

Thanks Robin, very worthwhile post. As a Brit do you know if I can sell direct to Amazon, if so, how would I go about doing that?

Mel

 

I wanted to note that I use a 20% discount on LSI, and it lets me distribute to all channels. So, on my $9.99 titles, I usually keep about $3 after printing costs and the discount. LSI doesn't require you to give a discount, but the retailers require at least 20% to list on their websites (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, etc.), so that's all I give them; there's no need for me to discount to shelf pricing when they would never carry my title - I don't accept returns.

It's a great article packed with useful information for newer people or those considering one service over the other. But, I did want to mention the discount thing from my experience because it played the biggest part in my decision to go with LSI.

Thanks Robin, very worthwhile post. As a Brit do you know if I can sell direct to Amazon, if so, how would I go about doing that?

Mel

I am rather sure you can use Lightning Source UK. I can't recall if CreateSpace allows out-of-US customers, but I think it does also.

 

Thanks, Robin. It was good to read and I've left a comment on your blog. Like Mel, I'm a Brit, which causes problems.

 

Thanks Brian, I just published my paperback with New Generation publishers and inside the cover it names LS, so it must be an arm of it!

 

Mel,

Well, they probably use LSI for their print and distribution fulfillment. There are many publishers (as mentioned in the article, iUniverse, etc.) in the US, UK, and Europe who use LSI because they don't have to worry about printing presses, shipping, and so forth.

 

That's a lot of great information, Robin. Thank you and I definitely follow your blog closely and find these types of article extremely helpful. As someone who is almost ready to become an indie author, I've been thinking about print versions and this has answered a lot of questions for me.

 

Thanks for this but I've already had to opt out of using Createspace because of their complete and utter inability to handle my cover design. Something so simple caused a solid week of frustration trying to get my book to the proof stage and in the end made me a lot more cautious on PoD all together. I've heard other authors had similair issues with their covers thanks to what Createspace calls "live elements" and simply translates to "text" so I'm looking for other alternatives.

 

Thanks again Brian, as you can probably tell I'm new to all this! lol

Still learning but having fun nevertheless! 

 

Thanks again Brian, as you can probably tell I'm new to all this! lol

Still learning but having fun nevertheless!

Sure thing, not a problem. I've only been doing this about 4 months myself, so no worries. I'm a newbie, too. ;P

 

You've given me quite a lot to think about. I've been with LSI since I started but now I'm considering making the switch. I just wonder how hard that will be to do.

 

Zoe Winters wrote a very polite counter-argument in response to Robin's post, titled: "Why I Still Recommend Using Lightning Source over CreateSpace."

http://zoewinters.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/why-i-still-recommend-using-lightning-source-over-createspace/

I'm publishing my first novel next month. Leaning toward Lightning Source.

 

Zoe Winters wrote a very polite counter-argument in response to Robin's post, titled: "Why I Still Recommend Using Lightning Source over CreateSpace."

http://zoewinters.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/why-i-still-recommend-using-lightning-source-over-createspace/

I'm publishing my first novel next month. Leaning toward Lightning Source.

Her thesis statement is essentially, "Don't use Createspace because it's Amazon and we won't like them when they're in charge so you should spread your money around to help stave off this evil empire."

That's hyperbole at best.

 

Excellent blog post, and the counter-post was informative as well. Me--being relatively low on funds and not having opted for extra channels at all--I find that CS fits my needs best, which is good since I'm already using them.

 

Thanks, this is helpful information. I hope you keep creating post such as this, so I wanted to add my two cents.

 

Used LSI for one book to experiment. I'm in the hole for all the fees, ridiculous shipping charges, setup fees, "listing" fees. Sales were zip even with a 40% discount returnable.

I've made quite a bit from my CS books. I'm becoming convinced that ebooks only are the future, but CS has the far better service than LSI for print. Hands down. No argument. End of story. At least for me.

Somebody mentioned cover problems at CS. I've never had a problem with the several books I've uploaded there, but I've always had a complete cover PDF to upload and did not use their cover creation. I might give it a shot on another book, except everything I've written has been contracted to a publisher (not vanity), so it'll be a bit before I have another book to self-pub.

 

Thanks for the post. My wife and I are in the process of changing from LS to CS so it was very timely.

 

We're with LSI and probably will be staying for one big reason, they're opening a print-factory here in Australia, so finally our biggest direct-market (for when doing promotional tours) is now profitable due to vastly lower shipping fees.  With LSI-UK though, I agree, shipping can be a massive killer, we've found we can only pack 13 of our books into a standard shipping box before the price explodes into the 'courier' catagory uch:

Paul.

 

Robin:  I'm so glad you posted about this.  It's a subject I was intending to research further and you've really helped me in decision making.  Thanks.

 

I am rather sure you can use Lightning Source UK. I can't recall if CreateSpace allows out-of-US customers, but I think it does also.

I just published my third paperback through CS on 1/2. When it didn't show up on Amazon UK, I asked CS why not. They said they don't distribute to Amazon UK. I wasn't too upset about it because Amazon doesn't sell my other two paperbacks over there. They are sold by The book Depository and here's their blurb on availability.

#
In stock. Dispatched from United Kingdom.
International & domestic delivery rates and return policy.
#
Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 3 - 4 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.

My new one just showed up available from other sellers. This is what one of them has to say about availability.

Brand NEW, Print on Demand, takes 4-10 days for printing, UK/Europe Delivery (inc printing time) typically 14-22 days.

 

Great post - I left a comment on your blog.  Although I have gone with Createspace and expect to continue with them, I do see Zoe's point about the 20% discount - makes a huge difference in sales to non-brick and mortar outlets other than Amazon. At this point, any non-ebook sales are gravy and Createspace had almost literally no learning curve - cover and interior were perfect first proof. LSI at least talks a much more complex game - whether it's actually any more difficult, I don't know, but they seem pretty set on saying they can't guarantee anything if you don't use Adobe products. At least they did 18 months ago when I read their guidelines.

As for Amazon screwing authors, yeah, they'll continue to do so from time to time no doubt. For me, CS is the best current choice.

 

Used LSI for one book to experiment. I'm in the hole for all the fees, ridiculous shipping charges, setup fees, "listing" fees. Sales were zip even with a 40% discount returnable.

I've made quite a bit from my CS books. I'm becoming convinced that ebooks only are the future, but CS has the far better service than LSI for print. Hands down. No argument. End of story. At least for me.

Somebody mentioned cover problems at CS. I've never had a problem with the several books I've uploaded there, but I've always had a complete cover PDF to upload and did not use their cover creation. I might give it a shot on another book, except everything I've written has been contracted to a publisher (not vanity), so it'll be a bit before I have another book to self-pub.

$75 for cover and interior upload, $30 for shipping overnight air the proof copy, and $12 per year for the distribution network. My total cost for putting each book for sale is $117.00. Each book at $9.99 needs to sell 40 copies to pay for itself on LSI, and everything else is profit. They aren't going to sell it for you, though. I'd recommend trying at 20% non-returnable if you still have the account and the books are already approved for distribution.

 

Very interesting and useful information--I'm with Createspace now and will likely continue with them, despite their ridiculous shipping costs   Thank you very much for putting all of this together.