Completely lost!

Wisdom Tooth · Dec 13, 2014

Hello everybody. I joined a while back but stopping posting altogether when I got close to finishing my novel. I had it professionally edited and now I'm ready to choose a cover and have the document formatted to upload as an ebook.

I found a premade cover I really like and I want to use it as a Createspace version, too. The designer I contacted told me to log into Createspace and download a template for him. I did as instructed but I'm totally lost now. Before I can get to the step with the cover options, it wants me to upload the actual document for formatting. I didn't think I was ready to do that yet because I don't want there to be formatting problems.

My intent was to hire someone to format it with the interactive table of contents and all that stuff. I didn't think I needed to do that first because a lot of the formatting people talk about inserting the cover art as part of the ebook file.

So now I'm completely lost. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

alleycat · Dec 13, 2014

I'm going to move your post to self-publishing. I think it will be a better fit there.

Polenth · Dec 13, 2014

CreateSpace is for print books, not ebooks. The width of the spine changes based on how many pages are in the book. What it's asking for isn't your ebook formatted file, but your print formatted file... so it can calculate how thick the spine needs to be on the template. In addition, you also need to decide on cream versus white paper, as they're different thicknesses.

Also, the different book sizes have different aspect ratios, so the cover designer may need to tweak the placement of elements to fit.

It sounds like you're not anywhere near ready for that, but perhaps the cover design will accept you coming back for that in six months? You don't need the CreateSpace cover to do your ebook. Just the ebook cover.

Wisdom Tooth · Dec 13, 2014

Polenth said:
CreateSpace is for print books, not ebooks. The width of the spine changes based on how many pages are in the book. What it's asking for isn't your ebook formatted file, but your print formatted file... so it can calculate how thick the spine needs to be on the template. In addition, you also need to decide on cream versus white paper, as they're different thicknesses.

Also, the different book sizes have different aspect ratios, so the cover designer may need to tweak the placement of elements to fit.

It sounds like you're not anywhere near ready for that, but perhaps the cover design will accept you coming back for that in six months? You don't need the CreateSpace cover to do your ebook. Just the ebook cover.

Why six months? Do most people upload the Kindle version of their book with the Createspace print option at the same time?

Or are you saying that you should have the book properly formatting as a mobi file first? I'm confused and need someone to walk me through this.

My goal is to have the digital version of my book available at the Kindle store as well as the print on demand version. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do first. I thought it would make sense to choose a cover first but the designer is asking me questions I don't understand.

Polenth · Dec 13, 2014

Wisdom Tooth said:
Why six months? Do most people upload the Kindle version of their book with the Createspace print option at the same time?

Or are you saying that you should have the book properly formatting as a mobi file first? I'm confused and need someone to walk me through this.

My goal is to have the digital version of my book available at the Kindle store as well as the print on demand version. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do first. I thought it would make sense to choose a cover first but the designer is asking me questions I don't understand.

I don't mean literally that exact amount of time and no other. To rephrase, you're not ready to do your print edition right now, because you don't have your interior file ready to upload. So maybe you could ask the cover designer if you can come back later for the print cover, when you've got things sorted. However long or short that delay may be.

Until your print interior is finished, you won't know for sure how big the spine needs to be. So you can't do the print cover right now.

The ebook is the other way around, as the cover will be included in the formatted file. So you want the ebook cover now, to send to whoever is doing the ebook formatting.

The ebook and the print interior are two separate things. They will be separate files. You don't require the ebook to do the print edition and you don't require the print edition to do the ebook. So there's no set order when it comes to how you release or produce the ebook and print edition. So the suggested timeline in this case would be:

For ebooks:

Get your ebook cover.
Get your ebook formatted.

For print:

Decide on your print edition size.
Get your print interior designed.
Upload your print interior to CreateSpace and decide on paper type (cream or white).
Go back to the cover designer for print cover.

Wisdom Tooth · Dec 13, 2014

Polenth said:
I don't mean literally that exact amount of time and no other. To rephrase, you're not ready to do your print edition right now, because you don't have your interior file ready to upload. So maybe you could ask the cover designer if you can come back later for the print cover, when you've got things sorted. However long or short that delay may be.

Until your print interior is finished, you won't know for sure how big the spine needs to be. So you can't do the print cover right now.

The ebook is the other way around, as the cover will be included in the formatted file. So you want the ebook cover now, to send to whoever is doing the ebook formatting.

The ebook and the print interior are two separate things. They will be separate files. You don't require the ebook to do the print edition and you don't require the print edition to do the ebook. So there's no set order when it comes to how you release or produce the ebook and print edition. So the suggested timeline in this case would be:

For ebooks:

Get your ebook cover.

Get your ebook formatted.

For print:

Decide on your print edition size.

Get your print interior designed.

Upload your print interior to CreateSpace and decide on paper type (cream or white).

Go back to the cover designer for print cover.

Thanks for taking the time to explain that. I really appreciate it.

I think I understand everything now. I was confused because a lot of these people will charge a fee to format your book for both the ebook and Createspace version.

Is there a suggested print edition size that most people use?

cmhbob · Dec 13, 2014

I did the 5x8 for The Sad Girl, and will do the same for the sequel, but I'd like to be able to go to a slightly smaller size, like the 4.25x6 that's more typical for MM paperbacks. But right now, CreateSpace doesn't offer that.

Polenth · Dec 13, 2014

CreateSpace suggests 6x9 for novels, but that doesn't mean everyone uses it. I'm not planning to (I'm going for 5x8 as it's closer in size to the larger paperback size in the UK). The main thing is to go for an industry standard size, so there aren't any issues with expanded distribution. Also note only a few of the sizes allow cream paper. There's information about that on these pages:

Basic info, with trim sizes on the 'printing options' tab.
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/#content4

Trim sizes needed for expanded distribution (it says under the table which sizes can be cream paper).
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/ExpandedDistribution.jsp

I'd suggest measuring books on your shelf and getting a feel for what size you'd like. And reading the CreateSpace help, as it does guide you through it all.

Completely lost!

Wisdom Tooth

alleycat

Still around

Polenth

Mushroom

Wisdom Tooth

Polenth

Mushroom

Wisdom Tooth

cmhbob

Did...did I do that?

Polenth

Mushroom