Publishing books with LibreOffice, CreateSpace, and KDP

Designing the Book Cover

Once the analytics tool no longer returns any errors, you can give the book a title page. A CreateSpace assistant helps with this task, too. However, you also have the possibility of uploading your own title. Naturally, it has to first be put into PDF format. For now, you can rely on the Cover Creator .

The assistant guides you step by step, beginning with the type of book cover. Should the print be matte or glossy? You can choose the design you like best for the book cover from a series of templates. The choice of design only determines the type of cover, and not any illustrations or text. You can gradually adapt the design to your personal preferences by going through the options in a series of menus (see Figure 12).

Figure 12: You can design a cover for your book step by step without image editing by using the cover expert.

With the book cover in place, CreateSpace indicates the status of the book project in an overview. Tasks that have been completed are shown with a green checkmark. A red circle indicates where work still needs to be done. Using the Complete Setup command shuts down the first phase of the book printing assistant and sends the book to the review process.

Submission

CreateSpace does not specifically explain what happens once the user clicks Submit Files for Review . For the most part, the service provider checks the book project over for compliance with technical requirements.

The service usually sends an email within 24 hours to inform the user that the review is complete so the process of designating distribution channels and pricing can begin.

CreateSpace offers distribution channels that include Amazon.com, Amazon Europe, and the CreateSpace estore. At no extra cost, you can also choose to place your book in US libraries and academic institutions. Likewise, it is possible to place the book in conventional book stores and online dealers with CreateSpace Direct. You will need a Book Industry Subject and Category (BISAC) code [8] for the latter. This is a code consisting of a number like COM051390 which refers to applicable subject headings, which for this example might include COMPUTERS | Programming | Open Source .

Prices are set in US dollars, and CreateSpace sets the lowest price you are permitted to charge. It is possible to set a price for each market region. The assistant automatically computes how much you can earn from each book sold.

The option of offering the book as an e-book on Kindle entails an entirely different process, which I will address later.