Maybe you have tried publishing with one of these platforms and you're wondering how does the other one work. Find out which between the two is better when it comes to self publishing Lulu vs Amazon KDP.
In today's article, I'm going to answer a question that has three answers. You are going to want to stick around for the third answer. It's a secret as to which one is better for self-publishing, is it Amazon KDP or Lulu?
So, let's get into it. The question that was sent in today was self publishing Lulu vs Amazon KDP? This is a question that many people have when it comes to getting started, you don't want to waste time and money.
A Big Problem With Amazon
There is nothing worse than feeling the pain of knowing you've spent hundreds of hours producing a book and putting it onto a platform that was completely wrong for your book. And seeing no sales whatsoever.
This happens all too often because people don't optimize their books. They don't market their book but also maybe they choose the wrong platform to put their book out there in the first place. That is exactly what we are going to answer today to avoid the pain of making this one mistake.
So, where to start? Before we get into the answers, grab a copy of my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist with the 7 key steps to make sure your books are both being produced quickly and are making sales.
So let's hit my story for a bit. When I first got started self-publishing, I wanted to maximize sales and I needed to figure out where exactly should I put my books. After asking a lot of people, they commented that the largest market in the world of buyers who are looking for specific books was Amazon.
Check out this related article: Where To Find Amazon Kindle Self Publishing Login?
So the buyer intends to buy books. Amazon has tons and tons of buyers, it's one of the largest search engines on the earth. I think it comes in number 3 after Google and Youtube.
But whatever the case is, it's definitely in the top 5 of all search engines on the entire internet. These people are specifically looking for books so what better place than to put your books exactly on that platform?
So what I did was I put my books out there but there was one big problem with Amazon, it was that they do not do hardback books. But who cares? Anybody who wants a hardback book can just get a softback book instead.
I had books, I had paperback books, and I had audiobooks. I mean that is their problem, isn't it? Well, not really because after talking with some people who had done that and gone this route, they commented that certain readers only like to read hardback books.
Those people will not buy your book if it's not a hardback book. So that made me think well then if I'm going to do hardback books, where should I do it? I checked Ingram Spark and many other places, Lulu was one of them as well.
Readers' Format Preference
I tried to figure out because we are always looking at how we can conserve the money that we are using. So we never make our money back. We want to quickly make our money back when we are using money on a given book.
So I explored and explored and with some help from people they commented that Lulu was the correct choice for me. The reason being is because, on Lulu, they said you don't have to pay for the ISBN. You just have to pay for the review copy of the book.
Once you have approved it then your book will go on sale forever. You don't have to pay any additional fees. So I chose to go with the cheapest option which was Lulu.
Check out this related article: Where Is Lulu Self Publishing Login?
I have never really looked back because every month, I'm making sales on my hardback books. Now, these people of course could choose to buy the paperback books that I produce on Amazon. But in the long run, the hardback books will draw in those readers who specifically like hardback.
It could be the difference between buying your book or them buying your competitor's book. The feeling associated with knowing you're losing sales because you don't have the right types of books on the market, that is a terrible feeling.
As opposed to that on the alternative feeling. The feeling of knowing your books are selling and your competitors' books are not selling because they have them in the wrong formats, I can't tell you many times I enjoy reading Kindle books and listening to audiobooks.
But if only they have paper books available, I'm not going to buy the book. It's just that simple. So, I'm special in that sense but there are many millions of people like me.
There are millions of people who only like hardback books. That was a key lesson that I learned which is to give your audience what they want. Make it easy for them to do business with you, to buy your books, and to get the content you want to share out with the world.
That's something that I wouldn't suggest though. Jumping on all of them at the same time. You must be breaking it down and keeping things simple as we do here at www.selfpublishingmadeeasynow.com.
Make The Right Choice
So, Amazon KDP or Lulu? Here are the answers. On Amazon, it's perfect to do your Kindle books, paper books, and audiobooks. On the other hand, if you are looking to do hardbacks, then Lulu is the place to go.
You simply have to pay for proof to verify that your book is looking good. Once you have approved, they will put your book out there and it will stay there forever and be making sales for you. So you'll get your money back on the proof assuming your book is optimized that won't be a problem.
Then from that point on, we can just watch the sales rolling in and the money coming into your bank account from those hardback books. So, the secret answer of the day which is the third answer is that you should do both.
You should not do one or the other. Which one is the correct choice? They are both the right choice but one of the warnings I give over and over again to my students is that you never want to do everything at the same time if you don't have your Kindle book processed down yet.
Well then stop everything and start doing your Kindle books. If you don't have the paperbacks then do your paperbacks on Amazon. Then once your Kindle is done, you can also then get a narrator and get your audiobook version done.
Check out this related article: Where To Find A Professional Narrator?
Assuming we all have 3 of these items in place for your book, we are now ready to move on to the next phase. That would be your hardback book on Lulu. A couple of other ones would be putting your EPUB versions of your eBooks on Smashwords to get it widely distributed.
And then also additional paperbacks on Ingram Spark. Perhaps even getting their EPUB on their site as well. We are trying to make our books everywhere so that when people do searches, it just keeps coming up all over the place.
They can't go anywhere without hitting our books. So that's one of the key strategies but don't hit them all at once. The question of which is better, well in one sense I would say Amazon is better just because that's where you should start.
But you should not stop at Amazon, you want to make sure your revenue and the money is coming in from different websites. Through a whole series of different routes, different channels, and different formats.
Conclusion
So that if Amazon were to ever freeze your account which they do to people on a semi-regular basis, that it would not hit you too hard.
You would have your books on other locations and that's a key issue that you are going to want to keep in mind.
So, which is which in self publishing Lulu vs Amazon? Have you published on Lulu or Amazon or maybe both? If you have published on Lulu, write "Lulu" down below.
If Amazon, write the word "Amazon" in the comments. And if you have done it on both sites, then write the word "Both".
That would really help me out, so just do me a favor on that. Check out my other blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.