"Ever read Matthew, chapter ten, verse thirty-four? In it Jesus states, 'Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.' Some people misinterpret that as allegory. Some people reject his message and react violently. He was really saying that he indeed brought a motherf*cking sword--the Sword of Jesus." Jonathon Tait explaining to Andrew Walker the nature of the weapon only Jennifer Ainsley can wield. Current technology can be amazing. In the 90's, I wrote 4 screenplays that promptly sat in the drawer with no Hollywood connections, no access to sell my work. Fast forward to 2012 where my idea for a multi-part Fantasy/Horror/Suspense series starts to take shape. I found technology had greatly shifted publishing so that the art of selling a story had drastically changed. People were now being successful in books and music selling their creations directly to a potential audience. After researching a variety of publishers, I chose CreateSpace because of its variety of options and ease of integration with Amazon, their corporate overlord ;) There are a variety of price points and packages to consider. I ordered their book formatting, editing, and Kirkus review services. The service is easu to work with and they answered a myriad of questions along the way. The only hiccups was a phone call scheduling miscommunication at the beginning and minor issues with formatting. Those problems were more than offset by my positive experiences especially in working with my assigned editor Angela. Her understanding of my book and what needed to be adjusted was dead-on and the improvement in my draft after working with her was dramatic.As I work on my second book, i know I think of her comments and hope that I can get her assigned to the second book. CreateSpace now offers matte covers and with my surreal book image it makes the presentation of my book, in printed form, look almost as professional as if it had been printed by a major publisher. Just make sure you have multiple people reread it! Angela and I did not catch all typos and I had to pay another 435 to make minor corrections after the first batch of books were printed. CreateSpace uploaded my manuscript direct to Kindle and everything was fine other than a couple of minor formatting issues which were resolved quickly. I'm very happy with my experience with CreateSpace and highly recommend them if you are an author looking to self-publish. My book can be ordered via paperback or on Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Ainsley-Final-Demon-War-ebook/dp/B00HFYK99Q/ read more

Too many scandals that left unanswered questions from those who where there longer than many of the staff. Upon being fired from there in 2015 there was a plagiarism scandal that played up and it basically left Creeger reeling as my sources revealed she was a villain with good publicity. If you have your original word documents here's my e-mail: nickolauspacione@aim.com and I will offer to help you get moved into Blurb.com or TheBookPatch.com if you have intense nature to your subject matter. I saw someone icing TheBookPatch.com and I had reviewed CreateSpace.com on trustpilot -- so the question is Creeger working in publishing after her layoff. Don't hire her on another place if she is out of work within the same field because she's not even qualified to be a publisher. read more

I have just finished publishing my EIGHTH title with Create Space -- the first being an anthology, the rest being an annual academic journal which is handed out to hundreds of members at our conferences--members who, it's worth noting, work in academia, are published themselves, and know the difference between quality and schlock. Our team has received nothing but glowing reviews of the books ever since we moved from a traditional off-set printer to Create Space seven issues ago. FWIW, we go with a 6x9 full color matte cover and b&w interior on cream stock, averaging around 130 pages, and have both dense textbocks and many photographs in every edition). I regularly recommend them, whether as a primary source of printing or as a means of keeping a back catalogue without dealing with excess inventory. The ease with which they integrate with Amazon sales, international distribution, sales to libraries/schools, etc., their FREE isbn assignment and bar code creation (unless you want a private one), AND how easy it is to switch over to Kindle, are simply amazing aspects of this company. Best POD publisher I've ever used. I haven't used any of the formatting/editing/etc. services that the reviewer "Sidney S." mentioned, so I can't comment on that, but I CAN say that if you're coming into this with a decent background in book formatting and can provide a ready-to-go PDF, they are quick and high quality. The MAIN reason I decided I needed to write a review, though, is to offer a different perspective than that given by the reviewer "S.S.," who made several strongly-worded claims. I want to emphasize that the experience they describe is polar opposite to mine. The customer service I've received has constantly been top notch. Not only has literally EVERY order arrived earlier than quoted (despite us always ordering several hundred copies), but on the rare occassion that something has gone wrong, they've been absolutely wonderful. Meanwhile, regarding their copyright/intellectual property rules: yes, it's true, they DO care about such things. The disgruntled reviewer felt that (s/he) was incorrectly trapped by a "bot," and unfairly targeted. Not having seen the submission, I honestly have no idea -- but here's what happened with my first book (again, an anthology): though they printed it at first, they pulled it down from Amazon fairly quickly, sending me a note stating they had intellectual property concerns. Since I'm a creator, I **LIKE** that! I contacted them, had a lovely conversation, and was able to show them the contracts we had in place to use those authors' works. They were perfectly happy and freed up the book to be sold again within an hour of our conversation. When I later went to them about moving our annual journal to Create Space, I carefully described what we'd be doing and the multitude of writers who would be submitting. They understood, and now we're able to publish yearly without a whisper of a problem. Meanwhile, regarding being angry about Create Space saying that they couldn't publish the manuscript with "Social Security" on the cover? Perhaps, instead of blaming Create Space, the reviewer could just visit google (as I just did), in which case they would find the following on the Social Security Administration's website: "PROHIBITION OF MISUSE OF SYMBOLS, EMBLEMS, OR NAMES IN REFERENCE TO SOCIAL SECURITY OR MEDICARE Sec. 1140. [42 U.S.C. 1320b-10] (a)(1) No person may use, in connection with any item constituting an advertisement, solicitation, circular, book, pamphlet, or other communication (including any Internet or other electronic communication), or a play, motion picture, broadcast, telecast, or other production, alone or with other words, letters, symbols, or emblems[123]-- (A) the words "Social Security", "Social Security Account", "Social Security System", "Social Security Administration", "Medicare", "Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services", "Department of Health and Human Services", "Health and Human Services", "Supplemental Security Income Program", or "Medicaid", the letters "SSA", "CMS", "DHHS", "HHS", or "SSI", or any other combination or variation of such words or letters, or (B) a symbol or emblem of the Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or Department of Health and Human Services (including the design of, or a reasonable facsimile of the design of, the social security card issued pursuant to section 205(c)(2)(F)" I read that to mean: if the book suggested that it taught how to deal w/Social Security, or if anyone could possibly mistake it as being from the SSA office, OR if it in ANY way featured the SSA shield, it would be in violation of a federal statute. In other words, Create Space didn't screw the reviewer over -- they saved the reviewer from screwing themselves. Some projects will always be more appropriate for off-set/traditional printing--but for POD, Create Space is the team you want on your side. read more

Update: I've decided to up an extra star since they made good on the delivery. It was still late but they reissed my order and received as promised the second time. I thought CreateSpace would have been a great place because their customer service and setup was wonderful. When I actually ordered my books for Christmas I was informed that I would have a December 14th delivery date. It is now the 19th and no answer from them whatsoever as to when they will deliver. Christmas sales and delivery were hurt because of this. Most likely will not be using them again. read more