Need special advice (from anyone who has published on Lulu.com)

tfdswift · Mar 25, 2009

Okay here it is...

I am going to self publish. I know everybody just cringed. Well don't, I know what I'm doing and please don't post here trying to change my mind.

What I need is somebody who has self-published through Lulu and can teach me and help me learn the ropes. A kind of mentor for this "Chapter" in my life. Please email me personally at [email protected] and put the word "mentor" in the subject line. I really hope someone can help. I will also be checking the boards but I have such a hectic schedule right now with my medical problems and Dr. visits, so email is best if possible.

Thanks for reading my post.

~tfs

LOG · Mar 25, 2009

So you know what you're doing...but you need someone to tell you how to do it...?
You may actually want to go to Lulu's forums, I just think they probably know how to do the actual self-publishing better. (IMHO)

black ink · Mar 25, 2009

I have absolutely no idea about self-publishing, but I think last month's Writer's Digest was all about the topic. Good luck finding what you need

Toothpaste · Mar 25, 2009

We have a subforum here at AW totally devoted to Self Publishing, check out some of the threads there, there's tons of advice. And if you can't find the answers you are looking for already posted, I'm sure people there can help you out if you ask! Good luck!

tfdswift · Mar 25, 2009

I said I know what I'm doing as a matter of why I have chosen to self publish. It's been a while since I've been here and just thought a general request on this forum would be better than the POD forums for a greater number of people to see it. I feel like I can do this but for any first time experience in the writing world, I feel safer if I have someone with experience overseeing what I do. I don't want to find there was some small print or double talk that I missed. Thanks for the advice.

blade · Mar 26, 2009

tfdswift said:
I said I know what I'm doing as a matter of why I have chosen to self publish. It's been a while since I've been here and just thought a general request on this forum would be better than the POD forums for a greater number of people to see it. I feel like I can do this but for any first time experience in the writing world, I feel safer if I have someone with experience overseeing what I do. I don't want to find there was some small print or double talk that I missed. Thanks for the advice.

I self published, (not with Lulu though) it was quite easy really. The hard part was scraping the money together to pay for it.

girlyswot · Mar 26, 2009

tfdswift said:
I said I know what I'm doing as a matter of why I have chosen to self publish. It's been a while since I've been here and just thought a general request on this forum would be better than the POD forums for a greater number of people to see it. I feel like I can do this but for any first time experience in the writing world, I feel safer if I have someone with experience overseeing what I do. I don't want to find there was some small print or double talk that I missed. Thanks for the advice.

I think you'd be better posting in the forum devoted to the topic - that's where you'll find the people who have done this. It's not really a Basic Writing Question. You can ask a mod to move the thread for you.

Julie Worth · Mar 26, 2009

Lulu has forums, help pages, and even ebooks on how to do it. The great thing is that you can make mistakes and they're not permanent. You can keep your book private, buying single books and putting out new editions until you get it right. No need to make it public until it's perfect.

The actual book design and publishing is the easy part, however. If you want to sell books you have to market it. Look at the top 100 sellers on lulu. You'll see mostly non-fiction and authors with platforms. PhD's, MD's, websites, blogs, hard to find technical information. That's what you need.

tfdswift · Mar 26, 2009

Thanks guys... I did post down on the POD forum. But what are the Lulu forums? Am I just missing something?

Julie Worth · Mar 26, 2009

tfdswift said:
Thanks guys... I did post down on the POD forum. But what are the Lulu forums? Am I just missing something?

Click on the "community" tab.

nevada · Mar 26, 2009

Julie is talking about forums on teh LuLu website, we dont have a forum for lulu only POD. everyone here has been talking about the community and forums on teh Lulu website.

tfdswift · Mar 27, 2009

I've got it! Thanks guys. You can let this thread drop now if you want. It's down on the POD forum now. Thanks for all your help.

Wayne K · Mar 27, 2009

I don't cringe at the idea of self publishing. ok the pricetag, but if you have a good plan I say go for it, take all the risk and get all the money. Plus if you do it right and sell some books you'll develop a name.

Need special advice (from anyone who has published on Lulu.com)

tfdswift

Hillbilly Queen

LOG

Lagrangian

black ink

Toothpaste

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

tfdswift

Hillbilly Queen

blade

girlyswot

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

tfdswift

Hillbilly Queen

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

nevada

tfdswift

Hillbilly Queen

Wayne K