Customer Reviews

Self-Publishing with Amazon's CreateSpace: A Resource Guide for the Author Considering Self-Publishing

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am astounded by the favorable reviews I see above. Honestly, this book is the worst I have ever come across, both in content and interior book design. Book design, in particular, should be exemplary in a book that promotes self-publishing.

My criticisms below will be extensive because (1) I feel ethically bound to counter the unaccountably positive reviews already posted here, maybe sparing you a disappointment,(2) Sivils' book gives self-publishing an undeserved bad name, and (3) it makes me angry to pay good money for a product and get junk.

I am familiar with books on POD self-publishing; I have three fine books by Aaron Shepard and five others. Most of the material in this book by Kevin Sivils could have been lifted from the competing books. This is not an indictment in itself, since they all take a similar approach to self-publishing, but I don't think I encountered one original thought in Sivils' book.

About copyediting: apparently, the book underwent none. Note the following:
On page 6 we see the phrase, "CreateSpace, the self-publishing company now owned by Amazon...." Eight lines below we are treated to "CreateSpace, being owned by Amazon,..."
"Like all human endeavors, look before you leap." This excruciating line is on pg. 7.
On page 12, the author recommends Steve Weber's book, ePublish. On page 20 he recommends it again using a different title: "Steve Weber's book, ePublishing, is a good resource...."
Some words are inexplicably broken into two words (e.g., "free lancers"). Hyphenated words frequently lose their hyphens (e.g., pop up box").
One of the appendices is titled, "Eight Items of Book Design Etiquette." The book itself follows seven.

The author has chosen to repeat the chapter name at the top of the page, which is fine. However, one title, which begins as "Why I Published With CreateSpace," mysteriously changes on the headers of subsequent pages to the ungrammatical "Why I Chose CreateSpace to Publish With."

Here is one example of the many content problems. Sivils refers more than once to "cover scribing." He seems to be talking about "cover copy." I cannot find the term "cover scribing" anywhere on the Internet. Anyone who knows much about publishing knows the term "cover copy."

Of all the books I've read on this subject, this is the only one that leaves readers in the dark about many important topics. Appropriate explanations are lacking in dozens of places. Here is an example: Sivils mentions "trim size" as a data item to be entered when adding a book to a CreateSpace account. He does not tell readers what the standard trim sizes are (as all the competing books do), nor does he explain why an author might want to choose one over another. The book doesn't offer even a hint as to what "trim size" means!

There are many instances of garbled text. Here are some of them:
"To unlock the files will remove the book from sale." (Page 80)
"You are limited to white or cream colored paper and indicates the choice in a drop menu." (Page 74. Also, the correct term is "drop-down menu.")
"What makes these books valuable to my customers is not the cover or the fancy, or lack of, interior book design, but the information about coaching basketball that is contained on the pages within." (Page 54).

Speaking of basketball, this book has some "information" that runs far afield of the interests of most readers. (A possible exception is the writer of one of the reviews above, who, like author Sivils, makes his living coaching and teaching. What a coincidence.) Here is some of that "information" on page 57:

"Since that time period rule changes have replaced the jump ball for tied possessions with the alternating possession rule and the three point shot has been introduced at every level of play except for the youngest players. Television has caused the introduction of the 30 second timeout on every level of play as well. These three rule changes alone have had a major impact on the strategy and tactics employed by successful basketball coaches."

It pains me to think that some of the money I paid for this book went to pay for this useless 74-word paragraph--which isn't relevant even when you read it in context.

The book is well-padded. For example, it includes an appendix of Suggested Websites that uses 12 pages to identify only 45 sites. The last six numbered pages contain only some information about the author and a blank Notes page.

Chapters are not numbered. There is no index. Fortunately, you won't need one, because there is nothing in the book worth looking up.

If you are not convinced by now that this book is trash, well, I don't know what else I can say. Good luck when you self-publish your own book! It will surely be much better than this one.

This book is written in clear, concise language. I was able to follow the steps in using CreateSpace's procedures with ease. The book is more than just a step-by-step guide for using CreateSpace. It has information that any author interested in self-publishing will find helpful. The author has sections of the book that are resource guides that will steer the reader in the right direction to find information about self-publishing. It also includes an overview of the new, I think they are new, services offered by CreateSpace. The best feature of this book is that it is a time saver.

I teach and coach for a living and computers are not my always my best friend. Given that using CreateSpace requires being able to use the computer - no human to help you through the process - this book was very helpful. The author has used CreateSpace many times and guides you through the process with clear directions.

I bought the book just for the directions and was surprised to find a great deal of information about self-publishing and different sources for information about self-publishing, marketing books, etc, as well as other information that authors who are going to self-publish will find helpful. This part of the book saved me a lot of time researching answers to other questions I had about self-publishing.

This book is a nice, easy to read, quick step by step guide to walk you through the CreateSpace process. Mr Sivils took a no-nonsense writing approach with a light attitude very similar to the writing approach in author Aaron Sheppard's books such as "Aiming at Amazon". Being a stickler for detail, I wished the interior design was a bit prettier, and more concise, but that's totally beside the point because most people buying this book will want it for the information.

I've recently read other books and tips on using CreateSpace and I would choose this book over any other I've read so far. If you are going to publish through CreateSpace, get a guide like this one to help you through the process.

I was debating whether or not to use CreateSpace to publish a book and found this book. VERY helpful if you want to read all you can about how it all works, what the books look like, the quality and how to upload and get the most bang for your buck using CreateSpace. It was very helpful to me and I did end up using CreateSpace and am very happy with the results. This book shared information I otherwise would not have known that was very helpful and instrumental through the publishing process.

This book is a joke at best. Amazon should be ashamed to sell it. There is no value anywhere in the book. It is full of bad publishing
errors. For example: Wrong words... you instead of your, added words, like "a" where there should be no word. The font changes and changes size frequently. Sentences make no sense. I would go on, but this is not a book at all and I feel I should actually get my money back. I've never seen anything like this referred to as a book!

This book was extremely helpful. All the information that you need in one place which alllows you to plan and set milestones.

This book is very easy to read and follow if you want to publish your own book. It is a great "how-to" guide with lots of tips and details. The author does a great job of getting right to the point. A "must-have" book to read before you start writing your own book.

People getting into self-publishing are suckers (sorry - but the truth hurts) for something, anything that they think will help them become the next great american author. You have to love the ambition and the optimism but it makes for folks likely to get ripped off......and here is where you can get ripped off. Just buy the book.

Frankly, the fact that the book is just filled with poor writing and poor editing is a huge red flag. Think about what is happening here - the author does not bother to take the minimal time it would require to do a simple spell check on the draft text. Too busy doing something else? Too busy to care? Or just plain sloppy, poor attention to detail.

when someone does not care (or know) enough to get the details right what does that say about the quality of the information they are providing? It says a lot......the information is bad.

Stay away - stay very far away from this book or anything by this author.

I learned a good bit from this book without the material being overwhelming or confusing. This guide was written in a refreshing, straightforward style. Since I've been reading several self-publishing books this winter, I appreciated how direct and easy this one was to follow. Further, there are a number of references made to other books and resources to find out more (though excessively repeated throughout in at least one book's case).

The five star review does not mean I found this to be perfect. There were a number of typos and editing mistakes toward the middle I found distracting. (The beginning and the conclusion seemed better edited to me.) Also, some of the material added in the 2.0 update from the 1.0 version didn't flow with similar spacing and font, another distraction. But, the book overall was well done.

I also appreciated that the author confined the book to the subject matter. Too many other self-publishing books double their size by adding fluff on "better writing" so that the guide portion of the book, the part the author has the real expertise about, is less than half of the book. This book is a better value because it sticks to its subject.