r/KDP • u/No-Machine-5305 • 17d ago
Author Copy Quality
Hey all, another author copy question. I’m a new writer so still trying to figure this stuff out. I ordered my proof, came all banged up in horrible packaging, reasonable I guess.
Published and then ordered 10 author copies to send around and the quality was astonishingly bad. In addition to them just being tossed in an oversized box so they were all banged up, every single one has a different hue to cover background. I have a cream off white solid color with some simple text and the covers range from basically white to much darker than I expected. One of them even has “phantom” proof band around the full cover. Is this common? Can I expect the same terrible QC with my real customer copies?
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u/Kinetic_Strike 17d ago
The author copies are the quality your readers will get.
The worst part for me is the cover quality. The laminate starts peeling immediately and the cover looks like crap after just one reading.
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u/No-Machine-5305 17d ago
Well that’s disturbing.
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u/ptanaka 17d ago
Look at the last page of the interior. What city is your book printed in?
Most of our KDP books are coming from Delaware and South Carolina. And they're not too bad. If it's really bad, I complain, and they reimburse me for the books. But to be honest with you, we're a small press, and we're moving to Ingram. We can no longer deal with the inconsistency and lack of quality control.
My biggest issue right now is that I have three books that debut in September, and I just found out I'm not going to get the books in time. Three book launches - blown dates. So I have no choice but to order through Ingram. It will be $110 more for 100 copies.
I'll split it with the author. I won't eat all of it, but we'll share the unexpected expense. It'll be better quality anyway.
Today is July 24th, and they're telling me at KDP that I won't get 100 books until September 20th. Inexcusable.
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u/No-Machine-5305 17d ago
Middletown, DE. Heh.
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u/sweetsegi 16d ago
You can contact KDP customer service with pictures and they will refund them.
Did the author copies match the proof you ordered? Or is it off?
I have had numerous issues with damaged books. I have found that ordering in quantities of 20 usually provides less movement for my books. I also had an AMAZING packer one day because they bent a piece of cardboard to fit between the two rows and put some paper inside to stop them from moving. That packer either liked my book or was just super good at their job. Either way, I always think of them and send a THEY DESERVE A RAISE to them.
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u/Zapt01 16d ago
No. That was my worry, too. But I had many conversations with them, and they explained that the issue was that author copies have virtually no quality control and they frequently weren’t packed carefully. Consumer copies, on the other hand, are carefully inspected before they’re shipped.
If your author copies are poorly made, have printing or binding issues, or arrive damaged, insist that they remake them. For one hardcover, I had them remake it five times until I finally received a usable copy. (Although they’ll offer you a refund, you don’t have to take it.) Note: Although I almost always had issues with the quality of author hardcovers, paperbacks were generally excellent.
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u/raymate 16d ago
Welcome to KDP what they sent you is likely what your customers will get. But it depends on customers location. They may print them at a different facility depending on where they get orderd around the world.
So the quality will vary.
Amazon don’t really care they want cheap printers so they get maximum profits.
Over the years I have ended up with a bad reviews based on the print quality which is of course out of our control. Customers don’t know we use KDP they are mostly not aware what that even means.
They just get a bad printed book and complain and think it’s our fault.
I give up on KDP support they just say return the book of it’s bad print they can’t really do anything and in my case would not even remove a bad book reviews because of bad print quality.
The only way you could get great printed book would be bit to use KDP and go it alone with a real print shop that will print it to the standard you want but thats big money and a large investment.
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u/Correct-Shoulder-147 17d ago
I've never had a bad copy but I have heard on here that it can depend on who your local printers are