A few weeks ago while signing into KDP, a new feature caught my eye: hard cover books in beta testing. Finally. I’ve been waiting for this for a few years. If you publish your books through KDP, you now have three options to choose from: eBook, paperback and hard cover.
While many still create their books only as eBooks, they should reconsider physical books because that’s the only way some people still read. I’m one of them.
Giving a reader options, possibly one other writers don’t provide, may result in a sale.
The loveliness of hard cover is it’s a special format, reserved for highly thought of books. Readers dedicated to an author keep these hard cover books around for years, proudly displaying them on their bookshelf. Personally, I’d like to have hard cover copies of all my books to put on my shelf just to have them.
Another reason I love physical copies of my own books is that it doesn’t matter what the future brings, whether technology changes or goes away completely, anyone who can read English will be able to pick up my book and read it regardless if they have access to power or the Internet.
What about you? Will you create a hard cover version of your book?
Diana Tibert 
I participated in the beta test. It took a bit of time to set up the hard cover (no surprise) and I haven’t sold any. I haven’t converted any of my other books because of that. When I added ‘print’ to my only-digital collection, I was amazed how many more I sold. They are now about 20% of my sales. Hopefully, the hard cover will pick up.
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What was the most difficult part of setting up the hard cover? I assume the interior is the same (it is on Lulu), so that leaves the cover to be expanded so it can wrap around. I do all my covers in InkScape now, and I plan for hard covers. This makes it easier to create soft (both standard print and large print) and hard covers without too many changes.
Many people still love holding a book in their hand, so I’m not surprised by the number that sell. I’ve sold many both from Amazon and in person at markets. Once I return to markets next year with hard cover versions, it will be interesting to see who chooses it over the softcover.
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If your cover is already sized correctly, that is huge. That’s my biggest problem. Interior formatting–changing the page size–not a big deal but took some time.
I hope you share your results of hard cover vs softcover.
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That’s good to know. Thank you. I will definitely share my results between the two types of covers.
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I just read about this feature somewhere else. I think it’s a great idea.
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I love this idea. I am releasing hard covers of all my books, and I thought I’d have only Lulu to use for it. I really love the feel of hard cover books. I already have a proof for two of my books in hard cover. Now I have to get the same proofs from KDP. I’m also releasing large print for ‘tired eyes’.
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Fantastic idea. I will have to check that hardcover option out. 🙂
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