Monthly Archives: May 2012

Book Expo America 2012: Three Authors and 36 Million Reasons to Meet Them

Lulu is headed to Book Expo America (BEA), one of the largest publishing events in the world, next week, but we’re not going alone.  Three of our very own authors will be on site June 5th – 7th signing free copies of their bestsellers and, more importantly, sharing tips on how to make it in this lucrative new world of open-publishing.

The line-up of bestselling authors at BEA includes New York Times Bestseller David Thorne, former congressional candidate and political author Kevin Powell, and marketing/tech guru Scott Steinberg. This is a can’t miss for everyone attending BEA, so stop by to see us at book #3476!

Lulu Founder and CEO, Bob Young, will also be there presenting on two panels Sunday, June 3rd.  Bob will be calling on his years of salesmanship and expertise to share valuable tips and insights for publishing success.  Both panels take place this Sunday at the Javits Convention Center in New York.  Bob’s speaking schedule below:

  • 9:00AM – 9:50AM – Room 1E14 – Break Through & Publish You
  • 1:30PM – 2:20PM – Room 1E13 – Publishing Partners That Put Unknown Authors on the Bookshelf
Lulu’s presence at BEA comes hot on the heels of our 10-year anniversary, which had us celebrating our authors making over $36 million in revenue in our decade-long history.  At over 677,000 published eBooks and over 618,000 published print titles, we’re more excited than ever to show the folks at BEA just how easy it is to publish works in all sorts of markets and formats more profitably than ever before.  See you at the show!

Introducing Lulu Author T-Shirts

Does being an author make you so proud you want to announce it to the world? Do you ever feel like shouting from the rooftops, “Hey, I’m an author! Woooo! Hint: Buy my book!” Well, now you’ve got another way to let the world know about your accomplishments and prompt discussion about your book(s)…

Lulu is very happy to introduce Author T-Shirts. We have a variety of shirts available and each can be customized to your color, size and style preferences. These t-shirts were designed by Lulu authors just like you. We hope you’ll wear yours proudly and that they will help spark conversation with strangers who wonder, “Oh? You’re an author? Do tell me about your book! Where can I buy a copy?”

Buy yours here: Lulu Author T-Shirt Store

So, we hope you like the author t-shirts. Tell us in the comments which design is your favorite. If you buy one, tag us in a pic on Facebook so we can see you sporting your new shirt!

Promote Your Book Sale on Facebook

Dearest Lulu Authors,

We are having a site-wide mystery sale at Lulu.com until Thursday. To help you encourage your readers to take advantage of the sale, we’ve created a Facebook graphic for you to share on your Wall. When it shows up in your friends’ newsfeeds, it will point to your profile pic!

Here is the link to the image on Facebook so that you can share it on your Wall: This author’s book is on sale! Hurry, the sale only lasts until Thursday. Happy savings.

 

 

Textbook to eBook: Is the trend taking off?

As graduating students commence, we’re reminded of the educational cycle, and how different each experience of college is for every generation of students. New technology has altered the college experience significantly.

One major change is how digital learning tools have been incorporated into the curriculum. For years, many have thought eBooks would change the educational game by allowing students to purchase cheap textbooks and use links in them to enhance their learning. But, to the shock of many, students, to this point, have seemed to prefer more expensive, print versions of their textbooks.

In Forbes, Tom Malek, who works for McGraw-Hill Higher Education, wrote about this trend, “A funny thing happened on the way to the e-book revolution: students decided to stay with print. E-book adoption among college students has remained consistently, almost puzzlingly low. Studies currently show that about 3 percent of college students are purchasing e-books. If today’s students are truly digital natives, and if e-books offer so much value to students, why haven’t we seen more uptake?” He offers that college students seem to still hold onto print books because they’re used to studying out of them. Very few high schools offer eBooks as part of the curriculum (a number that’s sure to rise).

DIY Proofreading

Happy Editing Month: DIY Proofreading

Proofreading is an important topic these days, particularly for indie authors. Just this week we caught sight of a conversation on Quora that started with the thread: “What does it say about you if you are terrible at proofreading?” What we’ll say is that self-proofreading is very challenging, but doable. So, we thought we’d provide some tips.

Once you’ve edited your text and you’re 100 percent confident as to your content and narrative, it’s time to proofread. Self-proofreading isn’t optimal. Look at it this way: self-proofreaders inevitably see what they want to see. In other words, if you’re not serious about finding errors and typos, then you’re probably not up for the task—there’s that and let’s face it, if you don’t know something is a mistake, then a different set of eyes can make all the difference. That said, while it’s not ideal, it can be done. Editing expert Ellie Maas Davis is back today to give some tips on self-proofreading.

Infographic: 10 Remarkable Years

Thank you to our authors and readers for making this 10 remarkable years in self-publishing. Check out this awesome info graph to see how we’ve grown.

How To Choose an Editor

Happy Editing Month: How to Choose an Editor

When it comes to finding an editor to help you with your book, make sure it’s someone who responds to what you’ve written and how you’ve written it. Make no mistake: no one likes to be edited. It can be an incredibly painful process. You’re basically paying someone to poke holes in what you’ve done and critique every aspect of it from concept to comma use. Like many things in the publishing process, it requires a leap of faith, and if you want to ensure your book is marketable—or at the very least navigable to readers—then it’s absolutely necessary.

Here are a few pointers for starting the editing process, from editing expert Ellie Maas Davis:

1. Make sure your editor specializes in your genre—if you’ve written a book about the Civil War or advanced polynomials, by all means, find an editor who has edited similar titles. If you have an uncommon topic, a Lulu Services rep will be happy to give you background information about the editor most likely to tackle your manuscript.

Tom Clements on Marketing His Successful Book: How to Write a Killer SAT Essay

By the time The College Board unveiled a new essay component to the SAT in 2005, Tom Clements, a former college English instructor, had already been teaching prep classes for 15-plus years. He understood the components of good writing but wanted to develop a way for students to write well and fast, since test-takers are only allotted 25 minutes to complete the written portion of the test. Thus How to Write a Killer SAT Essay was conceived.

“Using my students as a ‘focus group’ I presented strategies and techniques for prefabricating their essays with content examples varied enough to apply to any topic (called prompts) The College Board might throw at them during the SAT. My students did so well — average scores for their essays were in the 92nd percentile range — that I decided to incorporate both my methodology and my students’ actual essays in a book that would teach kids not able to take my class in person to nonetheless dominate the SAT essay.”

Despite the innovative strategies and proven success of Tom’s technique, How to Write a Killer SAT Essay faced challenges on its road to publication — at first.

How To Publish an eBook | Video

At Lulu, we are happy to provide tools for authors to publish to a variety of formats, including eBook format. There are many good reasons to publish your book to eBook format in addition to other formats such as paperback and hardcover. In order to help you publish your eBook, Lulu has created the following how-to guide. It is a step-by-step walk through of the process of how to publish an eBook on Lulu.com.

As an additional resource for authors creating eBooks, here is a guide to help your resolve the Top 10 Reasons Why Your eBook was Rejected.

Writer’s Bloc: An Inside Guide to the Publishing Business

Writer’s Bloc: An Inside Guide to the Publishing Business

Welcome to the wild world of self-publishing – one of the most exciting and rewarding journeys you’ll ever undertake. But make no mistake: It can often be a long, difficult and bumpy road as well. Navigating the publishing industry’s ups and downs has always been a rollercoaster ride. But in an era of breakneck change, as the realms of digital, print and on-demand publishing increasingly collide in strange and unexpected (not to mention smartphone-, tablet PC- and app-friendly) forms, consider. Nowadays, it’s more akin to taking a regular spin on Space Mountain. Daily. And after having chugged a Big Gulp and binged on theme park hot dogs to boot.

That said, I’d like to personally welcome you to the party: Just by taking the time to visit this blog and learn more about the day-to-day realities of working as a published author, you’ve already justified your presence on the VIP guest list. As the creator of nearly a dozen books on business and technology, including the bestselling The Modern Parent’s Guide high-tech parenting series and The Business Expert’s Guidebook (which explains how to use everyday apps, gadgets and online services to start and successfully run any small business), trust me when I say that the festivities are just getting started. Ask anyone who’s been published, and they’ll let you in on a closely-guarded industry secret: Coming up with the idea for your next life-changing masterwork, and even writing the book, is merely the beginning.
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