Henry’s Lulu Publishing Question #3- Do I still own my content–manuscript, music, photo, etc?

Simply put: YES.

Which means:

• You have full control over appearance, formatting, pricing, etc.
• You control the audience for your book: personal (you only), private (you and your friends), public (the Lulu Marketplace), and Retail (there are some extra rules here).
• You can publish your content outside of Lulu–meaning we’re non-exclusive.
• Lulu is not responsible for how well your content performs in the Marketplace or for the reviews it receives. You created it–so we can’t predict how good it is. You’re marketing it–so we don’t know the audience you’re going after, or how attractive it is to that market.
• Lulu is not liable for mistakes you make in your content–it’s up to you to make sure it’s correct, that you own the rights to the content, and that it’s not illegal. If not, Mr. Lawman comes after you and puts you in jail–not us.

As mentioned in Question #2, we don’t even look at your published work. For one, there’s just too much stuff coming into the site (around a thousand new titles a day). More importantly, Lulu is not a publisher–we don’t own your content, so there’s no reason for us to read your book, listen to your music, or look at your photo before or after you publish it.

This freedom is a double-edged sword. You’re fully responsible for your publishing success–or lack of it. You reap the benefits of your efforts. Lulu won’t hold your hand through the challenges of independent publishing, but you’re not giving up the lion’s share of the profits either.

So enjoy this new world of publishing, the challenges and the pitfalls. Whether you’re selling to hundreds of customers a day or just a few, you’re in control.

And, all the while, you own your content.

Henry’s Lulu Publishing Question #2- Can I publish erotic poetry?

Beginning with our first day of business, Lulu’s fun-filled history is chock-full of interesting questions about the types of content we’ll accept. As a matter of fact, this was the second question asked when we turned on the Lulu Forums all those years ago. Crazily enough, we really didn’t anticipate the range of inquiries we’d receive on this subject–although in hindsight, it makes complete sense. Lulu, by nature, is the only venue for certain creators whose content is outside the mainstream.

As an online site, we have a Member Agreement that all creators must abide by. We also have a section in that agreement that specifically addresses content that you publish and content that you post to the site in blogs or forums. That’s what you need to look at.

Generally, if you’ll find it in a local bookstore you’ll see similar stuff at Lulu. Visit a Barnes and Noble; look at your local Borders. If certain subjects are represented on their bookshelves, odds are that you’ll find it in the Lulu Marketplace.

We count on you, the creator/content owner, to decide if your content is appropriate for publishing. We don’t look at it prior to you publishing it; Remember, we’re a technology company–an online publishing tool–and we simply can’t look at it all (we get over a thousand new titles published every day).

Nevertheless, I think you’ll see that we’re more accommodating than most traditional or vanity publishers.

Lastly, like other online sites, we’re community policed. But that’s no free ride–we (and our community leaders) take copyright violations very seriously and we act swiftly in such situations. When possible, we’ll notify you in advance of any action we take to remove your content–but depending on the situation we can’t guarantee it.

So, publish that erotic poetry–if it meets the guidelines of our Member Agreement, that is…

Henry’s Lulu Publishing Question #1- Can I order in Bulk?

Here’s a question I received last week:

Hi Henry,

I do have a question. Can I order 250 or 500 books from Lulu and have them shipped to me so I can use them at book signings at other promotional events or do you keep all inventory there?

Authors new to the Lulu experience often are overwhelmed by the breadth of capabilities–personal publishing, marketplace publishing, retail distribution, gazillions of product types, digital content, storefronts, blogs–you name it. It’s therefore no surprise that this question comes up often.

The answer, of course, is yes–you can order your book in bulk through Lulu. The truth of the matter is that Lulu, as a POD provider, keeps no physical inventory of any product–everything is printed and bound (or “burned” in the case of CD/DVDs) at the time of purchase by you or your customer. In fact, that’s the real value of Lulu (or places like CafePress or Zazzle)–i.e., the power of one. In our case, it’s the power of one book (or calendar, or CD/DVD) being ordered, printed, and delivered to the customer within 7-10 days.

Nevertheless, you–the author–might want to order in quantity to have books on hand for samples, book stores, etc. In fact, you might already have an ecommerce or distribution platform that’s already established (forsaking the Lulu storefront and retail distribution service), and simply want to use Lulu’s free publishing tools and POD services as a way to fulfill your needs. That’s fine with us.

So, when you publish on Lulu you’ll see a little “buy” icon on your “Publish” page beside your project. Just click that and you’ll be able to buy your book in any quantity you want–up to 1000. When buying in bulk, we’ll automatically kick in discounts based on the volume you’re ordering. Needless to say, since you’re buying the book you won’t pay any royalty (what we call creator revenue) that you’ve added for others to pay when buying through the Lulu Marketplace.

On the left side of your Publish Page you’ll also see the Book Cost Calculator–click that to play around with different volumes (and different discounts) to see what works best for you (contact us for ordering more than 1000 books to receive an even better discount). Unless you’re ordering more than 500 books your printing cycle time should still be 2-4 days.

There you go. It can be done, and in fact we do it all the time. It’s not our main business (it’s more along the lines of what Lightning Source, iUniverse and Authorhouse offer), but it fits in well with the rest of the Lulu services, and can help you–today’s publisher–better manage your ever-changing needs.

Got a question about Lulu that needs answering? Feel free to comment or email me at henry@lulu.com.

 

Lulu Publishing Hints

Over the life of Lulu I’ve received several questions, comments, and suggestions regarding our business model, our publishing process, our marketplace and our community (it’s really your community, of course). Although we try our best to respond to your questions through our Customer Service teams, in the Official Lulu Blog, on the forums and in meetups, I thought I’d take a stab at answering many of these questions here.

For now, I’ll call these posts “Henry’s Lulu Publishing Questions.” They’re certainly not gospel, and they definitely won’t replace specific questions that require Customer Service expertise, but they may help some of you understand how we operate and whether we’re the right place for you. As we’ve said before, we’re not for everyone.

A Lulu Message I received earlier today is a good candidate for the first topic, so I’ll be right back…

Is global warming the least of our problems?

As I was mentioning the other day, the global warming debate is so convoluted that it’s hard to know who to believe. However, it may be that we have bigger issues to worry about.

From The Guardian:

Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx’s proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing by 132%, while Europe’s drops as fertility falls. “Flashmobs” – groups rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups.

This is the world in 30 years’ time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence team responsible for painting a picture of the “future strategic context” likely to face Britain’s armed forces. It includes an “analysis of the key risks and shocks”.

And here I thought that a warmer climate and higher sea levels were the big boys.

On the other hand, on some days I could see the advantage of using a little brain-booster chip…