How does Lulu publishing work? Isn it just vanity publishing?
Not really. Lulu.Com is print-on-demand digital publishing. Briefly, you give them your source files and they print a book, cd, comic, whenever someone orders a copy, and sends it to them. For a fee, they also provide you with an ISBN and entry onto the wholesaler’s database, so that Amazon, Waterstones, and your local indie bookshop can order copies too. Lulu make their money from selling these marketing packages, and from commision on the author’s profits (if any), whereas a vanity publisher charges an author a large amount upfront to print a small number of books that rot in the author’s garage. It works pretty well, the author keeps the rights, and it means people can get their art out there without spending silly money, or attacting commercial (read: lowest common denominator) interest.
