Based on sketchy information posted in the Lulu Forums, it looks like Lulu.com has probably agreed to Amazon’s ultimatum. Due to the fees I’m sure Amazon will be slapping publishers with for having to use its Booksurge printing services, we can probably look forward to increased fees to be passed on to users as well. I chatted with a Lulu representative today through their online chat support hoping to get some info for you, but was pretty much given “blanket” information that anyone would already be privy to.
But Lulu has always been a very different star shining down on the great big world of POD by not charging its users any up front fee for producing a product. Lulu basically takes the manufacturing cost and gives the author the opportunity to make money by marking up the product at their leisure. For instance, at present, Lulu’s cost calculator shows the production cost of a 6×9 perfect bound 150 page black and white print trade paperback as being $7.53. If I was the author of such book, I’d probably mark it up at least 5 dollars. That makes the retail price of this book $12.53. That’s not too bad for a trade paperback. Having no control over pricing when I published with Xlibris in 2003, the retail price of my 176 page book was $19.99 for a paperback. My cut of a sale was 10%. End of story.
However, Lulu could easily tack on another 3 or 4 bucks onto this business model, ultimately increasing their cost to counter the fees Amazon will probably bestow upon them. Heck, if Amazon’s fees are going to be as high as most blogs are saying they are, Lulu could double their manufacturing costs to cover their expense. But this would quickly throw them into the expensive pricing realm that authors all too often experience with other POD publishers. Would it even make a difference by now? Who knows? Only time will tell. But consider this….will this increase only affect authors who purchase an ISBN to get their book listed on Amazon, B&N.com, etc? If so, that would probably require Lulu to build an additional set of services (and pricing) only for those who plan to get their book listed on Amazon. For the author who plans to just use Lulu for set-up, binding and printing, but not purchase an ISBN, should an increased pricing structure apply? Chances are it will across the board just so Lulu doesn’t have to come up with a separate business model for ISBN purchasers.
At this point, I highly agree with Angela Hoy’s advice she gives to BookLocker authors. I quote:
1. Remove all Amazon.com links from your marketing materials – website, ezine, blog, email signature, press releases, articles — everything.
2. Change those links to your book’s page on BarnesandNoble.com. To obtain that link, search for your book’s title at http://www.bn.com. All Booklocker.com print books are on their website.
3. Don’t forget to contact Amazon to tell them what you’re doing in response to their horrible actions!
Angela has done a magnificent job at Writer’s Weekly of covering this issue. Catch up with her blog here.
As Angela states, the success of a POD book is really left up to the author. It’s all about self promotion and marketing. Your readers will more than likely buy the book from wherever you tell them to. You DON’T have to send them to Amazon. Almost all POD publishers, Lulu included, support their own online bookstore. Lulu even prints a link to your book on their marketing materials. They have free BUY links available to you as well which you build onto your websites and blogs. And if your book has an ISBN, then B&N lists your book as well.
Book Reviews: Check back this weekend for this month’s first review: OH Brother by Paul Ciccone, Jr.
