I went to my all time favorite site for all things writing and publishing related, and turned up a thread specifically on Lulu:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/t839
I read through the posts, and selected those I felt would be most helpful/informative for you.
[comment one]
capitalistwriter
lulu
I just checked the website and took a look at the preview available for a couple of their books. The quality of the writing that I saw was quite low--grammar errors, poor spelling, incorrect punctuation, etc.
I wouldn't want my book associated with the ones I saw on their website.
[comment two]
mammamaia
i agree!
just another pod... go this route, if you really want to, but don't think it'll make you a 'published' writer, 'cause it won't...
[comment three]
maestrowork
Re: BOY!! Do I need HELP!!!
It seems like Lulu is pretty up and up and honest about what they are and what they are not. They're basically a self-publish POD offering but without the basic trap (no contracts, no upfront fees, etc.). The unit cost is high, even with the volume discount, but you set your own royalties and they pay you, I believe, quarterly. On top of the print cost they charge you a service charge. So let's say your basic cost per book is $8, and you want $8 royal, the price of your book would be about $18? A little steep for a paperback, but still not too bad.
There are other services if you don't supply your printer-ready covers and ms. You can use their stock covers or design your own. You can let them typeset your ms (follow their ms guidelines) or typeset yourself and give them a PDF.
The ISBN and ISBN PLUS programs sound reasonable. With ISBN PLUS they put your in Ingram or some other distribution databases. And your book is automatically for sale on their website.
I think Lulu is a viable solution. But I think they're still considered vanity since just about anyone can print and sell their books without any quality control. It's good for someone who wants to sell a few hundreds of their book. It's easier than having to completely do it yourself (e.g. printing it at Lightning Source and registering your own ISBN, etc.) So for someone who knows nothing about self-publishing it's a viable solution, but there's probably still going to be a stigma of "vanity."
I've used them to do a mock copy of a book -- it's not for sale to the public... a better choice than Kinkos and CafePress, in my opinion. They're good to make anything from books to pamphlet or manuals, etc. The quality seems decent, actually a notch better than Cafe Press and cheaper, too.
[comment four]
apiSofi
Re: Boy, Help
Maestro said:
Quote:
"...you set your own royalties and they pay you, I believe, quarterly. On top of the print cost they charge you a service charge. So let's say your basic cost per book is $8, and you want $8 royal, the price of your book would be about $18?"
Aha! I recognize that -- it's the CafePress model. You provide the content, they do the production. Base price per unit covers the cost of production plus their own modest profit. You set the retail price wherever you think it'll sell. If you're right, you both make a little money. If you're wrong, you don't get paid for your time and effort, but otherwise nobody takes much of a loss.
It's not really publishing, just putting your book into print, and lord knows you'll never get rich off it. On the other hand, it's harmless.
[comment five]
veingloree
Re: Anyone dealt w/POD publisher called Lulu?
If you are going vanity, Lulu isn't so bad. Just the usual problems of the book costing twice as much as a normal one, and the need to edit and promote it yourself, and the fact no book store will carry it.
[comment six]
skylarburris
Re: lulu
I haven't used them but I read through their website.
It looks like they'd have the same negatives and positives of any POD.
If you DON'T want distribution, this is better than most PODs, because you pay no set up fee and can set your own cover price. You'd get your 250 page book for about $10 a piece, then you could re-sell them yourself at whatever price you want for a profit. But if this is all you want, a printer would probably make more sense than a POD.
If you DO want an ISBN and distribution to the online retailers (no POD will get you in bricks and moretar stores), you'll need to pay a set up fee of $160, still lower than most other PODs set up fees.
As for earnings, you set your own royalty and therefore your own cover price.
For a 250 page book, they would take about $10 (which they claim covers "cost" but that is much more than the cost of a printing a POD book) plus 20 percent of the royalty you set. Thus, if you set your cover price for $14, you would get $3.20 of that and they would get $10.80 for every sale. This seems about standard for a POD--a little lower than some, a little higher than others. You have more control with LULU though, and can set your own royalty and thus your own cover price.
I haven't heard of anything about their follow-through on distribution to the online retailers. I'd search by publisher on Amazon.com and see if any books come up.
This might be a good option, too, if you just want one or two copies of your book in book form for editing.
