I'm pretty excited about the fact that I can write a book using Microsoft Word, and then edit it for free, format it for free, upload it into Ingram Spark for free, and then never have to pay someone for that service again. The cover is another story, but it's not, it's just that you have to fiddle with it, and it can take a long time if you don't do it EXACTLY the way they want you to do it.
Ingram Spark has a book cover template that they prefer you to use, but I use the one from KDP (which is also free) because it has a really nifty pink lining for the outline border(s) so I don't need to guess what size my book needs to be. I can literally go to Google and look up the KDP book cover template, and it pops up. You do have to find it, bookmark it so you don't lose it, and scroll almost to the bottom to find the tiny blue link, but it's still a great tool to use.
When you put in your EXACT page criteria, the page count, etc., it tells you exactly what you need, and you can download the template, so you can upload it to Canva, make your book cover, download it to your computer, and upload it to Ingram Spark. That's the process, and again, it can become harried if you have to do it over and over again because someone at Ingram Spark doesn't want to do their job and they send it back to you asking for it to be corrected.
Today, someone (unknown name) sent it back to me saying the book cover was the wrong size but didn't tell me what size they needed it to be. Too vague. Thank you! So, I wrote back to them and asked for a response. I decided to go back to KDP to be sure I had downloaded it correctly and decided to make it ever (a tiny bit) bigger. I went from 11.25" to 11.30". I think the difference may account for 346 full pages and the book is about 339-342 if I had to guess. I mean, the editing processor says it is - - it has to be. I add 2-4 blank pages, and it's counted in the count.
Anyway, I did take the opportunity to "erase" part of the back cover photo, using a new eraser tool I found on Canva, but I didn't do it the way I should have...oh well. I am not going to do it again unless they tell me I have to, and if they tell me I have to redo it, it won't be because of the erased portion of the photo, it will be the spine width, I'm sure. We'll see. I had the same issue with "Edinburgh", and they finally, finally got it right. We'll see if they can accept what I have sent, and if not I will redo it, if only to do the erased part over again, because now it sort of bothers me. Funny, it didn't bother me before I knew there was such a tool.
When you do the cover, you download the template, and you have to hover over the words on the template and delete them. you have tools on Canva to help you align photos, text, effects, and all manner of fun things. You can spend a lot of time in it if you really wanted to. I may do that for one of my books, but not this one. it's fairly straightforward - - horse barn.
I think what is the most upsetting about it is, that you and I have to do our jobs; we do them, and we try hard not to slack off, am I right? Well, every now and again, I'll run into a person at the Ingram Spark processing plant who just doesn't want to put forth any effort. They'll reject my manuscript but not say why, and then it goes through 11 other hands before someone with enough knowledge to publish it correctly contacts me to tell me the issue, and they take it upon themselves to do it correctly. I thank them, and I wish I could request them, but Ingram Sparks wants all of their employees to learn to do their job - - wouldn't that be GREAT?
They make more money off my book than I do. The print process for my books is $6.29 (but I bet it's not really that much, that's what they charge me.) Then they allow Amazon to print them for about the same cost, maybe $6.39 each, and they make their money from that, and who knows where else? I make under $2.00 per book. That much I know.
When the books are in E-Book format, I can sell them for much less and I earn 70% of what I charge. I try to charge $3.99 per book so I earn $2.79 or so. That's fair, and the book is not $19.00 for the patron to buy! That's really a good thing. I prefer Kindle / Ebook. I really do. The cover will be very different for the Kindle / Ebook and Ingram Spark makes $240 off me each time I have them do that. I give them the money, they turn my print book into an EPub file, and they sell the book for $3.99. Instantly allowing someone to buy it, no print, no wait, it's great.
If you ask me, I like holding my books when I show people what it is that I wrote but give me the Kindle or Ebook to read every time except the first time. The first time I read the book I wanted it in print form so I could pick through it, circle the mistakes, go back and and make corrections, and upload the better file. That's why I'm not doing the E-book yet. I have to make sure all of the books are corrected before I pay Ingram Spark $880.00 to do four books at once. (That's expensive, but I can't do the EPub myself. Others can.)
I may learn to do the EPub later, but for now, I'm good letting the experts do it - - as long as they freaking do it!! They will do it because I pay them to do it. It's the free stuff they don't like to do...and I get that, but they make money off of the books when they are set and published, not when they are sent back to the writer. Some writers aren't as aggressive or assertive as I am; the book may sit for another month or year before any corrections are made. Geez!
Photo Credit: Me (A KDP template)
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