Planning Your Book’s Format
Posted on April 30, 2007
Filed Under Designing Novels, Page Layout, Self-Publishing with Lulu |
The first step in publishing with Lulu is formatting the content of your book. This takes some planning and a bit of research. Get out a piece of paper, jot the following questions down, and answer them as best as you can. Then get a manila folder or a small binder to store the questionnaire. You’ll be adding other items later on.
What size is your book going to be?
Lulu offers several sizes and formats, including hard bound, saddle stitch, and coil. The most common format is the 6×9 paperback.
What kind of binding will your book have?
This depends upon the number of pages in your book. If your book has less than 88 pages, Lulu will print your book in saddle stitch format. The maximum number of pages you can have is 800, if you’re using the basic publish service. If you’re using the Global Distribution service, you’ll be limited to 740 pages for the 6×9 format.
Do you want a black and white cover, or are you going to use color? This will affect the price of your book.
Do you want color for your book’s interior illustrations?
This feature is great for graphic novels and textbooks that use color illustrations. However, this option is not available for Global Distribution. You will have to purchase your own ISBN numbers from Bowker, if you want to sell them on Amazon.
What fonts are you going to use for the cover and the interior? Are they listed on Lulu’s conversion list, or do they come from a different source? Below is a list of fonts that Lulu can convert.
Arial
Book Antiqua
Bookman Old Style
Century
Courier
Garamond
Palatino
Tahoma
Times New Roman
Verdana
Symbols
For the purpose of simplicity, I used the Palatino font when designing the anthology. That way, I didn’t have to bother with the embedding process. Garamond and Times New Roman are also good fonts to use for the text body. I’ll talk more about fonts later.
Are you going to convert your file(s) into the PDF format before you upload them onto the Lulu site, or rely on Lulu?
If you’re going to stick to the above font list, you might as well use Lulu. Should you use a font that isn’t on the list, you will need to embed it into your file before you upload it. You will also need to embed any illustrations you have.
What is the price of your book?
At this point, all you can do is guess. Most Lulu books cost around $15.95, before shipping. Once you publish your book, you will be required to order a proof copy to make sure that everything printed correctly.
Are you going to use Lulu’s distribution services?
Add $99.95 to your budget, if you’re going with the standard “Published by Lulu†distribution. For the “Published by You†distribution, add $149.95.
Are you going to make a special review copy to send out to colleagues and popular book review sources, such as Midwest Book Review?
I’ve read that the major book reviewers prefer hard bound copies. Depending upon how many copies you want to send, it can add up. Make a list of all the major reviewers you’d like to query and assume that they are going to say yes. Tally that figure into your budget. For friends and colleagues, you can get away with sending a paperback copy.
The answers to these questions will determine your overall publishing and budget strategies. You can change these plans at any time, unless you’ve purchased the distribution services. For instance, you may decide to republish your book in the 8×11 format instead of the 6×9. Or, you may want to upgrade from the basic service to one of the distribution services. Lulu makes it easy for you to change your mind.
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2 Responses to “Planning Your Book’s Format”
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Deborah, can we give the purchaser an option of buying the hard cover or paperback versions of the book? Or both?
For example: I might want to buy a hard cover version for myself and a paperback version for a friend or relative. Could I, as a purchaser only, do this?
can we give the purchaser an option of buying the hard cover or paperback versions of the book? Or both?
Yes, you can. Lulu now offers the Global Distribution service for hardcovers! I just found this out. You’ll have to order the service for your paperback, too.
You can opt to have a private publishing for your hardcover and publish a paperback edition for your friends and relatives, which they can order from the Lulu site or Amazon, once it’s listed. Or, you can buy the distribution service for both editions and have them available online.