What’s it like to publish an e-book with Lulu self-publishing service?
You have content like texts and/or photos that you want to share with the public? Or, you have created content that you want to share with your family/specific persons only? You would like a print-on-demand service where you don’t have to buy a certain number of your own books first, and where they only get printed when a customer orders them? While you have several options (such as Kindle Direct Publishing, formerly createspace, with which I published all my piano/flute/cello/violin music books and my husband David’s poems) or IngramSpark, there was just one service that fulfilled my needs, because my books are in landscape format: Lulu.
My son and I had been taking photos of amber inclusions with our two microscopes (a BRESSER student microscope for him and a TOMLOV soldering microscope for me) since Easter 2024, when we got them. The content was finished in September 2024. I didn’t want to start anew just to put it into portrait format, so I went with Lulu to leave the content as is.
After I finally found a service that publishes landscape formats, I learned that I won’t get an ISBN number for a photo book/e-book in landscape format, so I could only sell through the Lulu bookstore and my own website WooCommerce store. I was satisfied with that (but made a note to myself that my next book would be in portrait format, because my goal was to sell on Amazon).
Since I had already completely finished my content for three books with Canva, I only needed to type in the title, author, categories, and content information into Lulu’s form and upload my pdf file for the content. Before I uploaded it, I inserted page numbers with a free online pdf editor (ilovepdf). The covers (front and back) were a different issue, because Lulu requires a special template (which is provided for download) and photos of a small size. I downloaded the free pdf template and put in into a free online pdf editor (ilovepdf) to insert the cover pages as png into the pdf template. Careful, you can only use ilovepdf three times per day for free; afterwards, you have to pay for a subscription. Also, your files should be below 500 MB. Mine were over 400 MB, and it worked. If you have Adobe Editor, you can insert page numbers and images without a free pdf editor, of course.
Lulu has lots of explanations and video guides (like this Book Creation Guide) how to upload your finished content and how to create new content directly on the Lulu platform. I found it very easy and fun.
When you have finished your book or e-book, don’t forget to create an “author’s page” with some information about yourself. This is what I wrote:
Christina is an educator, writer, composer, and editor of German origin who taught English at high school, community college, and two universities in Illinois and Tennessee from 2006-2020. Having returned to Europe during the pandemic, she enjoys being a mom, traveling, blogging, and delving into the art of microscopy of fossils in amber. Her photo books and musical compositions are meant for the young (and the young at heart).
A cost-saving tip: I put the book I created into my shopping cart and left it sitting there for a few days. Then, I received an email from Lulu with a 10% discount voucher to check it out, so I did it then. Alternatively, you can look up this website for Lulu publication coupons. Why pay more if you don’t have to 😉
It took about a month until my ordered hard cover book arrived at my door step. I had to pay about EUR 8.50 customs fee at the door as it came to Germany from England. But I was pleasantly surprised by the nice colors and the flawless printing. It looked like a photo book from Shutterfly or ALDI. Since my three hard cover books are going to be Christmas presents for my niece, nephew, and son this year, I found them just perfect (of course, the kids will also get a real amber inclusion as well as a microscopy and photography lesson with me).
You won’t get high royalties from Lulu. It depends on how high you set your purchase price, of course, but if you set it too high, nobody will buy your book. Lulu indicates the printing price (which is quite high, in my opinion, about 23 dollars for one of my ca. 90-page photo books), and I set the purchase price of my hard cover books about 3 dollars higher, so I make a little bit of money when a book sells through the Lulu bookstore. For a 3-dollar e-book, I get almost 2 dollars of royalties. When sold through my own website store, I have to go even higher for hard copy books since Lulu charges me shipping costs, handling fees, and taxes.
Here are my three books (each in hard cover and e-book versions) on Lulu:
My Little Amber Room: Microscopy for Kids, volumes 1-3
I still need reviews, so if anyone is interested in amber inclusions, microscopy, and photography, please order one of the e-books (since they’re cheap) and leave me a review. It’s very much appreciated!
Volume 1
Volume 1 of My Little Amber Room shares some information about the origins of amber and introduces different arthropods (insects, spiders, ants, beetles, crickets, millipedes, etc.) with many photos from our private collection. We will explain our microscopy and photography gear for mom and son on a budget and address specifically school-aged children who are interested in fossils.
Here are a few of the amber inclusions dealt with in volume 1:
Volume 2
This second volume of My Little Amber Room: Microscopy for Kids explains where to find amber (both in nature and online), how to tell real from fake amber, and how to protect amber from decaying. You will see many more photos from our private collection of larvae, isopods, ticks, snails, stalactites, gecko tails, and so on, with brief explanations about the species. Like the first volume, it is geared towards school-aged children who love fossils.
Here are a few of the amber inclusions dealt with in volume 2:
Volume 3
The third volume of My Little Amber Room: Microscopy for Kids will tell you about the original trees that produced the resin that fossilized into amber after millions of years. You will learn about impurities in amber like bivalve borings and stellate hairs. One chapter is dedicated to pseudoinclusions, which are not real inclusions of animal or botanical matter at all but merely corroded air bubbles that look strikingly like plants or lichen. Of course, there will be lots of photos again from our private collection; for example, you will get to see a cockroach laying an egg sac, a webspinner hatching, and snakefly larvae wriggling with only their first two body segments sclerotized. You can admire several different weevils (snout beetles) with very long and shorter rostrums. Of high interest are also the mantises and mantisflies with their raptorial front limbs, as well as the unique-headed bug. The final chapter is about rare things in amber to which belong snails with their soft parts preserved. This book is geared towards school-aged children who love fossils, and we hope you have lots of fun with it and learn something new.
Here are a few of the amber inclusions dealt with in volume 3:
If you are enticed by the interesting inclusions and would like to see more (I also have lizard tails, feathers, snails, lots of plants, beetles, pests, grasshoppers, crickets, pseudoinclusions, and so on), feel free to order one of my e-books! If you want a present for a fossil lover, I would recommend a hard cover book. Christmas is coming… 😉