Securing a good quality KDP hardback for “Whispers from the Machine” is proving to be my biggest headache as we move slowly towards the launch date in April. The pre-order for the e-book is live. The audiobook is in production, and the proof copies are proofed. Well, sort of.
As I have mentioned in other blogs, I wanted to have the full suite of options for launch. The audiobook was the one that I thought would be the challenge, but it is not; the physical hardcover is proving to be elusive.
The Initial Plan: Keeping It Simple with KDP
My plan was to keep it simple, and is simple: use KDP. I know, I know, it is hardly the most ethical company. But it holds 90% of the market, and me ignoring that isn’t going to shift things. Simple plan: have the e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardback all on KDP. All in one place, all easy to find.
Sadly, no. Or at least, for now, no. ‘But why?’ I hear you all cry! Well, the hardback now either will not exist or will be done by another provider.
The e-book and the e-book process on KDP are nice, simple, and easy to use. Same for the audiobook, and I quite like the production process it supports via ACX. I would also say the same for the physical book copies. The paperback came out fine, good quality, but the KDP hardback, boy, it is not good.
The KDP Hardback Quality Problem
The print quality is fine, but the actual book construction is poor. The spine feels too tight; as a result, the whole book is bent, wavy even, and when you try and open it, the seam between the front and back cover rips.
I don’t know exactly why. I went over all the files, and they meet all the requirements. I checked with KDP customer service, and they agreed the files were correct.
I tried another print, this time pushing it to another printing facility to see if it was a location issue. Same issues. Sadly, it seems like a rabbit hole I could get lost in trying to fix. With little available guidance on the specific issue, this could take time and money (okay, not that much, but still, money is money). Notably, it is time and money on a hardback that I am doing more for me than as a requirement from the customers.
Exploring IngramSpark as an Alternative
But me being me, I didn’t want to let it go. Some of you may be saying there are solutions, other providers. Yes, you are correct. So, let’s try one of those. The most widely cited is IngramSpark.
The book creation process on IngramSpark I found a little less intuitive than KDP’s, and the review process was significantly slower. It took about five working days. Then, spotting issues with the formatting took another five to get those changes approved.
The pricing is higher as well, for printing that is. I guess this is not surprising given KDP’s dominance of the markets. Also, shipping seems expensive, again comparing to KDP which (as it is Amazon) is probably the largest, or one of the largest, global logistics companies, so again, not surprising.
What’s Next for Whispers from the Machine?
But the hardback is now ready for a proof print, and I also did a paperback to do a comparison between KDP and IngramSpark. They should arrive later this week. Fingers crossed they resolve my KDP hardback issues.
It’ll be a shame to have to market the book across multiple platforms. As an indie author, I feel this will be tricky as, let’s be honest, my website doesn’t get a lot of traffic, and my marketing on social media is a struggle. But it will be nice to be able to offer the full suite.
Anyway, that is this week’s update. Next week we should have an answer to the KDP hardback problem. We should also have some progress on the audiobook. I don’t think I’ll have the audio snippets ready, but soon! Honestly, from what I have heard so far, it is sounding great.
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