The Poor Man's Publisher - Bryan Norford

If you are like me, an unrecognized author without a large following, you are hesitant to publish due to the costs most regular publishers require. In my experience, I need to buy five hundred or a thousand books to get the printing costs down to where books sell at a profit. As Ann and I tend to give away many of our books, I doubt we even cover our costs.

That’s why I’m surprised how few people—especially writers—have heard of Create Space. Create Space will publish your paperback book for free—that’s right—at no cost to you. Even the proof copy can be viewed and corrected over the internet. There are some minor optional costs (including Kindle edition), and of course, you pay for books you want printed.

But there is more good news. As the books are print-on-demand, the cost is the same for any quantity—one or a thousand, at a sharply discounted price to the author. Even more good news: once the book is published with Create Space, it is available for sale on Amazon. Even better news: royalties from create space are several times that of regular publishers.

I have published several books on create space and the quality is as good as others I published through a regular publisher. I usually order an initial run of one hundred books. If I sell those, I can easily order another hundred.

If there is a downside, I don’t have a committed publisher pushing my books. But, in my experience, most publishers today tend to rely on author promotion anyway. But Amazon does provide an author’s page for book descriptions and personal bios.

Create Space also publishes CDs and DVDs. I only sing in the tub and act the fool, so haven’t tried these. Check it out at https://www.createspace.com/

Bryan Norford