Hey, all!
I wanted to post an update following my last blog post.
If you read that entry, then you'll know that KDP decided to be a little funky with regards to my hardcovers.
Quick recap:
I placed an order for x3 hardcovers on 01/05/2022. I got an email on Jan 29th and another on Jan 31st telling me that my hardcovers had shipped. For reasons still unknown, my order of three hardcovers had been split up into two separate orders. The first package contained two books and would arrive March 17th.
The second package contained just one book and would arrive on March 18th 2022... Yeah, I still haven't worked this one out, either. You can find my blog entry about it all here: Proof Copies vs. Author Copies -KDP Edition
Anyways.
First, the good news!
All three hardcovers have finally arrived!
Dates of arrival:
Two-Book Package: 02/05/2022 (took exactly one month to print, ship and arrive. Not bad!)
Single Book Package: 02/09/2022 (+4 days. . . but still, not bad)
More good news: unlike my paperbacks, these were not packaged in a box that was too large. Quite the opposite, in fact: the hardcovers were packed in an appropriately sized box, but I'll come back to this later on.
Now onto the books themselves.
As I already said, the first package contained the first two hardcovers. Below is a small photo dump showing the quality of the books. I'll let the photos speak for themselves-
Not looking too hot, are they? Damaged pages, crumpled corners and, frankly, poor folding and gluing effort there.
Is it terrible? No, not really. I've seen worse damage
(see previous entry covering the horrible damage to my paperbacks and how I got it resolved)
Could I still use these in photos, videos and other promo material? Yeah, I could.
Would I be happy handing this to a potential reader? No. Absolutely not.
After the events of the paperbacks, I'm really quite upset at how KDP is treating these author copies. Especially as we've already seen how well they treat the proof copies. See: Lulu.com Vs Amazon/KDP (Hardcover Edition)
I'm struggling to understand why they do this to author copies. Because in giving us perfect proof copies, they'll encourage us to publish through them and they can make money off us. . . Whereas with author copies we only pay the cost to print and that's the only $ KDP/Amazon gets from them and are, therefore, less important?
Probably.
Actually, yeah.
Yeah, that is most likely why. Ugh.
I hate this. I hate seeing any book be treated this way. Hell, I get on my 5yo son if there's a book on the floor in his room.
But it's not all doom and gloom.
This is the second package when it arrived (containing only one book):
As you can see, it was packaged snugly and with additional padding so it wouldn't move around the box:
It's not banged up like the others and all the pages are smooth and intact:
Now, that's more like it!
Eeeeee! Lovely!
Ehhh... Not great but still, not as bad as the previous two books.
Now, could it be this book had a much smoother journey here in the mail than its two brothers? Yeah, I'd be willing to argue that's what happened. But still. . . Why are these books not being packaged properly? With coverings and paddings. It's no good putting them into a box if that box is of poor quality and will easily get squished in the mail, which is exactly what happened here:
First package
First package
Second package
Second Package
I really am uncertain what conclusion to draw here, guys. Whilst I can't get upset with KDP for the rough handling these packages inevitably received in the mail, I will get rather annoyed that KDP doesn't think to respect author copies more.
I mean, are they sending our readers books damaged books?!
I sure hope not! In a way, though, KDP sending readers pristine books annoys me even more because it means author copies are being treated with less respect, care and attention than customer copies and proof copies. We use these for giveaways and book signings and gifts all kinda of things. Sending us books like this just makes us look bad. So, to treat them poorly is just not right. It's not right at all.
These photos may not look like much, but it's been enough for me. I've decided to begin moving my book onto other platforms, starting with the eBook. I'm simply not comfortable trusting KDP printers, packers or bookmakers any further and I'm certainly not comfortable with the idea of KDP exclusively hosting my book. As a result, The Scarlet Flowers of Engelstadt will be available on Draft2Digital from Feb 19th, 2022. In a few months, her physical books will be available via another channel (I'm still researching this, though).
Alrighty, my friends, that's all I got for you today. I hope this helps anyone looking into KDP as a publishing platform. As ever, I'm not saying this *will* happen to your book, or that you *should*/*should not* publish using KDP, I'm simply offering my experiences to help those researching publishing platforms to help them make an informed decision.
Take it easy-
-Madeline-
Have questions? Want to chat to me one-on-one about something I've written? Then, please, I welcome you to email me at: magibbsauthor@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can contact me via any of my social media pages - I love connecting with fellow authors!
Want to check out my book for yourself?
You can find her here:
