I've posted about Joe Konrath before, but there's been a lot of news to share. Joe Konrath is testing his "Piracy Doesn't Affect Sales" theory. He's taken one of his moderate selling books and he has put the links up on his website, and ENCOURAGED people to pirate the book.

To tell you the truth, I'm fascinated by this.

I'm not sure what the outcome will be, and I hope Joe's right. If he is, and his sales stay steady, or if they INCREASE, it will be a fantastic win for him, and it may affect the way I promote some of my own books in the future.

And, another question about CreateSpace:

Comment: OK, I have a question. If you sell your book through CreateSpace are you not giving CS a percentage of your sales, based on their terms for percentages? If so, wouldn't that put CreateSpace in the "subsidy" category? I know that I do not have to give LSI any percentage of my sales. They simply print my book and send it through the distribution channels.

Well, the argument is that a "subsidy" publisher shouldn't be cheaper than LSI, right? But CreateSpace's printing costs are comprable, if not cheaper, than LSI.

KL Brady, bestselling author of The Bum Magnet, uses LSI and CreateSpace, and she says this:

"I use both Lightning Source and Creatspace. Lightning Source for book store sales, B&N, Booksamillion etc. and Createspace for Amazon sales. Createspace is not a subsidy publisher. To order author copies of my book, CS is roughly $1 cheaper per book. Your numbers in terms of royalties depend on what you set your wholesale discount. With an equal discount, CS provides a higher royalty because the printing costs are lower."

I only use CreateSpace, and I don't sell direct, so I don't order very many wholesale copies. So if you sell direct on your website, or at book shows, etc, CreateSpace is cheaper in many cases.

LSI offers better binding options, such as hardcover books, which CreateSpace does NOT offer.

As for the "subsidy" issue, I think that you are confusing what is considered a traditional "subsidy press" with CreateSpace. Subsidy publishers used to share printing costs (back when everyone used offset printing), and they would charge the author a portion.

Now, you can't really compare CreateSpace to subsidy publishing because an author's upfront costs are minimal-- basically the cost of a proof (less than $20) and the ISBN. CreateSpace even offers free ISBNs for authors who don't want to spend the money to buy their own.

By the way, Amazon has discounted my books almost 30% since two weeks after the release date, and that is the price they have stayed. I still make the SAME royalty percentage, so any money that CreateSpace might have earned is effectively "removed" by the insane discount that Amazon is offering on the books.