Help

No. Lulu provides you with the tools to publish and sell your books online, but it is up to you to do all the formatting and design of your book before you publish it on Lulu. That said, Lulu does have several ways for you to find cover creation help if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself.

During the publishing process, Lulu offers a gallery of free covers for you to use. These covers won't necessarily be as personalized as you might like, but they look great. The Lulu cover wizard will insert your title and author name on the front cover automatically and will put your ISBN bar code (if you purchased one) on the back cover. View the gallery covers here.

Clicking the SERVICES tab will take you to the Lulu Services Marketplace. The Lulu Services Marketplace provides a place for authors and creators to connect with third-party service providers. These service providers, although hand-picked by Lulu, are not members of the Lulu staff. The Services Marketplace simply brings together those seeking publishing services with those who provide them and handles financial transactions.

The Services Marketplace gives creators access to four broad categories of publishing services:

• Graphics services, including book cover design, illustrations and more.
• Editing services, including manuscript reviews, proofreading and editing.
• Publishing services, including manuscript formatting, PDF creation and consultation services.
• Marketing services, including press releases, websites and other marketing packages.

You can purchase services just like products on the site by clicking the "Add to Cart" button from the Service Details page. The Service Provider will contact you within 3 business days of your purchase to get started.

Make sure you carefully read through the complete description of a service before purchasing it. If you have questions about a specific service, contact that Service Provider directly via the "E-mail this provider" link on the service listing.

You can also peruse the Lulu Support Forums. Lulu's expert users can provide you with many tips and tricks for creating your book cover. Please be sure to search all of the help documentation for the answers to your questions before posting to the forums.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:09 | Back to top

One-piece covers allow for complete customization of your book cover. Uploading a one-piece cover is the only way to create a design on the spine of your book. (Standard spines must be a solid color. You may opt to have the book's title printed on the spine.)

Lulu will not add anything to your one-piece cover, including an ISBN bar code. If you plan to upload a one-piece cover for your ISBN book, you must generate your own bar code and add it to your cover.

One-piece (wrap around) cover files must be PDF. Cover files that are uploaded separately must be JPG, GIF or PNG files of at least 300dpi.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:09 | Back to top

Since we have introduced one-piece covers, we have seen a number of covers that have trouble printing. This is because our automated cover creation process created a PDF that was flattened to a single layer. However, it is possible to create a very complex PDF using Adobe Illustrator with many layers, fonts etc. Don't do this.

Avoid transparencies and transparent areas in your image files, as these cause unwelcome light gray or white areas in the printed material.

The more complex the PDF, the greater chance that the process of rasterizing for print will generate errors. If you've created a cover PDF that uses fonts and separate images, your best option is to open the PDF in Photoshop — it will automatically ask for DPI (300 is optimal) and color palette (choose RGB). It will then rasterize the file to a single layer.

Crop marks will need to be left off of the uploaded PDF.

Please Note: All printed books -- not just Lulu books -- can have a slightly offset spine. Some of the spine may spill onto the cover, or some of the cover onto the spine. The difference is minor and won't be greater than 1/8th of an inch. Still, because of this, we recommend you don't use sharply contrasting colors for your spine and covers.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:29 | Back to top

Your one piece (wrap around) cover file must be a PDF. Unlike separate front and back covers, the one piece cover uploader will not accept image files. The correct dimensions of your cover will be given during Step 4 of the publishing process. Please make sure you match these dimensions or your cover will not be accepted.

The table below shows the dimensions for one-piece covers for paperback books. If you have already prepared your manuscript and know its size and page count, you can use this Spine width calculator to calculate the width of your spine, then add the spine width to the dimensions shown below to determine the dimensions of your one piece cover PDF.

Note: The cover dimensions for hardcover books are slightly larger than the size of the text block. This is normal; most hardcovers extend beyond the edges of the interior pages.

This is the equation for determining the dimensions of a one-piece cover for a dust jacket hardcover:

Bleed + Back Flap + Back Cover + Spine + Front Cover + Front Flap + Bleed (See a visual example)

This is the equation for determining the dimensions of a one-piece cover for a casewrap hardcover:

Turn-in bleed + Back Cover + Spine + Front Cover + Turn-in Bleed (6" x 9" example) (8.25" x 10.75" example)

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:29 | Back to top

No. You must include your own bar code for your one-piece cover. Unlike separate front and back covers, your ISBN bar code will not be automatically added to your one-piece cover. It is up to you to add every element you would like to appear on your one-piece cover, as this type of cover allows for total customization.

For more info on generating bar codes, see http://www.tux.org/~milgram/bookland/.

See How much space should I leave on my back cover for my ISBN barcode?

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:29 | Back to top

If you are using separate front and back covers, Lulu adds the following items to your back cover or spine. Your front cover will not be changed in any way.

• Your Content ID and our URL. This is an optional feature that will take up an area of approximately 1" x .3". The text will fall 2.5" to the left of the spine and .65" from the bottom edge. If you do not wish to display the content ID and URL, see How do I remove the Lulu branding from my book?
• Lulu logo on the spine. This is optional. If you do not wish to display the Lulu logo on your book's spine, see How do I remove the Lulu branding from my book?
• Your ISBN bar code, if you enter one in the publishing process or if you choose to purchase a distribution service for your book.

If you upload a one-piece (wrap-around) cover, Lulu will not change or add to your cover in any way.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:03 | Back to top

Front and back cover images should be the same size.

Note: The image files you upload for your cover must be a little larger than the book cover size because the edges will be trimmed off or folded over during production - this throw-away area is called a "bleed." Although the trimming process is fairly precise, it is not perfect. Improperly sized or applied bleeds results in one of two flaws: important parts of the image or text are cut off, or a white strip prints at the edge of the page or cover.

"Bleed" is the term publishers use to describe the edges of an image that are trimmed off during manufacturing in order to provide an image that goes to the very edge of a page or cover. Since this part is impossible to see in the final product, you must make sure that it contains the background image or color but remains free of anything that is important (text or image elements). In addition, follow these guidelines.

• Do not include crop marks.
• The edges of casewrap hardcover images are folded around the cover.
• The bleed for all book covers (those sold through Lulu and through distribution services) is .6 cm (.25 inch) for the height and .3 cm (.125 inch) for the width. (The width bleed is smaller because a cover does not use a bleed at the spine.)

The following chart lists our book sizes accompanied by the appropriate size for the cover image file, including the bleed. Dimensions for hardcover books are slightly larger than the interior pages.

Note: If you purchase a distribution service for your book, your book cover and text files go to a different vendor whose requirements are stricter than the Lulu printer. If you do not meet these requirements, the availability of your book to online retailers will be delayed for several days, possibly weeks! Please make sure you meet all dimension requirements before you approve your book for distribution. You will have to pay a fee to make changes.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:03 | Back to top

Book covers can be made using several different design programs. We recommend Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and PaintShop Pro. However, there are other programs that will work just as well. If you have one of these programs, you should either know how to use it already or learn from a friend how to use it before attempting to make your own cover.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:10 | Back to top

No. The cost of a full-color cover is included in the production cost of all books. You may make your cover black & white if you like, but your book will not be discounted.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:05 | Back to top

No. Lulu does not offer inside cover printing.

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:05 | Back to top

If you plan to purchase a Distribution service or enter your own ISBN for your book, you will need to leave a 3.625" x 1.25 inches area on the bottom right corner of your back cover that is free of important text or images. This area is for your bar code, ISBN and Content ID number.

An ISBN bar code will be automatically generated for you, if you use Lulu to create your cover.

If you upload a one-piece (wrap-around) cover, you are responsible for generating and including your ISBN bar code on your cover PDF. Place your barcode at the bottom right corner of your back cover at least 0.375 inches from the spine and bottom edge of the cover.

If you include your retail price on the book cover, it must exactly match the retail price that you set for Distribution. If it does not match, it will be removed. Likewise, we ask that you do not add a UK retail price to the cover, as this number will be converted by us and it most likely will not match what you come up with.

Note: If you do not meet these requirements, the availability of your book to online retailers will be delayed for several days, possibly weeks!

Last updated: 2008-09-30 07:15:05 | Back to top