There are a lot of places to publish books online and one of them is Lulu. Learn more about it and see if Lulu press self publishing is a good idea for you to jump into.
Today's question has three answers and the third answer is a secret that you are not going to want to miss. It will tell you how to use Lulu to beat your competition. You are going to want to stick around for that.
The question that was sent today was, is Lulu press self publishing a good idea? Now, I completely understand where the person who asked this question is coming from.
They want to know when you're first getting started with publishing, there are so many options of places you can publish. Whether Amazon, Ingram Spark, Barnes, and Nobles or Apple eBooks. Or maybe with Kobo and you want to go through Smashwords.
Check out this related article: Is Penguin Publishing Worth It?
You are perhaps thinking Amazon CreateSpace previously which is KDP Publishing now. Then, you may also wish to go with Ingram Spark or Lulu. So, you have all these different options.
We are wondering, what about this one and what about that one? That leaves a lot of people very confused. Check out my free Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist that will help you get started on your self-publishing journey.
When I first started, I had never even heard of Lulu. I recall some people mentioning it but Amazon takes all of the focus. If you put your books on Lulu, they end up on Amazon anyway, so what's the purpose of this?
And so I did nothing with Lulu. I put my books on CreateSpace which later became KDP Printing. Also on printing on Print-On-Demand and then I put my audiobooks on ACX.
It would then push it out through all the distribution channels there. And I thought, wow, I have got my books coming through a lot of different things.
In some of the forums, people ask the question what about if you want your books in hardback form? Because this is not an option if you are going on to the KDP Print option. How do you make it a hardback?
I thought first, why would I even care about hardback? Who wants my books in hardback? Clearly, they are just going to want them in paperback since that probably meets most people's needs.
But that was not correct. So I went over to Lulu which is the easiest place to go about doing this. I started putting out the hardback books and seeing royalties coming in.
Such A Great Place
For people who have the option of getting them in audio and Kindle and paperback but still, these people regularly are looking for hardback versions of their ebooks.
So the first is yes, it is a great place and idea, going for hardback hardcover books. You are going to want to push your hardback books in this way.
There is a couple of key reasons why Lulu is fantastic for this. The first is it's rather simple to use the program and they give you the templates for the cover. That's the hard part.
The second thing is for formatting I use Jutoh. It gets the formatting for the inside of the book. So the covers will be the most challenging part of it.
Also, you can use the same inside book that you had for the PDF that you used for your KDP Print. So that's another advantage. The other advantage is that you don't need an ISBN number.
They will supply it just like KDP Print does for your paperback books. But unlike Ingram Spark which does make you have an ISBN which costs up to $150, so that's a good one.
Then, the downside here is that you do need to order a proof. So it is still going to cost you $25 depending upon which type of ebook and how long your book is and such. To order a proof copy of it so that you can approve it.
And then have the books be put out there forever and start earning you royalties. These books also will be showing up under Amazon for your books. It gives your books a professional appearance.
Not only are they available in the standard formats but also in a hardback design which some people only like the hardcover. That is the third secret reason for the day. Some people will only read books in hardcover format.
So let's say you and your competitor have a cover that looks very similar to each other, not just the cover but also the title. The answer is you are doing but your competitor does not have a hardback option but you do.
Spread Out Your Revenue
What's going to happen to this person who only likes to read books in hardback? Is it feels terrible? When they are looking at it, they are of course going to grab your book because it's in the format that they want to do.
The same would be true with audiobooks and other things. But hardback is one of those covers and publishing ways that a lot of people leave not finishing that up where it is so simple to get it into a hardback version.
Another advantage that I thought about is the fact that when you publish on Lulu, it's not on Amazon. So it's spreading out your revenue, streams to other sources aside from Amazon.
If Amazon were to flag your account, as I have seen them do countless times and for whatever reason. There are all sorts of crazy reasons that are not even connected with things that are clear to us.
Check out this related article: Is Self Publishing Worth It?
Only robots are making these decisions that if your account were to be banned or shut down on Amazon, your revenues and royalties would continue coming through your Lulu that's the same by the way.
That would be true with usually ACX and also with Ingram Spark. So you would be having multiple sources of revenue and income coming through those as well for your ebooks.
That's a secret of how you can win over your competitors. So, is Lulu press self publishing a good idea? Yes, it is a fantastic idea.
Start with your best-selling books and slowly learn how to get the cover formatted correctly because that is the hardest part. I use GIMP which is a free product to do that. That is something you should definitely check out.
What have you found? Have you found that Lulu press self publishing a good idea for you? Have you ever considered giving it a try?
Go ahead and let me know below in the comments. Also, check out some of my other blogs and videos to see answers to your self-publishing questions.