Self publishing through Lulu.com

This is how it works.

You, the writer/creator/author create your work. You put all the graft in, you commit your words to the screen and save it carefully in several different places. You work on it, rewrite and edit it. You nurture this glorious creation of yours and a friend tells you that it really should be published. So you get your wonderful manuscript ready and start approaching conventional publishers.

They all turn you down, not because your work is rubbish or won't sell. That may be the case but all too often it's because a large publishing house won't take the risk on a new and unproven writer, many agents won't either. Smaller companies may simply not have the budget available.

You may only want a few copies for friends and family, maybe someone has written down memories or tales from childhood that want to be preserved. A nice properly bound copy would be lovely.

Lulu is wonderful. You do all the work. You get your manuscript ready, edit it yourself and sort out the layout, choose font, spacing, number of pages. Easy right? No. Hard work actually and it'll take several attempts to get it how you want it. Lulu doesn't help at all with this, if there's loads of typo's you have to spot them, grammar errors, continuity issues - all your problem. Worth doing? Oh yes. So, you have your document all ready on the computer and you're ready.

First create an account on Lulu. It's easy and it's free, just go to "First time visitor" and follow the instructions. You can have your own little shop on there if you want too - mine is Here, feel free to wander in. Once you have an account you can start to publish your work.

A few choices need to be made first though. Do you want hard cover or paperback? Perfect bound or coil? Dust jacket or casewrap? And a cover too! Do you have some artwork or a picture you want on the front of your book?

So, you've got your manuscript ready, all formatted and looking great in a word document. You have your cover art sorted, or you think you'll be ok with a Lulu template. They have lots but bear in mind that anyone can use them, there will be other books with the same cover. You've also thought about and decided what kind of book you want; size, binding, soft or hard cover.

Now go and find the Lulu forums and FAQ and have a good long read before you start. There are tips on making your work look the best it can and helping it look right for selling. There are also guidelines on which type of documents are appropriate, which image formats Lulu accepts etc. Well worth a browse over a cup of tea or several. The forums are also great places to ask those daft questions and get a sensible answer.

Once you've got that all sorted, Go for it!

Go to your Lulu account, sign in and find "My Lulu" Once there you'll find a "Publish" tab at the top, on the left. Click it and follow the instructions, it's fairly self explanatory.

A tip though, I'd set your masterpiece to "Private" until you're happy with it. You can always delete and start again if you go wrong or don't like the result. Also allow a few months to order a preliminary copy, get it and change it, then get another one.

There's no up front payment. Part of the cost of each book covers the printing and other associated costs and Lulu take a cut too. If you're buying your own book then you pay just that. You are in control, every step of the way. When you're ready to release it to general sale then YOU set the creator revenue and the price that the public will pay for your work.

This is simple self publishing and this WILL NOT get your book onto Amazon or into your local bookshop. For that you need an ISBN and a distribution package, and that's a whole other intel for another day....