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Wow, our last article sharing a comparison of Vervante’s services to Amazon’s self-publishing solution Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), formerly CreateSpace, caused quite a positive response! In fact, we received so many requests from authors interested in moving their books from Amazon KDP to Vervante that we wrote up the following FAQs and next step information for authors ready to make a change.

But first, we’d like to clarify that using Vervante doesn’t mean you can’t have your book on Amazon.  Just the opposite, in fact.  We want you to sell your book on Amazon – just not as the only purchasing option. When you link your sales/buy buttons directly to Amazon via KDP, you can’t capture the customer data. We think that’s pretty important when it comes to building your business.  

Using Vervante as your back-end publishing and distribution partner allows you to have the best of both worlds! You sell the book from your site, collect the customer’s data, and we’ll print and ship your book. Then, as a secondary purchasing option, we’ll list your book on Amazon. You’ll have access to customer data AND your book will be available on Amazon.

Q: If I use Vervante can I still have my book listed on Amazon?
A: Yes, we encourage you to sell your book from your own site so that you can capture the email address of your customers. AND we recommend that we list your book on Amazon as a secondary purchase option. It’s a win-win situation all around!

Q: How do I move my book to Vervante if it’s already listed with KDP / CreateSpace? 
A: There are two ways to “Unpublish” a book with KDP / CreateSpace: 

Option #1 – Change Status
1. Log in to Amazon KDP and go to your dashboard.
2. Click on your listing
3. Go to the third link under 'set up', which is 'interior' and click on that.
4. The second option is 'Change' in a blue, oval button. Click on that. You will see this message: “You have selected to make changes:  WARNING: If you make any changes to the setup of your book, you must complete the review process again. Is this what you want to do?”
5. Select 'Proceed'
6. Now when you go back to 'Member Dashboard' your book will show as 'incomplete'
It takes a day or two, but the book will eventually be shown in listings as 'unavailable'

Option #2 – Retire the Book
Email customer service at KDP and ask them to retire your book. This should also make the book unavailable for ordering.

Q: Will I need to redo my current listing page on Amazon if I stop using CreateSpace? What about my testimonials, will they disappear?
A:   No. If we list your book with Amazon Marketplace your current book page and all testimonials will stay the same. The only difference is that Vervante will now receive all orders and ship them for you. There are two advantages to Marketplace:  1) 15% Amazon commission vs. 40% CreateSpace commission, 2) You will have access to the names and mailing addresses of customers who buy your book. You won’t get their email address but we can include a letter with the book encouraging the buyer to visit your site and opt into your newsletter or blog.

Q: Does Vervante print books on-demand?
A: Yes, we can print and ship your book on-demand, print in small batches or print thousands – whatever you need.

Q: Can I order books for myself at my cost?
A: Yes, your book will be available in your Vervante Author Account where you can order it at your cost.  We also offer bulk order discounts for books and products. Contact us at sales@vervante.com if you plan on a large order.

Q: I’m ready to get started with Vervante, what’s my first move?
A: First, you need a Vervante author account, set one up HERE. Once that’s done, you can request a free quote for your book from your Author Dashboard online, or email us at sales@vervante.com. If you have questions or would like to discuss your project, you can also schedule a phone call with us using our online system HERE.

Q: How do book sales work?
A: If you already have a sales and shopping cart system set up online, great! We can process orders from ANY shopping cart, no matter which one you use. And you don't need to worry about integration, API, or any of that fancy complicated stuff. For details on integrating shopping carts into our system, click HERE.

No website or shopping cart? No problem. Vervante has a public bookstore solution. We can sell your book in our store and you’ll have access to the email and customer data.

Listing on Amazon: We love Amazon, and we still want you to list your book there. Our recommendation to switch from KDP / CreateSpace doesn’t mean we don’t see the value of having your book listed there. We just want to offer you the ability to collect and build your customer contact list without giving away your customer data to KDP / CreateSpace. All you need to do to list your book on Amazon using Amazon Marketplace is to let us know and we’ll take care of the details.

Q: How do I get paid for Amazon Marketplace orders?
A: We’ve put together a special guide called “From Retail Sales to Royalties” to help authors follow the money trail for everything from sales to royalties for their books and products. Check it out HERE.

Q: What are your options for book binding?
A: We offer a variety of binding options:  spiral, wire-o, saddle-stitch, perfect bound, hardcover, 3-ring binders.

Q: I’d like to print my book mostly in black-and-while, but with a few color pages mixed in. Do you offer options for color or partial color?
A: We can print an entire book in color, partial color (just a few pages within the book), or black-and-white. If your book has just partial color then we only charge you for those pages to be printed in color, not the entire book.

Q: How do the numbers work again?
A: We’ve created this handy chart to show you the numbers.

Q: Can I send marketing materials or a letter with the book? 
A: Yes, we can include materials we print such a letter, bookmark, postcard, etc. or even items that you provide us to include in the packaging with your book.

Q: What if I don’t live in the United States?
A: No problem, we have lots of international customers who use us as their U.S.-based distribution option. And we can send book orders anywhere in the world.

We hope this helped create a clearer picture of our services, and inspired you to let us help create your next book or product. Questions, ideas, comments? We're here for you at sales@vervante.com. You can also schedule a phone call through our online link HERE.