Lulu Blog

Make your Book Green – eBooks for earth friendly publishing!

eBooks are books in electronic format. Like other electronic data, they can be distributed easily across networks, downloaded immediately and viewed on a screen. With several eBook readers now on the market, making your book available to a wider audience just got easier.

With this month’s installment of tips and tricks, here are some things to keep in mind when publishing your eBook.

(more…)

By Richard Curtis

Of the million ways that digital technology has impacted on publishing, one that has not been noted to my knowledge is the significance of manuscript submissions online. Only a few years ago, the only procedure for submission of manuscripts by authors and agents was US mail or, in urgent cases, courier or messenger. Emailing manuscripts as attachments unless expressly requested by editors was a breach of protocol to say nothing of good manners.

Two or three years ago that changed. Though unsolicited material was still prohibited, email submissions by recognized authors and agents were accepted, and today this practice is commonplace. But until the introduction of the Sony E-Book Reader and the Amazon Kindle, editors receiving emailed manuscripts printed them out and read them in the traditional way – on paper. Agents and authors rejoiced because the cost and bother of printing and mailing manuscripts was shifted to publishers. And though publishers bore these burdens stoically, the scramble for photocopier time, the expense of purchasing and maintaining high-speed machines, and the wasteful generation of paper were just further proof that publishing was still stuck in a twentieth century brick and mortar/mechanical business model.

Last summer, an editor told me at lunch that her company had experimentally distributed Sony E-Book Readers to its editorial staff and encouraged it to download manuscript submissions into the device and read them that way. She said she was deliriously happy; it solved a million problems from schlepping heavy manuscripts in back-straining briefcases and backpacks, to shameful waste of environmental resources. Some other benefits were the ability to read books on crowded buses and subways without having to shuffle pages.

Since then, publisher after publisher has followed suit. As a great many editors commute between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the subway line between the boroughs has been nicknamed the Sony Express. (Some editors prefer to read submissions on Amazon Kindles.)

(more…)

When creating your project, are you worried the file is becoming too big to be uploaded the normal way using our uploading process? You may not know this already but we offer alternatives to help get your file successfully on Lulu.

If you are working with a document that you can break into smaller files, you can easily upload them separately and then select them in the right order when going through the publishing wizard.

If you’re not interested in doing that or sure that you will miss a critical file out of your smaller files, there is FTP (File Transfer Protocol) uploading.

Uploading large (and heavy) content to Lulu

An alternative to the normal uploading process in the publishing wizard is to connect to Lulu via our FTP site using an FTP client.

What do I need to know before using FTP to upload to Lulu:
You may use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client to:

• Upload files between 200MB and 2GB
• Resume incomplete uploads
• Upload large batches of files to My Files.

**We recommend that you do not use a web browser to connect to your FTP upload directory as this can cause authentication failures.**

Where to download FTP Clients:
FileZilla: http://filezilla-project.org/ (Good for all platforms)
SmartFTP: http://www.smartftp.com/ (Windows)
(more…)

Self-publishing avenues offer small businesses affordable alternatives to producing materials instead of going through a print shop. These options often include higher quality, provide commerce management, and fulfillment for your products, but how do you get started, and what should you expect?

The best tip I can give you for getting started on your project is to figure out who your target audience is. One of the major advantages of self-publishing is the ability to customize your content to your audience, and giving you the option of establishing multiple versions of your content if you would like to focus on specific groups based on location, company, etc. You can also update your content any time you learn more about your audience, or if you just need to bring the information current.

In many cases, you may already know the answer as your business fills a very specific niche, or you are producing internal materials. However, if that is not the case, you should consider who you are trying to market your materials to. What age bracket are they, what demographics do they belong to, and any other pertinent information. Some of this may seem obvious, but one of the hardest parts of self-publishing can be finding your audience, and if you don’t figure it out, you may find that the materials aren’t delivering at your expectations. .

Once you have figured out who your audience is, you need to determine the best way to deliver your materials to them. Self-Publishing offers a variety of options in this area, from direct sales (you purchase copies for yourself and resell them on your website or in person), online sales (many self-publishing sites give you features like “buy now buttons”, and direct linking to online ordering so that your users can buy the product online), and digital sales (downloadable PDFs or other formats that users can purchase). Figuring out the delivery method for your materials is an integral aspect of self-publishing, and depends on your business and your needs. For some small businesses it may make sense to have all of their materials sold out of their business, while others might find it easier to be completely online. Most are best served by a combination of all of the methods.

Once your materials are prepared and uploaded to a self-publishing website, or sent in to a self-publishing provider, the next step will be letting your audience know that the materials are available. Again, this will depend on who your audience is and how you are planning to distribute the materials, but communication is key. Some excellent methods to use are announcements on your website, sending out a targeted e-mail to your customers (of course, you should always observe the CAN-SPAM Act), and if you have a physical business, signs announcing the product’s availability.

Of course, this aspect is often much easier to manage if your focus is driven primarily towards internal materials like training manuals, but can also apply to materials you aren’t selling like brochures for new products. People want to know about new offerings, and are a lot more likely to pick up your brochure if you let them know it’s readily available. Too often I’ve seen businesses put brochures and similar materials in hard to access areas or haven’t drawn attention to the fact that they’re free (or if they are charging for it, made it look like it’s free). In short, you need to communicate the intent of your materials to your customer so they know exactly what to expect and to get them interested. If you can get them excited about your materials, even better!

-Nick

Make sure your words don’t end up in the gutter!

You have the story. You’ve edited and re-edited it. Now its time to upload your file and publish your book, but before you press “Save and Continue”, make sure your book is consistent with your vision.

Ready, Set, Format!
Formatting is one of the most important steps in creating your file for Lulu to make sure a cut off head isn’t in a photo book or a word falling off the page. Important things to look out for include consistency, page size, paragraph sizes, etc. Go through the Editing Checklist to make sure your file is ready to go through the PDF process.

The Gutters for the leaves…. And other words in Book Formatting
There are many terms to understand in order to format your book correctly.
Below are just a few of key words to add to your publishing vocabulary. For more visit the Glossary.

Gutter - The inner margins of two facing pages in a publication
White Space - the border around the text; should be at least 1″
Bleed - The portion of an image that extends beyond the post-trim area of a page.
DPI - Dots per Inch; A measure of a device’s resolution; For graphic purposes how big your picture should be.

Want to Know More?
There’s plenty of information on the Book Formatting FAQ and in the Support forums if you get lost or just want more clarification. If you want expert advice and help, visit the Services Marketplace and use one of the many pre-publishing services.

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but most people do…

How many times have you picked up a book because it looked interesting?

Make sure your creation makes a lasting impression with an attractive, well-designed cover. It’s a great way to attract and pique the viewer’s interest and make your book stand out from the crowd.

With these helpfl guidelines, design the cover that will showcase your book in an extraordinary way.

Before designing you cover you should:

• Identify the target audience: Consider their interests, reading levels, background.
• Determine the purpose of your message you want to present and plan your cover layout around it.
• Select appropriate typefaces and organize the text and graphics.

::Audience::

Remember that you are not designing for yourself; you are designing to communicate to others. Take the audiences needs, skills, and abilities, into account when developing your design.

::Layout::

Decide what you want the reader to see or read first and position it accordingly, then decide what you want the reader to read or see next.

Make the most important element you want your readers to see the largest and the least important element the smallest. A few ways to do that is to:

• Establish a hierarchy of type sizes for headlines, subheads, etc.
• Be consistent with formatting.
• Use lines to organize information.
• Outline a photo or separate it from other elements. The use of space (negative space), is very important as it gives the eye a visual rest, makes a layout easy to follow and can drown attention.

Color on a book-cover can convey moods, create images, attract attention, and identify objects, among other things. When you choose colors - think about the following:

• Highlighting important elements such as headlines and subheads.
• Attracting the eye.
• Creating a mood.
• Provoking thought or emotion.

Red - Energy, Passion, Power, Excitement Orange - Happy, Confident, Creative, Adventurous

Yellow - Wisdom, Playful, Satisfying, Optimistic Green - Health, Contentment, Harmony

Blue - Honesty, Integrity, Trustworthiness Violet - Mystic, Beauty, Inspiration

Brown - Easiness, Passivity Black - Finality, Transitional Color

:: Typography::

Key tips: Choose a font that embodies the personality of your book or theme. Aggressive, Violent, Peaceful, Confusion……..You should use two typefaces but make sure they are very different. If you decide to use only one font, choose one that has different variations.

::Images and Graphics::

Your Cover: the first impression on your readers. Once you have decided what type of feeling you want to create, choose an image. Don’t forget, unusual shapes can be used to attract attention. There are basically three types of shapes: Geometric shapes (a triangle), natural shapes (a being, plant, pet etc.) and abstract shapes (an illustration)

If you don’t have your own image and you are looking for one, check out public domain, royalty free graphics web sites or subscription graphics online services that charge a membership fee for unlimited graphics downloads….

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

http://www.freefoto.com/browse/04-00-0?ffid=04-00-0

http://www.pdphoto.org/

http://search.creativecommons.org/

http://www.clipart.com/en/

Lulu’s Services Marketplace:

If you would like the help of an expert, visit Lulu At Your Service: a Services Marketplace and find a designer near you.