Print and Publish your Book Online – Lulu.com
Posted by Children's Books on Friday Jan 22, 2010 Under Print Online, Publishing, Self-PublishThe State of Publishing Today
Out with the old and in with the new, they say. Is this what’s happening in the publishing industry nowadays?
Before, with traditional publishing, an author needs to have his work checked by the traditional publisher, or by a line of publishers, actually. If he is lucky, then probably after 6 months, at least one of them accepts his proposal, and buys the rights from him. One thing good here is that the author does not need to worry about spending much money to have his work published—that is, if any one of the publishers accepts his work.
So if time and control over your work is important to you, and money is not an issue, choosing traditional publishing methods is not such a wise move.
The fact also remains that it’s not a guarantee that if you choose traditional publishing, your decisions or styles will be received positively. This is especially true if you’re an unpublished author. Also, you’re not the only one who spent long, demanding hours writing a book. And you’re definitely not the only who needs to have your work published, you are one of many.
This means that publishers have many works to choose from, and they will definitely choose what they perceive to be the best. Publishers would also not want to publish a book that still needs to undergo intensive editing, when they can choose the works of others that are minimally flawed (flawed in their eyes, that is!). Many publishers also do not accept works directly from authors. They prefer to work only through literary agents, adding even more hoops.
Choosing traditional publishers will not cost you a dime to publish your work, but it’s not a guarantee either if your work will actually be published, and how much of your book you will actually own.
Publish Your Book Yourself!
This post is the first is the first part in a series that looks at all the different self-publishing options available to authors. When I decided to self-publish, I checked out all these different sites. While I ended going with 48hrbooks.com, all of them had something positive to offer.
Lulu.com
Lulu is a growing self-publishing company which, unlike other traditional publishing companies, allows authors to to have their works sold directly to their particular audience without having to go through the hassle of being rejected.
The cost for Lulu marketplace books range from $0.015 to $0.20 per page, depending on the size and whether it is colored or black and white, excluding the binding fee. For binding, prices range from $2.50 to $18, still depending on the size of the book and the type of binding: perfect bound, saddle stitch, plasticoil, case wrap, and dust jacket. The prices for Manufacturing Cost for Distribution Books per page range from $0.02 to $0.15, still depending on the size and whether it is black and white or colored. Binding fee range from $1.50 to $10, again depending on the size and type of binding.
For their services, they offer:
Website: www.lulu.com
Services: publishing packages, retail listings,children’s book packages, all-inclusive packages
