A Question Regarding Lulu

I did the same thing. You can unpublish with Lulu without consequence -- even keep your title. Just don't reuse the ISBN -- that belongs to them. The rights are yours, not theirs. Let CreateSpace issue a new one and you're good to go. In fact, when you put the book up at CS, there's a question about whether the book has been published before. You can let them know it was previously published at Lulu. No biggie. I know other authors who've done this, too, and are happy that they can sell their books at a lower price and still make the same royalty.

Don't go changing anything about the book, it is unecessary and can confused readers who may accidentally buy it twice.

One thing to note: Lulu is the printer, not the publisher. YOU are the publisher.

One thing to note: Lulu is the printer, not the publisher. YOU are the publisher.

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Can someone clarify this? If Lulu isn't the publisher, why do they own the ISBN? And when a Lulu book is sold on Amazon who is listed as the publisher? The author or Lulu?

They are the publisher for as long as you use their ISBN, as soon as you stop, they are not.

azbikergirl said:

One thing to note: Lulu is the printer, not the publisher. YOU are the publisher.

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If Lulu owns the ISBN, then Lulu is the publisher. And Lulu is not a printer, but rather a front-end to printers (POD and offset).

--Ken

I see what you're saying. But as the author, you do all the editing, you design the cover, you handle the interior layout, you hold the copyright, you decide when the book is ready to publish, you do the marketing (or pay someone else to do it), etc. Maybe the ISBN holder is officially the "publisher of record" but when people say they're published by Lulu, what they mean is that they're self-published. It's ultimately the author's choice to pack up and take the book elsewhere.

azbikergirl said:

I see what you're saying. But as the author, you do all the editing, you design the cover, you handle the interior layout, you hold the copyright, you decide when the book is ready to publish, you do the marketing (or pay someone else to do it), etc. Maybe the ISBN holder is officially the "publisher of record" but when people say they're published by Lulu, what they mean is that they're self-published. It's ultimately the author's choice to pack up and take the book elsewhere.

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It is a definitional dance. There really is no term I have yet found or invented that quite captures the situation. Perhaps "facilitated publishing" comes close, although where the author is paying the publisher-of-record for services, "subsidy publishing" is on the mark.

You might be paying someone else -- including Lulu -- to do all interior and exterior design, typesetting, editing, and so on. And bear in mind that Lulu has options for the publisher to use an ISBN that is in his/her name rather than one that is in Lulu's name. (The specific practices have, I believe, changed since I published a few books using Lulu to facilitate the process -- I have four with one-off ISBNs that I bought via Lulu, and some with no ISBN.)

Self-publishers -- the more professional among them -- hire editors, designers, typesetters, and so on. But much depends on the skills they bring to the game.

In any event, to the typical book-browser, if the book says that Lulu is the publisher on the copyright page and if the ISBN belongs to Lulu, that pretty much settles it: Lulu is the publisher.

I am pickier on the definitions than some on account of involvement in an organization that specifies that a book is self-published only if the author owns the ISBN. It is a criterion for its book awards (some categories are specific to author, and some to publisher).

The question of printing is more straightforward: Lulu does not have printing facilities. It makes arrangements with POD and offset printers. But to some extent, that is a distinction without a difference (it is a black box: orders go in and books come out).

--Ken

my experience

Sam, I didn't think NOT living in the USA was an issue and googling found some threads which mentions sales tax, et al relative to checks being sent to those OUTSIDE of the USA, so I'd inquire more fully with Createspace.

Also, I recommend you purchase your ISBNs for yourself and not use LuLu or Createspace as the 'facilitating publisher'. I did what you're doing but owned my ISBN which allowed for putting my book up at both. I started with LuLu but switched to Createspace because the books were less costly for me to sell and purchase myself, ala promo copies, etc.

The first ISBN cost more because I mistakenly figured I wouldn't be needing more than one but once I ascertained that I did, I bought the a set of 10. Have used 5 so far, so consider purchasing your own.

Hope this helps.


Michael

You can use CreateSpace irregardless of whether you live in the US or not. However, US tax laws will require them to withhold whatever the standard tax is there (30%?) unless your country has a taxation agreement with the US, and you provide CreateSpace with what is called a TIN number and some extra red-tapey form. [Getting a TIN number will involve dealing with the IRS and discovering all about notaries and apostilles - fun for you!]

Another option is Wordclay, which Smashwords recommends. I'm not sure how they stack up next to CreatSpace and Lulu, but I'd like to know.