Does anyone know anything about Lulu Books?

[Ian Moulding]

http://www.lulu.com/

Specifically I'm wondering about their reputation as a business. Reasonable people to work with, or 'for God's sake, NO'?

[Noemz]

Daniel Willingham might know. He's selling his comic book through them.

His comic is here:
Head Doctor Productions

He has a "buy my book" button under the comic.

[CJBurgandy]

or as we lovinly call him.... Stinky.

[Phalanx]

http://www.lulu.com/

Specifically I'm wondering about their reputation as a business. Reasonable people to work with, or 'for God's sake, NO'?

I've heard from a few guys from GS and MT. The feedback so far seems to be positive.

[Ian Moulding]

Thanks for the feedback. Their business model looks interesting, but how they set up their business is less mportant than how they deal with their clients.

[Nanda]

or as we lovinly call him.... Stinky.

*nudges Stinky* Psst... They're talking about you again...

[Psiogen]

I've used Lulu. Never run into any problems.

[McDuffies]

or as we lovinly call him.... Stinky.

I learned everything I need to know about gruesome sexual perversions from him.

[Cortland]

I've been wanting to do a Lulu book for ages, but I have a few questions and their website doesn't seem to have very clear answers. If I were to put together a small collection of comics, I want to know exactly how large each comic should be, what margins should be on the pages, if bleeds are possible (especially on the cover) and how those should be indicated on a PDF, and how much the book would cost once it's all put together.

Comixpress.com has much clearer answers to those formatting questions.

[Nanda]

or as we lovinly call him.... Stinky.

I learned everything I need to know about gruesome sexual perversions from him.

Me too!

[Andrew Hickey]

My uncle's published two (text) books with them and has had absolutely no complaints. The quality of the printing is excellent and he recommends them highly. I'm planning on using them for both my comic when it's done, and for a 'proper' book I'm writing...

[Faub]

Don't use lulu.com for anything smaller than 60 pages. Go to comixpress.com instead. They're cheaper for the smaller books than lulu.com and will host it just the same.

Comixpress prices:
- Full sized comic, 60 pages, Color everything, no ad = $11.85
- Full sized comic, 60 pages, Color cover, B&W everything else, no ad = $3.21
- Full sized comic, 60 pages, Color cover, B&W insides, add on back = $2.10
(buy 100, sell them for $4.50 each, not bad for a 60 page comic.)

Lulu prices for the same comic:
- Comic color, saddle stitched, 60 pages = $11.18 per book
- Comic B&W, saddle stitched, 60 pages = $8.39 per book

Comixpress.com prices:
- half sized comic, 28 pages, color everything, no ad = $3.12
- half sized comic, 28 pages, color cover, B&W everything else, no ad = $1.04
- half sized comic, 28 pages, color cover, B&W insides, add on back = $0.73
(buy 100, sell them for $2.50 each)

Lulu prices for same comic:
- 6x9 color, saddle stitched, 28 pages = $7.21 per book
- 6x9 B&W, saddle stitched, 28 pages = $3.48 per book

Prices are based on the online price calculators for
http://www.lulu.com/includes/calc_book_inc.php
http://www.comixpress.com/printing/

A 120 page, perfect bound, B&W 6x9 comic from lulu.com is $5.27 per book to print. Sell it for $12 and make a hefty profit ($5.38 per book).

[Lintjinks]

I've very much enjoyed using Lulu just for the no-hassle factor, it looks very professional, and the color version is especially high quality. I would only recommend the perfect paperback binding. I ordered one saddle-stitched to compare, and the saddle stitched covers don't look very good at all.

Also it helps that my books are between 90 and 140 pages and I use perfect paperback binding. I can't imagine a small book would work very well. So just write some essays and throw in some extra bonus art

[MixedMyth]

I've heard Lulu is reputable. But faub has a good point about pricing things out.

That reminds me, though, of another factor: how big the thing you're publishing is. Need to double check ComixPress. I seem to recall they can't publish anything beyond 60 pages, but I may have misread. *skitters off to check*

[Toxic]

Didn't she sing the theme song for The Man with the Golden Gun?

[War]

Yes, doing a black and white saddle stitched comic on lulu is a bad idea. The reason for the high cost is because the saddle stitcher is on a colour printer, so even if you want b/w it's still done on a colour printer and that pushes the cost up.

Lulu looks good for big comic books, but I don't know what the quality is like on those (they're done on a different printer to the saddle stitched ones).

[Mvmarcz]

Didn't she sing the theme song for The Man with the Golden Gun?

yes yes she did

[Dutch!]

Meanwhile, I instead recall her from To Sir With Love...