Turbulent Transitions from CreateSpace to KDP

When Amazon decided to shutter CreateSpace and migrate all customers to Amazon KDP, it created a minor headache for some and a nightmare for others

In September, we covered in depth the CreateSpace–KDP merger and what authors could expect from the experience. As the migration unfolded, Facebook groups and message boards lit up with a host of transition problems, and while there wasn’t much of a discernible pattern as to which authors would have a bad experience, we did notice one thing: Amazon KDP’s customer service was not well prepared. Authors received conflicting advice from reps or had to get in touch multiple times to resolve a single issue; some authors grumbled that CreateSpace customer service was far superior to that of KDP. (For all intents and purposes, the CreateSpace site no longer exists and now onboards you to KDP.)

When we asked Mick Rooney, publisher of The Independent Publishing Magazine, if he saw a pattern to the problems, he told us, “I think it is the lack of pattern to the kinks that is interesting. … Everything from formatting problems (with titles that never had issues on CS) to non-approval for cover issues. Also some authors reported that personal orders take a lot longer from KDP than CS. I suspect this is related to UK authors sourcing books from print plants in Germany. Others have said they noticed a slight decline in sales in November, when normally their sales stream rises steadily for a few weeks to the holiday period. But, again, there is no distinct pattern, and I think this is going to be the case well into 2019 until things settle and Amazon can tweak their KDP services with greater feedback.”

So, for now, we’ll share where problems might still arise and what you should know going forward.

First, here’s what to check after the transition to KDP:

• Look at your categories and keywords and ensure none are missing or changed.
• If your CreateSpace titles were enrolled in expanded distribution, see if your titles still appear for sale at sites such as BarnesandNoble.com. You may need to contact Amazon KDP customer service for help to ensure your books are available widely.
• Regardless of whether you use expanded distribution, check that your titles are still set to sell in all the available territories that you want—or switch to “all territories” or worldwide rights if that fits your situation. (Most authors will need to proactively switch to the latter after the migration.)
• Melinda Clayton at Indies Unlimited details some other issues for those who have multiple editions of the same book available on Amazon.

Note that there’s a new sales dashboard in KDP called KDP Reports. It’s far more flexible than previous dashboards, allowing you to set start and end dates for sales views and to drill down to specific titles, formats, and marketplaces.

What may still cause problems for you in KDP:

• As soon as you attempt to modify a published print book at KDP, you’ll have to go through all the publishing steps again, as if it were a new book. During this process, if you have a book at IngramSpark with the same ISBN, you may encounter an opportunity to opt in to Amazon’s Expanded Distribution. Don’t do it. (You cannot use IngramSpark and Amazon’s Expanded Distribution simultaneously.)
• Authors cannot buy pre-release (advance review) copies from KDP without them being labeled as such. At CreateSpace, it was possible to order an unlimited number of print copies before the book went on sale; such copies could be sold or given away by the author. While it’s still possible to order proof copies, they come with a mark that says they’re not for resale. This has been very frustrating for professional authors who engage in a significant amount of pre-publication marketing. For alternatives, some authors are using IngramSpark, or you can take a look at a print-on-demand printer such as Snowfall Press (no contracts, no distribution—just printing).

Some authors who once used CreateSpace expanded distribution (and thus CreateSpace ISBNs) have decided now is the time to buy their own ISBNs and take advantage of IngramSpark’s distribution and printing. If you go down this path, you’ll ultimately need to swap out the CreateSpace edition with your new edition using your new ISBN. Assuming you’ve made no other material changes to the book (title, subtitle, and author should remain the same; no major revisions), then your best bet is to unpublish the old CreateSpace paperback and publish the new one without making a new edition. Then email Amazon Author Central to link the new paperback to the ebook.

If you’re looking for an alternative that isn’t IngramSpark—and you’re patient—Draft2Digital is rolling out a print distribution program. It’s still in beta and limited, but you can sign up for the waitlist.

For authors or small publishers who had many dozens—or hundreds—of titles available through CreateSpace, the transition to KDP has been perhaps the most stressful. We heard from a small trade publisher (500+ titles) who was holding off on migration, since the fourth quarter is typically the busiest time of year for all publishers. Without warning, in early December, all of their titles were converted to KDP, and they could no longer use CreateSpace to order books.

This publisher has asked to remain anonymous, but told us, “KDP is set up for the author with a book or two. There are no functions to easily determine which titles did not fully convert. They also did not automatically merge with our Kindle list—so we had to manually go through 500 titles to join them together. We also had 100 or so titles we did not want to transition—they were out of print—but they were transitioned anyway. All tracking of CreateSpace orders was lost. … We then had to query KDP for an update on shipping status—and still have not heard back on most of the orders. Some are weeks old. … Despite being the same company, their systems were definitely not talking to one another, and they are obviously two different accounting/legal entities.”

Our small publisher points out that the migration was poorly run from a communications perspective and inconsiderate of small businesses that use Amazon’s platform—plus it would have been much less impactful if it could have been done after Christmas. (Side note: small publishers may want to see if Amazon will consider them for the enterprise version of CreateSpace.)

Bottom line: Aside from the advance review copy and overall ordering problems, there are some other failures of KDP that point to an opening in the market—especially for small publishers upset by the transition—that competitors could use to their advantage: many languages are still not supported in KDP (as they were in CreateSpace), and it’s still not possible to create hardcover editions. We’re eager to see how the market responds in the year ahead.