Self-Publishing With CreateSpace

I'm going to start this post by saying I don't use CreateSpace. I don't use any self-publishing company as I'm still traditionally published. This isn't to say I won't eventually turn to self-publishing in the future, but I haven't done it yet.

However, I've been getting a lot of e-mails about self-publishing. I suppose it's something many people do, so I've decided to post about it just this once. And while I haven't personally used CreateSpace, I have interviewed 23 people who did. Not all the experiences have been great, but that's the way it is with any service.

Make no mistake, CreateSpace (and any self-publishing company) is selling a service. They're going to print you up a book (and possibly make it available from Amazon and other online booksellers), but you'll have to pay for the privilege. CreateSpace is a print-on-demand (POD) service, so no copies of your book are printed until ordered, either by you or another party.

You'll either love or hate CreateSpace and it's certainly not for everyone. In theory, you can publish your book completely free of charge, but this is a little misleading. You need to preview your book, so you'll have to order your own copy (called a proof copy). Then you must review it carefully. It's important to realize there are no editors, so what you submit is what you get. If your book is riddled with errors when you upload it to CreateSpace, you'll get a proof copy riddled with errors.

You'll also have to format your book for paperback, and this is no small task. It can be done with Microsoft Word or other programs such as Scrivener, but let's not pretend. It's a pain in the butt. Most of the people I interviewed had published multiple books with CreateSpace. Their advice? Once you've got your template perfected, use it for all future books. It will save you time and frustration. Make sure you can save your formatted novel as a PDF. Some POD printers will allow you to upload other file types, but stick with PDF. At least things won't move around when the file is uploaded, which can sometimes happen.

After you've received your book, decided you're not going to bother with the 14 typos you found when reviewing your copy, and approved it, you're still not quite done. Here's where the free thing comes up again. To really get the most out of CreateSpace, you have to shell out a little money for distribution. However, a little research reveals that this is standard among POD printers, including Lulu.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the extra services CreateSpace (and most POD companies) offers. You'll see offers for editing and design services, but steer clear of these. Of the 23 authors I spoke to, only 6 of them had used these services, and not one of them was happy with it. In the words of one author, "I could have designed that myself. And the editing wasn't any better than my wife could have done. And she's free!"

All in all, CreateSpace is a good deal for the money, but don't expect bestselling status. Self-publishing may be shaking off its stigma, but it still faces problems traditionally published authors don't have to worry about. The editing, format, and design of your books has to be done yourself. You have to do all the marketing. And distribution will be a problem. Look at your local bookstore and see how many self-published books are there. Not many. But if you're okay with all of this, perhaps you'll be satisfied with CreateSpace.

How did the authors I interviewed rate the service? 1 of the 23 gave it five stars. 15 gave it four stars. 1 gave it three stars. 1 gave it two stars. 5 gave it one star. Of those who didn't like the service at all, most said it was due to quality issues, so there are some bumps in the road when using this service.

Poems: The Voice

I'm a poet at heart, though I make my living writing books. Some of the poems I write are funny, others are tragic, but they all come from the heart. So here's one of my favourite poems, this one about a dark time in my life.

Listen, can you hear it?
Or is it only in my dreams?
I close my mind to shut it out,
Yet still somehow it seems,
There is a dark wind calling,
Singing wild and free,
Caressing all my skin,
Crying out to me.
“Come,” it sings so gently,
“Leave all your cares behind.
Follow with each step I take,
And true peace you will find.”

I doubt and still I follow,
Knowing not where this road leads,
Yet praying it holds the answer,
To all my darkest needs.
And there at last he’s waiting,
His eyes older than my years.
They touch my own so tenderly,
And banish all my fears.
I know I have the choice then,
And yet how can I dare,
To move into the darkness,
And seek an end right there?

The Torment of Revisiting Old Novels and Poems

I like to let my work sit. Not all writers do. Since I have multiple projects (including novels, short stories,  non-fiction, and poetry) on the go at any one time, and I'm always ahead of schedule, I can afford to do this. I typically let my work sit for six months. This gives me time to rethink what I've written, but having a time limit on how long a book or poem is allowed to sit for keeps me from toying with it needlessly (and forever).

When I do revisit my older works, I inevitably find things to change. This is great. It means that the book, poem, or article will go off to the editor/publisher as polished as possible. I'm finding things that weren't perfect the first time around and making the entire work better. There can't be anything wrong with this. Can there?

Well, let's talk about the torment of the entire situation. If I read a sentence and can't believe I wrote it, it's a little bit of a blow. Not a big one. I'm a writer, I can cope with changes (whether those are made by me or someone else). Still ... the idea that I could write a sentence that isn't perfect is annoying. Yes, I know perfection is unattainable, but that's not the point. Revising is still not a lot of fun.

I typically revise for three weeks. That's it. I don't make any changes after that unless asked to by the publisher/editor. I should be happy, right? I am. Right up until I read my own book a year later. I always find something I wish I could change. A piece of plot I didn't include. A minor character I didn't flesh out. A word I wouldn't have used. Dialogue that could have been wittier.

In most cases, the work has already been published and it relatively unchangeable. Even if I could change it, it's not usually a good idea to make significant changes. So I have to live with an imperfect work. And that can make me just a little sad.

But there's a bright spot in all of this. When I look back on books written three or more years ago and I note all the things I'd change, all the things I'd do better, I'm heartened. I've progressed as a writer. I'm better at my job now than I was three years ago. And three years from now I'll be better at my job than I am now.

I'm growing as a writer. The torment of knowing that there are things I'd change in past books is lessened by the knowledge that each subsequent book is better than the last. And this is a wonderful thing.

Making Real Life People Into Characters in Your Novel

I spent most of this week populating my novels with new and unique characters. It's a novelists job, to keep pumping out the characters. And I don't like limp characters in my novels. I like people with spunk, who are exciting and fun to be around. Bascially, I like realistic characters. But, when you've written dozens of stories, you start to run out of new characters.

Or do you? Look around you. Maybe not right now as you might be sitting on your computer in your own home. But next time you're out for a walk or on your way to work, glance around. There are people. More people if you live in the city, but there are still people out in the country. People going to work, people you live with, extended family. We all know some people. And we can observe more still. With so many people around, how can any writer claim to run out of characters for a book?

So this week I looked around. I watched friends and family, I watched people at the grocery store, and I watched families as I took my own children sledding this past weekend. Some of these people probably thought I was pretty strange with my notepad and pen, but that's okay. I watched and I listened. And I had a lot of fun as I realized once again that people are just plain weird. "Truth is stranger than fiction" has never been more real than it was this past week.

But all these people will make great characters. And I had a lot of fun imagining what they'd do in the situations in my novels. It was exciting and entertaining and certainly useful. There are so many different people in the world that I quickly found myself with more characters than I needed. Some of them are neatly written down and stored in my filing cabinet for future use in whatever story I come up with next.

So if you're having trouble creating well rounded characters, look to your neighbors. And your family. And whoever else you happen to encounter. Then insert them into a fictional situation and see what happens. Just remember to change everyone's name so they don't recognize themselves!