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Lulu's process for Self PublishingLulu's process is incredibly easy. In fact once you register on her website she offers you webinars where they have an instructor walk you through the process. It takes less than an hour and you will see just how simple the process is. Therefore I recommend to you once you have registered with Lulu, at no cost or obligation mind you, that you sign up for LuluU classes. From there you simply start a project on her website. They assign a project number to you and then you fill out a form detailing what the title, keywords which describe, author's name and the rest of the information about your book. From that screen you then go and upload your book. If it is in MS Word they can convert it for you but I am a little nervous about having them convert the book so I use the CutePDF writer detailed on the resources page.
After the file is uploaded then you pick what kind of you book you want, size and binging type. Caution only certain bindings can be sold by Amazon therefore check Lulu's distribution FAQs before you pick out the size and binding of your book. Then you go to their covers page and either use her covers or upload your own. Finally you get to a pricing page where you specify the price of the book. They show you how much your book will cost to be produced and then you can decide how much profit you will add on top of the costs for yourself. You also select whether or not they can put the book up for sale on their website or if the book is for yourself only. Meaning you can buy the book from them but no one else can purchase the book. You hit the publish button and off you go.
Now after that happens they take you to a webpage which shows your book. There is a link where you can get your distribution package from them. If you select this option this is where you get the ISBN number so that you can be for sale at Internet publishers such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble. There are two distribution packages available at Lulu. The first is called published by Lulu, which is now free. This package shows Lulu as the publisher. They in fact assign one of their ISBN numbers to you for your book. The second option is called published by you. You can show as the publisher on the book and this also enables you to more options when trying to sell your book. That costs $50 as of this writing. If you select this option then they send you the ISBN number and then you have to go back through the process a gain in order to update your books interior with that ISBN number. I think an ISBN number goes on the back cover of the book as well. Using the $50 option you can get your book for sale at every internet bookseller.
Once that is completed then you must order a proof copy and then you check it for errors when it is mailed to you. Then you either fix the mistakes or give Lulu the thumbs up and the book goes into the distribution channel. What that means it goes out into a bunch of data bases for sale. This takes one to two months if there are no hiccups. Mine took less than a month. Check back every few days on Lulu's website to make sure they haven't kicked your book out because there is a problem with it relative to distribution. I read on their forums where people walked and then two or three months later were wondering why it was not showing for sale on Amazon yet. So check your books status regularly with Lulu till it gets to Amazon.
Once on Amazon's website for sale there are a number of marketing things you can do. Go to Amazon's website and do them to help sell your book. To see what options are available for you and your book go to www.amazon.com/publishers. If you want more marketing advice I recommend you buy the book aiming for Amazon. Most of it is about self publishing but it does have several marketing tips for Amazon and BN.
Well that was the quick and dirty overview. At least you will now know more than I did before I started through the process. Hope it helps you out with your comfort level. When I get my book finished and all the way through to Amazon I will add more detail to this webpage. But today I don't know the details yet. So stay tuned!
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