taron
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Posts: 3
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Post by taron on Aug 19, 2024 3:34:32 GMT
Hi there, I am trying to publish a short picture book. The book does have some writing, but the 14 illustrations are the primary focus. I am purely a hobbyist; while I would like to make a little money off my books, a good experience for my readers is priority number one. As such, I am reluctant to publish this book without giving people a chance to preview the first few pages, to see if the book is really anything they are interested in spending money on. But as far as I can tell, Lulu doesn't have any built-in preview feature. (At least, not anymore. I was able to dig up a thread from 2020 where several people lamented the disappearance of said preview feature, and expressed hope that it would soon return. But as far as I can tell, those hopes have been disappointed.) My initial idea was to publish a free PDF on the lulu storefront which contained only the first 25% of the book, plus a link to the store page for the full version. But I wasn't sure if such practices were frowned upon. If it makes any difference, my book will not be published for global distribution; I am selling it only on the Lulu bookstore. |
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Aug 19, 2024 13:44:17 GMT
Hi there, I am trying to publish a short picture book. The book does have some writing, but the 14 illustrations are the primary focus. I am purely a hobbyist; while I would like to make a little money off my books, a good experience for my readers is priority number one. As such, I am reluctant to publish this book without giving people a chance to preview the first few pages, to see if the book is really anything they are interested in spending money on. But as far as I can tell, Lulu doesn't have any built-in preview feature. (At least, not anymore. I was able to dig up a thread from 2020 where several people lamented the disappearance of said preview feature, and expressed hope that it would soon return. But as far as I can tell, those hopes have been disappointed.) My initial idea was to publish a free PDF on the lulu storefront which contained only the first 25% of the book, plus a link to the store page for the full version. But I wasn't sure if such practices were frowned upon. If it makes any difference, my book will not be published for global distribution; I am selling it only on the Lulu bookstore. Questions: how many pages and is the book hard copy? Printed versions have a minimum count of 32 pages for soft cover. |
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taron
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by taron on Aug 19, 2024 22:09:02 GMT
Thanks for the quick response. The book comes up to 41 pages total. (That may seem like a lot for a book with only 14 illustrations. I may have slightly understated how much writing there is; it's just that I have an even lower opinion of my writing ability than I do of my drawing ability, so I consider the illustrations to be the main appeal of the book.)
My intention is to release a hardcover, paperback, and PDF version. (Plus a free PDF preview, assuming there are no problems with doing that.) I have already ordered and received a test copy for the paperback version, so I know everything is working properly there.
My concern is that releasing so many versions of the same book onto the Lulu Bookstore might violate some Lulu policy, or else be considered bad form by customers. I tried to scour any official Lulu documentation to see if there were any problems, and everything seemed to be fine. But there has already been one occasion when I tried to read all the documentation for troubleshooting purposes, only to later realize I had missed a document. So, out of an abundance of caution, I decided to post a question on these forums to make sure there was nothing that had missed my notice.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Aug 19, 2024 22:29:00 GMT
Thanks for the quick response. The book comes up to 41 pages total. (That may seem like a lot for a book with only 14 illustrations. I may have slightly understated how much writing there is; it's just that I have an even lower opinion of my writing ability than I do of my drawing ability, so I consider the illustrations to be the main appeal of the book.) My intention is to release a hardcover, paperback, and PDF version. (Plus a free PDF preview, assuming there are no problems with doing that.) I have already ordered and received a test copy for the paperback version, so I know everything is working properly there. My concern is that releasing so many versions of the same book onto the Lulu Bookstore might violate some Lulu policy, or else be considered bad form by customers. I tried to scour any official Lulu documentation to see if there were any problems, and everything seemed to be fine. But there has already been one occasion when I tried to read all the documentation for troubleshooting purposes, only to later realize I had missed a document. So, out of an abundance of caution, I decided to post a question on these forums to make sure there was nothing that had missed my notice. Paperback for a children's picture book is generally minimum 32 pages, while hardcover would be 40 to 48. |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Aug 19, 2024 23:11:46 GMT
Thanks for the quick response. The book comes up to 41 pages total. (That may seem like a lot for a book with only 14 illustrations. I may have slightly understated how much writing there is; it's just that I have an even lower opinion of my writing ability than I do of my drawing ability, so I consider the illustrations to be the main appeal of the book.) Page count needs to be divisible by four for printed books. And do not forget a Copyright Page (with the ISBN on it). Preface. List of contents if desired. And hardbacks need four blank pages back and front.My intention is to release a hardcover, paperback, and PDF version. (Plus a free PDF preview, assuming there are no problems with doing that.) I have already ordered and received a test copy for the paperback version, so I know everything is working properly there.
Hardbacks are expensive. Paperbacks less so (unless in full colour), but POD is expensive. PDFs can be free, but cannot have an ISBN and can only be downloaded. (And do note that not all the book type choices can have a free Lulu ISBN.)
If you do use Lulu's free ISBNs it includes Global Distribution, and many sites, such as Amazon, will create a Preview. Lulu used to have a Preview tool, but it vanished.My concern is that releasing so many versions of the same book onto the Lulu Bookstore might violate some Lulu policy, Not at all. And you do not have to use Lulu for the different types. (I use Amazon KDP for their version of ePubs.) or else be considered bad form by customers. It's not at all unusual in publishing. It gives people a choice. Some even publish the same book with different covers. (don't for get you will need one!) I tried to scour any official Lulu documentation to see if there were any problems, and everything seemed to be fine. But there has already been one occasion when I tried to read all the documentation for troubleshooting purposes, only to later realize I had missed a document. So, out of an abundance of caution, I decided to post a question on these forums to make sure there was nothing that had missed my notice.
Totally up to you, and do you think Lulu would limit their sales by having such a rule? |
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taron
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by taron on Aug 19, 2024 23:17:29 GMT
Paperback for a children's picture book is generally minimum 32 pages, while hardcover would be 40 to 48. According to the Lulu Book Creation Guide, paperback books require a minimum of 32 interior pages and hardcover books require a minimum of 24 interior pages. So I should be good to go for either option in terms of page count. My ideal version of the book would be hardcover, but paperback is cheaper, and I wanted customers to have access to a more affordable version of the book if hardcover wasn't important to them. The only thing I am concerned about is whether releasing the first quarter of the book as a free PDF (in addition to the other version I plan to release) would break any rules or guidelines. EDIT: (Another response was posted while I was writing this message, I figured it would be better to edit this post rather than double-posting.) Page count needs to be divisible by four for printed books. Thanks for writing! I wasn't aware page count needed to be divisible by four. I ordered a test copy at 41 pages and it arrived just fine. I suppose Lulu automatically added blank pages for me? And do not forget a Copyright Page (with the ISBN on it). Preface. List of contents if desired. And hardbacks need four blank pages back and front. I have included a copyright page, title pages, preface, blank pages, etc. These are all included within the aforementioned 41 pages. Thank you for the reminder though, it would be an easy thing to miss. Hardbacks are expensive. Paperbacks less so (unless in full colour), but POD is expensive. PDFs can be free, but cannot have an ISBN and can only be downloaded. (And do note that not all the book type choices can have a free Lulu ISBN.) Unfortunately the illustrations are in full color and cover the entire page, so full color is necessary. So yes, the price is much greater than I would like. This is part of my reason for wanting to make sure a preview is available to potential customers; it's a lot to pay for a book you aren't even sure you'll like. If you do use Lulu's free ISBNs it includes Global Distribution, and many sites, such as Amazon, will create a Preview. Lulu used to have a Preview tool, but it vanished. I am not using an ISBN number because the book dimensions I have chosen are not eligible for global distribution, so I didn't see the point. However if there is still some reason to use an ISBN even when only selling from the Lulu bookstore, I'd love to know about it. Some even publish the same book with different covers. (don't for get you will need one!) Yep, I've drawn two different cover images: one for paperback, and one for hardcover. Thanks for the heads up! Totally up to you, and do you think Lulu would limit their sales by having such a rule? I am glad to hear there are no problems with releasing a free preview. I would have been surprised if there was any problem with that—but throughout the course of trying to publish this book, I have already run into other problems that I found equally surprising, so at this point I take nothing for granted. This is all very new to me as I have no previous experience with self-publishing, so I am trying not to set too much stock in my assumptions about how things will work. Thank you very much for your help! |
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Post by Mag2024 on Aug 20, 2024 1:53:31 GMT
Thanks for the quick response. The book comes up to 41 pages total. (That may seem like a lot for a book with only 14 illustrations. I may have slightly understated how much writing there is; it's just that I have an even lower opinion of my writing ability than I do of my drawing ability, so I consider the illustrations to be the main appeal of the book.) My intention is to release a hardcover, paperback, and PDF version. (Plus a free PDF preview, assuming there are no problems with doing that.) I have already ordered and received a test copy for the paperback version, so I know everything is working properly there. My concern is that releasing so many versions of the same book onto the Lulu Bookstore might violate some Lulu policy, or else be considered bad form by customers. I tried to scour any official Lulu documentation to see if there were any problems, and everything seemed to be fine. But there has already been one occasion when I tried to read all the documentation for troubleshooting purposes, only to later realize I had missed a document. So, out of an abundance of caution, I decided to post a question on these forums to make sure there was nothing that had missed my notice. You can create as many versions as you want. No.problem with any distributor. I usually release: Large print perfect bound 6x9 Large print hardcover 6x9 Reg print perfect bound 5x8 Reg print hardcover 5x8 Ebook |
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Post by BlueAndGold on Aug 20, 2024 12:13:55 GMT
You write fine.  |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Aug 20, 2024 23:24:43 GMT
"I am not using an ISBN number because the book dimensions I have chosen are not eligible for global distribution, so I didn't see the point. However if there is still some reason to use an ISBN even when only selling from the Lulu bookstore, I'd love to know about it."
No there's no reason, and Lulu will not provide a free one anyway for books that cannot have them. You can of course buy them, but there's no point if only selling via Lulu.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Aug 20, 2024 23:30:00 GMT
"Yep, I've drawn two different cover images: one for paperback, and one for hardcover. Thanks for the heads up!"
Usually the same cover is used for paperback and hardback, because it is really the same contents, and the cover should give a clue to the contents. But as I say, it's not unusual for publishers to change the cover for every print-run, because some people like to collect them just for the covers! However, with POD, there's no such thing as a print-run. But often, also, a different cover is used for different counties.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Aug 20, 2024 23:32:32 GMT
"I wasn't aware page count needed to be divisible by four. I ordered a test copy at 41 pages and it arrived just fine. I suppose Lulu automatically added blank pages for me?"
Yes, the Wizard will often do that, but it's best to add them yourself, then things like page numbering will not get messed up.
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