About

When I first began writing fiction in the Spring of 1997, I had the same dream of all aspiring writers–to see my books on the NY Times bestseller list. Twelve years later, I’ve learned several things. The most important is that I didn’t want to be told what to write. This realization sent me looking for alternative ways to see my book published.

Traditional self-publishing was not an option due to its prohibitive cost. The Print-on-Demand (POD) giants charged way too much for crappy books. So, I waited and kept writing the novel I was working on at the time. I discovered Lulu’s website by accident sometime in 2003, but I didn’t self-publish my first book until 2006. This book wasn’t my novel, but an anthology of essays written by writers that I had met in the blogosphere.

I used this anthology project to get my feet wet with Lulu’s publishing process. It took a considerable amount of planning in both the compilation and the design process. Designing this book was quite a challenge because I had to learn the exact placement of the pages so that the anthology would look like it was published by a traditional publisher.

It took me five attempts to get the result I wanted. My contributors were very happy with the anthology, which I still consider a great compliment. A year later, I self-published a novella, God’s Last Twilight. The following year, I self-published the novel I had been working on for the past decade, Prosperity. Because of the first endeavor, I discovered that I have a passion for designing and publishing books, plus teaching others how to design their own.

The primary focus of this blog is going to concern how to publish books on Lulu. I’ll cover other topics as well, such as photo books in the future. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

Deborah Woehr