Self-publishing yourself to fame and glory!

I've been publishing my own books for, well, months. So far, I've published around 30 books, many of them alternate versions of the main books in the Go Thunk Yourself! Series. Others are public domain books which are referenced in this series - but now have author biorgraphies, photos, and new forwards. Other's (Hill's, mainly) I've edited to fit publishing restrictions. Several of these are free downloads so people can access the data and then buy my books.

How this is possible is through Lulu (and my own hard-won writing, and sweat).

The  trick is being able to write (which is not much tougher than talking to someone) and then being able to produce a PDF file. I use Open Office, which is very easy to export to PDF. There's a great Master Document function, which makes it possible to take disrelated articles and combine them under one master set of style sheets, so they all look the same - and will export as one PDF file - or print.

Lulu has a great set of wizards which take you step by step through the process. It helps if you are already somewhat trained in design (and luckily, I was first a graphic designer before I turned writer). Otherwise, they link to outside professionals who can help you with making a cover, editing your PDF and other stuff like marketing.

But even if you aren't, they have a great set of cover-art and templates you can use to create your own, or import it from your computer.

Once you have the PDF file, you are literally minutes away from publishing a book.

Books aren't the only thing they do, however. You can do hardback and paperback books, but also CD's, DVD's, photobooks, calendars and a lot of other stuff which is very useful. All the books can be downloaded for a cheaper cost than buying the print edition.

But Lulu only takes a small percentage of your profit - which is whatever you want it to be (and what the market will bear...). You can buy your own books at cost.

The marketing, however, is totally over to you. While they link to professionals for these services, what they are providing is the cheapest and best publishing for your books you can find.

My use of Lulu has attracted a publisher from Down Under who I'm negotiating a contract with currently. I have sold some books directly through Lulu and so have a small, beginning income through this line as well.

You can get an idea of what I've been publishing through my Go Thunk Yourself(TM) Lens.  

Lulu is without a doubt the cheapest way you can self-publish your books. But in addition, you aren't ever stuck with having to wait for a second edition to change your text or make corrections. Since the whole process is online, you can have a revision or another edition literally within minutes. For instance, I publish all my books as beta in order to get them out quickly. When I proof them, I then make corrections.

One book, Go Thunk Yourself, Compleat! has been expanded and re-written at least three times so far. A huge hardcover (over 400 pages and climbing), it looks to be a major reference in the field of self-improvement and philosophy by the time I finish.  

Lulu also enables you to buy a single ISBN for your book, recently expanding this so that you register your ISBN under your own publishing moniker. You retain all copyrights to your book throughout the process.

If you are thinking about going the self-publishing route, check out Lulu. Even when you get a brick-and-mortar publisher to contract you later, you can still get your name out there and perhaps even some income from your own efforts. 

Worth a try...