Publish Online With Lulu - Online Book Publisher
In the year 2014 - one publisher name reigns supreme as THE Self publisher. It is a website on the internet and it is a dream to use. It might even replace conventional businesses some day. It is the answer to many writer's dreams. Online Self Publishing has arrived. It proves that the World Wide Web is a great Leveler. For all the writers out there who have yet to publish an actual book, and who may have been rejected by a publisher or even an editor, there is always LULU.COM. Now writers can publish online, and delete the many middle-men of the publishing equation.
Online book publishing has here to stay. With Lulu, you submit your Manuscript in MS Word file format, then if you have some, upload your graphics artwork for you cover. Pick your title. Write the blurb for the back of the book. If you like, even include the barcode info for the book if you want. Choose the look of the book, do you want a paperback? Or a hard cover book? Perfect bound? Simple. Tick the box as appropriate, and then check how it all looks. LULU.COM will give you a pdf of what it looks like. And if and when you are finally happy with everything, having edited your work, and included any illustrations and photos you may wish to include. Click print. Have a credit card handy or a Paypal account . Enter your details. Pay for your work. Congratulations, you are on the way to being self-published.
Wait! Did you forget something? What price is your book? Did you think of a price? You alone are responsible for the final price. How much should you charge for your hard work? £5? Or £5? So, shouldn’t that be at least £10 or $10. Then work out the Post and packaging cost that LULU.COM will charge for mailing it to anywhere in the world. I was talking to a friend of mine who has just done all of this. And even plans to have a PDF version of the book or e-book. These will both be put on sale on the LULU.COM website. And they will be also available for sale on websites like Amazon or Waterstones or W.H. Smith, in the UK. Or with Apple.
The name of the game here is self-publishing. Gone are the days when you could not be published as a writer. Gone are the rejection slips. Gone are the long days and weeks of waiting for an reply from the publisher who may or may not even read the manuscript. Which may languish on a slush pile for an eternity. My friend sent off the payment. Some publishers claim a book can take up to 12 months to get finally published. My friend got 10 crisp newly printed paperbacks from LULU.COM less than 2 weeks later. Now that’s what I call getting published.
Now comes the tricky part. The writer has to tell friends where to go to buy the book. Advertising and marketing is now the priority. Already there are over 100 orders. But this author makes a 72% profit on the sale of each and every book, after cost of manufacturing and postage. That part really amazes me. You can charge whatever you like – after LULU.COM gets its cut first. A typical book in paperback can be printed for about $5 depending on the page count.
My writer friend has ordered some copies of the book to submit to some reviewers so she can get feedback and critiques from others. She will add their positive remarks to the back of the book as time progresses in further editions of her book. Boy, she really has worked this out. She is planning a large marketing plan – most of which will be done on the internet, to save money. She intends to use other people’s web pages to help get to audiences and readers and she is targeting writers groups and Book clubs. She wants to get the whole thing published successfully using the internet to make her money. She has set herself a target of $25,000 for one year of sales. She is sure she can meet that target. And having an ebook version of her book will be another earner for her. Lulu and Amazon are a major part of her plan to earn money and succeed. The publisher has great pages full of information on how to organise press releases. There’s lots of information on their site. My author friend is planning on creating her own webpage to help promote her book and herself too. There is a page on the Lulu website that has all the pricing details.
So getting published as a book writer is definitely possible. The traditional way, it seems, has given way to another system that is growing very popular with authors. As long as it’s self-publishing and not Vanity publishing, then the writer has a serious chance. Will the online versions be as good as the traditional books that were edited and re-worked to perfection? Or will the internet flood the world with dross? It all depends on the quality of the writing. Thanks to the Internet, and marvellous communities like HubPages, writers can work on their writing skills and hone their talents as a writer and would-be author. Create your Hubs, then tell your friends about them! A writer has to start somewhere.
It is also worth mentioning the new deal with Apple iTunes that is now in place. Apple have now set up iBooks, a new initiative for Apple, whereby writer who are published and sold on Lulu, are now also sold on iBooks. A quick glance for the book "Toss and Turn" by Marifel Dungo (known as blaise25 on Hub Pages) on the Lulu website also displays a link to where her ebook is available for download on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. There is a slight price difference with ebooks here, but you get the gist of it. EBooks are here to stay. And self-publishing is the new in thing for all budding authors.
