Dear Friends!
This is interesting: Lulu e-books is a publisher where you can upload your article or book and it is printed as soon as somebody orders it!

Warmly!
Evelin

Please see http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fID=1714:

Lulu offers you the ability to publish e-books. Use this feature for manuscripts that can't be printed such as very long or odd-sized manuscripts.

You can upload a single file or many files and many different file formats. Ebooks are downloaded like regular books and can be found in your downloads/purchases (/account/downloads.php).

Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about Lulu

Is Lulu a vanity press?
No. Lulu is a technology company, not a vanity press. Vanity presses typically offer a myriad of services, all of which must be paid for in advance. It's not unusual for vanity presses to require an initial order of hundreds of copies of any book they print.

Lulu offers POD (print on demand) services, but our marketplace exists to make it easier for you to sell your books. There is no fee for any of the basic services Lulu provides. Your first expense will be the production cost of the first copy of your book that you choose to order! Optional services are available for a fee, such as global distribution. In addition, Lulu provides a Services Marketplace (/services) where services are offered by members of the Lulu community. Lulu earns its money from a small commission on the sale of each book.

What is POD (print on demand)?
Print on demand (POD) is a method of producing books or other media (such as CDs and DVDs) one at a time. With print on demand, a printer produces hard copies of a book from a digital file. That way, the book is only printed when someone buys it. With Lulu, an author gives us a digital file of the book and we create a print-ready version of the file. When a customer buys that book from Lulu, our printer prints that copy (or copies) and ships it within days.

POD is different from mass market publishing. Traditional publishers generally print thousands of copies of a given book all at once. This creates a lower cost per copy, but it requires a large publishing company that can foot the bill for all that printing and storage up front. Publishers take most of the money from book sales, and the author gets only a little bit. Lulu gives you financial control by making it possible and profitable to print a single copy.

How much does it cost to use Lulu?
Publishing through Lulu is free. There is no set-up fee and no requirement that you buy copies of your work. One of the primary advantages of Lulu is that you don't have to invest any money up front — you can publish your work for free on Lulu and then market it to all and sundry. When someone wants to buy your content, Lulu handles the transaction and pays you the royalty you specified.

Lulu takes a small commission when someone else buys your content. Lulu's commission consists of a small markup of the amount you set as your royalty. The purchase price of books, calendars, CDs and DVDs also includes a base cost for the raw materials and printing service.

How much will my printed book cost?
Books purchased through Lulu
Binding Types
Perfect Bound
Saddle Stitch
PlastiCoil
Casewrap Hardcover
Dust Jacket Hardcover
6" x 9" (15.24cm x 22.86cm)
Binding Fee $4.53 $4.53 $4.53 $14.00 $15.00
B&W Per Page $0.02 $0.02 $0.02 $0.02 $0.02
Color Per Page $0.15 $0.15 $0.15 N/A N/A
8.5" x 11" (21.59cm x 27.94cm) 8.25" x 10.75" (20.96cm x 27.31cm)
Binding Fee $4.53 $4.53 $4.53 $17.00 N/A
B&W Per Page $0.02 $0.02 $0.02 $0.02
Color Per Page $0.15 $0.15 $0.15 $0.15
Comic, 6.625" x 10.25" (16.827cm x 26.03cm)
Binding Fee $4.53 $3.00 N/A N/A N/A
B&W Per Page $0.02 $0.11
Color Per Page $0.15 $0.15
Landscape, 9" x 7" (22.86cm x 17.78cm)
Binding Fee $4.53 $4.53 $4.53 N/A N/A
B&W Per Page $0.02 $0.02 $0.02
Color Per Page $0.15 $0.15 $0.15
Square, 7.5" x 7.5" (19.05cm x 19.05cm)
Binding Fee $4.53 $4.53 $4.53 N/A N/A
B&W Per Page $0.02 $0.02 $0.02
Color Per Page $0.15 $0.15 $0.15

IMPORTANT: The cost of color books (available only for books purchased through Lulu) is significantly more than black & white books. When you select color printing (the Full Color option on the Publish Book page), you are charged $.15 for every page in the book, not just pages with color. The printing costs for a 100-page book would be $19.53 ($15.00 printing + $4.53 setup).

Books distributed through global distribution channels are printed by LSI, which is different from Lulu's print partner. Their setup costs are different from those of Lulu-printed books.
Books purchased through global distribution channels
Binding Types
Perfect Bound
6" x 9"
Binding Fee $1.56
B&W Per Page $0.02
8.25" x 11"
Binding Fee $1.56
B&W Per Page $0.02

How much will my CD or DVD cost?Disc pricing starts at $5.50 for CDs and $7.50 for DVDs. You will be given a discount on larger orders of discs, as shown in the table below. For more information, try our .
Disc Pricing
CD
DVD
Price per disc Price per disc
First 5 discs $5.50 $7.50
Discs 6-10 $5.00 $7.00
Disc 11, etc. $4.50 $6.50

Is it free to sell my ebooks through Lulu?
Yes. There are no production costs when you offer your work in download format. We host your published work for free.

Will my books automatically be listed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble?
No, but Lulu offers two retail distribution services for a fee. Once you have published your book on Lulu, you will be given the option to purchase one of these services for your book. By purchasing these services, you grant Lulu the non-exclusive right to print books and fulfill orders for your book which are placed with our wholesale and retail partners.

How much does retail distribution cost?
Lulu offers Basic distribution for $34.95 and Global distribution for $149.95. For all the details see the Distribution Services and ISBN FAQ (node/view/153).

How are royalties paid?
Royalties can be paid by either check or PayPal account. Depending on the type of account you have with PayPal, PayPal may deduct a service charge for disbursing your royalties. This fee is determined by PayPal — Lulu has no control over it.

The Payment Terms section of the Member Agreement outlines when and how we pay royalties. For all the details, see .

When are royalties paid?
Royalties are based on payments actually received by Lulu for your content. This means that your royalties may be adjusted for refunds or fraudulent orders for which Lulu does not receive payment. Lulu will make a good faith effort to pay you using the contact information in our records. If you make changes in your remission information it may delay your royalty payment. Additional terms of payment can be found in our .

PayPal Option
If you select PayPal as your payment choice (by filling in the PayPal Email field on your remission address page (https://www.lulu.com/author/contact_remit.php)) AND your accumulated royalties amount to $5 or more, AND all of your tax and address information is complete, you'll receive your royalties monthly.

PayPal payments for each month are made on or before the end of the following month. For example: payment for January sales are made by the end of February, payment for February sales are made by the end of March, etc. Unpaid royalties roll into the next payment period.

The $5 threshold must be met for sales in that royalty period. For example, your royalties for sales through April 30th must total $5 or more in order to receive a payment in May.

Paper Check Option
If you select paper checks as your payment choice (by leaving the PayPal Email field on your remission address page (https://www.lulu.com/author/contact_remit.php) blank) AND your accumulated royalties amount to $20 or more, AND all of your tax and address information is complete, you'll receive your royalties quarterly.

Royalty checks will be issued within 45 days following the end of the quarter, specifically:
By February 15 (for October, November, and December sales)
By May 15 (for January, February, and March sales)
By August 15 (for April, May, and June sales)
By November 15 (for July, August, and September sales)
The $20 threshold must be met for sales in that royalty period. For examples, your royalties for sales through March 31st must total $20 or more in order to receive a payment by May 15th.

How does Lulu make money? Is this a scam?
Our revenue comes from a small commission on the profits of each item sold. Lulu only makes money if you do.

As a creator, you set the amount of royalty on the items you publish. The Lulu commission is 25% of the royalty you set (or 19¢, whichever is greater). The Lulu commission therefore equals 20% of the total profit of each item sold.

For example, if your royalty is $4.00, we add a $1.00 Lulu commission. The total profit from the item is $5.00.

$1.00 is 25% of $4.00 (your royalty) and 20% of $5.00 (the total profit).

This leaves 80% of the total profit to you, the creator! In traditional publishing, it's rare for an author to see even 20% of the total markup.

Because we support the free and open exchange of information, if you decide not to get a royalty, we also waive our commission. The selling price of your printed book, calendar, CD or DVD will be its production cost only; download versions are free.

Can I publish privately or control who sees my work?
Yes. You are given the option to make your work available only to you, the creator, during the last step of the publishing process. This will allow you to view and purchase your work, but it will not be available for public viewing or purchase. For more details see

If you would like to make your work available for sale but control who sees and purchases it, Lulu lets you designate your intended audience during the first step of the publishing process. The Direct Access maturity rating lets you control who can see and purchase your work. When you select Direct Access, you will receive a web URL at the end of the publishing process to send to the customers of your choice. Direct Access content is not searchable on Lulu. For more details see

My work is not in English and/or I live outside of the United States. Can I still publish on Lulu?
Absolutely! You have total control over your work at Lulu, including the language in which you choose to publish. Currently all items ordered from Lulu are shipped from the United States, so shipping to international destinations will be slower than within the U.S. For more information see our .

Is Lulu appropriate for printing just a few copies?
Certainly. There is no requirement to purchase a book, CD or DVD and no minimum order. Your customers can make their own purchases, or you can simply purchase the copies you need and distribute them yourself.

Is Lulu appropriate for a small publishing business?
Yes, many small publishers use Lulu. Just make sure you have the right to publish the material you upload, which might include model releases in addition to copyrights and permissions.

Advantages to using Lulu include the competitive cost of professional printing in small quantities, order fulfillment and royalty tracking, a free storefront of your own, access to online bookstores, and great search engine visibility for your products. Lulu's Services Marketplace (/services) even gives you a venue for offering publishing, editing, or illustrative services to other Lulu members.

Can I use Lulu in conjunction with another publishing company?
Lulu doesn't restrict the marketing of your work, but other companies may do so. Make sure you understand the terms and conditions of all the businesses you deal with. We urge authors to take advantage of all the sales venues available to them and to share their successes with us and with other authors.

Who is the publisher — me or Lulu?
You are the publisher. Lulu makes no claims or restrictions on the ownership of your work. You are free to offer your work elsewhere or to remove it from Lulu at any time.

If you utilize one of Lulu's distribution services, Lulu will appear as the publisher of record. This will allow stores to order your product directly from Lulu.

I published my book outside of Lulu and it has an ISBN. Can I use this ISBN when I publish my book on Lulu?
Yes. You can use your own ISBN on your Lulu book, but we are not equipped to upload that ISBN to the retail network for distribution.

The main benefit of having an ISBN is that your book is listed in Bowker's Books In Print. Booksellers look to Books In Print to help them locate the publisher of a book so they can order it. If you obtain an ISBN from company XYZ and then publish your book with that ISBN on Lulu, your book will be listed and associated with publisher XYZ, even though Lulu actually prints the book. You cannot purchase a distribution service at Lulu and use a Lulu-assigned ISBN on a book at another publisher.

If it's not important to you that bookstores are able to order your book from Lulu, and as long as you understand that your own ISBN will not be associated with Lulu, you are welcome to put your own ISBN on your book. Simply enter it in the ISBN field during the first step of the book publishing process. Lulu will generate your ISBN bar code on your book's back cover (not available for one-piece covers). You may not reuse the same ISBN on another Lulu book, so make sure that you assign it to the correct project.

What rights does Lulu have over my work?
Lulu is designed to give control directly to the creators and owners of content. When publishing on Lulu, you hold copyright over all of your content, and we never ask you to give up any rights to us. We want to do whatever we can to discourage the violation of intellectual property rights. The Content section of the Member Agreement outlines your rights and Lulu's rights in this regard. For all the details, see .

How do I copyright my work?
You actually already have your work copyrighted. It's an interesting twist of US law that states that every work is automatically copyrighted, whether you register it or not. You're claiming your work is your copyright when you agree to publish it on Lulu. According to US law, when you say it's yours, it is. Unless you really want it registered with the Federal government, it's already done.

Can I publish fan fiction on Lulu?
No. Fan fiction, also known as "FanFic," is any work based on another creator's story, idea, or character (literally fiction written by a fan). For example, you might write an episode for one of your favorite TV shows, a short story based on characters in a novel you love, or an installment of a comic strip you enjoy.

If you are a FanFic creator, you probably do not have a commercial interest in publishing your work; you most likely just want to distribute it. That said, Lulu is a strong supporter of copyrights and does not allow fan fiction because FanFic authors generally do not have permission from the original author.

The Stanford Center for Internet & Society (http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/) maintains a FanFic FAQ (http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/faq.cgi) that explains many of the copyright and trademark issues surrounding Fan Fiction.

Will Lulu lay out or edit my book for me?
No. Lulu provides you with the tools to publish and sell your books online, but it is up to you to do all the formatting and layout of your manuscript before you publish it on Lulu. That said, Lulu does have several ways for you to find formatting and editing help if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself. Visit the Lulu Services Marketplace (/services) or peruse the Lulu Support Forums (/forums/index.php?c=2). Lulu's expert users can provide you with many tips and tricks for preparing your manuscript for publishing on Lulu. Please be sure to search all of the help documentation for the answers to your questions before posting to the forums.

What is the Services Marketplace?
Clicking the SERVICES tab will take you to the Lulu Services Marketplace (/services). The Lulu Services Marketplace provides a place for authors and creators to connect with third-party service providers. These service providers, although hand-picked by Lulu, are not members of the Lulu staff. The Services Marketplace simply brings together those seeking publishing services with those who provide them and handles financial transactions.

The Services Marketplace gives creators access to four broad categories of publishing services:
Editing services, including manuscript reviews, proofreading and editing.
Graphics services, including book cover design, illustrations and more.
Publishing services, including manuscript formatting, PDF creation and consultation services.
Marketing services, including press releases, websites and other marketing packages.
You can purchase services just like products on the site by clicking the "Add to Cart" button from the Service Details page. The Service Provider will contact you within 3 business days of your purchase to get started.

Make sure you carefully read through the complete description of a service before purchasing it. If you have questions about a specific service, contact that Service Provider directly via the "E-mail this provider" link on the service listing.

For all the details see Terms and Conditions of the Lulu Services Marketplace (node/view/1741)

How can I become a Lulu-approved service provider?
Lulu is not accepting new service providers at this time.

What is Lulu's customer service phone number?
Lulu does not offer customer support by phone.

How do I get answers to questions that aren't in the FAQ?
Our support forums (/forums/index.php?c=2) are the best place to get help. In the forums you can interact with Lulu support staff as well as with other members of the Lulu community.

In the support forums, make sure you give your posts a subject that describes your problem, such as "How do I use Buy Now buttons?" or "My document won't convert" so that others will be able to better take advantage of the information you receive in response to your support inquiry. Steer away from general post titles such as "Please help!" or "I'm frustrated!" or "I have a question." Please keep your language and your subject matter suitable for all age groups and people of all comfort levels. Please stay on-topic and be civil. Inappropriate messages will be moved or deleted. For all the details, see our Posting Policies (node/view/1675).

Alternately, you may contact support (/support).

Who are LuluMasters and PowerPosters, and do they know what they're talking about?
LuluMasters and PowerPosters are not Lulu employees. They are expert Lulu publishers who volunteer to share their expertise with the Lulu community. Their goals are to assist other Lulu users with any problems they have with the Lulu publishing process, to facilitate communication within the Lulu community and to educate and improve the skills and knowledge of all Lulu users. To these ends, they also communicate regularly with Lulu staff. For all the details, see the Community Leader Policies (node/view/1685).

Copyright (/help/node/view/1702) © 2002-2006 Lulu, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted by Evelin at March 29, 2006 05:46 AM