Once you click the publish button, you’ll be taken to a new window that gives you the option to market your book (using Lulu’s free and paid resources), view and/or customize your book’s preview, and buy a copy of your book. I suggest you buy a copy of your book before you make it available [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: Setting Your Price
The pricing screen automatically calculates how much your book will cost and how much of a cut Lulu will receive, based on the royalty amount you enter. With the “mock” novel, I experimented with the royalty, entering $5.00. That shot the book’s price up to $21.95. Here is a more realistic figure: Print cost: $12.43 [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: Uploading Your Cover
Lulu has updated its book cover interface since August, which I consider an improvement. All you have to do is click on the section of the cover you want to edit to design your cover. My computer screen wasn’t large enough to capture the entire screen, so I’ve spliced it into two sections. The cover [...] Read more »
Playing Catch Up
The thing I hate the most about getting sick (or coming back from vacation) is catching up on all of the work that had to sit while I was down. I managed to squeak out a few paragraphs for Prosperity this week, almost making it to the 80K mark. But looking it over Thursday night, [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: Uploading and Converting Your Files
For the purpose of this exercise, I’m going to upload a public domain ebook to convert into a “book.” Look at the screenshot, where you’ll notice links to Lulu’s Services Marketplace. Also, look at the very bottom of the screenshot. You can back up at any time before you hit “Publish” to edit your information [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: Starting a New Project
If you haven’t done so already, sign up for a free account on Lulu. Once you’ve signed up, log in and click on the Publish tab. I’ve included a snapshot of this page so you can see what the general interface looks like. In the left sidebar, you’ll see a section for Flash Tours. Watch [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: The Final Layout Procedure
This is where I screwed up. Lulu requires your page count to be divisble by four. Not a problem, I thought. I’ll just add a couple of pages to the back and one to the front to get the right number. I succeeded with that, but the layout wasn’t what I had expected. First off, [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: Got Graphics?
Most authors don’t use graphics in their novels. If you do, then you’ll need to convert them to grayscale in order to publish your book through Lulu’s Global Distribution program. I’ve yet to see a black and white graphic that looked good in print, even at 600dpi, but that’s what they want. Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: Formatting Your Type
What Fonts Can I Use? With Lulu, you can use any font you’d like for your book, as long as you embed them into your PDF file before uploading. I’ll include their font list below. * Arial * Book Antiqua * Bookman Old Style * Century * Courier * Garamond * Palatino * Tahoma * [...] Read more »
Self-Publishing Through Lulu: The First Step in Creating Your Book
Lulu’s Policies First, visit Lulu and read the Lulu Basics FAQ to learn about author rights, royalties, etc. Also check out their requirements for Global Distribution, which is what you’ll be using to distribute your book. Their instructions are very straightforward. However, if you have further questions, you can go to their forum, once you [...] Read more »