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Post by adrianallan on Dec 21, 2022 16:24:08 GMT
Hi Sirram I have followed this thread with interest. I have just successfully made the transition from Lulu to Amazon KDP publishing. My latest book is 636 pages long and is selling well - you can look me up on Amazon. IF you want any help of advice on the pros and cons of Amazon (as opposed to Lulu, who I have now abandoned), you are welcome to give me a ring. I am based in the UK, which I suspect you are, too. Maybe send me a private message on here. A very kind offer. But you could always first summarise the highlights and lowlights on this forum as I'm sure everyone else will be enormously interested as well. Cons of Amazon: Sometimes they will ask you to "prove" that you own the cover photo, if it looks like a copyright infringement Pros: The author copies are very cheap indeed. For my 636 page book, it was around £7 per book and £3 postage. It can be sent anywhere around the world It gives you a day to day sales bar chart, so you can see how many books are being sold When I sell through Amazon alone, I can gain royalties of around £11 for a £30 book, so I am making far more money than through Lulu Greater exposure - for many people, Amazon is "the" bookshop that they will use. Faster delivery times - days, rather than weeks Similar or comparable print quality to Lulu The Amazon website is not prone to the ridiculous bugs of Lulu, which have driven so many customers away from them over the past few years You can make a decent author spotlight page, where people will actually look at your profile (who looks at Lulu author spotlights?)
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Dec 22, 2022 1:15:45 GMT
It's not unusual for sites to request people to inform them of any 'broken' links. I do not know what quantity you buy at a time, but many outlets similar to yourself actually use local print shops, or even online print shops. Your are more or less publishing booklets, and many place can print those. This is one such place www.digitalprinting.co.uk/products/booklet-printing/12/ there are 100s of places.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Dec 22, 2022 1:32:08 GMT
"Sometimes they will ask you to "prove" that you own the cover photo, if it looks like a copyright infringement" I recall a tick box to do with that. I think there's one to do with the contents too. But they do not check if you actually do have the rights, even Amazon don't have the staff to do that. By asking you if you do, it lets them off if there is any copyright infringement reported. "Well we did ask ..." They rely on viewers of all items to report anything they are suspicious of, and while it's hammered out the item will be removed.
Contents can be a lot more tricky regarding copyright. Has the creator asked if they can use any images in it? Have they asked if they can quote things? Regardless of Fair Use rules. A Copyright on the Copyright page can often only cover the creation of the publication, which may actually contain things that have individual copyrights needing permission to use.
And there's always this >> images.google.co.uk/ it will search out incidences of any images entered in to it.
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Post by adrianallan on Dec 22, 2022 7:37:40 GMT
For my last-but-one book I was asked to send in a document disclosing where and when the photo was taken, signed by the photographer. This happened after the book had been submitted. I was sent an email from KDP saying that they suspected a copyright violation. I managed to sort it out in a few days. The staff do manual checks as well - hence why it takes a few days before your book goes on the bookshelf of Amazon.
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sirram
Senior Printer
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money
Posts: 269
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Post by sirram on Dec 22, 2022 9:54:16 GMT
It's not unusual for sites to request people to inform them of any 'broken' links. I do not know what quantity you buy at a time, but many outlets similar to yourself actually use local print shops, or even online print shops. Your are more or less publishing booklets, and many place can print those. This is one such place www.digitalprinting.co.uk/products/booklet-printing/12/ there are 100s of places. I maintain two websites and periodically use a freeware broken-link checker to see if any of my links have become broken. It does happen if the destination website has moved or deleted the particular page. You can point it at any website you want: www.brokenlinkcheck.com/We do use a local print shop for all our pre-Lulu books. For the Lulu ones, our Publications Officer much prefers the convenience of logging on to Lulu to place orders, particular because the print shop is in the next town.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Dec 23, 2022 21:03:14 GMT
For my last-but-one book I was asked to send in a document disclosing where and when the photo was taken, signed by the photographer. This happened after the book had been submitted. I was sent an email from KDP saying that they suspected a copyright violation. I managed to sort it out in a few days. The staff do manual checks as well - hence why it takes a few days before your book goes on the bookshelf of Amazon. I think what they do is check for is wrongly categorised books. No one wants children to be subjected to profanities, and I do believe that is a site's responsibility to ensure it does not happen. But that can be done easily via software. But they will do random checks for other things. Imagine the staff needed to check through every single book for potential infringement of copyright. It's always best to thank in a book anyone you have asked for permission to use what ever is used.
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Post by adrianallan on Dec 23, 2022 22:11:43 GMT
In my opinion, they will glance at the front cover to see if anything stands out as being a possible infringement. In my case, it was a quality photograph of the world's most successful songwriter, so they might have assumed I had used the image without permission. I had a few days to show that I had permission, or they said they would suspend my account. The copyright owner of the photo happily provided a signed letter and Amazon approved the book the following day. He was credited inside the book as well. I had paid to use the photo.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Dec 24, 2022 1:52:26 GMT
In my opinion, they will glance at the front cover to see if anything stands out as being a possible infringement. In my case, it was a quality photograph of the world's most successful songwriter, so they might have assumed I had used the image without permission. I had a few days to show that I had permission, or they said they would suspend my account. The copyright owner of the photo happily provided a signed letter and Amazon approved the book the following day. He was credited inside the book as well. I had paid to use the photo. Yes, I can see that being the case with such a cover. I don't have such a problem because mine are my own designs. Things are rather peculiar. Paps have photos of stars published in newspapers and get paid for the use of them. Copyright in that instance belongs to the photographer, even if the subject of the photo objected to having it taken! Some stars actually have their face copyrighted, basically saying, you cannot take a photo without permission, and yet people do. In many instances of public area photo shoots and filming, some people will have their faces blurred. Apparently permission has to be asked and if not given the face has to be blurred out. It's all very mixed up, and often it's a simple case of who has the best lawyers, and who is worried about them.
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Post by potet on Dec 24, 2022 12:17:19 GMT
I design my covers. They are mine and unique.
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Post by adrianallan on Dec 24, 2022 15:36:46 GMT
I design my covers. They are mine and unique. Which is great For the sort of books I write, people expect to have a really good photo of the performer. I don't think other options would be as effective. I normally pay for the cover photo. Other aspects of the cover, such as the font and placement, are my own work. I'm normally given a few photos to choose from. Here is the latest book, front and back covers:
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sirram
Senior Printer
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money
Posts: 269
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Post by sirram on Dec 24, 2022 18:21:25 GMT
Great cover. The black background against the sharp photos works really well.
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Post by potet on Dec 24, 2022 22:32:39 GMT
adrianaallan, indeed your cover shows your honesty. Potential readers know whom your book is about.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Dec 25, 2022 1:26:57 GMT
I design my covers. They are mine and unique. Which is great For the sort of books I write, people expect to have a really good photo of the performer. I don't think other options would be as effective. I normally pay for the cover photo. Other aspects of the cover, such as the font and placement, are my own work. I'm normally given a few photos to choose from. Here is the latest book, front and back covers: View Attachment That is true. The subject of the book needs to be obvious, but in the case of your cover it is to be assumed it is about the band, Wings. So the title says. Should it not be a photo of the band?
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Post by adrianallan on Dec 25, 2022 1:51:04 GMT
Which is great For the sort of books I write, people expect to have a really good photo of the performer. I don't think other options would be as effective. I normally pay for the cover photo. Other aspects of the cover, such as the font and placement, are my own work. I'm normally given a few photos to choose from. Here is the latest book, front and back covers: View Attachment That is true. The subject of the book needs to be obvious, but in the case of your cover it is to be assumed it is about the band, Wings. So the title says. Should it not be a photo of the band?The issue here is that there were three very different Wings line-ups and not knowing which one to choose - or making a messy composite of all three. The other point is that, perhaps more than any other band, Wings was both defined and controlled by its front man.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Dec 26, 2022 1:03:30 GMT
Many other places have no problem showing photos of Wings regardless off there being a few line ups. The constant was Paul, Linda and Denny Laine (the chap on the back cover?) I doubt anyone can name or recognise the others. But the point as I see it is that Wings was not just Paul.
And it's not unusual for the singer to be in control, or at least try to be. It can cause many a break up!
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