CreateSpace for Europe - Unimpressed So Far
On 17th May, Amazon launched its existing US self-publishing platform, CreateSpace, in Europe. I'm a FeedARead customer myself, but I thought I'd take a look at the competition, to see how it compares.
My hopes for CreateSpace Europe were:
- CreateSpace books would now be readily available in European Amazon stores
- Authors would now be able to work in their own currency
- Authors' royalty payments would come from Europe, thus avoiding US tax problems
- Their "industry-leading" royalties would rival FeedARead's
As expected, customers will be able to sell CreateSpace books through Amazon UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. It also appears that payments will come from Europe, avoiding the US tax issue. However, royalties from CreateSpace appear to be much lower than royalties from FeedARead, and the site didn't feel welcoming to me as a Brit.
Even though I clicked on a button to enable CreateSpace for Europe, the royalty calculator still came up in dollars and it took a bit of tweaking to get it to estimate royalties in pounds. The site also lacks little touches like calling a 'basket' a 'basket' rather than a 'cart'. The cost of many additional facilities is also quoted in dollors not pounds or euros.
It appears that FeedARead, which is supported by Arts Council funding, can pay authors twice as much in royalties, as CreateSpace. It's difficult to be sure, because of the unfocussed nature of CreateSpace's royalty calculator when it comes to the UK - I would have liked a breakdown for both books purchased directly and books purchased through distribution - but it appears that my FeedARead royalties for Seesaw could be much greater than the royalties CreateSpace would give me for the same book.
Estimated and actual royalties for a sample book
FeedARead - for books purchased directly from them - £2.85
FeedARead - for books sold through distribution - £1.01
CreateSpace - according to royalty estimation calculator - £1.45
Please correct me if you have a better understanding of CreateSpace's pricing system that I do.
The only cost advantages I can see, are that CreateSpace charges $25 (agh, there's those dollars again!) for extended distribution and FeedARead charges £88. Extended distribution enables authors to sell their books through a wider variety of channels than the basic package, such as online retailers and book shops. Also, FeedARead charge slightly more to update a file after it goes to print, than CreateSpace do.
Perhaps in the future, CreateSpace will improve, but at the moment it feels like a clunky add on to the US site, rather than a facility geared toward getting the most for its UK visitors. I will be sticking with FeedARead.
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Hi Rosen and thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this. I've been looking into the comparisons over the last few days and came to the same conclusion. After registering in order to get to the necessary information I was very put off by the various $ and tax confusions. I've already battled through that with kindle through Amazon and don't fancy the added headache of working it all out again. I also don't see that I'm getting a better deal with CreateSpace; not to mention the enjoyment I get out of using the FeedARead site and the feeling that I can trust their handling of my books. In the end it comes down to FeedARead which treats me as a person from the off, next to the impersonality of CreateSpace.