Looking to create and distribute your own print publication? You can self-publish your work through Lulu.com, a company that specializes in print-on-demand services.
Lulu’s goal is to make it simple for the average user to publish and sell their work. They do this by taking care of the dirty work — to publish with Lulu, you just need a PDF of your finished work and an idea of what kind of product you are going to put out. Lulu’s options include paperbacks, hardcover books, comic books, training manuals, travel guides, and more.
Once your publication is ready to go, set your price and send your customers to Lulu.com. Your readers can purchase copies of your publication straight through Lulu’s site, and have it shipped to their doors.
Testimonial from a LuLu Customer
Jack Prominski recently published the first issue of his photography magazine ShutterSphere through LuLu.com. Here is what Jack had to say about LuLu:
“The real advantage of the service is the ability to print as many or as few copies as you need. It makes it much easier for a startup (like me) or someone who wants to get only a copy or two of the work that they have done.”
Jack notes that prices may suffer for publications with small distributions. Issue 1 of ShutterSphere was available at cost, but printing next year’s yearbook through LuLu may potentially save Jack’s school $25,000.00.
Finally, Jack has good news for those who find the concept of desktop publishing a bit daunting.
“The convenience of the service cannot be beat though. lulu has an extremely easy interface for constructing the publication, and will automatically convert many different filetypes, everything from word to indesign, to meet its requirements.”
