Lulu: A Beginner's Guide

By Sarah Hutchings

What is Lulu?

Lulu is a site that enables authors to publish their work themselves. It is a marketplace for digital content on the Internet.

It's a 'no frills' one stop (or many stops depending on your computer skills) online facility to create your own book/photo album/CD's and DVD's

It offers free web storefronts.

It only costs money when you purchase an item.

Lulu takes a 20% commission (of the profit) from a purchased item.

What is Print on demand?

Print on demand (POD) is a method of producing books or other media using a digital file which are only produced at the time of purchase.

Traditional publishers usually print thousands of copies all at once. Although this costs less per copy, it requires a large publishing company that can pay for and store all that merchandise.

Why Lulu might not be right for you

You don’t want to do your own selling and marketing.

You want a very high quality product.

You want to sell in bulk to bookshops (this is print on demand) therefore the discounts for large orders won't be competitive.

Getting Started

1. Make sure you have a book/project that is ready to print. (This means it has already been edited and proof read etc.)

2. Have you thought about the size of your book? The cover? What sort of binding you want? Have you decided whether you want full colour or black and white? You will need to know the answers to these questions before you start.

3. Register yourself on Lulu. That way you can save your projects and go back as and when you need to.

4. Watch the demos and tutorials (they are there to help).

Lulu Demo 

How to Publish a Book on Lulu

How to Make a book cover on Lulu

Cost Calculators

Having done all these things you are now ready to start work uploading your book. Do let us know at QueenSpark how you get on and what difficulties you encountered - so we can share this info with our members.

Good luck!