Wapsi Square

By Paul Taylor

NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS: The Art of LeSean Thomas Vol.1

By LeSean Thomas

At Lulu, we try to make sure that we create video tutorials for various areas of our site to help walk you through the process. Currently, we have videos on How to Make a Photobook, How to Publish a Book, and a One Minute video on How to Create a Cover. We want to know what else you would like to see a video tutorial for. Please comment and tell us what you’d like to see!

Recently in the forums, mark_sheldon1221 made a post about Pre-Publication Marketing that generated some interesting discussion. Mark asked:

“Since I’m not going to be publishing the first book for another nine months, is there any way to set up some sort of marketing here on Lulu that I can refer users to between now and publication?”

Several of our forum mainstays like Keith Dixon and veinglory have chimed in with suggestions for Mark. What are your thoughts? Should you market your book before it’s released? What are the pros and cons?

We’re looking at revising the “My Order History” section of My Lulu and we would like your feedback on what additional information you would like about your orders. Please let us know what you’d like to see. The more feedback you can give us the better changes we can implement.

A while back, I explained why previews and reviews are crucial to sales. Seeing as more and more people are publishing every day, I thought it would be helpful to share this post again. Please enjoy this post “From the Vault.”

I tend to come across a lot of material on the site because of my job. Sometimes, it’s because I’m looking for something to buy for content to highlight. Regardless of the reason, I am often surprised by how many books lack a preview. According to Chris Anderson, author of the “Long Tail,” on average, 500 copies of a book are sold per year. For a self-published author, selling 500 copies in a year is considered a huge success, but how do you get 500 people to buy your book when most of them haven’t ever heard of you? The simple answer is to let them read it.

If I have never heard of a writer before, three things help me decide to take a chance on a book. First, does the summary grab me? If a book has a good description and it sounds interesting, I will take a closer look at it. I can’t tell you how many books I come across with descriptions that don’t tell me enough about what the book is about. So, that’s step 1 – think about your description and try to tell people what your book (or CD or whatever) is about, why they should give it a shot. Show it to people you trust to give you constructive criticism and get their advice. Remember, if you don’t draw people in, they probably won’t take a chance on your book.

The second thing I look at is who is recommending the book to me. If I see an author I recognize (and like) telling me they like the book, then I am more likely to pick it up. Since self-published authors can’t always get someone well known in their genre of choice to recommend their book, it helps to have people who are willing to give thoughtful and honest reviews of your work regardless. If it looks like your mom is the only person who reviewed your book loved it, I’m probably not going to purchase a copy (unless your mother is Haven Kimmel or another woman whose writing I enjoy).

The final thing that will convince me to purchase a copy of a book I’ve never heard of before is being able to read the book, or at least part of it. I cannot stress how important this is. Barnes & Noble will let me sit in their cafe, read a book while drinking some Starbucks and never blink. They do this because they know that A) I will buy their overpriced snacks (and I will), and B) I am more likely to buy something if I can read some of it first. They also know I am unlikely to read an entire book in the store and then put it back on the shelf. So they let me sit down, get comfortable and read, hoping I will like the book and buy it. The same thing applies to selling books, CDs, and anything else online. People are unlikely to read an entire book online, and even if they do, if they like the book, they are probably willing to pay $15 to own a copy. On the other hand, if you don’t have a preview, no one knows how good your work is and they aren’t as likely to give it a try.

This is why I advocate offering a preview. You don’t have to put the whole book or album up for people to read/listen to, just put up what you are comfortable with, and help convince strangers and loved ones that they want to read and/or listen to the whole thing. I can’t guarantee that you’ll sell 500 copies, but you’re more likely to sell copies if you let people try it first.

When we released our new forums back in February, we were excited. The old forums had been implemented when the Lulu.com site first went up and they had a lot of issues. Most of them were behind the scenes (admin features that were broken or added on), but they were difficult to work with. We thought Helpstream was the solution. Through a number of issues (slowness, being logged out) as well as concerns about navigation, many of our users told us they aren’t happy with the new system. We listened and have spent a lot of time trying to create a structure that will serve both our community and our internal needs. That’s where you come in.

We want your opinion. What do you want out of a world-class forum? What features do you like? What do you never want to see? We value your feedback and need your help as we figure out our next steps.

We want your feedback on the Lulu storefronts. What do you love? What do you hate? What would you like to see? Do the current storefronts help you sell more books? Stop by the forums and let us know what you think!

Knocking from Inside / Poems
By Tiel Aisha Ansari
KNOCKING FROM INSIDE, BY TIEL AISHA ANSARI, is the journey of the human soul towards the Divine approached through a number of doorways: sorrow, the natural world, and the listening heart. We travel through both real and illusionary lands to (re)join the Beloved at the end of all paths. “When Tiel says ‘God’ she means it, in all her various ways and fresh poetic stratagems, in these poems in which there are many strata, and in this book which contains many gems.” — Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore

WRITE OR DIE
By Hiram Sims and the Urban Poets
Write Or Die is a riveting collection of poetry from the first year of the Urban Poets Workshop. It combines elements of spoken word, rap verse, classical metered poetry, and free verse to make an unparalleled compilation of work. Thirteen writers blend their voices to encapsulate this poetic testament of young life in the 21st Century. The contributing authors include Kathryn Schmidt,Charisse Crosby-Cook,Kryston Tillet, Melaina Trotter,Michael White,Kelly Scarborough, Jackson Jones Manning,Marcus Payne,Cheylinel Gaston,Divinity Barkley,Lauren Cowherd,Traci Reeves,and Hiram Sims.

Earth Day was last week, and so I wanted to feature an idea to help with the environment. Dmaddalena suggests that instead of sending books in boxes, we could mail them in smaller padded envelopes. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to the idea (for example, there is a higher risk of damage in mailing a book in an envelope), but it’s worth discussing. What are some other ways we could reduce our impact on the environment?

Please follow the link and comment on the idea, and if you like the idea be sure to click the “I like this idea” thumbs up next to it. If you have other ideas for how Lulu can improve, post it to the Ideas & Feedback section.

Today is Earth Day and one great way to celebrate is to order an eBook instead of a print copy. You’ll save paper and still enjoy a great reading experience! To help you find some great content, we’ve selected a few picks from our catalog.

How to Take Care of Your Share of the Planet
By Betsy Franz
Hybrid automobiles and reusable shopping bags are great ways to go green. But the best way to have a positive effect on the environment is to start outside by learning to Take Care of Your Share of the planet. If you are a property owner, you own a share of the planet. If you are a renter, you rent a share. Do your part for the planet. Learn to Take Care of Your Share.

Go Green, Live Rich
By Hillary Rosner, By David Bach
David Bach is the author of seven consecutive national bestsellers, including the number-one New York Times bestsellers The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich and, most recently, the number-one bestseller The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner. There are over five million copies of his books in print, and they have been translated into fifteen languages. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show six times and is a featured columnist on Yahoo! Finance.

Conversations with Green Gurus: The Collective Wisdom of Environmental Movers and Shakers
By Laura Mazur, Louella Miles
The collected wisdom of some of the world’s most influential environmental movers and shakers is brought together in this one book. The chosen gurus consists both of “thinkers” – those who have set the agenda, and of “doers” – those business people who made the green cause their mission long before it became so prominent.

Max Goes to the Recycling Center
By Adria F Klein
Max and his class go to the recycling center. They learn what they can recycle and why it is important.

Living Green
By Jim Woodall
29 Pages of Living Green information. Reduce your carbon footprint by using solar panels as well as wind power. Also includes good tips and information.