[soapylove]

Hi!

I am currently working on a soap tutorial book with a big publisher, but it won't be available until the fall of next year. I'd love to write a soap tutorial book with Holiday soap projects in the meantime and am doing research into self-publishing services online.

So far I have found Lulu which has lots of cool options in binding and sizes, but I'm being seduced by Amazon's Create Space which automatically lists the book on their site as well. However, they don't have as many binding options.

Any thoughts, input, or experiences to share? I'd love to hear! :)
Thanks!

[soapylove]

Being a research freak, I couldn't stop myself from surfing the internet for more input regarding self-publishing. Since this thread has had quite a few views, maybe someone will benefit from what I found.

This link is by an author who blogs about publishing options. He wrote about self publishing and what to be cautious about. Someone commented to recommend Create Space and they have a debate about it versus other services. It's very indepth and helped me a lot:http://www.fonerbooks.com/2007/08/talking-...pay-to-get.html

After reading this, which was the only post about Create Space I found but was so well argued, I have decided to go forward with them instead of Lulu. The thing that sold me was the instant listing on Amazon, in addition to being for sale on a Create Space page. Marketing is probably the hardest part of publishing a book, and this is a huge plus. There is no set up fee and the cost per book is competitive. Once I upload my pdf's and get a proof, the book will be available for purchase in 2 weeks.

I plan on doing this and will make sure to come back and report about my experience. Stay tuned! :)

[BumbleV]

Ooo, I'd love to see a holiday soap how-to book from you! Best of luck and definitely keep us updated!

[mohop]

I ordered a copy of the same self-made portfolio book (to be displayed at my retailers) from both Lulu and Createspace, and just recieved them.

The Createspace book is the hands-down winner for me - the quality of the printing is slightly better, plus it's much cheaper and faster. The only negative is that Createspace does not have a hardcover option (so I'll continue to order from Lulu if I need hardcover). I've also tried Blurb in the past, but they're the most expensive, and I didn't find the print quality to be all that fabulous either. Plus, you have to use their software instead of uploading a pdf, which is a major PITA.

[soapylove]

mohop, on Oct 7 2008, 10:41 PM, said:

I ordered a copy of the same self-made portfolio book (to be displayed at my retailers) from both Lulu and Createspace, and just recieved them.

The Createspace book is the hands-down winner for me - the quality of the printing is slightly better, plus it's much cheaper and faster. The only negative is that Createspace does not have a hardcover option (so I'll continue to order from Lulu if I need hardcover). I've also tried Blurb in the past, but they're the most expensive, and I didn't find the print quality to be all that fabulous either. Plus, you have to use their software instead of uploading a pdf, which is a major PITA.

Ooh! Thanks so much for posting this! I haven't gone through with ordering my book since it was determined to be a conflict of interest for my "real" book's publisher. Oh well. Darn those contracts! :)

But I am glad to hear Create Space's quality is good. They have a great deal running until the end of the year for those who want to sell their own books. It's a free upgrade to "pro" or something, which cuts the cost per book in half. Only $3.50 for books under 48 pages! (Don't quote me on that. It's been a little while since I read the actual offer. But I'm close).

[mohop]

Oh, I forgot to mention the biggest thing I'm disappointed with on all the books is that the paper stock is pretty thin. My books were 100 pages, but look more like 50 tops... I think 'real' books from 'real' publishers that you can buy in the store are almost always printed on thicker pages so the book looks more valuable and substantial. The first book I printed was 40 pages, but looked like a pamplet, so people always pocketed them, thinking they were free. At least the good thing about CreateSpace is, I can tell people that can easily order it on Amazon if they want a copy for themselves.

I'm excited about your real book! Let us know how that's going!

[soapylove]

mohop, on Oct 8 2008, 05:18 AM, said:

Oh, I forgot to mention the biggest thing I'm disappointed with on all the books is that the paper stock is pretty thin. My books were 100 pages, but look more like 50 tops... I think 'real' books from 'real' publishers that you can buy in the store are almost always printed on thicker pages so the book looks more valuable and substantial. The first book I printed was 40 pages, but looked like a pamplet, so people always pocketed them, thinking they were free. At least the good thing about CreateSpace is, I can tell people that can easily order it on Amazon if they want a copy for themselves.

I'm excited about your real book! Let us know how that's going!

That's also really good to know. So they may not seem like big publisher material. Hm. Well, the price is right at least!

As far as my big book goes, the manuscript is due on Nov. 3, and I am mostly done with the writing. It's been tough making the soaps because they don't look great forever and I'll probably have to remake a lot of them when the "glam shots" are scheduled. Soap is kind of sensitive and isn't as stable as most other crafts. Oh well!

[A Little Hut]

Congrats on the book Debbie and thanks for this thread. I've been thinking of self-publishing myself but the thin paper really makes me doubt I'll do it now.

Good luck with your book! I was almost throwing a party the day I turned in my manuscript not knowing I'd see it three more times for additional revisions. Ahhh me the novice!! I totally feel your pain about redoing projects. I had to remake some of mine more than three times. Ugh. My book will be published by the end of next summer.

[soapylove]

A Little Hut, on Oct 9 2008, 05:17 PM, said:

Congrats on the book Debbie and thanks for this thread. I've been thinking of self-publishing myself but the thin paper really makes me doubt I'll do it now.

Good luck with your book! I was almost throwing a party the day I turned in my manuscript not knowing I'd see it three more times for additional revisions. Ahhh me the novice!! I totally feel your pain about redoing projects. I had to remake some of mine more than three times. Ugh. My book will be published by the end of next summer.

Oh, wow! We should have a little book release party together!!

[coachwriter]

Congratulations on the book, Debbie. Let me add my two cents in here for anyone else thinking about self publishing.

Our book, Celebrate Green! was due for publication October 1. Seven weeks before it was to go to print we got a call that the publisher was going under. We took the book to two other publishers. Very interested but couldn't get the book out for a year. This wasn't going to work. We had already done a lot of PR and had generated a great deal of interest. So we self-published.

For many reasons, we did not go with a POD (print on demand) publisher so I can't speak to that explicitly except to say...I'm on a yahoo group of self-publishers and without exception every single dealing with Amazon is a nightmare. In fact a group of self publishers are suing Amazon for saying that if your book is self published with any other publisher (not just POD), that they will no longer carry those books. As unhappy as I have been with Amazon (don't let me start), they are the biggest game in town and really if you want your books to get out, you have no choice but to deal with them. Just a word of warning.

As for paper, before printing, you can find out what the paper is they print on then go to a local printer and compare the weights. Paper does make a difference, but of course POD printers are trying to make as much money as possible so they aren't known for their quality.

My husband is doing a book now and he actually a couple of local printers who are somewhat competitive with the PODs on small quantities, so you can always ask around.

Warmly,
Lynn