CreateSpace.com is a Print On Demand company owned by Amazon. It's not well-known yet, but is an easily accessible service for authors to publish their own books for a minimal amount of money and yet receive the benefit of being listed on Amazon -- as well as having Amazon collect the money from customers, ship the books to the customers and then send the author their money every month.
Technology has dramatically changed the publishing world since I started writing.
Way back in the old days the only way most writers could be published was to send their manuscript to the editor of a publishing company, almost all of the biggest and best in Manhattan, and hope they were accepted. Gradually it became almost impossible for any writer to sell a book to a publishing house without an editor. The one exception was the science fiction/fantasy/horror field where editors tried to maintain the tradition of being open to direct manuscript submissions (but they took a back seat to mss. submitted by recognized agents).
Some companies took advantage of people wanting to publish books that could or would not be accepted by an ordinary publisher. They were known as "vanity presses" because it was generally recognized that the only reason to use them was to print up books the author was determined to see published no matter what. Because these companies had minimum print runs of 1000 copies or more, the author usually went to their grave with 992 copies in boxes in their basement, attic or garages.
Some entrepreneurs figured out how to publish books for a lot less money, but they had to spend lots of time on their own marketing -- selling them in the back of the room after speeches, by mail order, by consignment to local bookstores, and through classified ads. Some years back, a print on demand revolution took place. A computer keeps a book's files on record. When needed, it can print out one copy.
When I researched print on demand companies a few years ago, however, the best and cheapest still required nearly $600 -- still a significant investment. With CreateSpace, Amazon has eliminated all charges but a few nominal ones. The only catch is that the author must produce the book files themselves.
Jimmy Clay's book relates the technical details of how he produced a novel he wrote. If you have Microsoft Word, it's great. I don't, and could not duplicate some of the technical details with Open Office. However, the graphic viewer program he recommends did help me modify the stock images I selected.
He goes into a lot of detail on cover design. This is now somewhat obsolete, since Create Space now offers a cover design service with templates you can use. However, if you are good at graphic design or wish to outsource the job to someone else, his explanations will give you or the contractor the necessary information to fit Create Space's criteria.
He did not cover some of the implications of Create Space distribution, and there have been recent changes since he wrote this book. If you already know your way around Word, Open Office or -- even better Quark, you probably don't need this. Especially if you're willing to use one of Create Space's cover templates.
You also don't need this if you have an agent and New York City publishers are offering you contracts. However, if you want a book as a professional credential or you're a writer unsure of whether you can produce your own book, this book will give you confidence that you too can publish your own book and sell it on Amazon.
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