First, let me start off by correcting a common misperception. Lulu is not a Print-On-Demand (POD) company or a vanity press. It is a do-it-yourself publishing service that allows you to publish a variety of media including:
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Books (paperback and hardbound)
Ebooks
Comic Books
Photo Books
Cookbooks
Poetry Books
Mini Books
Product Manuals
Calendars
CDs and DVDs
. . . and more
Unlike a vanity press or POD company, Lulu will not charge you any setup fees to publish your book or require you to order a minimum number of books. The only money that Lulu makes is from the commission of your book sales, which is 20% for each copy sold. Neither do they trap your publishing rights with exclusivity clauses. That means that you have total control of how your book’s format, design, price, and where it is sold.
Lulu does require you to purchase a proof copy so that you may check for errors, whether they be your own or theirs. They also expect you to take full responsibility for the self-publishing process of your book. This includes formatting, editing, cover design, marketing, pricing, etc.
Lulu does offer several publishing services packages, which range from $369 to $4,500, depending on which package you want. While I’ve never used their packages, I find myself leery of them because of Lulu’s chronic customer service complaints. For instance, a gentleman contacted me about six months ago for advice after he had bought one of their packages and received nothing in return. Because of that and other complaints about “package deals” with other companies, I would avoid them. Instead, check out the third-party vendors that Lulu has on its community page, as well as Google.
Overall, Lulu offers a great service for writers who want to publish their own books, on their own terms. If you know how to convert files into PDF format and upload them onto a website, using Lulu’s publishing interface should be a straight forward process.
Learning how to format manuscripts correctly so that they will print correctly (or at all) has proven to be a challenge for many writers. That’s what I plan to discuss in the first series of this blog.
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