Thanks to the internet, more and more emerging writers are able to break free of the struggle of finding a publisher. Pick up any book on how to become a published author in any bookstore and you might think that the general consensus in the industry is that self-publishing has never worked as a valid tool for struggling writers. Typically these sources have cited traditional methods like sending manuscripts and getting freelance writing jobs at traditional newspapers or magazines as the only valid ways to build credentials and get noticed. However, if you turn your attention to the internet you will see that things are rapidly changing.
Websites like Lulu.com and CreateSpace are now making it possible for any writer who also wants to become an entrepreneur and has an eye for art to distribute their work themselves with little money up front offering services that in the past would have cost the author thousands of dollars to furnish such as printing and marketing.
While there are hundreds of self-publishing and print-on-demand publishers on the internet Lulu.com and Amazon's CreateSpace are the two biggest with Lulu.com hosting an impressive 100,000 unique visitors a week and CreateSpace hosting members from publishers as diverse as Josh Whedon (who released his web-based film "Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog" on the site in Dec. of 2008) and Sony BMG.
Lulu.com the Little Giant of the Self Publishing World
Lulu.com began as a small print-on-demand company out of North Carolina by Bob Young who is also co-founder of Red Hat a fortune 500 software company. Lulu.com has 98,000 published works a year on their site now with members from 80 countries and sells products to 100 countries. Their members number into the millions and publish everything from eBooks to CD's and DVD's as well as traditionally printed books both fiction and non-fiction.
Lulu.com offers a range of services to help content creators with everything from pre-publication like editing and book scanning to marketing and cover design. It is free to sign up and their services are low-cost with one marketing service offered for $89.
CreateSpace
CreateSpace is for those creators who are looking to sell their work on Amazon instead of in an independent marketplace. They offer services for marketing also and soon they will be offering the option to sell HD downloads in addition to the audio and video downloads they already allow creators to sell.
The major differences occur when you look at the guidelines for submitting work to both sites. Lulu.com requires a non-formatted manuscript similar to one that would be submitted to an agent or publisher but CreateSpace allows creators to format their books themselves the way they want to see it when it is printed.
Is a Print-on-Demand Company a Publisher?
Both sites agree that they are not the publishers of the finished work the authors are. According to Tom Harris in his article "How Self-Publishing Works" a self published author must look at the venture in three stages:
- Actually writing, editing and illustrating the book
- Prepping the book for printing and getting it printed
- Selling the book
Which are all aspects of a publishing house making the author ultimately also the publisher therefore bringing greater creative freedom into his/her work.
References:
Harris, Tom "How Self-Publishing Works." How Stuff Works.com 1998-2009
Lulu.com
CreateSpace.com
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