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Self-Publishers, Pay Attention to Detail

CreateSpace is an excellent self-publishing solution. I primarily use Lightning Source for most of my publishing needs, but there are some advantages of printing with CreateSpace as well.

Primarily, books are listed “in stock” at Amazon.com and CreateSpace stores if printed with CreateSpace. My Lightning Source books are available on Amazon.com but usually not listed “in stock”. Thus, I often make my books available for print with both Lightning Source and CreateSpace.

If you chose to use one or the other, or both, make sure your title information, ISBN and other book administrative details are accurate and listed the same in both venues. Without that level of detail, your book manuscript and cover submissions may not be approved. Additionally, if you try to link your printed book with an Amazon.com Kindle version, or your paperback with your hardback version, it may prove difficult if title information details vary too greatly.

For example, my manuscript is entitled Red Bike Publishing’s Unofficial Guide to ISP Certification. The title is short, concise and easy to find for my niche audience. That’s how I wanted it to be cataloged and referenced. But I also wanted to include the words, "Industrial Security Professional" and "Pocket Edition 1" on the cover, but not in the title. This additional wording would make my title really long as I built it out, but would not be too confusing if listed elsewhere on the cover as cover art.

The cover and manuscript submissions passed Lightning Source’s scrutiny, but did not make it through CreateSpace’s proofing process. CreateSpace requires all words on the cover art to appear in the official title during the set up phase.

I had several choices to fix the item.
1. Cancel the CreateSpace title set up
2. Re-write the title information for both CreateSpace and Lightning Source to meet CreateSpace’s requirements
3. Create new cover art to remove the additional wording
4. Work with CreateSpace to fix the problem

I chose option number 4 which lists my book as a different title on CreateSpace distribution channels than with the Ingram channels. On Lightning Source, my title is as original. For CreateSpace, the title now is Red Bike Publishing’s Unofficial Guide to ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Pocket Edition 1.

This may cause customer confusion, but since my niche is so small, that is very unlikely. However, as I prepare for future publishing options, I will use this experience to inform my decision of whether or not to use CreateSpace, LightningSource or both.




 Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

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