Comments on: How Does Lightning Source Compare to Lulu and Createspace?

By: Roger

Roger — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:27:47 +0000

I’d like to comment on your remarks about Lightning Source costing more. for its $75 set up fee and $12 yearly fee. Createspace does charge less for set up at $39 and then $39/year after that. After two years, your book will cost $80. After 3 years your book will cost almost $120 while at lightning source after 3 years, it would cost $99 and the cost only goes up from there. So sure, create space is awesome for a quick cheap shot to start, but if you’re running a series of books or if you’re publishing more than one book, then you might as well kiss your butt goodbye with Createspace because it’s going to continue to cost you high yearly costs that, may I add, are the most expensive yearly costs out there.

By: Pam Knight

Pam Knight — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:22:04 +0000

Just a few comments about LS, since we are a small press and use them.
As I understand, they do not work with individual authors, but only with publishers. There is an application process and a publisher is defined by a threshold of the number of books you will be publishing. For example, we publish 50-60 titles a year. They provide no training; they assume that as a publisher you know how to publish books. Also, a correction to the original article: the $1.50 handling fee is per order, not per book. Big difference.
My experience with LS is that they are a class act. The quality and quality control is excellent. However, as a publisher or author, you want to get your book into as many distribution channels as possible. So if you have your own ISBN, you can put your book on more than one just to take advantage of their distribution channels. That being said, you still need marketing. An author blog and an author Amazon page are two of the best investments of your time that you can make.

By: Darlene

Darlene — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:45:18 +0000

Through the Extended Distribution option from Createspace my books are available from the following stores worldwide:

US
* Abe’s Books
* Amazon.com
* Barnes & Noble
* Books-a-Million
* Borders
* Powell’s Books
* Reader’s Supermarket

United Kingdom:
* Amazon.co.uk
* The Book Depository
* Foyles Bookshop
* Langton Information Services
* Waterstones

Australia:
* BerkeLouW Books
* Borders Australia
* The Nile

Canada:
* Amazon.ca

Estonia:
* Bookshop Krisostomus

France:
* Amazon.co.fr

Germany:
* Amazon.co.de

Japan:
* Amazon.co.jp

By: G S Jones

G S Jones — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:42:40 +0000

Shannon, I actually end up selling more books by far out of the “distribution channels” that Createspace offers than I do off of Amazon.com or my own createspace “store.” Unfortunately, by the time the pieces of the pie get cut out of the royalty, I do make less that way. I would like to publish a couple of hard cover books, so I may look at what Lulu has to offer. I initially ended up with Createspace at the encouraging of a business client, and never really checked Lulu out. I have published eight books through Createspace and have 2 more in the works, one of which I may publish through Lulu in the end.

By: Shannon Yarbrough

Shannon Yarbrough — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:26:57 +0000

Hi Gina-

LS is a heavy distributor which mainly services other heavy distributors like Ingram. I don’t think they offer any of the services you are inquiring about. The best bet would be to invest in stock yourself and set up your own site and take payment using Paypal. Or have a paypal link on your author blog. Or send people to Amazon. Amazon is still the most trusted source for online book buying and a name that readers recognize.

The perks to LS is it can get your foot in the door of traditional bookstores without you having to do much of the foot work. It also makes your book returnable, which is important to bookstores. They hate to invest in stock that they’d be stuck with if it doesn’t sell.

Keep in mind that using LS is indeed a time and financial investment. Give it serious thought. It may not be right for you.

Thanks,
Shannon
LLBR

By: Shannon Yarbrough

Shannon Yarbrough — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:22:12 +0000

Hi Raj-

Thank you for your comments. The extended distribution CS now offers came available after we posted this original post in 2009. I have to admit I have not investigated, nor heard from any authors, how it is working out or if it works at all.

It is practically impossible to get any POD book into a library unless you work with your own local branch, possibly set up a signing there, and/or donate copies of your book to them.

-Shannon
LLBR

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:34:36 +0000

I forgot to mention cs price is for 7 x 10 that is more value

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:32:23 +0000

Even with volume Lulu cannot match cs pro on price (for pod create space is very low on price)- I give comparison 6 x9 full color book 97 pages

LULU
Retail Print Your Revenue $5.36 (cost 40.13) Price $45.49
Print Your Revenue 17.27 (cost 28.22) Price $45.49
For quantity order of 50 books 8 – 15% discount currently

CS $13.27
CS Pro $7.57 pirce same $45.49
selling through amazon total cost 31.47/ pro 25.77
CS E-store total cost 22.37/ pro 16.67
Hope this is helpful

I dont know how to get into libraries, as I own my isbn- it is not possible in cs pro

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:07:06 +0000

I want to include- this that I noticed in Create space-Pro
$39 Pro fee
$9.57 proof
TOTAL $48.57 Cost per 360-page book ($0.85 + $0.012/pg) $5.72.

But if you do pro fee transaction separately first
Then your proof copy would be $5.72 and not 9.57

By: Gina

Gina — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:44:19 +0000

A newbie here: can people order single issues that will be shipped to them from Lightning source? I am assuming they don’t have a webpage like other pod’s do (Createspace and Lulu) where you can send people to buy your books. If I set up my own webpage for people to order the book will Lightningsource ship say a single book to them? And if so how would I link up the my webpage to Lightningsource to do this?

There is a cover generator with the ISBN number where they ask for the price.. how do I determine the price. I didn’t see a price calculator (for my fee, Lightning sources fee and retail mark up) on the website so how do I know what to put on it? Do they have a price calculator or list?
When you have a price for your ISBN bar code (however I get that? see above…) do you put the price for that you pay on it, and then amazon will add their price to it, or do I put the total retail markup on it?
Can they put a barcode on with the price for you?

And, I can’t figure out the PDF submissions. I have a color cover and all color insides, do I make one PDF that has the front and back called cvr,pdf? And then what is the middle called?

I also don’t know what to pick for retail discount, I read if you go to low they won’t pick you up. How do I choose and when does Lightning source ask for this.

P.S. if my book is 7×10 and it’s a graphic novel that I want to print all the way to the edge, what information do I put in for trim etc.? It is exactly how I want it right now at 7×10…

P.P.S. if I want to sell through Ingram, amazon all retailers, library exposure and individual sales do I pick this one? http://www.lightningsource.com/print_to_publisher.aspx

Thank you! Gina