Lulu Report Card

[BrotherDave]

Well, got my printed book back from Lulu.
Looks great! What a thrill to get a a book in print, even if I had to do it my self.
And it only cost me a few dollars, rather than hundreds.
I recommend them.
You get back exactly what you put in it!
The only misprints are my mistakes.
And the cover is real nice.
I feel like I have an offering for the market, now I just have to figure out how to offer it.
I have two books there at the moment, but "Proverbs for Winners and Knuckleheads" is not ready.
Also on the site is my blog. You can respond there and tell if you like "Melilot" or how it can be approved. Download or snail mail.

www.lulu.com/gloriouswriters

[AngelAzariah]

_____That's great news! Really, because they are on my list to try out. How are they about rights to your own work?

[rodojeki]

Bro Dave:

Congrats to you.....I have been waiting to hear from you and am
encouraged by your report. I have lots of work ahead of me, but am
excited.....Will visit the site again. Blessings to you.

Donna

[jacx1938]

Brother Dave, I'm a brand new member, and have favor to ask? I looked at the LuLu website and was interested, but am not very PC literate. The more I looked at the site, the more confused I got. Could I possibly contact you for a blow-by-blow on how to publish with them when I get ready? Am working on the story now, but will be a little while.

If I'm asking too much, I'll understand if you say no. You would have to explain it to me as if I was an absolute dummy. Am also checking out your book with the green cover. We don't use credit cards, and don't like the extra charges paypal sticks on if we did use one. Is there any way I could purchase a copy of that directly from you? I mean using snail-mail to send you a money order that would cover mailing expense. Please advise, and thanks for listening to this poor illiterate. (grin)

Jim.

[writegirl1949]

Bro Dave, congratulations on the book. And it was good to hear how much you liked Lulu. There are so many horror stories out there it's good that someone is as pleased as you are.

I did visit your blog. One thing I've learned is that folks may visit your blog but they won't return very often if there isn't anything new up there. Obviously, posting to a blog may not be a priority, but if you are going to use it to help promote your book, you might want to consider some kind of schedule. And, since there isn't an excerpt of your book on the lulu website, you might want to post an excerpt there. Or, you may have another website with an excerpt posted. I say all this because I'm in the process of trying to promote my book that will be coming out soon. But back to posting to your blog, My "Write from the Heart" blog is something I felt God leading me to do -- sharing what I've learned with others. I went two months without posting anything on a regular basis. God let me know that wasn't what He had in mind. So, I've committed to posting three times a week -- but that's just me. And I've got a tracker on it that gives me stats as to number of visits, etc., and I can see people returning to it on a regular basis.

I have another website "The Story Teller," that I haven't posted regularly to. I'm hoping to get more active with that one. Still, I think it's important to let your visitors know what's up. At least that's my humble :o opinion.

Blessings, Francine

[BrotherDave]

First, I said before that everything in the book is mine, including mistakes, and there are a few typos in my book. Lulu does not edit. It takes exactly what you give it, and puts it inside a nice cover. You also get a little website with an address and a blog center. I think that's pretty good for the price. (free until you buy a book) BTW you can go back and correct your typos. I will be doing that very soon.

To get your book Lulued you must enter what you want printed in a Word file or a PDA file, and download it into the file Lulu makes available. A PDA file will come out exactly as you format it. In a Word file your special characters and chapter headings may appear in different fonts. There is a place to see your pages before they are printed, and of course, you can make corrections.

Lulu has a very easy to follow process. Just start at the beginning and work through it.

I've never blogged before, but I guess I'm going to learn from this.

You can see an excerpt from the book by clicking on the name of the book and looking for the link on the next page. I need to work on my excerpt. It's all a learning process.

Not to sound like I'm tricking you, but if buying a copy of my book will give you an example of what a Lulu book looks like, well feel free to order a copy on the site. www.lulu.com/gloriouswriters . You can also use the blog to make comments about my book(s).

If you want me to send you a copy of my book e-mail me at gloriouswriters@msn.com .
I'll ask you to send me a check first, then I will send you a book.

The author retains all rights, and there is a Standard Copyright clause you have to say yes to before you request a print. This might be good legally for the author. If anyone reads the clause and has a different opinion please let me know.


brotherdave

[pink_novelist]

I have been interested in this publisher for quite some time. I have a contract with Dorrance (which I haven't yet signed), and after all the reviews I heard about that company on different sites, I don't know if I'll use Dorrance after all.

Thanks for your imprint about Lulu, I am definitely going to check it out.

:D

[Kaylee4Christ]

That's awesome, BrotherDave. :)

Kay

[David Meigs]

BrotherDave,

Congratulation bro! !thumbsup!

[AngelAzariah]

_____Thanks for informing us. I may just order your book. I need something new to read anyways. It will depend on if I get in the mood to actuly buy a book. I've only ever bout one book -- the editing one.

[BrotherDave]

Wait another week before buying a copy of my book. There is a publishing phenominon at work here. That is: You can read and edit your work on the computer millions of times and be totally sure your work is clean, until it is in print. Then the typos and imperfections jump out at you and the reader. So, I'm editing again.
I am also sharing the book with wife, and she is pointing out errors too. So, sorry.
I'll let you know when its ready.

brotherdave

[AngelAzariah]

_____Oh kay.

[Diannecp]

cool & congrats!

[Ann.English]

Lulu has my vote, but I'm fortunate in being able to spell. It's entirely the author's responsibility to make a good job of what is published. It's also entirely up to the author to publicise their work.

Click on www.lulu.com/AnnEnglish to see what can be done. I've offered a free download, and - praise the Lord! - a number of people come back and pay cash.

Ann English
Christchurch, New Zealand.

[BrotherDave]

A followup to Lulu.

Somebody here posted a sight where you can download a free PDA creater. What a difference this makes on Lulu! Now what I put on there is what I want to put in my book. I don't have to bow to their technologies, like using thier fonts. I can even add pix if I want to.

I'm also using the PDA creater to make e-mail attachements for sending stories to editors. No more guessing if I should send it as a "txt" or "doc." I just just send it as a PDA.

Thanks again to whoever gave that tip about the free PDA creater.

brotherdave

[Ann.English]

The free open-source office programme "OpenOffice" seems to be on many a magazine-cover CD and is freely downloadable. (Don't try it on dial-up.)

OpenOffice handles all Microsoft files better than Microsoft does, and also exports as PDF. I agree with Brother Dave that to send PDF files relieves you of a lot of stress. What you send is what they see, with no viruses and proprietary nonsense.

Ann English
New Zealand
www.lulu.com/AnnEnglish

[whitehawke]

Hi Ann,
nice to see a fellow kiwi. Welcome to cw.

[ellenjames]

Congratulations on your published book, Bro. Dave.
Keep up the good work! !thumbsup!
Ellenjames

[whitehawke]

Bro Dave, congrats.
Hey, this Lulu is starting to sound interesting. When I get my book published, I want my drawing on the front. Sounds like this might be a way of getting just that.

[patches]

I think that's pretty good for the price. (free until you buy a book) BTW you can go back and correct your typos.
brotherdave

BrotherDave,

Did I misunderstand you? Lulu charges you for the website once your book has sold????

I didn't read that anywhere at all. Where is that fine print?

Steph

[patches]

The free open-source office programme "OpenOffice" seems to be on many a magazine-cover CD and is freely downloadable. (Don't try it on dial-up.)

OpenOffice handles all Microsoft files better than Microsoft does, and also exports as PDF. I agree with Brother Dave that to send PDF files relieves you of a lot of stress. What you send is what they see, with no viruses and proprietary nonsense.

Ann English
New Zealand
www.lulu.com/AnnEnglish

I'm glad somebody liked OpenOffice. I sure didn't. It's too different after using Word for over ten years. I just couldn't get used to all of the changes to format the doc.

Also, when I tried to upload the document in OpenOffice format, Lulu's convertor didn't like it. I ended up having to copy and paste the entire text into Word on my hubby's puter and reformat it.

Steph

[patches]

Wait another week before buying a copy of my book. There is a publishing phenominon at work here. That is: You can read and edit your work on the computer millions of times and be totally sure your work is clean, until it is in print. Then the typos and imperfections jump out at you and the reader. So, I'm editing again.
I am also sharing the book with wife, and she is pointing out errors too. So, sorry.
I'll let you know when its ready.

brotherdave

BrotherDave,

I have been working on this one book for over 5 yrs and I am still finding typos! I don't think it will ever be finished. Actually, I've read it through so many times I think I could rewrite it verbatim in my sleep, LOL!

One consolation....I've bought books from publishing houses that have more typos that I have and I chuckled a little but it never turned me off from reading the book. It just made me grateful that even with all of their money and proffessional editors, they still make mistakes.

[BrotherDave]

Lulu does not charge for its website service

[patches]

Lulu does not charge for its website service

That's a big relief!

So could you clarify what you were referring to?

[BrotherDave]

This is what I said:
I think that's pretty good for the price. (free until you buy a book) BTW you can go back and correct your typos.

Clear answer:
The website if free, the only cost is the purchase of a book.

brotherdave

[patches]

Okay, thanks! Musta had a whiteout, LOL!

Steph

[ladypreacher]

Brother Dave,

May I take a moment to envy you? :) I am in the process of self-publishing my Nano book on Lulu and only have to wait for my artwork to be submitted. I'm working with an artist that wants to work with me on other projects and we are going to present ourselves as a united front. He has the cover work done, but we haven't connected to make it a done deal... Time is running out! Maybe you could say a prayer that my friend is not hindered and the project can come to a wonderful completion! Boy, did I learn alot as I formatted that thing! I hope it turns out half as nice as it looks like it's going to! The book is called, EVEN IN SILENCE, and subtitled, The Journey of a Lady Preacher. I'll be looking for your post that your novel is ready for purchase and then have a look see...

Patches,

Thanks for asking about the 'free' Lulu deal. I must have been in your whiteout as I saw the same thing and was a bit confused also!

Take care guys!

[Bill Snodgrass]

Double-Edged Publishing, Inc. (my company) has picked (for now) LuLu to be our print and distribution vender. I did a trial book of my mom's poems, a collection of things she has written over the years, just to see how the system works.

Of course, I am getting copies for family and such.

My copy arrived today. WOW. My sister got her copy, too. She called me to say, "WOW!" She then called mom to tell her it looked great.

So far, LuLu gets all thumbs up from me.

[patches]

No problem ladypreacher! But i think my whiteouts are a matter of burnt out brain cells and ptsd, LoL! God is still working on them.

Now for a big question...

How did you deal with your coverart?

My bookcover looks plain vanilla, ugh!

Steph

[Keith Wallis]

Patches - I've done graphics for a number of small press magazines (some years ago, mind). If you want a cover design - I'd be glad to help in any way I can.
Keith

[ladypreacher]

Patches,

Wish I could say about the art! I am supposed to have the work emailed to me tonight and then I'll format it and publish it... That was a really nice offer from Keith to do some artwork for you! They also have art on the site if you won't have time to get the art and all set up in time. Don't miss the deadline whatever you do!

Ladypreacher

PS Bill, that was encouraging about your mom's book of poems! I've heard a lot of good things about Lulu and it's starting to change the way I think about self publishing. I'm seriously considering publishing my collection of poems through Lulu as there isn't all that great a demand for books of poetry by some unknown ladypreacher! :rolleyes:

You all take care! I'm going to have a good report really really soon! I'm believing for it!

[Bill Snodgrass]

Glad my experience was helpful.

As a followup, the poetry book was found by my sister to have an error. Changing the whole thing on LuLu took less time than it took Acrobat to make the new PDF file. I still like them.

[patches]

Patches - I've done graphics for a number of small press magazines (some years ago, mind). If you want a cover design - I'd be glad to help in any way I can.
Keith

Hey Keith,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back here. After I posted that, I got reminded by the Lord that I hadn't really prayed for help on it, I had just done the best I could and then felt blah about it.

So, I went and prayed and shortly after that wallah! I got inspired! I don't know if anybody else would think it is professional looking but it's a lot better than my original brown cover.

Lets see if I can attach a copy of the thumbnail.

[patches]

Patches,

Wish I could say about the art! I am supposed to have the work emailed to me tonight and then I'll format it and publish it... That was a really nice offer from Keith to do some artwork for you! They also have art on the site if you won't have time to get the art and all set up in time. Don't miss the deadline whatever you do!

Ladypreacher

PS Bill, that was encouraging about your mom's book of poems! I've heard a lot of good things about Lulu and it's starting to change the way I think about self publishing. I'm seriously considering publishing my collection of poems through Lulu as there isn't all that great a demand for books of poetry by some unknown ladypreacher! :rolleyes:

You all take care! I'm going to have a good report really really soon! I'm believing for it!

I hope everything turns out alright for you!
And I agree with you, it is encouraging to hear that others are satisfied with LuLu!

I've gotten my book uploaded but I'm going to have to wait until hubby gets paid before I can buy review copies.

Steph

[patches]

And Keith, I really do appreciate the help you offered. I'd say that has to be a first for me.

The attachment isn't all nice a smooth, I copied Lulu's thumbnail and it saves as a bmp, so I hurried up and converted it to gif to post here. It's a little jagged, which my bookcover isn't.

[Keith Wallis]

Patches - I'm glad you tackled the cover. I'm probably a bit too abstract for that particular title anyway. If you don't mind a little critcism - I think the concept is good but the style is a little old fashioned (or maybe you're after retro) - but as you say it's certainly better than a brown cover. We reserve brown covers for the "dirty book" shelves over here !!!!!!

[patches]

Well, the criticism is fine. I looked and looked for clipart I could use for the cover that was public domain and came up with zilch because I couldn't afford to buy any.

I did find some wrestling clipart in black and white so I copied it, printed it, reworking it and colored it in pencil, scanned it and then re-edited it in paint and photoshop.

I am not very good with illustrator. For some reason, I don't get the nice clean lines that the tutorials show, mine are jagged looking. So I went with a swatch for the background.

At least it is cheerful and I am a little bit old-fashioned.

The first cover was just simply a brown cover with a gold black with a dropshadow for the lettering. UGH! Yes, brown covers are for dirty books here to.

Honestly, I couldn't think of what else to do for the cover. I thought about scanning some fabric swatches but those designs are copyrighted too.

Steph

[Keith Wallis]

Steph - you could take a digital photo of some scrunched up fabric - that wouldn't be copyright.
Keith

[ladypreacher]

Boy howdy! Are you guys right on target for what is pressing on my mind! I waited and waited for my artist friend to follow through for me with his artwork. Well, as tomorrow is the Lulu deadline for the free nano book I got a bit over anxious, and well, I designed my own cover~ I took my digital camera and took a photo of a path in my front yard. It turned out really really nice. I mean absolutely beautiful!

Okay, so what is my story? Why is this pressing on my mind? Well, in the Twelth hour my friend came through for me. His artwork is beautiful, and I really love it, it's just that my landscaping picture was outstanding! And so perfect for Even in Silence...

So what did I do? I honored my word and used his artwork... I'm going to wander around in Lulu a little later and find out if I can actually publish the same book and market it with both covers at the same time. I won't pull his art off of my book, but I sure would like to see my own creation out there too. I honestly have nothing to cry about, he is a great artist and we plan to work on other projects together too.

Anyway, that's my ramble. Glad to have you guys out there...

This experience has been awesome for me. Last night I got together a book of poems that I've had laying around forever. I have it all formatted and when I go to Lulu later I think I'm going to 'publish' it. It's called, "And the Glory." There's not really a whole lot of money to be had for a first book of poems, so why not?

I'm glad that you worked out your artwork Patches. It won't be anything to change it if you want to once you get your first copy. I'll give more info on how to find my 'books' once I proof them and make them available for the public. Maybe once I get done with all of this Lulu business I can get back to trying to get that illusive book contract, via Agent first... I have no intention of publishing my trilogy on my own. (At least not at this stage of the game!)

[Keith Wallis]

That's the problem with "artist friends" no concept of time !
Seriously - I'll bet he/she wasn't happy with their artwork and what you got was not the finished product they wanted to give you, but the abandoned offering that was as far as they could get because of time constraint. Rather like my poetry - its mostly "abandoned" because any further work on it wouldn't finish it but just muddy the water !!!!

[ladypreacher]

Keith,

Thanks for the feedback. In this instance I think that's not quite the case. He had told me of the completion of the project about a week ago, but we just couldn't get the file uploaded correctly. If anything I think he was a bit put off that he couldn't apply the project to the book himself, and instead had to send it to me to format and apply... I had given him my Lulu name and password, but he had no luck there. I'm just grateful that I was able to figure the deal out before missing the deadline.

Anyway, that's my slant on things.

Ladypreacher

[patches]

Hey, I posted a poll in the Suggestion Box for a forum for those of us that are into Self-publishing.

That way we can discuss stuff that most writers won't have to really get into.

Steph

[ellenjames]

Lulu! Well, in some ways self-publishing sounds attractive (if one can afford the cost), however I know nothing about creating on any program other than Microsoft Word.
I have two manuscripts out now, hoping for publication. Perhaps I'll look into Lulu later.
Congratulations to BroDave and those who have published through Lulu.
Ellenjames,
www.freewebs.com/wayber

[patches]

Hey Ellen,

The cost for publishing with Lulu is free!

If you have Word you can format the document, upload it and they will turn it into a pdf for you.

Then, there are freeware PDF creators for your bookcover. There is an adobe product that is similar to photoshop and probably has adobe conversion built in. Most people are buying older versions on ebay if they can't afford to buy it new. I'll see if I can find the name of it again.

But, Lulu also offers templates for covers and all you really have to do is add text for the cover.

Keith, are you aware of any freeware programs that would allow for the dpi settings, and exact measurements in RGB that she could use?

I know GIMP is free and they offer a free pdf print to file software but I couldn't get the hang of gimp.

Steph

[patches]

Hey Ellen,

I found the program I was talking about. It is Adobe Photo Elements. You can get a version 2.0 through Ebay for Win98SE It is the poor mans version of Photoshop.

If you have Win XP they have a version 3.0.

Steph

[Keith Wallis]

Steph:
I'm not sure about other programmes but when I want to mess about with dpi settings I use one called "LivePix" which I got off the front of a magazine ages ago. It just about works with Microsoft ME which I use at the moment, I'm not sure that it would with XP.
Keith

[ellenjames]

Thanks for the information, Steph.
When I get time I'll look into it.

Ellenjames
www.freewebs.com/wayber

[Debtfree]

Well, got my printed book back from Lulu.
Looks great! What a thrill to get a a book in print, even if I had to do it my self.
And it only cost me a few dollars, rather than hundreds.
I recommend them.
You get back exactly what you put in it!
The only misprints are my mistakes.
And the cover is real nice.
I feel like I have an offering for the market, now I just have to figure out how to offer it.
I have two books there at the moment, but "Proverbs for Winners and Knuckleheads" is not ready.
Also on the site is my blog. You can respond there and tell if you like "Melilot" or how it can be approved. Download or snail mail.

www.lulu.com/gloriouswriters
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bro. Dave,

Thanks for the encouragement. I, too, am planning to publish my 2nd book at lulu.com. I have to finish the spacing, page numbers, and margins.

I have been really busy working as an RN in Colorado. I know I need to get my behind in gear and finish the final touches on the book. If anyone is interested in a sample chapter please visit: www.b2bablessing.org (http://www.b2bablessing.org)
Debtfree