Lulu.com And Poetry
August 22nd 2008 06:06
Link: lulu.com
Lulu.com is a POD site I believe I mentioned in some of my early posts. I prefer small presses to large, traditional publishing houses. I like initiative. And while Lulu is gigantic, it's also an excellent service. It's a lot easier to go with a traditional publisher, especially if you want the distributors pack. Lulu is POD and they make their money in part with services such as wider distribution and editing. The prices can be a bit steep.
They have comprehensive FAQs which is one of my favorite things about Lulu. Lulu doesn't try to hide what it is. It doesn't tell you it's going to do all your marketing for you, because, well, it isn't. Lulu, I would say, is a good place for somebody who has a name as a writer already. I would also say it is a great place for poets.
Why do I think it's so much better for poets than for novelists? Here goes:
~Poetry can be easy to find markets for in small doses, but collections are a lot harder
~There are a million different presses for novels-big ones and small ones alike-but there are maybe five I've seen for poetry collections.
~Poetry books don't tend to sell as well, except to niche markets. A big publisher would just throw them away after one print run-you'd never see any royalties. Lulu makes it easier to find and take advantage of those niche markets.
~Lulu pays high royalties. I mean damn high royalties. This is great for poetry, especially because in traditional publishing you would get very limited royalties for anything, especially poetry.
But overall, it's mostly because markets for poetry books are so damn hard to find. Once a book is published, it's up to you to market it. It is to some extent with anything-but you can be sure that your book will also get picked up randomly if it's a novel in a big bookstore, even if not very often.
Personally I think that Lulu is a great tool for poets, for those who already have a name in the writing world-well known bloggers, for example-and for those who just want a few copies.
Lulu's also good for small presses, and along with the many millions of other posts that I'm going to get around to eventually, I will do a post on them sometime in the next few months, should my busy schedule allow for it.
(Well, I'm taking tonight away from the book. Four days off. So I should be able to get in the post tonight if I care enough.)
They have comprehensive FAQs which is one of my favorite things about Lulu. Lulu doesn't try to hide what it is. It doesn't tell you it's going to do all your marketing for you, because, well, it isn't. Lulu, I would say, is a good place for somebody who has a name as a writer already. I would also say it is a great place for poets.
Why do I think it's so much better for poets than for novelists? Here goes:
~Poetry can be easy to find markets for in small doses, but collections are a lot harder
~There are a million different presses for novels-big ones and small ones alike-but there are maybe five I've seen for poetry collections.
~Poetry books don't tend to sell as well, except to niche markets. A big publisher would just throw them away after one print run-you'd never see any royalties. Lulu makes it easier to find and take advantage of those niche markets.
~Lulu pays high royalties. I mean damn high royalties. This is great for poetry, especially because in traditional publishing you would get very limited royalties for anything, especially poetry.
But overall, it's mostly because markets for poetry books are so damn hard to find. Once a book is published, it's up to you to market it. It is to some extent with anything-but you can be sure that your book will also get picked up randomly if it's a novel in a big bookstore, even if not very often.
Personally I think that Lulu is a great tool for poets, for those who already have a name in the writing world-well known bloggers, for example-and for those who just want a few copies.
Lulu's also good for small presses, and along with the many millions of other posts that I'm going to get around to eventually, I will do a post on them sometime in the next few months, should my busy schedule allow for it.
(Well, I'm taking tonight away from the book. Four days off. So I should be able to get in the post tonight if I care enough.)
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