My Experience with Createspace

OK people... Tonight I decided to put my new book through the process of Createspace, so that all of those that asked can order a paperback version of it!
I want to share my experience with it if I may...

• Not too difficult to navigate and pretty simple to follow the instructions
• You can upload a basic word doc which makes life easier, but make sure you shrink your tabs - the standard on Word is waaaaay to large for the books and looks daft! (Think it's standard set 1.5cm - I changed mine to 0.6cm)
• I actually ended up editing the layout of the book a few times (maybe a bit more than a few...) before I saw the link to download a template! This is an EXTREMELY handy tool - download it and use it! The difference in the finished product is quite remarkable!
• You get to preview the inside pages of your book once uploaded - if you try that without using the template, you'll see exactly what I meant above!!
• The design page for the cover was not bad either, but would have been nice to be able to change the size and styles of fonts without using their styles only. There are a handful of templates for you to choose from, and bare in mind that you CAN change the colours, style and pictures... Adding my own picture and changing the colour of the background made a massive difference, so pick the 'layout' that you want, not the colours, etc. 
• They do need your IBAN and SWIFT numbers for your royalty payments, so have them to hand or you'll have to spend 30 minutes on the phone to your bank going through endless lists of pre-recorded menus before speaking to someone. Who in my case only wanted to talk to me about my current overdraft facility...
• At the end, they ask you to pay $25 for extended sales - I've not picked this as it meant that my royalties went down like a lead balloon! I wanted to try and keep the price of my book the lowest I could, but still make a small profit. This might be worth having a more detailed look at though.
• For a first timer, I got it all done in about 3 and a half hours. I'm pretty sure the next time I use it, it'll be quicker and smoother. I am pretty IT savvy though, so if you struggle, it may take you longer. I spent most time playing with the formats, so where I said above to download the templates, do it! It would have saved me a couple of hours, I'm sure!!
• And at the end of the ordeal, you get to download your eBook version and the cover picture. The picture is handy for your marketing activites... and here's mine!

So go ahead and have a go!! If you're like me and have only sold as ebook before, there's certainly no harm in trying...

See you on the best sellers list soon!!!