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.

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Last night Lulu released a few updates to our site. Some were long awaited fixes to problems like the preview bug, (yes, preview is fixed!) and other changes were things that probably didn’t affect you in the least. The biggest change you will notice is the improved sleek new Lulu Studio v2!

As you use Lulu Studio v2, you will notice the shiny new design, the new and more user-friendly interface, and all with much faster performance!

For a complete list of release notes, click here!

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.)

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Light bulbs!
Did you know if every U.S. household replaced just one light bulb with a Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (CLF), that it would prevent the same amount of pollution equal to removing a million cars from the road? Not only that, but CFLs last longer than your typical incandescent bulbs (approximately 5-6 years), use less energy, and save you more money on your energy bill.

Go Organic!
Organic foods are produced naturally, without man-made pesticides, fertilizers, or irradiation. Animals raised organically are free of antibiotics, they eat organic feed and have access to the outdoors. While organic farming decreases toxins in our environment, it also reduces the levels of pesticides in our bodies. Not only that, but studies have shown that organic foods tend to be higher in antioxidants. In my opinion, organic food just simply tastes better.

Publish and shop with Lulu.com!
Yes, it’s true! Print on demand (POD) is a far better way to reduce waste than that of the traditional publishing process. Instead of printing a large quantity of books that are hoped to sell, print on demand makes it easy to only print books as they are ordered! POD also reduces the energy usage associated with storing books in large warehouses and shipping them from the printer to the warehouse to the bookstore to the customer. This is just another reason why people who use Lulu are some of the brightest CFL bulbs in the bunch!

Featured in the May 2008 issue, your very own Lulu is highlighted as a way to publish a “Book of Love” for Mother’s Day. So thumb to the “Yum!” section and check us out.

From Ken’s Bio:

I grew up playing in the coal hills of Union Bay dreaming of designing future worlds and creatures for George Lucas. Decades later, after working for numerous companies, including LucasFilm, I find myself back at home being amazed at the beauty of the island I left. I’m thrilled to say that technology has enabled me to bring my wonderful young family back to Courtenay where I continue to pursue my craft.

Ken’s artwork ranges from sports to fantasy. His career has led him to producing the artwork for video games and kid’s television shows. He also spent time working for Lucas Arts, any geeks dream come true.

Ken has made his artwork available through Lulu.com and also can be found on his website and in and online at the Georgia Straight (Vancouver area).

Some Examples:

Ken was nice enough to conduct an email interview with me this week. Read it after the Jump.

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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)
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brainstorm
envision · create · dream up · ponder · think · conceive

• Make your own creative space. Maybe this changes from week to week (a new coffee shop or park bench) or perhaps you have carved out a designated writing place that you return to again and again (a particular room in your house). There are no rules for your creative space except that it should only include things that encourage rather than inhibit innovation. So turn off your cell and get away from your computer and any other distractions, if possible.

• Set a minimum amount of time. Plan to brainstorm for at least 20 to 30 minutes without interruption. If your brainstorm session goes longer, that’s great, but make sure you have a solid amount of time to encourage a consistent flow of ideas.

• A fresh start. Get away from focusing on tired ideas that you’ve been stuck on for awhile. Write these all down on a piece of paper, and push them to the side. Now that you’ve emptied your brain, begin a new thought process of story leads and character ideas that you’ve never considered.

• Draw on new inspirations. My favorite professor in college was an English teacher and published short story writer who kept a coffee tin chock-full of newspaper clippings and faded photographs that she would use as little inspirations when she was in need of a new story idea. Find inspiration in the ordinary by flipping through a magazine or looking through your collection of postcards from old friends. You’ll be surprised to find that story sparks can come from the most unlikely places.

• Your brain needs exercise, too. Remember those silly daily journal entries that you used to have to write in language arts class in middle school? Well, your teacher was right. Just like you have to stretch and warm up before going on a run, you also should do writing exercises to get your mind moving. There is a wealth of sites with these simple journal entries on the Internet if you can’t think of any. The Writer’s Digest site, in particular, has some great prompts that are worth checking out.

• Stream-of-consciousness storming. No idea is too outlandish for you to include on your list. List everything that comes to mind without worrying about organization or coherence. For now you want to get as many ideas down on paper as possible.

• Tools for the storm. Arm yourself with Post-it notes and any extra inspirations. Just as sports fans have their superstitious rituals and lucky objects, writers can also establish a system to get into the habit of productive writing. A few of my lucky writing tools include a bobblehead pen that says “Genius”, my journal and a copy of See Jane Write. I also rely on inspirational quotes from my Daily Kiss widget and Skirt! Magazine.

• Two heads are better than one. Find someone to bounce ideas off of. Whether this is a friend, a loved one or another literary genius, it doesn’t matter as long as they are a positive force for generating ideas. Look for local writer groups in your area, or join a Lulu group or forum discussion. If you offer to listen to someone else’s ideas they often will be more inclined to give you the advice you need.

Now that you have all these ideas on paper, it’s time to organize and develop them into coherent thoughts. Pick your top two or three ideas and build upon them by creating a mind map, an organizational tool that adds structure to ideas. You can create mind maps either the old-fashioned way on paper, or you download mind map software such as FreeMind, a free program that creates word webs.

Now that you are a brainstorming and organizational expert, it’s time to flesh out your ideas and spend some time developing them into the next great Lulu publication! With some patience, time and a little help from Lulu, you’re on your way to becoming a self-published author.

Here’s a screenshot of one of my iGoogle tabs set up with Lulu news and information:

So what does this have to do with Lulu?

We have a new gadget on iGoogle to use! It has tabs displaying the following:

• Official Lulu blog
• Featured content from the blog
• Newly published fiction
• Top sellers this week
• Lulu in the news

And here’s a screenshot of it in action:

Like what you see? Add it to your iGoogle home page.

We are currently looking at other ways to use Google Gadgets to help our creator and buyer community. We’d like to do things such as offer our Mini-Storefronts there, too.

Do you use iGoogle or any of the other personal start pages? Have something you’d like to see? Please let us know by commenting on this post.

-John

As he shoveled a pile of dirt, Bob Young said, “Self-publishing has hit the big time now. I wish this new wing could be named after each of our one million members. Their innovative ideas and creativity deserve this recognition from the Library of Congress.”

So be sure to send in your name so we can submit it for the official naming ceremony of the Lulu wing.