How To Self-Publish A Book On CreateSpace & Amazon
"I had been writing short stories as a hobby for a few years and thought how exciting it would be to combine the best in a book.
"Problem: I had no idea how to start self-publishing and so-called vanity publishers would have charged an awful lot of money. Then I found Chris Fielden.
"Result: This week my first anthology of short stories has appeared for sale on Amazon - in both paper and eBook formats. I can't tell you how easy Chris's book made it - I can't even spell 'tek' let alone be any good with it. I am so proud of my book, it's an ambition fulfilled, copies are selling and I would not have published it without Chris's inspiring guide."
Martin Strike, Amazon Customer
How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon is a book that talks the reader through the self-publishing process on Amazon and CreateSpace. The book shows you how to publish and distribute your own work in print and Kindle eBook format. It also contains sound advice on pricing and how much money you are likely to make by selling your book.
Buy How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon
How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon is available in print and Kindle format from Amazon. Links to the book's product pages can be found below.
You can no longer buy books directly from CreateSpace - this change occured at the end of October / beginning of November 2017. This is because CreateSpace has become integrated into Amazon's KDP platform.
The book is sold very cheaply as it was not written with profit in mind. So Kindle eBook prices start from £0.99 / $0.99 and print copies start from as little as £4.20 / $6.00 (depending on current exchange rates).
Kindle
You can find the Kindle eBook copies of How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon on Amazon here.
The book is also available on all of Amazon's country specific websites - just visit your local Amazon site and search for the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN):
B01EIZQ7SQ
You can find printed paperback copies of How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon on Amazon here.
As mentioned above, you can no longer buy the book directly from CreateSpace.
About How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon
How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon shows you clearly how to self-publish using CreateSpace, an Amazon owned company.
How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon contains many screenshots of the self-publishing process, accompanied by lots of practical advice based on years of hands-on experience with publishing books.
This includes tips on:
- Formatting your book's interior for print and Kindle
- Designing a cover for your book
- ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers)
- Product page descriptions and messaging
- Pricing your book sensibly
- How much money you can expect to make through sales and royalties
- Distribution options in Amazon and CreateSpace - because the CreateSpace website no longer exists, here is a link to an Amazon resource that explains how to move books previously published on CreateSpace to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
- Advice about Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)
- Enrolment in KDP Select and other choices Amazon offer for your book
- BISAC codes (Book Industry Standards and Communications codes)
- Copyright
And much more.
A copy of 'How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon', held by author Chris Fielden
Why The Book Was Written
How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon was originally written as a blog post for Matthew Woodward's blog.
Matthew ran an award-winning internet marketing blog that gave lots of free advice, much like I do with my website. Because of this, I approached Matthew about writing a post for his website.
Originally, I suggested writing about how I had grown the audience on my website and then decided to give up work to try and make a living from my blog. Given my background with writing short stories and self-publishing, Matthew asked me to write about how to self-publish a book on CreateSpace and Amazon instead. So I did.
To write about the self-publishing process accurately, making sure I didn't leave anything out, I had to produce a book. So I decided to make the post I was writing into a book as a live example, clearly showing how easy it is to self-publish. Hence the book was born.
The book is priced cheaply as it was not originally written with profit in mind. The vast majority of the content is available to read for free on Matthew's blog, so it seems unreasonable to charge a lot of money for it.
In 2023, Matt closed his blog down and integrated it into his new business venture, Search Logistics.
Read The Book For Free
You can read How to Self-Publish a Book on CreateSpace & Amazon for free on Matthew Woodward's Search Logistics website.
The printed and Kindle version exist so the reader can clearly see how the post was converted into the format for a printed and Kindle book. It also allowed me to show pricing, distribution and royalty options using a real-life example.
About The Author
I run this website and have many years' experience of self-publishing my books and selling them through Amazon and CreateSpace.
I wrote my first book, Wicked Game, in 2010 and self-published it using Lulu for print and Amazon KDP for eBooks.
I run the To Hull & Back annual humorous short story competition. Every year, I use CreateSpace and Amazon KDP to create and publish the anthology.
I also used Amazon KDP and CreateSpace to publish my book How to Write a Short Story, Get Published & Make Money which was released in 2015 after undertaking years of extensive research.
You can learn lots more about me in the About section of this website.
Other Books
Steph M
Very useful tips, thanks Chris - have saved for future ref for when I do my short story collection.
Hugh S
Thank you, Chris. Matthew's blog read with interest. I don't think my fiction attempts are worth publishing but I may launch a few poems at one of the suggested outlets some time. At present though, I'm up to my eyes with articles for various magazines. Got to get bread somehow.
Chris Fielden
Thanks, Steph.
Good luck with the articles, Hugh 🙂
András S
Dear Chris, for me the biggest hurdle to publishing on Amazon is reading, understanding, and adhering to their terms of service. It is incomprehensible. I, for one, refuse to participate because of their insistence of my signing that stupid contract. I don't know how they expect ordinary mortals to sign it, but lots of people do.
Chris Fielden
Hi András
I think anything to do with selling comes with complex Terms and Conditions, Terms of Service, Copyright (lots of people seem to worry unnecessarily about that), Publication Rights etc. now-a-days. It’s the world of the internet and the ever growing distribution channels it offers. I understand what you mean, but I rarely let legalese put me off doing something I want to do – I just get on with it. If Amazon don’t like anything I do, I hope they’d tell me and then I can simply stop doing it.
That’s my way of looking at it, anyway 🙂
András S
Christopher, you have a wild and wonderfully unbridled attitude toward the law! I never thought of it could be done that way. I always read every line of every small print before I sign on the dotted line. Oh, how I wish I could be like you. And come to seriously think of it... 'tis not too late at all for me to assume your attitude.
Thanks for teaching me... a life skill, more than just how to publish on Amazon.
Really... the beauty of your solution's simplicity is staggering. Why put the onus "to behave" on myself, when the other party has the vested interest in my "behaving" or "misbehaving"? Let them worry about it.
Thanks. ( I wanted to say, "Thanks, Master," but feared it would be pretentious and thus over-the-top.)
Cordially, and gratefully, AS.
Chris Fielden
Ha! Maybe I err on the side of wild a little too much sometimes, but I think it’s a healthy way of looking at things. Like you say, the onus is on Amazon. I guess that if anything I did ever became popular enough to get noticed and they didn’t like what I’d done, then that would be a nice problem to have… Well, not ‘nice’, but hopefully you know what I mean…
Joseph H
Hi Chris, just reread your How to Publish on CreateSpace, RAD. When I'm ready I'll get your book and do it. I'm a tech peasant so it's gonna take a minute but it looks like fun. I'm guessing with all these short stories I'll have to rewrite them as one document. Hmmm, maybe I'll hit up an exgirlfriend to help... hmm… birth of a bad idea. Any how, it's good to know this is available. I still have one more story to submit for the To Hull & Back competition. Until then, appreciate ya.
Chris Fielden
Hi Joseph, glad you found the information helpful. CreateSpace have templates you can download to prepare books, so I'd strongly recommend using one of those as they look really good when printed. It has all the margins and other technical gubbins sorted for you so you don't have to worry about it 🙂
Neville R
Hi Chris. I was inspired by your "how to guide" and writing tips. Tales of the Unaccepted is now available from Amazon.
Chris Fielden
Hi Neville. That’s great news! Congrats on self-publishing your book 🙂
Tegan J
Hi Christopher, I've read your post on Matthew Woodward's blog about how to self-publish on Amazon, and will be reading more of your work, but I had a quick query.
If I publish a physical book in the way you explain, can you buy numerous books at less than the price you set to give away to family/friends?
I understand that you can order proof copies, but if I didn't order enough of these, can I buy more cheaply or do I have to buy them at full price?
Thank you for your wonderfully informative post.
Chris Fielden
Hi Tegan. Thanks for reading my post – I hope you found it helpful.
Once you've published your book, you can buy as many (or as few) copies as you want from CreateSpace. When you buy them yourself, they are much cheaper as you don’t have to pay any royalty fees to Amazon. If you buy in bulk, it also saves on postage costs.
In CreateSpace, just click on 'Order Copies' in your member dashboard. From there, you can buy your books.
I hope that answers the question. I wish you the best of luck with publishing your book.
Stuart R
Dear Chris. Is it possible to publish sheet music/musical scores on CreateSpace?
Chris Fielden
Hi Stuart. CreateSpace has been integrated into Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) now. It's much the same as CreateSpace with the Amazon branding.
As you can publish images in books (both print and eBook formats) on the platform, you can basically publish anything. However, I don't think you can publish individual pieces of sheet music - you would to create a book.
The best bet is to look at the KDP community forums or Amazon KDP help. There is probably some information about musical scores there.
I hope that helps.
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