I was very interested to see this Hub request. It goes along with my hope to be able to make a bit more than just pen money from my writing. The information on getting published, finding an agent, cost of publishing and even how you receive your royalty checks can be a bit overwhelming.

I started out by looking into the two sites requested from the post. Those two sites are Lulu.com and Amazon Kindle. I had not heard of either of these two sites and I wanted to arrange my information as if I were putting a file together for future reference. I wanted to find out certain things and compare the sites against my questions. However, except for Lulu.com, it seems the other sites are traditional sites...they want you to send your work, with a SASE large enough to hold your work, they review it blah blah...I have a book dedicated to those rejection letters yea yea I know Stephen King was rejected many times, keep writing...I know but its like this...when you write, like here, and the community of other writers are so supportive it really lifts you up and gives you the WANT to keep writing! Whereas with sending off a manuscript or poetry or articles to different places can become just...well, you catch my drift?

So I ended up writing only about Lulu.com because it really seems as if this site would actually help us become published...even in a small space like the ebook...hey Stephen King made, what was it? $245,000 this year!!! on ONE eBook!!! so hey, maybe we can too!!!

dadgumit hubby just said "Yes, but his name is Stephen King. Did he do it anonymously?"

never mind... here are my questions:

For example:

1. What does it cost for me to become published?

2. Will I be my own editor or will I have my work proofed before publishing?

3. May I illustrate my own book or do I have to pay for the illustrator if I want them?

4. Do I have to own my own website to promote my work or can I get help with that aspect?

5. May I publish an eBook on articles or writings I have already put out on social networking sites such as Hub Pages?

That said, here is the information I found

1. What does it cost for me to beome published?

With Lulu.com if you wish to publish an eBook there is no cost. You upload your work, set your price and Lulu.com handles the shipping for you. Lulu gives you 80 % of the set price, Lulu keeps the other 20 %. WOW! That's the best!

2. Will I be my own editor or will I have my work proofed before publishing?

With Lulu.com if you wish to see your work in print (not an eBook) there is a guide to price per page. The table offers may different ways to publish your work from simple pamphlet form to hard cover. Thee is also a saved program that allows you to choose exactly how much assistance you desire from Lulu.com. However, if at any time you decide you do want an editors assistance there are packages to choose from that will fit your needs. But then, what's up with the it costs me nothing to get published?

The confusing part to me, at first were the packages. Then I realized its the bottom line virus. Any time they can get more money, they will attempt to do so. It's still up to us, if we want the fancy stuff or not.

And, if it is just an eBook it really is free.

3. May I illustrate my own book or do I have to pay for the illustrator if I want them?

With Lulu.com, it seems simply that you create your illustrations, save the images onto your computer then upload your images to your work. The help link on Lulu.com is very complete, very helpful. However, I could not find an answer about obtaining an illustrator instead of drawing the art myself. On the other hand, if you are doing this yourself and want to do an eBook without upfront cost to yourself, why would you hire an illustrator?

4. Do I have to own my own website to promote my work or can I get help with that aspect?

The longer I delve into the world of online work from home, work for myself, doing what I love the more I realize that a website of one's own is Essential.I am still sitting back and looking at other people's websites, but have not decided yet. The good thing is there are ways to build a website with little to no money! The down side is if you do it on the free sites it seems you end up losing all you work in the Ethernet...conspiracy theory number 1,093,345,099 says its a ploy to make you accept the package and pay them to maintain your site...ave!

Lulu.com does not state that you have to have your own website, it does say that they showcase all the work on Lulu.com. The work in the Lulu.com store is impressive to say the least! Made me wish for a lot more mad money than I currently have! :(

5. May I publish an eBook on articles or writings I have already put out on social networking sites such as Hub Pages?

Liulu.com says that you can get a license, then if that is so you can post your work anywhere. HubPages talks about the same thing, correct? But I could not find anything about how much it costs and have never followed through with it to the end to get to that bottom line.

On the other hand, it gets complicated when you get to the publishing "levels" and it seems that once it is in the hands of Lulu.com and published through their site then they control it more or less. But again, I am a newbie; probably not quite right about it.

No, I was right, once there, it stays there...so that's a downside too.

In the links below are several sites about self publishing as well as an article from CNET about a journalist' difficulties getting traditionally published. Again, this was an excellent research exercise for me as I am so new to this and I hope I have helped a bit with this Hub!

Which brings us back to HubPages, Digg, eHow, About.com, and Xomba...all of which are fantastic!!

And with all that in mind, I am off to xombaland...I have blurbs to write and one big byte I am still editing :) see you guys in the funny papers :)