Self-publishing a book on Lulu is just one of the added ways to earn more income from your books.
And when it comes to the internet, there are many publishing scams out there. You need to be pretty intelligent and sure you’re putting your cash or investing your time, money, and effort in the right avenues. Your book deserves to be handled by experts with good information about the industry.
This post would be informing you of how to publish a book on lulu. And the goal of this post is to educate authors on how effective Lulu is in making a presence for them in the competitive market space.
What is Lulu Publishing?
Lulu is simply a self-publishing company, and it’s said to provide print-on-demand services and a large variety of editing, cover design, marketing, and all other options.
It is based in the United States and has the typical U.S. consumer service, which is a bonus if you ask me, especially when something goes wrong in the long run. And you can pick any of the services that interest you.
The self-publishing company is said to print journals, picture books, comics, publish ebooks, etc. Over a thousand books are published weekly!
Lulu reported over three million titles published since the beginning of 2002. The company’s founder and CEO are the Red co-founder Bob Young.
Also, read How to publish a book on Amazon KDP
Through the dramatic rise in self-publishing, various authors have multiple choices to self-publish their ideas or creations. For instance, we have Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu, and the likes.
By using the self-publishing book feature in Lulu, you can use their one-stop shopping model—and bet me on this; it is worth investing.
Is Lulu cheap?
Lulu isn’t the cheapest option. You might ask, “Why use it?”
The most significant advantage of using Lulu is that they’re known to offer an expanded distribution. At the same time, other platforms either do not have it, or it’s restricted. What does this mean? It simply means that if I published my book on Lulu, anyone can walk into any book store and ask for a copy of my book.
For many other platforms, they specifically ban any sales that don’t come through them—which can be pretty troubling, especially if you’re a best-selling author; a massive problem for authors that wish to distribute their book worldwide.
And yes, if you’re a newbie to this, it’s entirely possible that no one would ever request one of your books from the store, but it’s still nice to know they can, right?
How to Self-Publish a Book on Lulu
If you want to self-publish your book on Lulu, then the steps to be followed are pretty simple, and as an author, you’re able to publish any book for free on the platform.
Registration Procedure
- Head to LULU
- Locate the register button at the top right side of the page and click on register.
- Then proceed to input your details.
- After that, click on register.
- Go to your email and confirm your account.
Also, read Book Publishing Made Easy: Follow These Simple Steps to Publish a Book
Creating a book Project on Lulu (Publishing a book on Lulu)
To publish a book, log in to your lulu account.
Click on “My Projects” at the top left corner of the page.
Click on “Create a project” to start setting up your project. You will be taken to a page where you can start your project. Something like this below.
However, you can still start your book publishing on lulu by logging in and clicking on “create” at the top of the home page, and choose your project type from the dropdown.
Now, Select a Project Type from the picture above – whether print book, photo book, comic book, ebook.
Here, we select the “print book” type.
You will have two options to create your project, namely; Publish your book or Print your book.
However, if you selected “ebook project type“, you will only have the “publish your book” type.
Also, read How to format a book in MS Word
In the print your book type, it is only you that can purchase your book. You can purchase as many copies as you want. But since we want to sell our book on the Lulu publishing platform, we will choose the “Publish your book” type.
Now, scroll down below and add your book title, book language, and book category below.
After that, you click on “Add copyright“. You will be taken to the lulu book copyright page. Something like this below.
On the copyright page, you can add the following;
- Subtitle
- Edition
- Contributors
- Copyright holder information. However, indicate if it is a public domain work.
- Then add your international standard book number (ISBN). If you don’t have one, you can use the free one offered by the platform.
After that, click on “Design your book“. You will be taken to the Lulu book design page below.
What to add to the lulu book design page are;
- Upload your book in PDF or EPUB (ensure that your book is properly formatted before uploading).
- Add your book specifications like; book size and page count.
- Add the interior color like; black and white, color, etc.
- Then select paper type whether cream, white, or coated white.
- Select your book-binding method, like; coil bound, hardcover, paperback, etc.
Also, read Simple Tricks to Creating a Bestseller Book Cover
- Select your cover finish such as Glossy or Matte
- Then upload your book cover. If you don’t have the lulu book cover template, you can download it on this page too. Or you can use the Lulu cover design software to design your book cover.
- Now, preview your book to see how it looks.
If it is ok, click on “Add Book Details” and you will be taken to the page where you can add your lulu book details below.
The Lulu book details page is one of the most important pages if not the most important. That’s because, it is the page you include your book meta-data like book description, category, keywords. It is the book ranking page. If you want to rank your book on lulu, you need to take this page seriously.
Take your time and fill this page.
Read also, Amazon Kindle Publishing: Step by Step Guide on How to Upload Books on Amazon
Write a unique lulu book description and add it. Also, select your book category, and don’t forget to add your lulu book keywords. You can do keyword research with a keyword planner tool or any tool to get the best keywords for your book.
After that, proceed and click on the “Add pricing and Payee“. You will be taken to the lulu pricing page below.
On this page, fill in your book pricing details.
You can still use the LULU calculator to set your pricing and revenue amount.
Also, select a payee for your book.
Also, read How to Create a Book Podcast: Step by Step Process and Tools
After then, click on “Final Review” below it
You will see something like this below if you scaled through all the processes.
Review all your details on this page.
Carefully go through all of them one by one. If there are any details that are wrong, click on “revise” beside it and edit the information.
Below the page, you will see retail information. It is where you will see the availability of your book. That’s like a section where you will choose who purchases your book. Choose any option you like.
Also, read How to Self-Publish a Book on Barnes and Noble Press
Then proceed to click on publish below it. Your book will be reviewed and published on the platform.
If you want to see your Lulu book projects, go to the top of the page and click on “My projects“, you will be taken to the page which houses all your book projects – both published books and those in draft mode.
Tip: LULU allows for both PDF and EPUB format. You can convert your book to any of these formats. Also, check the image sizes and font on your book to see if it corresponds with the platform’s requirements. So, that you won’t be encountering errors after uploading your book.
More tips on Lulu Publishing
While self-publishing a book on Lulu is pretty simple, it’s good to consider all of the pre-publishing work that you’ll have to put right into the manuscript before it’s ready to be uploaded to Lulu’s platform.
When it comes to Lulu, it’s a book printer. Still, it does offer a range of services and ready-made packages for editing, formatting, cover design, and all.
Also, read How to Build an Author Emailing List in 12 Powerful Steps
Nonetheless, these packages aren’t cheap and are said to cost you several thousands of dollars, and this is based on how much you need to be done and the level of services required. And the more you can do stuff on your own, the better for you.
Is self-publishing a book on lulu free?
It’s free to self-publish a book on the Lulu press platform, just the same way as Amazon KDP. Nonetheless, you need to know there are different costs to consider when publishing your book. These can range from book marketing, book production, distribution costs, printing.
Here are all of Lulu’s self-publishing costs;
- Printing: It all depends on the kind of book, paper quality, etc. You need to use a calculator; as provided by the site, to determine printing costs. For instance, if you’re printing a child’s book with color, it would be costly.
- Distribution: For Lulu’s commission, it’s generally twenty percent of your book’s net profit. You can read a little more on Lulu’s commission structure.
- Author Services: It all depends on which of the services to choose. There are complete packages from 999 dollars to 3199 dollars. For personal services like the cover design, there are packages from 289 dollars to 599 dollars.
Things to note When Self-publishing a book on Lulu
One of the good news here is that Lulu is pretty simple to apply. The basic fact is this; it’s pretty hard to have a problem with the book creation process. When it comes to Lulu self-publishing, your book is as easy as it can get.
Size and Paper
The first step when it comes to self-publishing a book on Lulu is to select the size and paper for your book. There’re a variety of options, which can be somewhat confusing. And the best advice I’ll have to give you here is to avoid the budget paperback. And they aren’t that good in quality and suitable for things like school work that may never be on sale. The size of your book depends on your project.
Upload your file
For the next step, you’ll need to upload the file and check the file too. Do not order copies without thoroughly checking the online proof. If you have a mistake when it comes to this, then you can have pretty lousy work; even tiny alterations in size from your file to the printed document can indeed create unexpected blank pages, which wouldn’t look nice.
Also, read Book Promotion: 16 different ways to promote a book
So, it’s best you check at least twice and check again to be sure of yourself.
You can upload PDFs or EPUB. I do use PDF because they’re way easier to convert to doc and edit. You’ll also need a good internet connection as the upload can fail if it takes too long.
You need to thoroughly format your book before uploading it. Most especially, books that contain images. If not, you might get frustrated at this stage.
Designing your cover
This is the place you create your cover. When it comes to the cover creator, you do have to know it’s pretty basic. However, there have been new versions online just recently with massive improvements. I’ve used it to create spectacular covers!
When it comes to self-publishing a book on Lulu, a ready-made cover designed by a professional is by far the best option. And do make sure you give the cover designer the exact measurements, including the spine width, or there could be trouble.
If you don’t have money to hire a cover designer, you can use the lulu cover creation tools to design your book cover.
Benefits of Using Lulu
One of the best features for Lulu is that you don’t have to go through troubles to make the book publically available. The platform will promote your book.
Now, if you wish to create a project that will only be shared with your family and friends or only kept to your delight, you have the option to set your book on “Print your book” at the start of your project. This feature will allow only you to purchase your book.
If you missed the step, you can also select “Private Access” on the “Retail Section” which is found on the review page. It will give only you the access to purchase your book.
Also, read Book Title Generator: 6 Awesome Title Generator Websites for Authors
And it’s so easy to take a book offline so that it doesn’t show up on your searches.
To do this, all you have to do is to go to your projects at the top, scroll down to the particular book you want to delete/retire and click on retire. It is very simple to do.
Final Say
Self-publishing your book on Lulu is not only easy, but your books come out well made, and the pictures are a good representation of the originals. And if you ordered paperbacks, it’s advisable to wait at least three weeks for the hardcover.
Lulu offers a pretty good product for the price and convenience you seek, and the company is excellent to deal with. However, there have been issues of book royalty payment on the platform with some authors claiming of been shortchanged in payment. Some authors also claim that the platform’s customer support services are below average.
Well, we will talk more about that in the next article on the Lulu review. For today, we are teaching you how to publish your book in lulu.
If your book is on Amazon Kindle, you can still add it on Lulu and make more income from it.
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