LULU.COM

Seamus · April 06, 2009, 03:29:49 AM

A few publishers have recommended Lulu.Com. Does anyone here have experience with lulu?

rafael · April 06, 2009, 04:04:19 AM

I do. Lulu works for me because it doesn't cost me anything -- I upload my PDF and the cover art, then I point customers to a URL where they can purchase my book. It's fairly easy to use, and it's not terribly pricey for your consumers (for example, I just published a 428-page 8.5x11 book, and the 'creation cost' is only about sixteen bucks, so I can charge thirty dollars, and I feel like that's a decent price for the customer).

Problems with Lulu include shipping costs (which recently went up, causing much consternation).

Other than that, I'd ask -- what is it that you need to know?

iago · April 06, 2009, 04:57:06 AM

Lulu is good for getting started (it's how I did), but if you're considering pre-printing stock rather than just having folks order a copy at a time through them, you'll find a better rate for similar quality elsewhere -- the cost of using Lulu has been going up in the past couple years, both in terms of the base unit cost of products and in terms of their shipping costs.

Seamus · April 06, 2009, 05:07:44 AM

Quote from: rafael on April 06, 2009, 04:04:19 AM
I do. Lulu works for me because it doesn't cost me anything -- I upload my PDF and the cover art, then I point customers to a URL where they can purchase my book. It's fairly easy to use, and it's not terribly pricey for your consumers (for example, I just published a 428-page 8.5x11 book, and the 'creation cost' is only about sixteen bucks, so I can charge thirty dollars, and I feel like that's a decent price for the customer).

Problems with Lulu include shipping costs (which recently went up, causing much consternation).

Other than that, I'd ask -- what is it that you need to know?

Thanks.

Expensive is their shipping.

If I use LULU for a project, am I still able to use another printer if I want to order a large number of copies, while still using LULU?

greyorm · April 06, 2009, 08:25:09 AM

Quote from: Seamus on April 06, 2009, 05:07:44 AMIf I use LULU for a project, am I still able to use another printer if I want to order a large number of copies, while still using LULU?

Yep. There should be no problem doing so (at least I have never heard of one).

iago · April 06, 2009, 03:43:51 PM

Lulu makes no claims of exclusivity on your content, if that's what you're asking.

Seamus · April 06, 2009, 07:06:33 PM

Quote from: iago on April 06, 2009, 03:43:51 PM
Lulu makes no claims of exclusivity on your content, if that's what you're asking.

Yes. We thought it might be helpful to use Lulu in place of doing direct sales ourselves, and order copies from a cheaper POD if we need any for distributors, or for retailers in our area.

iago · April 06, 2009, 07:10:08 PM

Quote from: Seamus on April 06, 2009, 07:06:33 PM
Quote from: iago on April 06, 2009, 03:43:51 PM
Lulu makes no claims of exclusivity on your content, if that's what you're asking.

Yes. We thought it might be helpful to use Lulu in place of doing direct sales ourselves, and order copies from a cheaper POD if we need any for distributors, or for retailers in our area.

That's not a bad strategy, certainly!

Seamus · April 06, 2009, 10:33:58 PM

what about Lightning Source. Any opinions on them?

iago · April 06, 2009, 10:43:32 PM

Quote from: Seamus on April 06, 2009, 10:33:58 PM
what about Lightning Source. Any opinions on them?

You seem to need an ISBN for your book if you're going to use them, but for purposes of costs management I've switched over to using LS for most of my printing needs. That said, they don't handle layouts that "bleed" very well, so I tend to go further afield when I'm doing something with ink elements that run to the edge.

Calithena · April 17, 2009, 01:25:14 AM

One thing about lulu - the shipping is considerably cheaper for international customers if you use an international paper size (which means, not US letter, among others). If I had it to do over again with Fight On! I would go this way instead, but when we started lulu charged the local rate for everyone - international shipping was much cheaper then.

xenopulse · April 23, 2009, 04:41:36 AM

I am still using Lulu, but I'm looking at Amazon's CreateSpace now. It's cheaper than Lulu, comes with a free ISBN for your game book, and lists it on Amazon.com. You might want to look into that as well.

Seamus · April 23, 2009, 03:53:18 PM

Quote from: xenopulse on April 23, 2009, 04:41:36 AM
I am still using Lulu, but I'm looking at Amazon's CreateSpace now. It's cheaper than Lulu, comes with a free ISBN for your game book, and lists it on Amazon.com. You might want to look into that as well.

We are also thinking of having Studio 2 do some printing and selling for us. They take a big cut off the top, but a) we are really just trying to get our feet wet b) that saves us from having to plunk down a bunch of money for larger printings. If I do something like that, can I still use Creatspace or Lulu on my own for our direct sales?

Graham W · April 23, 2009, 05:16:03 PM

As I understand it: you can publish it how you want. You can print through Lulu and Create Space and fourteen other printers and put the thing on billboards and put it up for free download if you want.

The only exception to that is: if you sign an agreement that you won't publish with other people, then you can't publish through other people.

Graham

Ron Edwards · April 23, 2009, 05:49:52 PM

You might also consider that if you want to work with someone to do whatever (printing, let's say) and if they say that you can't print with someone else or do whatever else with your own work ... then effectively, they are demanding ownership over the work at the most basic level.

One of the points of this site is to promote creator ownership, meaning, in this case, advising against working with anyone who makes such a demand.

On the plus side, I know of no printer who does any such thing.

Best, Ron