When I shared a link on my Facebook page to the replay of a webinar I hosted recently with Daniel Hall on how to format an ebook for the Nook, Barnes & Noble’s eReader, one of my fans wanted to know if formatting books individually for different eReaders was better than simply using a site like Lulu.com which offers diverse publishing services for self-publishers, including ebook publishing.
I forwarded the question to Judith Briles of The Book Shepherd, who has published 26 of her own books, including 18 with major publishers, and also has her own imprint. Here’s how she responded:
“Lulu falls into the vanity press/subsidy publishing arena. Nothing is free, I don’t care what they say or promise. You pay for what you get.
“Designed for the person with limited money, the published book product that is produced reflects it. I’ve seen books fall apart, pages fall out, print slanted, back copy fuzzy—you name it.
“The ebook world uploading needs to be compared—apples to apples. Lulu charges a fee per book, which is higher than most, plus the various platforms pay a percentage. With Amazon, if you have a printed book, the percentage can be as high as 70 versus a low of 30 without a print book.
“The $1.49 fee on ebooks is a money grab. It sounds low, but it’s tough to find out what the charge is on the site.
“They say free ISBN numbers (some ebook platforms, like the Kindle, don’t need one, but the Nook and iPad do and some of the others do, so I think it’s smart to have one). You want your own ISBN. There are other choices.
“Lulu says that the author will make more. Its price example uses the normal prices of major publishers for ebooks, which is $13.99. It doesn’t represent that the real world is well under that—in the $6 to $9.99 range. Only the bestsellers are commanding the higher price. If you sell your book on Kindle, Nook, etc., it would mean you would have to literally tack on the additional fee–making your ebook more expensive than the others in your genre.
“Lulu will say the fee covers the ‘host’ costs. Nonsense. They’re basically the same files—once they are at the platform—for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Smashwords, etc., so there is no hosting expenses. Lulu becomes the receipent of any revenues from the online retailer, then to you.”
Authors, Share Your Own Stories
There you have it, authors. Now, share your own stories.
Have you had experience with Lulu? Did it meet your needs? What’s your advice to other authors who are thinking of using it to publishe hard-copy books or ebooks?
Have you published ebooks for the Nook or the Kindle? If so, how easy or difficult was it?
I opened an eBook store on LuLu a few months ago and haven’t made any sales. There are about 50 eBooks on there ranging for kid’s coloring and crafts to Internet marketing.
I’ve been trying to decide lately whether or not to add more products.
Here’s the link to my store if anyone is interested in seeing what a LuLu eBook store looks like.
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ricoramiro
Ramiro, why don’t you try formatting an ebook for the Kindle or the Nook?
I have not used Lulu personally, but I did a short series of blogposts about it last year to guide future authors. I agree with Judith, I’ve heard of a lot of issues including customer service. As with many of the subsidy/author services companies (lots of names, same concept), reaching a human or trying to find certain details on their site can be challenging. The thing is, that’s not what you want or need after working so hard to create a top quality book. There are many options in the publishing world and the best plan is to seek advice and be well educated before making any decision.
Cheryl, this comment is very much appreciated, not only by me, but by many authors who, as you explained, worked so hard to create a book.
Hello, I hope that my comments will be helpful. Although I have a regular publisher, I have published some books myself on Lulu and although I had difficulties uploading some of my files from my old microsoft program, they diligently communicated with me (believe me they needed patience) until the problem was resolved and I have been happy with the process. I’ve used Lulu to self-publish content that I’ve wanted to repurpose such as an old Yoga for Massage Therapy course, a stress management course originally created as a power point, for OTs, PTs and Activity Professionals and Yoga workbooks for Martial Artists. Like anything else, one has to be ready to work on getting the word out, oneself, through social media, book signings and other types of exposure. Lulu does have a free extended reach which puts the books out on Amazon and the ISBN #. My publisher gets works that I hope will make it to TV and other larger media outlets, but Lulu is great for first timers who can at least package up their content to have available to the public. I also use Amazon Kindle Blogs for my weekly blogs and will soon be publishing an eBook at Barnes and Noble’s PubIt because there is no minimum on the page count. If you’ve got content that you want to repurpose or that you just want to see bound and printed to have on hand for events, Lulu could be a great way to go. Good energy to all!
Acharya, I’m so happy that Lulu has worked for you and that they provided great customer service. That’s unusual these days.
I’ve just published my first book on Lulu. The process seemed fairly straightforward, but I’m finding that they (Lulu) don’t offer a lot of help when it comes to formatting for eReaders. Or much else, for that matter. I started with the traditional publishing route and got several positive responses from literary agents on the partials they requested. Unfortunately, my book hits a very narrow niche (a memoir of my childhood growing up Southern Baptist while working for the secluded nuns of a Catholic monastery) and they didn’t feel it would be viable. I’ll be taking a lok at Cheryl Pickett’s blog to educate myself before the next book. Thanks, Joan!
~Alan