Monthly Archives: November 2008

by Nick Popio Social Networking Team Lead
November 25, 2008
Comments (4)

Just in time for the holidays…

In Lulu News —

Lulu has discounts that are sure to delight you, your friends and your wallet!

This holiday season, Lulu is offering $10 off when you purchase ten or more copies of your 8.5 x 11 or 6×9 B&W perfect bound paperback book. That’s a savings of $1 per book!

Got more than 10 people on your gift list? Purchase 25 copies of your book and your savings double to $2 off per book or more — saving you up to $60.

Check out all of our discounted products.
Better hurry, these holiday specials are only available for a limited time.


Start saving now.  Log in to your Lulu account, go to your My Projects page and click the shopping cart next to your book to buy and save!

Make sure you receive your order in time –place your order before our holiday shipping deadlines.

by Dan London Director of Online Marketing
November 20, 2008
Comments (1)

Lulu.com Author Interview: Bob McDonald

In Author Spotlight — Tagged: , ,

I love using Twitter to find out what the Lulu community is up to.  Often, I head over to Summize.com and type Lulu.com in the search field to see how our authors are promoting themselves via Twitter.  There are hundreds of recent messages from authors and buyers that have been sent talking about Lulu.com.  I decided to find one of the Lulu.com authors who actively uses Twitter to find out what kind of success they have had promoting their work.

Bob McDonald, author of Flagrant Foul and Dilemma, was kind enough to conduct an interview with me via Twitter today about how he has used the latest social networking tools to promote his books.

Continue Reading »

by Jay Ballenger HTML technician
November 18, 2008
No Comments

Let Lulu help you with your Thanksgiving feast

In Holiday reading material —

Thanksgiving is a holiday stuffed with family, friends and food. And while too many cooks in the kitchen can be a problem, no one has ever complained about too many dishes on the table.

Continue Reading »

by Nick Popio Social Networking Team Lead
November 14, 2008
No Comments

Writing Communities

In Tips and Tricks —

One of the most often overlooked places to get feedback on your writing, hang out with other authors, and promote your work is an online writing community. These sites are typically founded by writers to help develop a community where writers, readers, reviewers and pretty much anyone else who is passionate about books and writing come together to discuss techniques, offer constructive criticism and find new works. Such communities can become an excellent tool for an aspiring writer, and can easily develop into  one of your most useful resources for feedback and connecting with people who share your passion for creating.

On most communities, you can submit your writing for others to view, and purchase. This gets your work more exposure and helps you find interested readers. You can also participate in writer workshops, enter contests, and learn more about writing exercises. Not to mention the opportunity to share tips and ideas with other writers, or request reviews of your book.

Some of the most popular writing communities are:

http://www.authorsden.com
http://www.writing.com
http://www.editred.com

Try one out, and get started sharing your work!

by Cary Allman PR Intern
November 12, 2008
Comments (2)

Holiday Gift Ideas on Lulu

In Lulu News —

Even though it is only the second week of November, everybody knows that the holiday shopping season has been kicked into high gear. But instead of braving the stresses and mobs at your neighborhood shopping mall, sit back, put your feet up and check out a couple of the cool things Lulu has to offer.

For that special sports fanatic in your life, pick up Dugout Wisdom: Life Lessons from Baseball by Dan Migala. This book features a compilation of words of wisdom from 55 greats of the game such as Sparky Anderson, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, Whitey Ford, Goose Gossage, Monte Irvin, Kirby Puckett, Nolan Ryan, Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo and Mike Schmidt. As a plus, you can even order a custom cover complete with your own personal holiday message!

For those cooking enthusiasts, the options on Lulu are limitless. In fact, there are even options for those non-cooking enthusiasts, which brings me to my next gift idea: Paul Gaj’s How to Cook: A Guide for Men Who Don’t. Through this cookbook, Gaj provides (for the price of an average meal) a guide to help the average man, whether he be 18 to 80, prepare his own food.

Of course, if you’re looking to add a personal touch, you can take advantage of the Lulu Studio™ and compile all of those family photos and put together a fabulous photo book that puts all of those gift certificates to shame.

by Adam Guida
November 7, 2008
No Comments

Lulu Site Highlights

In Events, Lulu News —

Last week we made several exciting changes to the site, rolling out some new features and a few new publishing options we hope you’ll enjoy.

Here are some highlights:

New Publisher Grade Paper – A new lower-cost paper option is now available for Lulu users. Books published in 8.5″ x 11″ B&W or the brand new “digest” trim size of 5.5″ x 8.5″ B&W will now have an option for this new economical paper. If you’re a cost conscious author wishing to reduce the cost of your books, while still maintaining the high quality you’ve come to expect from Lulu, then you’ll want to consider Publisher Grade Paper. Specifically, the Publisher Grade Paper is a little thinner than our Lulu “Traditional” paper, resulting in a thinner book with pages that may be slightly more transparent. After seeing some side-by-side examples of books produced with this paper for myself, the differences appeared rather marginal with the Lulu Traditional paper comparative to what you’d find in any bookstore. Click here for more information on using the Publisher Grade Paper option for your next Lulu book.

Revised Volume (BULK) Pricing Structure – We’ve just rolled out a new volume pricing structure, meaning better discounts for you at lower quantities. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to update our Book cost calculator before including these discounts, but for more information please check out this page in our Help section.

Updates to Lulu Studio - Development on the Lulu Studio publishing platform continues. Here is a list of some of the most recent improvements we’ve made:

  • Preview Functionality - Users can now preview their photo book prior to publishing.
  • Two-Page Spread Navigation - The Studio interface now shows a two-up spread view with a page navigator. Navigation controls are also improved.
  • Undo/Redo - Single-action undo/redo functionality is now available.

  • New Studio Cookbook themes with page numbering and a table of contents. After trying out these new themes for myself, it was really hard to  describe just how much these themes have improved Cookbook design and made it easier  to publish a book of recipes. If you’re looking for a unique personalized holiday you really need to check this out for yourself.

Price Changes – As you may recall back in September, Bob Young, Lulu’s founder and CEO announced some Price Changes to Lulu’s product catalog. With the rise in cost of raw materials, freight and shipping, we have made a number of adjustments to production and shipping costs.   If you’re interested in how these increases may affect you,  please check out the newly updated Lulu Book Cost Calculator which has now been updated to reflect these price changes:

If you’d like to learn more about recent changes on our site, please check out the Developer’s Log in the Lulu forums for more details.

Regards,
Adam