Some Basic Questions About Publishing with Lulu

Posted on April 25, 2007
Filed Under Self-Publishing with Lulu |

Will Lulu claim exclusive rights to your work?

No. You will have sole ownership of anything you publish on the Lulu website. Read their membership agreement carefully, because they will reject manuscripts that violate their policies. For instance, they will not publish anything that contains excessive violence or child pornography.

If you decide, say halfway through the publishing process, that you’d rather publish through another venue, you can delete the files from your account.

Do I need to purchase an ISBN number for my book?

No. You’ll need to get one if you plan to distribute your book to Amazon and the rest of the online booksellers. For private publishing, it isn’t necessary. Once you publish the initial draft of your book, you’ll have the option of buying an ISBN number and Books In Print distribution service, which will allow your book to be listed with major online bookstores internationally.

This year, they’ve added a “Published by You” distribution service. This option is great for small press publishers or authors who don’t wish to have the Lulu imprint on the covers of their books. When your book is listed on Amazon, potential buyers will see your name (or publishing company) listed in the publisher information section of your book page. This service costs $149.95, which includes:

You will be registered (and listed) as the publisher.
A single, unique ISBN which you should allocate to a single, available book title. The ISBN should never be re-used. The ISBN is the property of the registered publisher and as such is non-transferable.
A scannable Bookland-EAN bar code placed on the back cover. (Not applicable to one-piece covers. They will have to produce their own bar code.)
Bibliographic data on your book will be fed by Lulu to major international bibliographic databases and available to booksellers. At the booksellers’ discretion, your book may be made available for sale online or in bookstores.
Lulu will convert your retail price into five currencies (US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, Euros, and Canadian dollars) to facilitate global availability and purchasing.
A listing in a wholesaler’s catalog, giving you access to online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

You also have the option of choosing the “Published by Lulu” service, which costs $99.95. This service includes:

Publishing rights granted to Lulu (They will be listed as the publisher on sites such as Amazon.com.)
A unique ISBN assigned by Lulu for your title. “Lulu.com” will be listed as the publisher
A scannable Bookland-EAN bar code placed on the back cover (Not applicable to one-piece covers.)
Bibliographic data on your book will be fed by Lulu to major international bibliographic databases and available to booksellers. At the booksellers’ discretion, your book may be made available for sale online or in bookstores
Lulu will convert your retail price into five currencies (US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, Euros, and Canadian dollars) to facilitate global availability and purchasing.
A listing in a wholesalerâ€™s catalog, giving you access to online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Immediate assignment of the ISBN. Your ISBN will be assigned to your project and be visible in your projectâ€™s data.

How much will Lulu charge my readers?

The cost will vary per book. Let’s say you have a 350-page novel, and you are going to publish it in the 6×9 paperback, full-color cover, Perfect Bound format. I’m also going to assume that you’re planning on upgrading to the “Published by Lulu” ISBN service. Black and white pages cost .02Â¢ each. Full color covers for 6×9 paperbacks cost $4.53. Using the formula below, you can determine the approximate cost of your novel.

(350 x $.02) + $4.53 = $11.53

Lulu has a built-in calculator that will determine the full cost of your book, before and after the royalty calculation. I’ll cover that in a later post.