Publish Your Books Online - For Free
12:22 PM
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There is a great little site called Lulu that offers free self-publishing to everyone who signs up. It's similar to Cafepress in that you make your own products on the site and sell them through your online store on Lulu. The difference is that Lulu only deals with books - whether it be novels, text books, art books - even calenders.
When you sell on Lulu it's up to you to get the sales for your books. They don't distribute the books to major stores, they just print them and ship them out when a book is ordered off the site. This service is free to everyone, they just take a percentage of the book's cover price to cover the costs of shipping and printing.
If you want to make money selling your books on Lulu you should probably have a blog or another way to get your name out there. By setting up a blog people can sample your writing and it will give you a platform to promote your book.
If you really want to get your word out there you can take advantage of their marketing services, which includes press release services, advertising, and public relations, but keep in mind that their marketing services cost money and there are many free ways to advertise online.
If you are very serious about your writing and plan on making it your full time job, you should look into traditional publishing before you set up an account on Lulu. However if you want a hassle-free way of getting your word out there without the costs of traditional publishing, Lulu is probably the way to go.
Interesting, now all we have to do is write a book..
I've stumbled across Lulu before, but sadly I don't have anything worth going into print as a novel yet...
A goal for the future, perhaps? :)
I've had very good experiences with Lulu - I actually published two author's books for sale using Lulu and made enough to cover the expense (and could buy a stick of gum with the profits.)
But it's a really great service. What it WON'T do is promote your book - or edit/proof read it.
Do your potential readers a favour and polish the book as much as possible before you release it.
I've got a review of my experiences here if you're interested:
http://rolandhulme.blogspot.com/2006/09/eddy-on-demand.html
Nice info. I'm gonna give it a try.
The interesting part is that we can make only a book for this. But the expense is quite a lot.
What a cool idea!
This is such an interesting idea. I'm all excited but can't think of anything concrete on how I can make use of such innovative services. I'll discuss this with some friends.
Ive personally written to E-Books and sold them on digital point forums. Find a niche that can make money and write a book about it.
This is an innovative idea for any aspiring writer who wants to avoid the hassle of dealing with an offline publishing or printing company. I'm in the opinion, however, that e-books are more cost-effective than printed copies, easier to market, and offers greater returns. At least, in the initial stages. If the book is a hit online you can always choose to have it printed as an actual book, in the future.
I've never tried it, but we did a case on LULU in business school. I can't see myself printing a physical copy of anything when I can simply make an ebook and distribute it a lot easier.
I want to publish my book.Thanks for this post which is really very supportive for me.now I can publish my book.
I've heard good things about lulu. I may make a cleaning business guide for advertising using lulu
I have thought about writing an e-book about proper pet care - I like this blog
Awsome Marketing tips. Thanks.
Does anyone use the RainMaker Criagslist Software to market their business? I saw they also hve an affiliate progrm. Anyone have some experience?
I knew of someone that wrote a novel, and sold one copy to a relative through my amazon store. You would be amazed how far up the rankings even one sale makes at amazon. As for me, I made a cool 47cents...cha ching !
Wow I cant believe its for free.
It is amazing how many resources exist to day to do things chepaly which only ten years ago would have cost serious money. Lulu is another in that trend.
There is something special about seeing your work in print, no matter how it gets there!