KDP Paperback vs. CreateSpace

Some of you may seem confused, where to publish the print version of your book: through KDP Paperback vs. CreateSpace. Here are a few things you should know.

What is it?

KDP Paperback is something new and it’s still in beta mode, so there are a few bugs and not all features (such as physical proofs and reduced author copies) are active yet. Additionally, on CreateSpace you can order the discounted author’s copy of your book whereas on KDP Paperback you have to pay the full price for it and you have less control over the final result. The main differences are the web setups. KDP is striving for a user friendly site, and the print cells used are in a different warehouse than the CreateSpace one. In general, after asking many authors, I found out most of them definitely prefer CreateSpace.

Changes are coming

However, CreateSpace is looking to be completely out of commission by the end of October. KDP is the newer, more user friendly side of Print on Demand. Between the end of August and through October, Amazon will be migrating authors books and accounts over to KDP.  Physical Proofs and Author Copies are tracking to be ready by end of June. The team that runs CreateSpace is now a part of the KDP program, so that while it’s a different interface their aim is to make it much more user friendly while still offering the same exact services as CreateSpace. When the bugs are all worked out, CreateSpace will shut down permanently. So you have to follow the changes. We’ll see how the new KDP Paperback will work.

As for the problem of not discounted author’s copies, some authors suggest that you lower your price to the bare minimum just over print cost, then order your copies then raise your price after that.

You may also find this article interesting: What’s Amazon Cooking Up Next for Indie Authors?

Check also: How to prepare your book for Kindle?