Deborah Woehr

When Marti sent me the link to the Washington Post’s article, Amazon Tightens Noose on Print-On-Demand Publishers, I just about fell over in my chair when I followed the link to read what Writer’s Weekly had to say about it. Basically, Amazon is forcing authors to sign up with BookSurge if they want their books to be sold directly through Amazon’s website. I drove home from work, pissed and worried about my listings for Prosperity and the 2006 Writer’s Blog Anthology. I’m happy to report that as of right now, you can still buy these books (and any others published by Lulu) from Amazon.

Authors who chose Publish America as their route for publishing are not so fortunate, unless they had their books formatted for Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader. Although their books are still listed, they have to either rely on third party vendors to sell their books or enlist in Amazon’s Advantage program.

Will the same thing happen to Lulu publishers in the future? No one knows right now because management has yet to respond, but it’s a strong possibility if Lulu doesn’t adhere to Amazon’s terms. One author on the Lulu forum commented that Amazon isn’t the only avenue to sell your books, and he’s right. But Amazon has become a household names to millions of people who otherwise wouldn’t know of your book’s existence. That’s what really hurts, the lost book sales and for a POD service that is inferior.

I can’t help but feel that Amazon has joined the ranks of Google and Microsoft.

I came up with this story when I was trying to understand the character of Bud Nettleton and the ghosts of Prosperity. Bud is the town outcast who holds the secrets of Prosperity’s past. His mother, Myra, had an obsession with the minister of the town during that time. Her diaries and scrapbooks chronicle her obsession and her role in the lynching of an innocent family shortly after the 1918 Influenza Pandemic broke out.

This story was written two years ago on a blog for the NaNoWri (National Novel Writer’s Month) contest. At one point, I started editing the manuscript based on the flash story I had written last June. Unfortunately, the file I had with the edits got corrupted and I lost everything. So, I decided to publish the original while I was writing for the Lulu blog. I ordered the first proof last night.

I was lurking on the Lulu forum last December and came across a thread where a member had expressed a wish for a “definitive guide” on Lulu. I’ve either downloaded or bought a copy of the guides that are currently on the Lulu site since then. They weren’t definitive, but they gave a good primer on how to publish with Lulu.

I started the Lulu blog to help authors with the design and publishing processes. Once I finish the main how-to, I plan on turning my focus to publishing resources such as images, editing services, etc. I’m also considering interviewing successful and/or new Lulu authors. Here comes another question.

Will this blog suit your needs, or would you like a definitive guide to go with it? What would you like to see in this guide?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the goals for my blogs. I’ve cut out one and plan to cut out another when I return. That leaves this blog, The Writers Buzz, and Self-Publishing with Lulu.

Is The Writers Buzz of any value to you? Do you read it anymore? Why?

So far, I’ve gotten some great feedback and questions on the Self-Publishing with Lulu blog. I plan on writing a walk-through instructional series, like I did last year. Lulu has long since updated its software and Distribution services, which outdates my original series a bit.

Right now, the focus of this blog is on novels. But I’d also like to include other series, such as photo and cook books. What do you think?

Fred Charles has posted an interview he conducted with my about self-publishing with Lulu. Below is the intro. If you’d like to read more, visit his blog at The Truth About Writing.

Whether you’re a fiction writer working on a novel, or specialist working on a non-fiction book, the decision on how to publish your book will soon crop up. Some authors will take the traditional road by hiring an agent, who will shop their book for them, while others will opt to self-publish.

These days, there are many options out there for the writer looking to self-publish. I caught up with author Deborah Woehr, to discuss her experiences with publishing her book through Lulu.

This interview inspired me to create a how-to blog about self-publishing with Lulu. As many of you know, I wrote a series last summer that outlined the process. I plan on refining those entries, plus adding new material. This weekend I read and wrote a review of a book called POD People, by Jeremy Robinson, who talks about how he broke the stigma surrounding self-publishing and POD. His marketing tips are very useful for both self-published and traditionally published authors.

My mind and fingers have been itching to start editing that manuscript since I typed “The End” on Sunday. Last night felt like a mild version of nicotine withdrawals. I know of at least two scenes that I need to revamp or get rid of entirely. It seems that I take a perverse pleasure in the editing process.

At any rate, I wasn’t expecting my manuscript to arrive from Lulu until after Christmas. But I guess they decided to expedite it. I decided to publish my draft in the coil-bound format for two reasons:

1. To see what my cover would look like.
2. To check out the quality of the spiral bound because I’m thinking of using this format for how-to books. More on that next year.

Before I converted the file to the PDF, I added two pages at the end of each chapter to give myself some space for comments/revision notes. That didn’t work out because I’d completely forgotten about the page formatting. I have blank pages at the end of some chapters and none at others. Oh, well.

The cover turned out nicely, except for the smudges. Marti Lawrence had warned me about this, so I wasn’t surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. Lulu has implemented a new UV coating which is supposed to help make the covers last longer. The downside is that you have to wear gloves in order to handle the book.

Customers who order the book inside North America will have to deal with this problem, while International customers get their books printed from Lightning Source, which still uses the old cover process.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to obsess over this, at least right now. Hopefully, Lulu will improve this situation by the time I’m ready to publish this book next year. In the meantime, I need to worry about polishing it to the best of my ability before I start shopping around for an editor.

When I first signed up for a Lulu account last year, the price for an individual ISBN was around $35.00. At the time (if I remember correctly), you had to submit your book to the online retailers. They’ve since done away with that and charge you $100 for their Global Distribution service, where Lulu assigns an ISBN for your book and distributes the books to every major online retailer.

The screen below shows what stage your project is in. Check out the ISBN column. The “mock book” is now ready for the Global Distribution service. Click on that and follow their directions. Lulu requires that you buy another proof to make sure everything was formatted correctly before you approve your book for the ISBN number. If you don’t, and you find mistakes, they will charge you a hefty fee to make the corrections.

Once your second proof arrives, check it out again. You’ll need to add the ISBN number to the copyright page, which means that you’ll have to reassign the ISBN number. See How do I make changes before approving my book? Then they’ll prompt you to order a third proof.

I tried to get around this but they wouldn’t let me. If the only change you needed to make was entering your ISBN number on the copyright page, then go ahead and approve the ISBN number after you order the proof. After you do that, you’ll be taken to Global Distribution: Approve Book page, where you’ll be given these links:

* Distribution FAQ
* How do I update my book’s listing with online retailers?
* How do I upload my book cover to online retailers?
* How do I make changes after approving my book?

Open a new window and click on your Projects tab. Your ISBN number should be displayed next to your book’s listing. Another option Lulu has is the Google Book Search. Enable that, if you want. Then you’re done. It takes approximately 6 weeks for the distribution service to kick in and around 8 weeks for your book to get listed on Google.

That about wraps it up for this tutorial. Best wishes for your book’s success!

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 to the public.

Once it arrives, check the quality of the cover as well as the pages. Now is a great time to check for any typos that you may have missed. If everything looks good, you’re ready to assign an ISBN to your book.

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
Download (ebook): $1.25
Your Royalty: $1.00

Pricing your book is the most trickiest aspect of self-publishing. You have to know what your audience is willing to pay. I’ve bought POD books in the past and wouldn’t pay more than $16.00 for a 6×9 paperback novel. I checked out the price on a book that was published by Del Rey. Their pricing was $13.95 for this book size.

Before you click “Complete Publish,” make sure your pricing is set at a reasonable rate and you have your license set (see the bottom of the pricing screen).

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 above is Lulu’s default, which you can change by selecting a cover from the Gallery or uploading your own file. If you’re going to use your own file, remember to format it to 1838 x 2275 pixels (6.25 x 9.25 inches) before uploading. Otherwise, Lulu will give you an error message.

The snapshot below was an experiment with the Gallery cover options. Lulu makes it very easy not only to upload your images, but your synopsis for the back cover, something which I didn’t see available (unless I missed it) when I first started the publishing process for the anthology. Back then, I had to copy and paste it to the back cover image in Photoshop. Now, you can enter your description directly into the interface and not have to worry about centering it properly.

I’ll include the one-piece cover section, while I’m at it. I don’t know how many of you will be using this feature, but I’ll be testing it out when I’m at the publishing phase for Prosperity.

Once you’ve uploaded your cover, the next step is setting your book’s price.