Self Publishing

[dlpwillywonka]

I know I've mentioned it around the site before but I want to make a real thread that newbies can find easily. What is this strange topic that I'm taking time out of my "busy" day to mention?

www.lulu.com

Yea it's a website that lets you publish your own books, graphic novels. Now I'm still unsure of how much money you make from it since I haven't published anything. I have bought stuff and the quality is very good. The main thing that catches my eye is that you keep the copyright of your work. Which is great compared to a few other self publishers I remember.

Anyway there it is. I'm gonna sift through my short stories and see if I can make a book of them.

Toodles.

[elephant]

Anyway there it is. I'm gonna sift through my short stories and see if I can make a book of them.
I wanted to do the same when I found out about Lulu, but never got around doing it. Besides, my short stories are horrible and there's only a few.

Maybe a comic book. Then I'll definitely sell them, too. Mwahaha.

[dlpwillywonka]

I'm not overly concerned with getting them sold. I just want professionally bound copies for myself. :)

[flashcartoons]

me too i wrote a childrens story back in highschool i would like to make a book

[dlpwillywonka]

Yea I want you to publish one too. So I can burn it in effigy to all childrens books. ;)

I'd be interested in seeing your oldie childs book.

[Terro]

I have always wanted to publish a book, so does my wife. Does this Lulu thing distribute to online retailers such as Amazon.com and B&N ?

[dlpwillywonka]

Nah They sell through their website. It's a print on demand type thing. But you can use the books you published with lulu as a way of sending your transcript to other distributors. Go to the site and read through their FAQ.

[flashcartoons]

i do need to get it edited anyone here good editor?

[dlpwillywonka]

Forgot about this other website. More straight for comics.

http://www.comixpress.com/

Remembered by going to blambot.com

[RageArtworks]

Writing a book myself too. It's a shame color books are so expensive.
The book I'm writing will be about 150 pages. Production costs only for that would be over $27.
That same book in B&W would have production costs of a little over $7. That's a lot better...

[CycoMerlin14]

I've been considering this for about a year and half, and I've chosen to first self-publish one rough copy for close distribution among friends and colleagues for feedback before undergoing actual self-publication. Unfortunately, I had to reformat my unbootable hard drive. So there went all my work.

But, fortunately, I had sent out a rough draft to a few people. One of them has said that they could return the electronic copy to me. Just about everything else has been either printed or hand-written. Go me.

But yeah. Lulu seems to be pretty promising.

[Chance1234]

well thought i would give it a go

http://www.chance1234.com/land/landing.html

hoping it earns some beer money

[Afraser]

I've been selling my comics on Lulu for over a year now.

Sales have been good. Primarily because my expectations are so low. (a bit over $6.00 this year, and thats not counting the copies I bought myself.) If I had a comic that apealed to a wider audience I could do better.

http://stores.lulu.com/botulism_bunny

You can add a distribution package (Extra fee) to your book and they will assign an ISBN and make it available to order through amazon and Borders.
(I've gone into the borders where I live and I can look up just about any Lulu published book on their instore computer system.)

I also do Cafepress. http://www.cafepress.com/botulismbunny
But I have'nt made any sales on the site yet. I mostly use it to get custom shirts and coffee mugs for me and my family.

Not to sound like a commercial but the print on demand industry is where it's at for independants like us.
Lulu and Cafepress (At the basic level) are free.

My over head is $0.00.
so $6-$0= a bottle of Red Stripe

HORAY BEER!:D

[Monsieur Rat]

Haha. I thought about Lulu. Can you have them make a bunch, then buy your own books and just sell em from you house and such all bound like that at a slightly higher price? That to me would somehow end up being illegal, i dno why. But it would be a cool way to do it for myself

[Afraser]

It's better then that. When you buy your own work you only pay for printing. (I only pay $5.3irty-something per book). So YEAH, You can buy a bulk load of your own books and make more profit either by selling them at cover or at below cover. (The Illusion of a deal ==:> )

I was thinking about doing that at the local comic shop, but they don't sell "furry". Let alone "prego furry". :rolleyes:

If you where to go into a comic shop toteing good quality bound comics, they'd be all over that.

Just don't overload them, hit as many shops within driving area, and make some system so you can recover unsold merchandise. (Like garuntee them .50 per book sold or unsold, and set a time frame for the books to be on the shelf.

Any of the "How to" self publish books out there are good. My favorite is Dave Sim's "Cerebus' guide to self publishing." It's a bit dated, but it's the most concise, and to the point.

Sorry to blather on. I've been studing other self publishers for a while now. There are some really talented people out there forging they're own path, and not breaking the bank too hard. (Paul Sizer and The Foglios for example.)

[Monsieur Rat]

That's cool information. I think I may do that!

[Banes]

That's an excellent resource; thanks for posting! LuLu looks pretty good!

[jaswilson]

I looked into just using a local book printer whose price came in much lower than Lulu and some other online printers I've seen. Plus you can go along and oversee the process. I think the printing is the most straight forward part. The problem area is distribution of your book I think.:banghead