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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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. You can also schedule a phone call through our online link HERE.

Subscription boxes have become one of the most versatile, income-boosting and business-building products we’ve seen lately. Customers receive monthly shipments filled with products for everything from pets, beauty and crafts to gardening, food, and fitness.

Coaching or training professionals use this business model for customers who sign up for their services as well, starting with a welcome box, then transitioning to monthly shipments filled with products that complement their services such as printed coaching materials, USB flash drives, workbooks or worksheets, journals, checklists, challenge cards, calendars of upcoming events and recordings of coaching calls.

If you’ve been thinking of adding a subscription service to your business, Vervante can help create, package, and fulfill each monthly shipment for your customers. Here’s how:

• We can print or produce some or all of the products to be included in your monthly shipment
• Sample items or other outside products can be sent to us to include in each box
• Each month we assemble and ship packages directly to your customers

We also offer a wide range of packaging options to help you create a box or package that stands out from the crowd. Customize your packaging on the outside with creative graphics, branding or stickers. And customize the inside with colorful tissue paper, attractive bags, mantra cards, or other unique inserts. 

If creating a subscription box is on your to-do list, we’ve got the products, resources and experience to help you make that dream come true.

Questions, brainstorming, and quotes are free! Email us at [email protected] or schedule a phone call with our subscription service pros by clicking here.  

Here at Vervante, we’re often asked about the differences between our services and those of Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing KDP (formerly CreateSpace). If you only have time to read just this paragraph, then we’ll sum it up quickly:
 
You need to capture each customer’s email address to grow your subscriber database. Vervante allows you to do this – CreateSpace does not.

We can work with any shopping cart to automatically process your orders, print and ship your book, and give you full access to critical information you need to keep in touch with your customers. AND we’ll list your book on Amazon as another purchasing option.

If you’d like to know more details about the differences between Vervante and KDP, please read on. At first glance we appear very similar, but there are significant differences, as you’ll see here.

Setting Up

Selling your books and products from a site you control, and not sending your buy button links to Amazon, allows you to grow your database of customer information.  As business owners, building our email lists should be our #1 Priority because email subscribers are product buyers.

CreateSpace directs customers to Amazon to purchase your book, which makes them customers of Amazon, leaving you in the dark about who is buying your book.  

We recommend that all of your marketing and sales efforts direct customers to your site to purchase books and products. You process the transaction, collect the customer data, and build your community.  We’ve got super simple systems that work with ANY shopping cart for automatically gathering customer information so that we can print and ship your book.

True Cost

CreateSpace can print and ship books directly to the author’s door, usually at rates cheaper than most. These special prices are only applicable for “member orders” that are placed by you for your own title. However, this leaves you shouldering the responsibility of supplying packaging, processing payments, addressing the packages, and taking them to the Post Office for shipping, steadily chipping away at your bottom line.

Vervante prints your books, then we can either store bulk orders in our warehouses until they are needed, or print or ship books directly to your customer as they are ordered.  In short, we handle everything from printing the book to getting it directly into your customers’ hands. You avoid the expense and hassle of processing and shipping your own books.

Amazon as a Secondary Distribution Channel

We want you to sell lots of books and we’ll help you do that, so as a secondary distribution channel to your site, we recommend Amazon Marketplace. We list your books and products on Amazon for you, then we handle orders and shipping. This way you will know who is buying your product because we will receive the orders and shipping addresses and will provide that information to you.

More than Just Books

We offer a variety of other products and services. Your book could lead to more products down the road such as a recipe book, a home study, an audio or video program, a coaching or training program, card decks, etc. We can print and ship your books, CDs/DVDs, binders, card decks, etc. You can also send us complimentary products such as apparel or branded promotional items to include and ship with your book or products. View our product catalog HERE.

Customer Support

Our staff of publishing professionals are happy to help with any questions about publishing. We also offer ISBNs, UPCs, Copyright Registration and LCCN applications. And we have a full library of free expert guides you can access any time online.

It’s All in the Details

Profit and Royalties

We hope this helped create a clearer picture of our services, and inspired you to let us help you create your next book or product. Questions, ideas, comments? We're here for you at [email protected].