My createspace cover is green!

is your file in CMYK? that will mess with it.

Do CS covers need to be converted to CMYK? That *might* be why it's greener than it should be. What color was it supposed to be?

A white layer set to Overlay should brighten it up a fair bit. And you can alter the hue by adding a Curves layer.

I hate to say it, but getting a decided "color cast" out of CreateSpace is not unusual. If you order another proof, it may not have the same problem. I'm not sure what that says about what our customers are getting, but I'm sure it isn't good.

My wife recently ordered three proofs from CS for one of her books because she needed a couple extra for an event she was attending. One of the covers was just WRONG color-wise (the blue was purple, and everything else was off too), so we kept that as our mark-up proof. The other two were fine.

No, it's RGB. Is it supposed to be CMYK?

What Daniel said. Color contrast is common with Create Space books and they typically run darker. I lighten my CS versions slightly before uploading. Another CS problem is the cut will often be crooked. If you order several copies, some will be slanted, others straight.

Dark and/or green seems common at Createspace; I had to brighten the Tartarus cover after I got the proof, and one of the others had a noticeable green tint. I'm not sure whether Createspace are unable to maintain consistent colour between books or if it's an RGB vs CMYK issue.

I have some threads saved for just this issue (for when I finally get around to finishing the whole Createspace thing). In this one - http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,134582.0.html - I believe someone said they had to brighten everything 20 levels for the print to turn out normal. Another thread said 30%. I will try their advice when I finally submit, regardless if it looks super-ultra-mega bright on my end at 30%+

holly w. said:

is your file in CMYK? that will mess with it.

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I heard that RGB is the way to go, given that CS's print technology is based on RGB not CYK. So far I've been very pleased with all my printed covers.

kelleyrmartin said:

No, it's RGB. Is it supposed to be CMYK?

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For computer screen, things should be RGB. For printing, they should be CMYK.

Or so I've always been told in general. If CreateSpace is an exception, I'm unaware of it.

I decided to bump this topic to see if people continue to have problems with the quality of Createspace's color printing of their covers.

Both of my books have red borders. The ebook covers look great on Kindle, but when Createspace prints them the borders range from very dark red to deep burgundy. Their product is very inconsistent. I've had my cover artist fiddle with the color, but CS can't seem to get it right.

Has anyone had any luck with red on their covers? Advice?

CMYK is the standard for all color printing. RGB is the standard for digital cameras, scanners and computers. You will always see a difference in print color if you submit an RGB proof to CreateSpace. My graphic artist adjust the color hue on my CS mechanical to allow for the CMYK conversion. It still doesn't pop like the cover does on the Internet, but it's far closer than if I submitted the RGB file directly. (btw, my graphic artist works for the Big 5)

If you go look at the digital versus print for my books on Amazon/BN, you'll also see a difference in color and that's because of the two different types of files loaded.

If you want to come closer to your submitted color, you're going to have to change your graphic to CMYK and adjust accordingly.

The only consistency with my Createspace covers has been inconsistency. One time the proof is a rich blue the way I want it, another time it's blue-gray. It's a roll of the dice, and no amount of ordering new proofs guarantees the next one (or the one your readers might buy!) will come out the way you want.

I think this inconsistency is still going to be fairly inherent in the POD process, the problem being that a printer is not mass-producing the covers. A mass-produced cover is only going to show subtle variations from the beginning of one continuous run to its end, but when the printer needs to reset between books, and its inks are refilled at unpredictable times, there's always going to be some variation. It would be nice, though, if we started demanding more out of printers (the machines themselves) in terms of consistency.

Had the same issue and it was b/c I had covers in RBG. I had covers changed to CMYK and they look much, much better. Still a tiny bit darker than those I get from Lightening Source, but almost exactly the same.

Thanks for your input. I'll have the pdf changed over to CMYK, order one proof, and see if that makes a difference. For some reason they get the red correct on the Ferrari (no one would dare to screw that up), but never on the borders.

I'll need to see how to switch the cover from RGB to CYMK on my upcoming title.

I would advise anyone to not mess with lightening their covers or reducing contrast, as the problem is not consistent and therefore it is likely that some covers will then be printed too light for the look intended. Or if you do, just a little.

For mine, the proof was perfect - a lively yellow cover. Approved the proof and ordered a box of 25 - all were burnt orange 

Like someone else said, it's a roll of the dice and the proof tells you nothing.

Burnt orange instead of yellow? Yech.

You'd think that with so many dissatisfied writers, CS would do something about their quality control.