Self-Publishing with CreateSpace
Self-Publishing with CreateSpace
Today’s Ask Dr. Diane: I am interested in self-publishing a book. Can you tell me about your experience with self-publishing and things you have done to market your books?
That is a good question and one that I often receive. Check out my previous posting: How to Publish or Self-Publish Your Book. I used Createspace for self-publishing. I had a great experience with them. They are affiliated with Amazon. The site offers different options based on authors’ needs. Some of those options included:
- Do-it-yourself tools to design interiors and covers
- Comprehensive design and editing
- Expanded distribution options
I found that the company was very responsive to my questions. They took my design ideas and gave me a couple of covers to choose from based on my input.
Createspace is not limited to book publishing. They also work with musicians and filmmakers.
Once your book is published, and available on Amazon, you will then have the ability to create an Amazon author page. That author page can incorporate links from your blog. Authors also have the option of making their books available on Amazon’s Europe-based site.
There are plenty of books that can help increase your sales on Amazon’s site. One book that I thought was pretty useful was: Aiming at Amazon.
Related Articles:
Marlo Thomas Asks What Would You Do Differently – My Answer is Nothing
I was just watching a video by Marlo Thomas where she was asking people what they would do differently knowing what they know now. In my book, How to Reinvent Your Career, I included a chapter about this very subject.  The following is an excerpt from that chapter where I discuss why I don’t think that many things we choose are really mistakes because they have led us to where we need to be now.
Think about the choices you made when you were young. Would you choose the same things now? Maybe not. Maybe you weren’t ready to take on the things you can now do. I doubt I would have been as good a professor if I hadn’t had the 25-plus years of experience in the working world to help me add to my lectures and discussions.Â
Perhaps that degree you got in Sociology or Education or some other field no longer interests you. Perhaps you need to go back and get more education in a new area of interest. People change and interests change. It’s OK to say that what you were interested in when you were 20 is not the same thing that interests you now.
One of the reasons we change is through the life lessons we learn. We may take a job that leads to another job that we had no intention of doing in the first place, but makes us much happier than we thought it would. You have to factor life experiences into the equation of what brought you to the place you are right now.
College Costs . . . Good News Bad News
![[Tuition]](https://sg.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-BI697A_Tuiti_NS_20101027202009.gif)
If you are considering going back to college, you may be interested to know that tuition rates are going up. That is the bad news. The good news is that the Pell grants are on the rise. I give a lot of advice about paying for college in my book, The Online Student User’s Manual. For more information, you can also check out some of my recent articles by clicking here.  Â
According to an article in WSJ.com by Stephanie Banchero, “The average price of tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year institutions is $7,605 this school year, a 7.9% increase over last year. At private nonprofit colleges and universities, the average price is $27,293, a 4.5% rise. Two-year state colleges saw a 6% rise to $2,713.” To read the entire article, click here.
Related Articles
- Tuition, Pell Grants Rise in Tandem (online.wsj.com)
- College Tuition Costs Climbing Again This Fall (abcnews.go.com)
E-Books vs. Traditional Books
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Ask Dr. Diane: Which do you like better . . . e-books or traditional books?Â
I am often asked about my preferences for e-books vs. the traditional book for use in the classroom setting. I teach for many different online universities. Some of these universities use e-books and others do not. Initially I was leery about using them because I am a page bender, a highlighter and basic destroyer of books, in order for me to get the most out of them. Technology has improved though and you can now do more to the e-book to mark things of interest. Also there is the option of printing out a few pages here and there if you really want a hard copy.Â
When I wrote the book The Online Student’s User Manual, I had no intention of offering it as an e-book. However, within weeks of its publication, one of the universities where I teach asked for it in that format so that they could make it required reading for all new students. Needless to say, I got over my reluctance quickly and made it available. I also made it available on Kindle: http://amzn.to/aCvMI1
Through time and experience using them, I realized that e-books are a great option for many students.  A typical example is the student who attends a regular university and doesn’t want to lug a ton of books all over campus. However, my students are online students.  Many may tend to have an ease with technology which is why they chose online learning in the first place. Some of my older students may have more of an issue with it than the younger ones. However, the portability and ability to read at work online or print things has made them accept the transition and appreciate it more.
Taking Your First Online Class? A Professor Shares How to Succeed | My Education Blog
Even if you do much of your work online and socialize online, there may be challenges when it comes to online learning. If it’s your first online class, you’re not only facing a learning curve about the subject matter, but what it takes to do your best in an online classroom.
Dr. Diane Hamilton, author of “The Online Student’s User Manual” who teaches online courses for six universities, shares some of her tips for being a successful online college student.
Q: What technology skills should students gain before starting an online course?
A: They have to know how to upload files and how to understand the classroom and how it’s laid out (online). They’re not just opening the door and walking in. Sometimes there’s four of five different areas where they have to look for information (such as homework assignments).
Q: What can older learners who may not be as tech-savvy do to prepare?
A: I have a lot of sympathy for the older learner. There are a lot of tutorials online that are free. I have links that I always put in my classrooms, such as how to set up papers, how to set up a PowerPoint. They don’t have a good idea of how to set up documents.
Q: What are the biggest mistakes online students should avoid?
A: There’s a lot of buzz terminology that they need to know about so they don’t get into class and become overwhelmed by the terminology (words like “search engine” or “rubric”). Use basic “netiquette,” with the proper way of speaking to one another and being respectful. You can’t type in all caps because that means you’re yelling. Also, texting has been the way people communicate, but this is a formal environment and you need to write in complete sentences. Students are sometimes not using capitalization and they’re doing other things like they’re texting (instead of) being in the formal classroom.
Q: What’s an online tool for communicating with professors and peers that students should use?
A: Some of the schools set up a chat room (for the course), which is a really good thing. I also set up my own if the school doesn’t set up one. It’s like standing in the hallway talking. The bachelor students want to talk in the chat rooms, but tend to be more shy in terms of talking to the professor. I will post kind of funny YouTube things to lighten the mood to get people posting and talking to each other and to make me more approachable and make them realize I’m not a scary person. I have a Facebook page for my online students. I also have a blog. I have Twitter. I tell all my students, this is how you reach me on all those different areas.
Q: How does online learning appeal to different personalities?
A: I think that a lot of introverts really find online learning appealing for the fact that an introvert tends to think internally before speaking. They can take time to process their information and backspace and retype. With an extrovert, it’s appealing in another way. Sometimes they say, “I wish I hadn’t said that.” They have a chance to delete before posting it.
-Lori Johnston