Is Tangent Templates worth it? Tangent Templates Review.
Is Tangent Templates worth it? My Tangent Templates review
It was one of the first tools I paid for, but is Tangent Templates worth it?
I should start by saying that Tangent Templates is a one off fee ($59 when I purchased) which was really important to me when I decided to purchase as I was right at the beginning of my KDP journey and didn’t want to get locked in to a subscription. Also, they don’t usually do crazy price crashes for Black Friday or have an affiliate program to fund from the purchase price. The price is the price and it is amazingly good value. This isn’t an affiliate review and I don’t have any relationship with Tangent Templates aside from being a very happy customer.
Tangent Templates was created by Katharyne and Isaac who are successful low content book publishers themselves- and incredibly knowledgeable about KDP -so the software is totally geared to low content book publishing and the licencing is clear. Although the name is ‘Tangent Templates’ this is really much more than that. It is a kind of business suite of all the tools you need for a successful low content publishing business in one place.
There are so many features.
There are several features of Tangent Templates that I use every day.
The Listing Helper: The Tangent Templates listing helper is located in Tangent Templates itself. You can access it in the tool bar at the top of the page.
You use this in conjunction with a Google Chrome extension to manage your listing descriptions and keywords.
So how does it work? Instead of writing your listing, title, subtitle, author name, categories and seven backend keyword slots in the KDP dashboard, you enter the same details in Tangent Templates listing helper instead and save a copy there.
Then go to KDP and begin the upload process. You will have an additional field in the KDP bookshelf with the Tangent Templates icon. Click the icon and all the listing data you entered in Tangent Templates magically appears.
When you want to create a new book you can duplicate a previous listing as a starting point. So, for example, if you are producing a bunch of composition notebooks you can create the listing data once in Tangent Templates and duplicate, edit it to fit the new book, jiggle around your keywords so you are targeting different keywords and publish without starting from scratch every time.
I cannot begin to calculate how much time this has saved me.
The other advantage that makes the cost of Tangent Templates so worth it for me, is that I have a copy of all my listings and keywords nicely organised in a safe place. As someone who struggles with organising my files this has solved a lot of headaches!
The KDP Helper: Never again have a headache calculating bleed or cover sizes! The KDP helper is a step up from the free KDP cover calculator and has clear and easy to understand instructions. The other huge advantage is that the cover templates have a clear, transparent background and are perfectly sized- so there is no need to mess around with transparencies or resizing the templates.
The Pricing Calculator: If you are creating books on KDP with the intention of selling them and making a profit then you need to keep an eye on the costs and understand how things like using colour and changing page counts has an impact on the print cost and hence what you need to charge to make a profit. Simple business sense, yet I can never find the KDP calculator in KDP until I come to set my pricing on the last page of the upload process – which is a bit late to find out that my 200 page colour notebook is going to be completely unaffordable! So the Tangent Templates pricing calculator will quickly pay for itself if it makes sure you get your pricing right! I recommend playing around
The Tangent Builder: If you use Canva to create interiors and want to make books longer than 100 pages you need to create multiple PDFs and combine them. The Tangent builder lets you upload a PDF rearrange, add new pages, delete and combine PDFs. Other tools that do this have a monthly fee, so this is great value.
The Templates: It is funny that the actual templates that are available at Tangent Templates are so far down my list. They are probably the tool I use least because I tend not to make books where the pages are repetitive, but if you want to make notebooks or composition books they are super quick and easy to create in Tangent Templates and there will never be any problems with sizing or upload errors in KDP.
The ‘Dynamic Templates’ hidden away at the bottom of Tangent Interiors page are pure gold and I have used them many times. There is a tool to make a dated planner where you can set the dates, fonts and layout to make a unique interior. I have made planners by hand in Canva and Powerpoint, and it really isn’t worth the pain when the Tangent Templates tool does it all so effortlessly.
The other dynamic template is the prompt journal. I have used this to create some of my best selling books.
You add a list of prompts and choose a background and the template will populate the text at the top of each page. You can set the font type and size and change the background. I would love it if there was the capability to insert the prompt in different places on the page, but it is still a super useful tool without that.
PROS
Loads of tools specifically designed for KDP, all in one place and with a licence to use your creations on KDP.
There is a tool for pretty much everything KDP related-except for keyword research. Whether you need to design an interior from scratch, create a cover template, combine PDFs or rearrange your pages, mange your listing information or figure out the pricing Tangent Templates has it all.
Tangent Templates can save you a lot of time in creating and listing books and saves lots of errors in the upload process.
CONS
The site is a little hard to navigate at first, so it might take a while to realise the full potential of the tools you have at your disposal. There is a basic mockup maker and DPI res checker for example- hidden away in ‘other tools’
Don’t be tempted to repurpose your Tangent Template book interiors to sell as printables – this is prohibited in the licence terms so you will only be able to sell your creations as printed copies on KDP or other publishers and not as a digital product or printable. Something to bear in mind if you plan on setting up an etsy shop or selling on Creative Fabrica or similar.
So, is Tangent Templates worth it?
It is a definite thumbs up from me.
The listing helper, Tangent Builder and Dynamic templates alone make the sign up fee for Tangent Templates worth it on their own. It is funny that the reason I purchased Tangent Templates in the first place was for the templates, yet that is the tool I use least now. If you are new to KDP and making notebooks and composition books to learn about the process these will be invaluable, so you can learn the process of making and selling books without endless headaches with margin or bleed errors. It is one of the first tools I purchased and one I still use every day.
At $59 it is very affordable, and the flat fee rather than monthly subscription helps keep costs under control.
What do you think? Do you find Tangent Templates worth it and what are your favourite Tangent Template features? Let me know in the comments.
