In a recent blog post, we predicted that Dec. 26th would be one of the highest traffic days for new readers buying eBooks.  We crunched the numbers and are happy to report that indeed, the day after Christmas – when millions of folks were playing with their shiny new e-readers and tablets – eBook downloads doubled, then spiked again Dec. 29th. Take a look:

With that, we’re pleased to announce the winner of Download Day and $100 off their new Lulu purchase :

Buddy World Books
by Paul Woodward
Paul used the free sample method for generating buzz for his works and climb to the top of the bestseller list.  You can learn how to use this method for your own works by checking out our recent post on Making More Off Your eBooks by Selling Them for Free.

Runner-up with their Lulu Short Story Contest submission:

The Littlest Ninja
by Criscelle Henderson and Micah Bonnell
These two authors submitted this work back in November for the Lulu Short Story Contest.  It just goes to show you how some promotion can help spike your visibility, no matter how recently you’ve published.  Way to go you two.

In a recent post I talked about how all of you would-be eBook authors should know your file formats, or at least be somewhat familiar with the most commonly used ones.  As an author, you want to make your work as accessible as possible, which means making your content able to be read on as many devices as you can.  Since it is Read an eBook Week, and Lulu is giving away three Apple iPads, I thought it might be useful to provide a how-to tutorial for the most universal eBook format: ePub.

Many new authors might make the mistake of thinking that if they have a portable document format (PDF) of their book it means that it can be read on an e-reader or other mobile device.  While in many cases the PDF can be opened, the text is far too small because it is a static or unchangeable image.  ePub makes it so your text is resized to fit the screen of any given device.  Since the text in ePub format can be changed in terms of size, font and color, reading an ePub book becomes a much more personal experience for the reader.  Sounds great right?  But how do you make an ePub book?

You really have three options:  let Lulu do the work for you with our conversion services, use a conversion program like (Adobe InDesign, eCub, Calibre, Google ePub Toolkit, etc.), or you can do-it-yourself.  If you decide to do-it-yourself, I’ve added some great directions I found over at jedisaber.com.

What You’ll Need:

* A text editor (like Text Edit or Notepad) that can edit text files, HTML, and XML.
* A program that can create .zip files (which should be built into OS X or Windows).

Alright, first you’ll need to get all of the files together that you will later put into your master .zip file (called a container).

A Closer look at ePub files (*Be aware that file names are case sensitive*):

A .epub file has at least the following files/folders in it to function:

* mimetype – Typically a plain ASCII text file that has the line “application/epub+zip” in it.  This file tells a reader/operating system what’s in the .ePub file. This file must be the first line in the zip file, and cannot be compressed.
* META-INF folder – Contains at least the container.xml file, which tells the reader software where to find the book in the container (typically in the content.opf file detailed below).
* OEBPS folder – Recommended location for the book’s actual content

* toc.ncx  file – Table of contents arranged with navpoint tags.  Make sure the UID matches whatever is in your content.opf file because some readers won’t display your book properly if it doesn’t.  The play order values found in this file must also be in order and will return an error if the order skips over a number.
* XHTML files – The book’s literal contents are listed in these files which are like HTML files with closing tags associated with each element.  It is up to you how you arrange your content but having a separate .xhtml file for each chapter tends to look better on e-readers.

Now that you have all your files in order, you can make the .epub container that houses all of them.

How to Make the Container File

* First create a new .zip file
* Copy the uncompressed mimetype file into the .zip file.
* Copy all of your other files (which should all be located in an OEBPS file) into the .zip file.

* Change the .zip file extension to .epub.

Once you are done with these steps, you should have a readable eBook in a format that works on most readers.  Now, all you should have to do is upload your work to Lulu.

Making Your eBook Available for Download

• In the Publish section, click the ‘eBooks’ button.
• Click the ‘Start your eBook‘ button.
• Enter a title and author name. Select your project’s availability.  Click the ‘Save &
• Continue’ button (any of these options can be changed at anytime).
• Upload the file you want to use by clicking the ‘browse’ button, searching your computer for the file you want to use and then clicking the ‘Upload’ button.
• If you upload multiple files to create an eBook, you will have to select a size for Lulu to create your eBook.
• Click the ‘Make Download-Ready File’ button to convert your file into an eBook.
• Download and preview your file and then click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.
• Create your cover and click the ‘Make Cover’ button. Then click the ‘Save & Continue’ button after the page reloads. Learn how to create a cover here and see What the eBook cover for.
• Fill in the Description fields and click the ‘Save & Continue’ button
• Set the price for your eBook and click the ‘Review Project’ button (eBooks with DRM cannot be offered for free).
• Review your project. Click the ‘Change’ button for any section that needs adjustment. If everything is to your liking click the ‘Save & Finish’ button.

Once you click the ‘Save & Finish’ button you should have a book that is ready to share with the world in cutting-edge fashion – something any reader on the go will appreciate.

Know Your Audience and Stick to the Facts: Most press releases will be read by a journalist.  They aren’t interested in being sold something or helping you drive visitors to your product page.  The best way to increase the likelihood that your release will be picked up is to do as much of the work for the journalist as possible.  Provide interesting facts, numbers, statistics from analysts, or quotes from yourself or your readers.  Do your research and include it in the release – anything you can do to provide unique, interesting information will increase your release’s credibility and its chances of being picked up.

Write in Third-Person: A press release is always written in third person because you are announcing news to a fresh audience and need to make the subject of your release as clear as possible.

Say Who or What in the First Line: Journalists are very very busy and receive tons of releases everyday.  A good release should be able to get your point across within the first paragraph because most journalists only have time to read that far. It isn’t always possible, but if you can mention the subject of your story within the first sentence, better yet, the first word of your press release, you can immediately set an expectation for what the release is about and if it is relevant to the reader.

Keep It Simple: Try to focus on one main point throughout your release – otherwise you risk confusing your reader.  A great press release should make the journalist want to call you to learn more, not scratch their heads halfway through.  A good rule of thumb to help is to keep your release down to one page and around 300 – 500 words.

Call to Action: Every release needs to finish with a call to action.  In many cases, with a book release, the call to action would be along the lines of:  “Jim Brown’s book, The Greatest Book Ever, is available at www.lulu.com.”  Or, “To learn more, visit www.lulu.com.” Without a call to action, readers will finish your release and say:  “Ok, now what?”

Avoid Buzzwords: A journalist is interested in finding the story in your release so they can write their own.  Buzzwords like “innovative,” “breakthrough,” “revolutionary,” are all an immediate turn-off to a journalist.  They are more interested in the facts that can back claims like this up.

Boilerplate: Every press release has a short, two to five sentence paragraph at the bottom called a “boilerplate.”  This is a high-level summary about the press release’s subject material.  For an author, think of it as a brief bio about yourself to give a journalist more information if they need it.  Items like how long you’ve been writing, where you’ve been featured, where readers can find your work, awards and accolades, etc. are all good things to mention in a boilerplate and establish yourself as a reputable source.

Think of a Catchy, Thought Provoking Title and Subheading: I list this close to the bottom because a great press release title should summarize the content of the release in one line.  A clever title can often be just the thing to catch a reader’s eye.  If you can’t think of anything catchy, then try to highlight the most interesting, exciting news from the body of the release. You don’t have to use subheadings, but they can be a great way to give just a little more detail about your release upfront.  This should be complimentary to your title, and aim to further hook the journalist into reading further.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Think of keywords associated with your work and the audience you want to reach.  Good SEO can help drive your release up further in search results on sites like Google and Yahoo!. Simply including keywords relevant to your subject will increase your release’s visibility.

Sending It Out: There are many ways to send out a press release.  I recommend a wire service like PRWeb, PRNewswire, or GlobeNewswire.  Services like this typically charge a one-time fee that lets you use their distribution lists and will let you optimize your release in multiple formats such as a PDF, HTML, or plain text to ensure you reach the most readers.  However, you may have your own list of contacts too.  Emailing a release to a journalist is fine, but remember, you don’t like to be spammed and they certainly don’t.  Emailing a journalist multiple times, addressing them by the wrong name, or sending them content that isn’t relevant to their field of coverage is a sure way to get yourself blacklisted from ever getting coverage from them.

Now that you’re ready to tell the world your story, feel free to use the handy press release template below.  Just copy and paste the layout into a document and plug in your own information. Note the “###” at the bottom.  This indicates the end of the release.  Also, if you mention Lulu, please be sure to include this line at the end of your boilerplate:  “The views and opinions expressed in this press release do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Lulu.com or its affiliates.” For more examples, also check out the Lulu press center.

Press Release Template

And why shouldn’t she publish? Seeing your story printed is an amazing feeling. I still remember staring in awe, when my first grade teacher placed a book of my story, Perry the Parrot, into my tiny hands. Of course, that “book” was held together by red yarn and glue. I probably would have never stopped bragging if Perry had been a printed book.

Perry the Parrot may be out of print now, but there is a whole new generation of budding authors on Lulu. Check out The Travelling Dolphin by Clara Curtis or, my personal favorite, The Shiny Fork, to see the possibilities. With just a little help from parents to create an account, scan, and upload their work, kids can have the best book they will ever take to school for Show and Tell.

What stories will your kids have to tell?

Today, Lulu officially launched the Lulu EPUB Converter and eBook Creator Guide – thus helping to simplify the complex process of turning your brilliant work from popular word processing formats, such as a Word document, into sellable EPUBs, the most widely adopted format used by eReaders – absolutely free.

So how is it different?

The Lulu EPUB Converter is unique in that it not only converts but also automatically fixes many pesky errors including accepted fonts and extra spacing. This is the highest level of automation available anywhere.

What does this mean for you?

For you, oh faithful Lulu creator, this means getting your work into popular eBook retail channels is easier and just in time to give you an edge this holiday season and sell your remarkable works electronically while earning more on eBooks than anywhere else with our new industry-best 90/10 revenue split (limited time offer through January 31, 2012).

As part of this initiative, Lulu has secured partnerships with Apple and Barnes and Noble so you can sell your works to millions of readers on devices like the iPad® and NOOK™, not to mention in print on Amazon.com and the Lulu Marketplace.  We’ve even added a new Manage Distribution page that lets you opt-in and opt-out of retail channels for all your titles with the click of a button.

With our step-by-step eBook Creator Guide, you can be sure your customers are getting the most robust experience reading your work too.  All of these new tools, resources, and features can be found on Lulu’s new eBook Landing page – your source for all things eBooks.

Don’t forget to explore all your print book options too, and publish the way you, and your readers, want this holiday.

• eBook Landing page
• Print Book Landing page
  

Whether you’re a writer, a designer, an artist, or any other professional, a knock-out portfolio using Lulu’s publishing wizard can help you stand out from the crowd and land your dream job.

To create a portfolio, first gather all your most remarkable work.  Then, compile it into one PDF or Word document and publish it through our wizard.  That’s it!

What happens if you have something worth adding to your portfolio after you publish? Simply add your new work to the original file, and revise your project.

Things to remember:

• Include your resume in the front of your portfolio. This way, you don’t risk having two separate pieces accidentally get separated. Future employers can quickly refer to the first page to get your employment history and contact information.

• Personal branding is important! Creating a portfolio with a cohesive design that represents you makes you more memorable.

• Pay special attention to the requirements for full bleed if your portfolio has images that go all the way to the edges.

• If you don’t want your portfolio to be sold to anyone but you, set it on private access in your project page.

• Keep a copy with you and extra copies on hand. You never know when you’ll meet someone who’ll want to see your work.

I thought I’d share with you Tony and Robert’s post and hope that it helps you get started on your next remarkable work. Enjoy and be sure to check out other marketing tips from Tony by visiting: http://blog.marketingtipsforauthors.com

How I Went About Self Publishing
By Robert Shepherd

Hello Everyone, firstly, it is nice to meet you all. Secondly, I would like to thank Tony for asking me to share my experiences of self publishing with you on his blog.
Before I begin, I think it is only fair to say that I am still learning the how to do just about everything, and people like Tony have taught me a lot about what to expect when publishing and marketing your work. We are all learning and I think we always will be. This is why I was so keen to share my thoughts with you, because I learn from you just as much as you may learn from me.

Now Self Publishing your work yourself, how do we go about it?

Right, you’ve just finished writing your book and now you want to get it printed up and share it with the world.

Well, you have a plethora of self publishing companies that are baying for your attention and your money. So which do you choose? We all face that question and it always comes down to: No. 1 – personal choice & No. 2 – Cost. At the end of the day it is ultimately your choice as to which one you pick. But you should be sure it is the right one for you.

I wanted to share my work as soon as possible and show my closest friends and family. This was also key element to my choice of Self-Publishers because we never can tell what may happen next and this book would be my legacy to them to remember me by. The Legacy aspect is a large contributing factor to having my work saved online where it can be viewed and a copy purchased, so I will always have something for people to remember me by.

Another reason I chose to self publish my work, except that shockingly, I didn’t have big name publishing houses and companies beating my door down for my signature to print my stories, was that I have total control over my work, from which pages get included, the cover design, the ISBN identification, previews that get shared on Amazon etc, the price of the finished product, the description and even keywords that are used to find it in online web searches.

I think most of you are the same too. You want to share your work with your kin and friends first, the world second and lastly to have a legacy to keep on the shelf long after you have gone.

I, like so many of you, did and still do, operate on a strict budget. Therefore I/We don’t have excess money to throw around at getting registered with companies and signed up to buy publishing “packs”. For those that do, these are indeed very useful places to go and help you to avoid having to do most of the promotional work yourself, for the rest of us, this is mainly not an option.

Once I had finished my work and chosen my publishers, I needed to get started sharing my work online.

I chose Lulu.com. This was for 2 main reasons: (1) A friend tipped me off about them and (2) They are FREE.

Lulu.com do not charge authors to get started for uploading your work. They are “print on demand”, therefore they print and charge by each copy. They charge the price you set and then they take their cut from that price and you get your royalties. The print costs are also included in to the overall price. However, you should be advised that they do have a minimum price that you can charge for certain book styles and sizes.

Because Lulu.com are print on demand, you, crucially need to do the leg work promoting your book. Lulu require you to upload your work from your PC using a PDF file. This is your first challenge. You need to edit your work using a a word or office software suite that has the ability to change your work into PDF format. Personally, I use Open Office, but there are many writing suites out there that offer PDF formatting options, again the choice here is entirely yours.

So now you have written your book, formatted it into PDF format and chosen for instance Lulu.com to publish your hard work. The next step is to take the plunge and sign up to your self publishers. In this case Lulu.com. When you have completed the necessary details to start with, you will be directed to another page and asked to start producing your work. They will ask if you wish to start a “new project”, click to do so and you’ll be on your way. Here all you have to do is follow all the onscreen instructions and you’ll have your work saved as a file as a new project. Once you have loaded the PDF file containing your work you can start designing your cover. You can pick a design from lulu themselves or choose to design your own, using text and pictures from your PC. You are however restricted by picture quality, type and size of pictures you intend to upload, certain image files may not be allowed or may be too large to use.

My advice is to hang in there and stick at it. Persist with it, it’s mainly about reading all fine print, all instructions carefully and good old trial and error. If something doesn’t work, go back and try something else. This is what I did. It is worth trying out different ideas, after all, a design you like the idea of, may not work out so well when you see it on screen. This was how in the end I managed to get a unique cover for my book. I had designed it, copied it and saved it onto my computer then uploaded it using Lulu’s cover design feature and tinkered with it until I was happy with it. Now I have a copy sitting on my book shelf to show people and to remind me of my hard work. The pride is immense.

You’ll need to also pick your book type and size, these range from A4, US Postal, A5 and so on.

After you have designed your cover you’ll need to complete a section giving details about your book, title (obviously), description about your book and most importantly, you’ll need to set a price for your book. Again a reminder, as I said earlier, the minimum price of your book will be dictated by the book type and size that you chose when you produced your “new project”.

Lulu is an ideal publishing site for first time authors and writers as well as more proficient ones alike. It is free and easy to use and navigate & has excellent on screen instructions and guidance and FAQ sections.

Provided that you follow the instructions and guidance you receive on the way, you will be a self published author in no time at all. It took me about a day in total, to sign up, upload my work, design my cover and finalize my work, including the pricing and ISBN identification (which lulu can provide free, unless you already have one that you wish to attribute to your book (here again lulu can provide guidance as to how to do this).

All costs are fairly obvious. You are charged the set price you provided when designing your “project” and for postage. However, a trick I found and used, when I wanted to share the first copies of my book, was to go back and click on the “edit” or “review” icon next to my book in the “my lulu” page. I then clicked to edit the pricing options. Here I deleted the price making it free to purchase. I then ok’d the changes and went back to “my lulu” and clicked on the “purchase” a copy icon next to my book title and ordered the number of copies I required. By doing this, you are only charged for the shipping, and by purchasing several copies you also save on separate shipping costs. Once I had ordered my copies, I then went back and changed my pricing back to normal again and saved it. This is not ideal, but it does save you paying full price as well as postage and packaging.

Well by now you will be able to sit back in your chair, back aching, neck sore, eyes strained and brain fatigued and know that you are now a Self-Published author. Lulu.com does provide extra services for it’s customers beyond the basic print-on-demand service, such as publishing & marketing as well as many others, but you need to remember that these all come at a cost and they are not always cheap. Therefore it is always advisable to check these out thoroughly first before choosing to use them. They are very useful, provided that you have the money spare to pay for them. However, if you are on limited finances, then you will need to undertake all the promotional and marketing legwork yourself.

I will be perfectly honest here and let nobody else tell you otherwise, promoting and marketing your book all by yourself is hard work and at times completely frustrating, but it is necessary if you want to get exposure for your work.

However, some neat tricks are to utilize the power of your computer. If you have windows movie maker or similar software, you can make up a video trailer to promote your book, which you can then place up on you-tube and other sharing websites. Be careful though, make sure that if you are using any music on your video, that you adhere to copyrights. If you are not already a member, use social network sites such as Facebook and Myspace. These are a great way to build a readership and maybe even a fan base and also provide yet another avenue to promote your book via excerpts from your book and by sharing your book trailer that you made, which can be done via you-tube. Click on the share button and you can share it on all the main social networks; Facebook, Myspace, Bebo Twitter etc. All this helps create readership and promote your work. Also next to your books title on Lulu.com you will find a “Promote” icon. Click on this and you can generate a code, HTML etc and place it on your Facebook or Myspace page leading people directly to your Lulu.com storefront where they can view and purchase your book. Be sure to place this icon on status’ and comments wherever you can to promote and provide a constant visibility for your work.

You will find many features available on Lulu.com and or on other self-publishing websites, that can help you promote and market your book(s), however I wanted to share with you how I got into self publishing and how I went about it in the first place. Once you have done initially you will soon learn the art of it and will be well versed and proficient in working out where else you want to promote your work and how.

I am available on both Facebook and Myspace and hopefully, I will be proud to count you as one of my readers and myself as one of yours. Thank you.

Robert Shepherd is the author of Life With Boris Karloff (book and audio), The Human Condition, and The Human Condition Vol. 2. You can find them on his Lulu author page.

With hundreds of articles on almost every aspect of Lulu from helping new users to after you publish using our Knowledge Base can be daunting to say the least. There are at least two ways to approach it, by searching or browsing. I will discuss both options as well as suggesting a few tips & tricks for using them to find your answers.

Searching

Typically, I recommend searching our database to find the information you’re looking for. It’s probably the quickest way to find what you’re looking for. That said, you want to make sure you are finding the right information.

For example, if I am trying to find out how long I should expect the Mail shipping option to take, what should I enter into the search box? To begin with, I went to the Support home page, and entered “Mail Shipping Option” into the text box. This returned 155 Knowledge Base Articles, 729 Questions, 1029 Discussions, and 59 Ideas. A lot to go through.

Luckily, our search shows the top five results for each category, so all I have to do is look at Articles and try to find the one that matches what I’m looking for. The first option is “Shipping To Prisons” which isn’t exactly what I want. The second option though, “Shipping Times and Options” is exactly what I want.

In short, to get the most out of searching, you want to make sure you choose search terms that most accurately reflect the topic you’re looking for, and focus on the results that are most likely to give you the response you want. It may take a little trial and error, but you should get there.

Browsing

The second method for locating a particular article is browsing. This method is most effective if you know the general stage of publishing you are in, but you aren’t sure exactly what you need to know. Using the same example as above, I will demonstrate how to find the same article by browsing.

To begin, you’ll want to click on the Knowledge Base link from the Support page. From there, you should see a list of categories for articles. By reviewing the descriptions of the categories, I can narrow down what I’m looking for. While none of the categories themselves are titled “Shipping” the category Shopping on Lulu is described as “Learn how to browse, buy, download, or ship on Lulu”. That sounds about right!

Inside this category, I see a new category for “Shipping FAQ“. I’m clearly on the right track. Clicking into that category takes me to a list of articles, and the first one is Shipping Times and Options. Success!

Summary

• Get a good idea of what you’re searching or browsing for before you begin looking
• Try to use as accurate phrasing as you can
• Don’t be afraid to browse around for the right answer

ISBN

First things first, your book needs an ISBN. Whether you decide to register for one on your own through an ISBN agency such as Bowker (http://www.bowker.com/) or opt for a free Lulu-owned ISBN, this number will be the key identifier for your book and is also a requirement for the next tip.

globalREACH Distribution

globalReach distribution is essential for any author looking to increase their readership in stores because it enables your book to be available through the wholesaler, Ingram Book Company, which is the preferred go-between of most big-name retailers.

Go Local

Try visiting your local, independent bookstore (like Quail Ridge Books here in Raleigh) to see if there would be any interest in carrying your book. Typically, these retailers feel more open to supporting the work of homegrown authors. It may even sweeten the deal if you already have buyers lined up.

If you’ve tried and tried and still haven’t made the leap into bookstores, don’t feel discouraged. According to Book Industry Study Group, less than 40% of books are purchased in actual stores versus online. And the Lulu Marketplace is home to over 2.5 million unique visitors – that’s a lot of folks just itching to discover your remarkable work.

Whether your book is an extensive study on quantum physics, or helpful tips on how to raise twins, there’s an online community just waiting to learn from your expertise.  What better way to flex your knowledge muscles, and promote your book, then providing commentary on your favorite forums, blogs and discussion boards?

By providing regular insight and support, you’ll quickly establish credibility and become known as an authority in your field.  This will also provide you with a golden opportunity to promote your book.  Be sure to mention that more information can be found in your book, and provide links for your new readers to purchase.

Once you’ve established yourself, your audience will be more than happy to help promote your book.  Reach out to bloggers and ask if they’ll mention your book in an upcoming post.

Before you know it, people will be buzzing over your book and your hard work!