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Lulu
Lulu's online advertisements talk about publishing your
book for free. And they will actually do that: They'll publish your book
(supplied to them in pdf format) exactly as you send it to them. That's all you
get for free. Everything else is extra, from ISBNs ($34.95 for the number
or $149.95 for the number and distribution) to typesetting, (to cover art
($169.95), to books. To get the same services you get from most POD publishers
you need to spend at least as much and more. According to their contract, Lulu
takes no responsibility for anything they produce.
Lulu does not screen books, and will print anything you
send them unless it's obscene, contains a virus, or is otherwise objectionable.
The retail
prices of their books are high, and they offer no marketing packages.
This quote from the
New York Times pretty much says it all:
"Indeed," said Robert Young, chief executive of Lulu Enterprises, "a
majority of the company's titles are of little interest to anybody other than
the authors and their families. 'We have easily published the largest collection
of bad poetry in the history of mankind,' Mr. Young said."
On the upside, their royalties seem fair, but their method
of calculating book prices is convoluted and the prices they use to represent
the cost of printing are higher than actual printer prices. In addition, they
include a setup fee in the price of every book. On a 200 page book for
which the author receives a four dollar royalty, they claim to receive only
$1.00, but they also get $4.53 in setup fees. Whether this goes to Lulu or
the printer or is split between them is not specified. Author prices are high in
quantities under 100, but do get better as the numbers increase. They
offer a non-exclusive contract and distribute for an additional fee through
Ingram and major online retailers.
You decide your own royalty and Lulu gets 20% of that, but
if your book is going to be printed and distributed, your maximum royalty will
depend on the retail price and you may not be able to set it as high as you'd
like.
In Summary:
On the plus side:
-Non-exclusive contract.
-Good royalties.
-Affordable.
On the negative side:
-Don't screen for quality.
-Don't respect their authors or their work.
-Confusing pricing.
-High retail prices.
-No marketing packages
-No accountability
-No returnability option
available
Overall: Lulu can get your book in print for little money, but only if you
have the skills to do the publishing setup yourself.
CCC
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