C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

04/04/2011 • 5:37 AM 18

Createspace or Lightning Source: Pros & cons breakdown

Jeff Bennington

I’m trying to decide what company to go with to get my novel out. Smashwords grinds manuscripts into all e-book formats, of course, but what about the paper book issue? Createspace or Lightning Source? I recently asked some authors about their experience with companies that facilitate self-publishers. Some were satisfied with Createspace and others were fine with Lightning Source. Jeff Bennington, author of a paranormal thriller, Reunion as well as the blog The Writing Bomb, hit me with a great, detailed reply. He has experience with both Createspace and Lightning Source. Rather than pushing me one way or another, he laid out the pros and cons as he sees it from his experience.

“Dude!” I said (because in my mind I’m still seventeen and it’s the ’80s.) “This isn’t a mere reply to my question. This, sir, is a blog post. How about it?” He graciously said yes. Here’s his breakdown:

Cons

At Lightning Source, starting an account is a bit cumbersome (much more paperwork than Createspace.) Once the paperwork was complete I had to get my cover just right, but Joleene Naylor, an independent cover artist, helped me do that with ease.
However, I’m not as happy with Lightning Source’s ink/cover quality as I am with Createspace. Lightning Source’s paper is much thinner than Createspace. (Same number of pages and Lightning Source is at least 1/4″ thinner. Very strange.)
The initial work to get a proof copy is somewhat exhausting and cost $39 (overnight, mandatory) for a proof every time!
I can get five proofs for $50 (overnight, not mandatory with Createspace).
I’ll use Createspace the next time if I discover that print copies just aren’t the thing for my books. I used them this time to get advanced reading copies (ARCs) out early. Createspace was fast and easy to work with but I was very limited on the back cover and spine art.
Expect 1 to 2 days for email return. But if you call..they answer.

Pros

The number one reason to use Lightning Source is the distribution: return availability and full industry discount (45-55%). That was enough for me because very few publishers for indies do that and if they say, as Createspace does, that they have full distribution, you better make doubly sure that the wholesale discount is 45+ and that you can have a return policy. Createspace never told me that. I asked and they said, “We don’t make that decision.” I say “Bull^%$#!” Of course they do. They are the publisher.
With Lightning Source, you are definitely the publisher. I like that.
If you have a newer mac formatting is easy. Lightning Source will upload your sized PDF with no worries.
Once the book was uploaded and passed the tests, things moved rather quickly. Give yourself 2 months to get your account in process and book uploaded
The best thing is you are assigned a customer rep—a real and a very nice and helpful person. My rep at Lightning Source is Carol Egan. She is wonderful!

Overall, I’m happy so far. I mostly want my print version to be available to local stores for signings (if I have one) and a lot of my friends and family want to buy it at a store. I can’t do that with most other self-pub outlets. Lightning Source is the real thing. Great for a small press…like me!

Right about now you’re bubbling over with gratitude for Jeff”s insights. Act on it and check out his book. Reunion just launched and the reviews on Amazon are very good. Plus, you need to own it for research purposes. (See what you think of the binding etc.,…) Buy Reunion.

Amazon’s confusing self-publishing options (feldmanfile.blogspot.com)
Publishing Prep (prclcnovelinayear.wordpress.com)
Are PODs ebooks? (teleread.com)

Filed under: author Q&A, authors, Books, DIY, ebooks, publishing, Writers, writing tips, Amazon.com, Author, Createspace, E-book, Jeff Bennington, Lightning Source, Publish, publishing, Reunion, self-publishing, Smashwords

04/03/2011 • 11:00 PM 2

The Heart of the Matter: Ebooks and Self-Publishing Part 2 – Another Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath

The Heart of the Matter: Ebooks and Self-Publishing Part 2 – Another Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath.

Here’s a conversation all writers should grok. This is a long read, but worth it.

Filed under: authors, Books, DIY, ebooks, publishing, Writers, writing tips, Amanda Hocking, Barry Eisler, e-books, JA Konrath, publishing, self-publishing

04/01/2011 • 5:08 AM 2

The Big Authors Begin To Bolt – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Image via Wikipedia

This will blow you away. $30,000 a year for a short story? And to think I have boxes of short stories around the house to hold the edges of carpets down.

The Big Authors Begin To Bolt – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.

Love the delicious little dig at publishing at the end of Sullivan’s article. Hm. I’ll have to read more from Sullivan on this topic to see precisely what he’s on about.

Filed under: authors, blogs & blogging, DIY, ebooks, links, Media, publishing, Rant, writing tips, andrew suillivan, Barry Eisler, e-publishing, publishing, short stories

03/11/2011 • 4:58 AM 0

Publishing: How important is nationality anyway?

I can’t say I’m proud to be Canadian. Proud suggests I’ve achieved something by accident of birth. Pride of nationality is like being proud of being tall. I say instead that I’m lucky to be Canadian. It beats a lot of other possibilities. (I think George Carlin had a bit about that, I’ll have to look for it. Ah. Obviously I found it.)

Since Americans have more e-readers than Canadians, a Canadian author recently wondered aloud if Canadians had a chance of making any money in e-books.

It has always seemed strange to me how parochial many readers can be. Instead of seeing a story set in the Arctic as exotic and interesting, they tend to see it as too Other. In books, the wisdom has long been that people want “the same thing only different.” Americans want to read about Americans and Canadians are the only ones who will put up with sodbusters set in historic Saskatchewan.

This is true and it’s not. We generalize with confidence to familiar settings. New Yorkers enjoy reading about New Yorkers. But what’s true generally is not true in the particular. When Yann Martel wrote Life of Pi, how many people could relate to lion-taming on a raft in the Pacific? For that matter, how many people can really relate to foreign spy thrillers and the intrigue of the Pentagon and State Department? Instead, they read to escape into the unfamiliar.

Can Lit is somewhat fetishized by many Canadians, especially if they are part of the publishing establishment or Canadian media. It’s not that I’m saying it’s all bad, but I would say it’s not the only game in town. I mostly read American authors and personally, I don’t have much patience for a lot of Can Lit. It’s a matter of taste. You can argue I have none, but the heart wants what it wants and I don’t think Chuck Palahniuk‘s artistic sensibility would have been nurtured as a hoser. In college I steered away from Robertson Davies and opted fro Mailer.

But e-books cross all borders. Publish an e-book and you can have english-speaking fans downloading your work in Sweden. Borders don’t mean much anymore. What’s more, come up with a good story—a really good story—and I don’t think it matters much where it’s set. And it doesn’t have to be high art conquering us all, either. Think of all those plot-oriented books English Majors are programmed to hate: Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code, The Girl Who Played with Fire etc.,… A bunch of unfamiliar names isn’t deterring anyone from enjoying the Stieg Larson books.

So write a good story. In my novel, the protagonist has identifiably American goals. He wants to be a movie star. He live in New York but wants to live in Hollywood. He idolizes movie stars you know. He has to be American.

I can’t take that story and artificially transplant it so he’s a kid from Moncton who wants to make it big in Toronto. Canadian stars typically head south anyway, make it big in the States and only then are they recognized as talents. We’re Canadian. It’s what we do. Canadian celebrities are the equivalent of D-list celebrities. We’re really proud of them once they prove themselves elsewhere. In fact, Canadians don’t have “celebrity” per se. We just say they are “known” or “recognizable” or “familiar but…” or “Who’s she?”

There are other issues for Canadian authors. If you write SF, chances are excellent you deal with an American publisher directly or have an agent based in the US. Yes, there are some SF Canadian agents and publishers, but relatively few. That’s unfortunate, especially since three major SF authors are Canadian: William Gibson, Robert J. Sawyer and Spider Robinson. (Of those three, Robinson, the man named heir-apparent to Heinlein, is under-appreciated these days because his work is funny SF.)

The main issue is about the numbers. The USA has a huge population and Canada has a small one. Focusing your work exclusively on the Canadian market while ignoring the potential south of the border takes a special kind of focus. To sell more of anything, you have to go where the people are. Bands and authors hit as many cities across the US as they can. For many, if they come to Canada at all, it’s Toronto and that’s it. That’s just how the math works. Canadian tour dates are an afterthought. Authors in the United States may think of Canada kindly, but they’re not getting rich off us.

Nationality isn’t important. Story and marketing is.

‘Life of Pi’ author Yann Martel makes Memphis stops (commercialappeal.com)
Writing Conferences: What we need (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Review: Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (fatbooks.org)
George Carlin – AutoTuned! (bigalblog.wordpress.com)
‘Fight Club’ – They Told Me Not To Talk About It… (nervymike.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Books, publishing, Writers, writing tips, Canada, Canadian, chuck palahniuk, List of Canadian writers, nationality and publishing, publishing, Robert J. Sawyer, Spider Robinson, United States, Yann Martel

03/10/2011 • 12:38 AM 2

Writers and Readers: Heads up! Exciting changes ahead!

I have some really cool changes coming in the near future. I really don’t want to lose anybody as the changes take effect so, against my nature and all that’s holy, brace yourself for a brief commercial:

I’m putting it out there.

Please subscribe to my blog

and please ask your friends and followers to do the same.

What changed? I’ve been making lots of moves in the last year or so, but there’s a lot more to do.

(Here’s what gave me the big push this week. If you need a push, you’ll get one. Hard.)

Since last May, I’ve been posting to Chazz Writes five times a week.

That will soon change to three rocking posts each week:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

When is “soon” with the new schedule? Probably after next week.

Nothing but the schedule will change immediately.

I’m still putting great information and links out there.

I’m still looking for authors to profile.

I’m still available for guest blogging opportunities and giving guest blogging opportunities.

I’m still editing just as much as ever.

Also still looking for (affordable) web developers to help me migrate to a new hosted platform that will become more interactive.

What exactly is coming, Chazz?

Aside from my regular editing duties, I’m editing my novel and its companion e-book.The details are top secret until I’m ready to launch. Subscribers will be in on the ground floor for extras when the books drop like valkyries from the sky attacking to a Wagner soundtrack.

Stay tuned. And seriously, please subscribe so you’ll be in the know.

Related Articles

It’s official: Despite my weight loss, I’m an Editor-at-large (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Chazz Writes: The Top Post of 2010 was… (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Merry Christmas from Chazz! (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Writers Top Ten: Why blogging about publishing is important (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: publishing, What about Chazz?, Blog, E-book, e-books, Publish, publishing, RSS, subscribe, Subscription business model, upcoming books, WordPress, writer, writing

02/24/2011 • 11:17 PM 4

Bookstores: How sick are they?

Cover of Glass Houses

Recently I’ve seen what I call “backlash” articles* about the health of bookstores. You’ve probably seen them, too. In the wake of the Borders chain closings, some media are hitting back with counter-programming (either out of nostalgia or as a way to stand out.)

Their message is simple:

“We love bookstores and they aren’t all dying. Look at this tiny independent where the defiant owners are making a brave stand.”

I love brave stands. I’m also fond of truth and this is an obvious case where the part is not the whole. It reminds me of all the people who object to the digital revolution with, “Look at all those e-books with all their different platforms. It’s a mess so it won’t survive.” I dislike stupid stands.

Perhaps the problem is confirmation bias. They’re looking for reasons why what will happen, is happening, won’t happen. Whatever bump in the road they find they take gleefully to be an insurmountable obstacle. Actually, multiple platforms for e-books are a sign of health (assuming competition is good in that it keeps prices down and choices up) and of growth (as in growing pains due to rapid, unexpected expansion.) The technology to make us all publishers is developing.

“Developing” implies transition from stupid to primitive to flawed to workable to better to a higher state (and eventually to a new tech.) Instant/indie publishing is not going to be perfect all at once. Nothing is, though not long ago I heard a Luddite say he wasn’t going to buy a computer until the tech wasn’t “perfected.” Hahahaha! He was calling from the corner of Unreasonable Expectations Boulevard and Are You High? Avenue.)

There is a reductionist view with a subtext that categorizes anyone who predicts the demise of bookstores as a gloating goblin. I’m not gloating. I love bookstores. As (I’ve often pointed out, having milk delivered to the house was convenient, too.)

But I’m not saying bookstores will disappear completely. You’ll just pay more if you want the premium paper product. Heck, you already do that, but the price of old media will rise more. You can still buy turntables, for instance, but if you want to hear the scratches on Billy Joel‘s Glass Houses, you’re paying a very high price for a new needle to make that old pig spin.

Paper books are going to co-exist with e-books for some time…at least until consumers really get kicked in the teeth by manufacturing costs. Books get cheaper when produced in volume, but as digital sourcing rises, e-books don’t have to replace all paper books to make paper book production go from unattractive to cost-prohibitive.

There are too many variables and my brain is too small to say precisely when it will happen. I’m simply confident it will occur and one day, maybe even you will say, “Oh, look, darling! A bookstore! There isn’t a bookstore within 2 days’ drive of our house! Let’s go in and buy coffee and look at their tiny collection. How quaint!”

Yes, Virginia, 100 years from now there will still be paper books.

But you’ll be sewing and gluing the binding yourself.

*Chazz definition: A backlash article is an article written to assure the reader that the writer is the sane voice of wisdom when in fact they’re really just knee-jerk contrarians railing against all evidence. Like how the writers at Slate work from the premise, “We’ll hate on what everyone loves and make snide remarks at what everyone thought unassailable because we’re the sophisticated cool kids! Anything goes as long as it doesn’t agree with Salon.”

Bookstores are disappearing. Time to sell my book collection. (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Paper book nostalgia (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Borders and Bookstores (smartbitchestrashybooks.com)
As Borders Regroups, So Should the Entire Industry – In Ten “Practical” Steps (booktemplars.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Books, DIY, ebooks, Media, publishing, Rant, self-publishing, book, Bookselling, bookstores, bookstores dying, Borders, DIY, dying bookstores, E-book, publishing, publishing vs self-publishing, Slate

02/22/2011 • 4:59 AM 5

Paper book nostalgia

Today I passed another dead bookstore. It seemed fitting that above the “For Lease” sign, the old sign advertised that it was a “Shoppe.”

I’ll miss bookstores and paper books. Oh, sure, you’ll still be able to get them if you’re willing to pay more, but in general? Bookstores will be coffee stores, merchandise stores and ultra-specialty stores.

Take a last look back here.

FYI: in England, 50 pubs (the beer-swilling kind) close every month. That’s mostly because they’re non-smoking now and the population moved on to drinking wine at home.

Borders and Bookstores (smartbitchestrashybooks.com)
Bookstores are disappearing. Time to sell my book collection. (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Bookstore chain Borders, as currently constituted, goes belly-up (shortformblog.com)
“Two or more bookstores…is an indication of actual civilization.” (slog.thestranger.com)

Filed under: Books, bankruptcy, Bookselling, dying bookstores, E-book, publishing

02/21/2011 • 4:35 AM 3

Publishing numbers & Atwood on us

Image via Wikipedia

Want a freak out? Here are some US publishing numbers on top distribution channels, most important factors in book purchases, top five book formats etc.,….

And Margaret Atwood on the changes in publishing. (I don’t agree with everything she says here, but much of it’s on track.)

What don’t I agree with? I’m not an anchovy. I’m Dr. David Banner (geek test!)

Margaret Atwood shares her dystopian vision (newscientist.com)

Filed under: authors, Books, publishing, Author, Margaret Atwood, publishing, publishing stats, statistics

02/11/2011 • 3:52 PM 8

Writers: Self-publishing links

Patricia Benesh writes in the Huffington Post about the five questions you should ask yourself before going the self-publishing route.

At Self-publishing Central there’s a blog post about the journey to publication and finding peer support along the way.

Eoin Purcell‘s blog writes about the state of the traditional publishing industry and how it’s not all bad news. In fact, libraries are trending up.

And Jeff Bennington over at The Writing Bomb writes a compelling post evaluating Lightning Source versus Create Space. Do check that out!

Related Articles

Writers: Are you skeptical about self-publishing? (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers Top Ten: Why blogging about publishing is important (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: How to Publish on Smashwords (by Guest blogger Rebecca Senese) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: DIY vs traditional publishing (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: authors, blogs & blogging, Books, DIY, ebooks, self-publishing, Useful writing links, web reviews, Writers, writing tips, Business, Create Space, Create Space versus Lightning Source, Do it yourself, E-book, Huffington Post, Lightning Source, Publish, publishing, Publishing and Printing, self-publishing, writer, writing

02/11/2011 • 5:24 AM 4

Writers: How to Publish on Smashwords (by Guest blogger Rebecca Senese)

Image representing Smashwords as depicted in C...

Image via CrunchBase

Firstly, thanks to Robert for allowing me to do a guest post on his blog. This is my very first guest post and I’m thrilled to “be” here!

This is an exciting time to be a writer, full of opportunity and scary possibilities. It’s easy to become paralyzed. I know I felt like that for some time over the past year as I watched the e-book market explode. I knew I wanted to start putting up my back list of pre-published short stories but I wasn’t sure how to go about doing it. I decided to jump right in.

One of the sites I decided to post my work on was Smashwords. According to their website, they claim over one billion words published. That’s a lot of typing!

Of course, the very first step is to create a free account at Smashwords. Make sure to print out and read their publishing agreement. This is true for any site you wish to publish on. When you load up your work, you are effectively acting as your own publisher and need to know what kind of agreement you are making with the site that is acting as a distributor. Take the time to print and read the contract before putting anything up. Remember to take responsibility for your own writing career.

Next I downloaded their free style guide. This guide, written by Smashwords founder Mark Coker, provides a step-by-step manual for formatting your book to meet Smashwords’s requirements.

Once you’ve completed the proper formatting, Smashwords takes your single format file, processes it through their Meatgrinder software and outputs it into approximately 10 separate ebook formats, including ePub, PDF, Mobi (Kindle) and RTF among others. There’s no trying to figure out how to do it yourself. Smashwords’ Meatgrinder does it for you!

I created my cover page and formatted my first short story according to the style guide and I was ready. From the top menu, I choose Publish. This took me to the upload area.

Section 1 “Title & Synopsis” included Title, Short Description (400 characters allowed), Long Description (4,000 characters allowed) and Language of Book with a part for adult content.

Section 2 is Price and Sampling. Unlike Amazon, Smashwords allows for free content, readers set the price (with a note that Barnes & Noble no longer accepts books with this option), or with a price set from a minimum of 0.99 cents or up.

Sampling allowed me to choose the amount of my work available for a reader to download to review before buying. I chose 40% as an option, to give readers a good chance to read my work. I have downloaded e-book samples that don’t even go past the table of contents page before the sample is done. I never got a chance to even taste the author’s writing. That’s not a book I would buy. Sampling is the equivalent of being able to pick up a book and crack it open to take a look at the writing. It’s a good idea to give readers a real opportunity to see if they like your work and also to get hooked on your story. Give them enough to really get into it and they’ll want to buy to find out what happened at the end.

Section 3 is Categories which open up to the right, from general categories to more specific subjects.

Section 4 is Tags that I used to tag my e-books.

Section 5 is eBook Formats and the default is set for all of them. I left all the defaults in place. My thinking is that the more formats, the better for a reader to find one that works for her.

Finally, Section 6 Covers and Section 7 Select File of Book to Publish are where I was able to upload my cover and my e-book file. Section 8 is the Publish button. Once I pressed this, my file was uploaded for processing.

My first e-book took about twenty minutes to upload. Others have taken as long as four to five hours. It seems to depend on how many other books are being uploaded at the same time as yours.

After uploading my first ebook, I created my Smashwords author page under My Smashwords tab. Here I uploaded a photo, a small bio and was able to link to my website, blog, Twitter account, Facebook and LinkedIn. On this page, all of my uploaded e-books are listed with a tag cloud at the bottom of the page.

Smashwords includes a Dashboard tab where you can obsessively track your sales or sample downloads. As one writer suggested online, the best thing to do with e-books is to publish and forget it. It’s very tempting to check on the Dashboard every day or every few hours and become disappointed when you aren’t rivaling Amanda Hocking’s sales. The best cure is to keep writing and keep publishing. The more e-books you have available, the more chance you give the readers to find you and like your work. When that happens, they’ll look for more.

That’s my plan as I continue to move forward into this new world of publishing. And I’m sticking to it!

Rebecca M. Senese is a writer of Horror, Science Fiction & Mystery. Now that you’ve read about how she uploaded to Smashwords, complete your research and go by her stuff!