I've had a few little irritations in the past week or two, so I wasn't best pleased when I received an email from Amazon announcing that they are amalgamating with their print company, CreateSpace.
    All paperbacks with the latter will be transferred to Amazon. Authors will find a few differences, especially if anyone has books in the process of being published. Some covers may need to be tweaked, if not replaced, if they were made with CreateSpace's cover creator. Royalties will be paid after two months rather than one. Some short works may cost more to produce, and some languages aren't supported. However, most things should stay the same. Authors can either transfer their books themselves, or Amazon will  do it automatically in due course.
   I initially chose CreateSpace for my paperbacks, as their provision of proofs was better and there were other small issues, most of which Amazon appears to have addressed. Amazon says the amalgamation will allow them to make innovations more quickly. Am I the only person for whom the word 'innovation' rings warning bells? Usually, it means losing something that I was happy with to gain a load of gimmicky features that I'll never use. Of course, should I ever wish to buy Amazon's advertising for my paperbacks, I'm assured that I'll now be able to do it!
    It remains to be seen whether the move is an improvement in the long run. If not, there are other print on demand companies. However, the paperback versions of Discord's Child and Discord's Apprentice have always been available on Amazon, so readers should not notice a difference. If they do, I'd be glad to hear about it.
    I really could have done without wasting a morning on checking out Amazon and CreateSpace's websites to compare what they do and try to make the switch easy e.g. ensuring the email address for both accounts is the same. I'd really have preferred to spend the time writing. Never mind, I shall simply have to count to 10 and think about the story, 'The Inspiration Machine', which has been accepted by Diabolical Plots. It's due out next Spring, so you can look forward to some more upbeat blogs in the run-up to publication.