Cyber Monday, the first weekday after Thanksgiving, is considered the busiest online shopping day of the year. We’re pulling out all the stops this year by providing the best deal we’ve done all year and save you some money.

30% off any order
Max savings: $300.00
Coupon code: CYBERMONDAY

35% off $750 or more
Save up to $750
Coupon code: MORECYBERMONDAY

Coupons cannot be applied to  taxes or shipping and handling charges or previous orders.  Only one valid promotional code may be used per account.  Orders must be in U.S.  Dollar currency. Offer ends today 11/28/11 at 11:59 PM GMT.

Close your eyes and make a wish, because today is Lulu’s birthday!

That’s right, Lulu is officially nine years old and we want you to help us celebrate.

I’m sure you’ve seen the banners around the site for 20% off any order (Coupon code: HAPPY) and for 25% off a bulk order of 500 books or more (Coupon code: BIRTHDAY), but while we were pulling out the party hats and putting up the streamers, we decided to extend the sale – just for our big day.

Lulu started back in 2002, after our CEO and Founder Bob Young experienced his own frustrations with publishing his book Under the Radar. Having founded open-source software company Red Hat in the past, Bob thought of ways he could apply to the open-source mentality to publishing, thus Lulu, and our our new model of open-publishing, was born.

Nine years later, we’ve helped over 1 million creators in over 200 countries and territories publish their works and gain equal footing in the industry.

So take a big breath and help us blow out our candles because it wouldn’t be a Lulu birthday without you – our remarkable customers.

Cyber Monday, the first weekday after Thanksgiving, is considered the busiest online shopping day of the year. To mark the occasion and do our part to save you a little time and money, we’ve put together these special offers good for today only.

25% off any order
Save up to $185.
Coupon code: CYBER25

30% off $750 or more
Save up to $750.
Coupon code: CYBER30

Coupons cannot be applied to  taxes or shipping and handling charges or previous orders.  Only one valid promotional code may be used per account.  Orders must be in U.S.  Dollar currency. Offer ends today 11/29/09 at 11:59 PM PST.

We’re obviously big fans of books here at Lulu and that makes November one of our favorite months. Why? Because it’s National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.

For eleven years NaNoWriMo has brought together thousands of aspiring authors who share a passion for writing and creativity. Each November, more and more authors join in and take a no holds barred approach to pumping out a 50,000 word book in just 30 days. With such a limited time-frame for making a remarkable work, writers often surprise themselves with what they can accomplish and what creative ideas they can come up with – music to the folks at Lulu’s ears.

Some of us Lulus are even getting involved in the action. I am using this year’s NaNoWriMo to overcome a three-year case of writer’s block. Well, at least I’m trying to overcome a three-year case of writer’s block. So far I’ve spent several days staring at a blank screen hoping to channel Neruda, Hemmingway, Frost or Fitzgerald and then distracting myself with exciting things like laundry and grocery shopping.

Writing is much harder than anyone gives us literary types credit for, and I admire all of you Lulu creators for being able to have the self-discipline to write something and the confidence to put it out in the world.

NaNoWriMo is all about getting motivated. Any book written in 30 days probably won’t be a work of genius, but writing 50,000 words in one month is going to force you to write and take risks. You can edit, take out weak characters, and add sub-plots later. For now, just get writing!

My favorite high school English teacher told me once that writing is easy. You just write about yourself with the life you’ve always wanted. Change your name, give yourself an apartment in Paris and a love interest who got away. Find inspiration in everything and use the mannerisms of interesting strangers to write new characters. Combine it with the search for home, and you’ve got yourself a bestseller.

So, let’s do this together! We’ve got three weeks to write a book. It may not be your most remarkable work, but then again, maybe it will be. You don’t know till you try. And when you’re all done, I encourage you to publish your books on Lulu. What have you got to lose?

Feel free to add your NaNoWriMo experiences in the comments section below. We’d love to hear what you’re working on or any tips for NaNoWriMo survival and getting motivated?  Come on NaNoWriMo veterans, I know you’re out there.

This post was originally put up back in February 2008,  but a lot of the advice rings true today. With so many new e-devices popping up on the market, readers are finding more and more ways to discover and purchase content. Offering a free downloadable preview is a great way to help a reader make the decision to push the “purchase” button. Enjoy the original post below:

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, other times I am checking out whether it’s in violation of our membership agreement, and still others I am looking for content to highlight. Regardless of the reason, I am often surprised by how much of it lacks 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’m in a bookstore and looking at a title by an author I’ve never heard of before, then there are three things that make 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 it’s about, because it’s a lot. So, that’s step 1, think about your description, and try to tell people what your book (or CD or whatever) is about, and 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 risk and pay for your book.

The second thing I look for 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 it and loved it, I hate to say it, but I’m probably not going to buy it (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) because they know 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 it 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 book is, and they aren’t as likely to give it a try.

This is why we 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 you think will 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 I can guarantee you’re more likely to sell copies if you let people try it first.

Hulkmania!

It’s Halloween in the Lulu office and I thought it’d be fun to share some of the great costumes people have been wearing all day.

Each year, Lulu team members break out their biggest wigs, their goofiest glasses and their scariest masks in an attempt to out do each other in the fierce competition to win the “Best

Right to Left: A Musketeer, Dr. Who, Captain Planet, Barista

Costume Award.” No Lulu holds back and there were some pretty remarkable costumes this year. Some of my favorites were Hulk Hogan and Uncle Fester (with a real light up bulb in his mouth).

But we don’t want to be the only ones having fun, so as a treat for All Hallows’ Eve, we’re offering a couple special deals to all our customers and creators this weekend.

asdf

Uncle Fester

Through November 1st, you can take 20% off any order with coupon code TRICK. And you can take 25% off any order of $500 or more with coupon code TREAT.

While coupons aren’t as tasty as candy, they are better for you and your wallet this Halloween season.

Have a happy and safe holiday everyone.

asdf

This week we released a powerful new tool to help authors sell more books in their most profitable sales channel — Lulu.com.   The new Discount Manager gives you the ability to set discounts on your books across our site, either in the publishing wizard or directly from the “My Lulu” dashboard.

With this tool (learn more about it here) you set your book’s list price as you always have and then set a discount to that list price to be shown alongside the list price.  This is a powerful combination employed by marketers in all kinds of industries to successfully attract buyers.

The feature opens a world of creative marketing opportunities — you can create event-based or seasonal campaigns, for instance, or quickly change pricing to compete with mainstream or independent titles. The key is, you are always in control and can adjust discounts as much and as often as you want.

We developed this tool for you and because of you. You told us that you needed this flexibility to maximize your marketing efforts and reach more buyers.

That’s the goal of authors around the world. Technology is making it ever easier to publish. But getting readers to take notice — and buy — the work you’ve worked so hard to create remains a significant challenge.

Helping authors sell more books is the highest priority here at Lulu. It’s the reason we created the Discount Manager and why, a few weeks back, we updated our eBook tool to distribute eBooks to all versions of Apple’s iBookstore and all devices that we will support in the future.

Already this strategy is paying dividends.   The first week our updated eBook tool was available our authors sold nearly three times as many eBooks as they did the previous week.   The next week, total sales nearly doubled again. That translates into thousands of dollars in additional revenue for Lulu authors — a trend that is continuing.

Even so, we’re not satisfied. The Discount Manager, updated eBook Wizard and all the other tools we’ve created provide a strong foundation for author success.

Stay tuned for more exciting Lulu features to help you sell more books coming soon.

You won’t be disappointed!

Cheers,

Bob

Both Lulu authors old and new can set discounts for their works.

When you log into Lulu and visit your “My Lulu” page, you’ll notice the new “discount” column in your projects list. It is important to note that any discounts you make will deduct from the list price of your works. And you cannot set a discount at a price lower than it costs to manufacture your book.

Already Published?

If you already have a book published in the Lulu Marketplace, the easiest way to set a discount is to click the discount sticker next to your book’s title in your project list. In the window that pops up, enter the discount percentage you’d like to set. In this window, you can see the price for your work, the percentage of savings you’re passing on to your readers and your total revenue after the discount.  You can remove your discount at any time.

Discounting a New Work or Revision:

If you’re publishing a new work to sell on the Lulu Marketplace, or creating a revision of an old one, you can change the discount pricing during the publishing process. You’ll find discount information on your book’s “price” after the “description” page if you’re discounting a print book and after the “DRM” page if you’re discounting an eBook. Just click the “set discount” button and use the discount manager pop-up window to set your discount savings.

If you decide at the last minute to set a discount before you publish, don’t worry. You can also edit your discount pricing on the “review” page for your book by clicking the “edit” button under the “Lulu Pricing and Creator Revenues” heading. This handy table will show you your book’s discounted price on the Lulu Marketplace compared with the list price elsewhere.

At Lulu, we’re all about helping authors reach more readers. And the new Lulu Discount Manager will help you drive more awareness to your works and stand out from the competition. The Discount Manager is great for seasonal sales or for book events like an upcoming release. It all goes back to Lulu’s goal to provide authors with complete control over their works and helping them sell more books. Happy discounting.

To celebrate our  independence back in 1776, this July 4th weekend only,  Lulu is offering $17 off all U.S.$ orders of $76 or more.

Just enter promo code: ‘1776‘ during checkout.

From all of us a Lulu, have a safe and fun July 4th weekend.

-Adam