by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Always leery of more work, I’d put off moving my print books from CreateSpace to KDP Print. With about 20 titles to transfer (the rest were trad-pubbed), I was concerned that it would be a long, problem-riddled process.
There were originally other concerns, too. I was used to buying cheap author copies on CreateSpace and for a while, there was not an avenue to buy those copies on KDP Print. That changed as of November 2017.
A full list of differences between CreateSpace and KDP Print can be found on Amazon here.
But I changed my mind about not making the move when I received an email Tuesday from Amazon, stating:
In a few weeks, we’ll start automatically moving your CreateSpace books to KDP. Your books will remain available for sale throughout the move and you’ll continue to earn royalties. Once we begin this process you’ll be unable to edit existing titles or create new titles on CreateSpace.
If you have a release planned soon or you would like to start the move yourself, we are making updates that will allow you to move your entire catalog in just a few steps. During this transition, you can contact KDP customer support by email and access phone support in English.
I decided to stop putting it off and make the move myself. If there were going to be issues, better to go on and address them now and before we all started having issues at once. And I have a fair number of titles.
Here’s what I found:
First off, Amazon has a handy list of things you should do before your transfer. This is a good time to make sure that you don’t have any books awaiting your proofing or approval, for instance. You also lose your CreateSpace reports, so go ahead and download those if you want to keep your historical sales figures.
Although several sites recommended migrating from the KDP side and not the CreateSpace side, this did not work for me. The dashboard wanted me to completely upload the files, etc. I definitely didn’t have time for that.
Fortunately, I found this video from KDP that walked me through the process (if you have problems seeing it, the YouTube link is here.)
According to Amazon’s email, they’re staggering the start of the move, so it’s possible that you may not yet see the prompt/popup on the CreateSpace site that helps you start the process:
To ensure a quality experience, we will add links to the CreateSpace member dashboard in phases so authors may see it at different times.
The linking was easy. And the transfer took only 2 minutes.
After the transfer, CreateSpace sends you to your KDP dashboard to check and see if everything migrated (all your projects are now removed from the CreateSpace dashboard).
Everything had switched over. I only had a few issues. Two of them were easy to resolve. You can immediately tell the ones that have issues because they have ‘continue setup’ highlighted. Two examples below.
How a problem migration looks:
A successful title migration:
First, my most recent release didn’t have the ebook and print versions linked on my KDP dashboard (they were linked on the Amazon product page). I clicked ‘link to the print edition’ from the Kindle edition and they matched right up.
Next, one of my titles had somehow transferred twice. I deleted one of the print editions and then linked the other print edition to the digital (again, on my KDP dashboard) since they weren’t linked.
The only other issue was one I had to call KDP about: an ISBN issue. There was an error message saying that my imprint (which is my name) didn’t match the ISBN. Support actually wrote a ticket up for this issue and are keeping in touch as they resolve it.
I checked to make sure that author copies were similar to the CreateSpace prices. They definitely appeared to be:
I’ve read on forums about writers having issues with covers, interiors, etc…but this wasn’t my experience, thankfully. Aside from the one problem I took to support, this was a painless process.
Here is a link to Amazon’s KDP Print FAQ.
Have you made the move yet? How did it go?
Transferring Books from CreateSpace to KDP Print: Click To TweetPhoto on Visualhunt
Probably best to get it over with before the rush. Shannon blogged about it and the troubles it will cause authors and publishers yesterday and if everyone waits, it will indeed be a mess.
I figured if I needed support (which I did), then I should go ahead and take the plunge!
This is so helpful, Elizabeth! I got the same email, and I was going to take action on that next week. I’m so glad I read this first. It does sound straightforward, so that’s good to know. It’s always good to know how to get through these things without getting too gummed up in it.
Honestly, 90% of my books came through fine. Pretty easy process…a good thing!
Thank you for posting this. I’d been wondering why I hadn’t seen any easy way to port my books over, but I haven’t gotten the letter yet. Unfortunately, I was already in the process for two paperbacks when this all became official. I’m still waiting on one proof to arrive and I hope it’ll be good enough to approve.
Anyway, I’ll wait and see when my letter comes so I can start moving books. Thanks again!
Good luck with it! Hoping you get a notification soon. :)
Hopefully they resolve the ISBN issue soon. I’m still really glad I use Lightning Source for DLP books.
I’m using both Amazon and Ingram to distribute…that’s one reason I wasn’t too worried about problems with the move to KDP Print (which made me a lot more relaxed, ha!)
I made the move from CreateSpace the morning I got the email, and it went very quickly, only problem was one book didn’t make the switch, (and did disappear from CreateSpace). Got a nice email back from my query saying they were looking into it, but that was 4 days ago. I figure they are swamped, so I’m going to jus sit tight for a few more days before I try again-maybe with a call rather than an email.
However most of my friends who started later that day, got hung up, and decided to wait a couple of days before trying again when hopefully the log jam is safely over.
Oh, hope they resolve that soon. I’d definitely call them the next time.
That’s the problem with the log jams…we never know when they’re going to happen, ha! Smart of your friends to wait and try again.
I’m awaiting the email, but I’m dreading it. I’ve read that books with illustrations have problems, and I have three heavily illustrated books. Plus I’ll miss Createspace’s wonderful daily reports!
There will be some adjustments, for sure (the pay schedule, for one, although we’re used to it with the ebooks). Fingers crossed that yours move over well!
Hi Elizabeth – a really useful post for those needing to make the move … but it’s interesting how much easier things are being made – yes there’ll be glitches, but mostly not … it sounds like your post has answered lots of questions for other authors. Cheers Hilary
Thanks for coming by, Hilary! I was definitely surprised at the lack of glitches, considering the enormity of the move.
The link still hasn’t appeared in my createspace. But with 100 books or so, I have a feeling there are going to be a few headaches involved. Especially since many are kids books.
And I spoke too soon…I had one more issue crop up today. I swear it wasn’t showing as an issue yesterday. I’ve contacted support.
With 100 books, I’d expect 10% of them to have issues. If you have any on IngramSpark, there won’t be any lapse in sales (because they can fulfill the print orders), but it’s still worrisome.
Thanks for the info, Elizabeth, and for being our guinea pig! I got that email, and have been putting it off…ugh. I know I shouldn’t procrastinate. I did go in and uncheck the distributor they told me to uncheck.
Adding it to my to-do list, and will probably be back here for your step-by-step tips! :O
The email was the kick that I needed because I’d been putting it off, too!
As an update on my own issues, per KDP, all of my titles are good to go now. They said that error messages aren’t clearing out as they should, so sometimes there *appears* to be an issue when there actually isn’t still one. Just a heads-up to you and everyone else!
Actually, the email was prompting me to change my expanded distribution channels and uncheck CS Direct, as it won’t be a viable vendor anymore. I don’t have the prompt yet to move my books. Do you think it would work if I went into KDP and clicked on “Link paperback” under my ebooks?
I *think* that only works after the migration has occurred (I had to use that link to match up some of my digital and paperback editions after the titles moved over), but it’s worth a try!
I got that other email too, although I’m not using expanded distribution (I let Ingram handle that).
Good luck!