Need Advice on Publishing My First Novel with Lulu

Hello there,

I am new to the Lulu community and I am excited to be here. I have been working on my first novel for the past two years and I am finally ready to take the plunge into self-publishing. I have done quite a bit of research and Lulu seems like a great platform; but I still have some questions and could use advice from those of you who have experience with Lulu.

Well, this is for publishing anywhere  :-)

First; I am curious about the formatting process. How easy or difficult is it to format your manuscript for Lulus print and ebook options?

There's a lot of Help files on Lulu, I spent a lot of time reading them. Plus quite a few guides on YouTube, some about using Lulu's Wizard tools. There's also a lot of advice and guides on line elsewhere (but many are on sites trying to sell you a service as the bottom line!) It's not at all easy to create pages that look like what you expect to see in a pro-published book. Like everything else, it's a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, a bit at a time, you can do it in your sleep. Do be aware that the manuscript for an e-book is unlike one for a printed book. But one for the former is easier to create.

Are there any common pitfalls or issues I should be aware of? I have read that having a properly formatted manuscript is crucial, and I want to make sure I get it right.

It's totally crucial, if you don't just want to become one of the reasons self-publishing still has a stigma.

Second; I am wondering about cover design. Did you design your own cover or hire a professional? If you designed it yourself; what tools did you use?

I do my own, but I am an artist, graphic, fine, commercial or otherwise. I use Paintshop Pro 95 (from 1995!) freehand. But there's more to a cover than art. What does it 'say' to the viewer? Although a cover is not as important as it once was, it still has to look professional. Remarkably there's  a site called Fiver or summat, where you can get one designed for, wait for it - $5. Although if you like what that artist does and want to use them again, for cover 2 they may ask $500 and more.

If you hired someone, do you have any recommendations for designers who are familiar with Lulu's specifications?

You simply tell them Lulu's specs. But basically they are common book sizes and either PDFs or jpegs. Whereas for an ePub they are all one fixed size. But to find a designer, look for one who has a site that shows their wares.

Another concern I have is about marketing and distribution. How effective has Lulu been in getting your book out there?

The free Lulu ISBN and distribution does exactly what such devices should do, spread you across the world on book sites (not brick shops). But it does not mean they will sell!
 
Do you have any tips on marketing strategies that have worked well for you? I am planning to use social media and my personal network, but I would love to hear about other methods that have been successful.

There's a vast amount of advice about such on line, not to mention places that claim they can market your book for you. A lot depends on just what it is you are writing.

Also; I have gone through this post: lulu.boards.net/thread/83/welcome-www-lulu-boards-net-devops  which definitely helped me out a lot.

Lastly; any general advice for a first time author using Lulu would be greatly appreciated. I want to make sure I avoid common mistakes and set myself up for the best possible outcome.

Maybe the common mistake is using self-publishing in the first place?! Mainly via Print on Demand, because it is very expensive, which makes it hard to compete with similar books created by major publishing houses.

Thank you all in advance for your help and assistance.