The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

CreateSpace Is Amazon Is Book Surge

by Anne Wayman on August 31st, 2008

I finally got around to checking out one of the advertisers here, CreateSpace. At first glance it appears CreateSpace was perhaps set up to compete directly with Lulu.com - unless you want premium services, there are no fees to upload your book, etc.

What I didn’t realize until I got to the bottom of a page is that the company is owned by Amazon, the giant online bookstore.

Because I’ve been following Angela Hoy’s Booklocker lawsuit against Amazon for insisting self-publishers use Amazon-owned BookSurge if they want to be treated well at the online bookstore, I sent her a quick email asking her what she knew. She told me that in addition being an Amazon company, CreateSpace will actually urge users to switch to BookSurge if they have any problems with formatting, etc.

That’s quite different than Lulu.com. They answer questions and want their authors to succeed with their services. They do allow experts to advertise their services, but, at least as near as I can tell, they aren’t trying to switch people to a whole different, fee-charging service.

Investigate before you sign or agree to anything in publishing and self-publishing!

Angela’s sites include: BookLocker, WritersWeekly, and the Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse.

Write well and often,

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POSTED IN: Amazon/BookSurge, Book Writing, Editing, Pubishing & Marketing