Lulu is an independent POD that – technically – costs you nothing to get your book into print: you get your book formatted (you can even upload your MS Word file), upload it to the site, and – voila! – people can buy it from the Lulu marketplace. You don’t even need to have a cover beforehand if you’re not inclined to break out Photoshop: there’s even a rudimentary cover design feature. Overall, particularly for someone who doesn’t want to muck with the nuts and bolts of formatting, it’s pretty slick.
However, if you want to get your book distributed to Amazon and Barnes & Noble (as opposed to just the Lulu marketplace), you’ll need an ISBN (which they offer for $99, which isn’t unreasonable, or you can buy direct from Bowker, where a single ISBN is $125). There are also marketing packages, etc. that you can check out to see if that’s the sort of thing you need.
If I just wanted to sell on the Lulu marketplace, the cost isn’t too bad for large tomes like In Her Name: the Lulu basic cost calculator says that the manufacturing cost is $18.09, and if I add a royalty for myself of $3.00 (plus a $0.77 fee to Lulu), the total is $21.95. That’s still pretty steep, and I doubt many people really shop on Lulu’s marketplace, but there’s a chance someone will buy it (and you could get your book to their marketplace for free – you wouldn’t even need an ISBN).
Unfortunately, for retail distribution, we run into the usual pricing problem (at least with a lengthy book like In Her name): according to Lulu’s retail price calculator, the manufacturing cost is $15.06. If I add on a $3.00 royalty, Lulu adds another $0.75 sales fee, plus a 50% retailer discount ($18.81), for a total price of $37.62! That ain’t gonna work for me, folks. Again, you could probably get a reasonable price for shorter books, but not epic novels.
So, in my case, I’m going to put a copy of my book in the Lulu marketplace just to get additional exposure – hey, it’s free! – but won’t be using them for distribution to any retailers (including Amazon). For a long book it’s just too expensive. Again, though, everybody’s needs are different, and Lulu could very well work for you!
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