How to Publish a Paperback Book with Lulu

print_bookLulu specializes in print on demand items which include hardback books, paperback books, brochures, photo books, calendars, cookbooks, poetry books, ebooks, images, CDs, DVDs, and digital files. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a print on demand paperback book and set up a free Lulu shop.

You will need:

  • Book graphics (plus front and/or back images)
  • Prewritten Book – contents in .doc, .docx or.rtf, but preferably in.pdf. format
  • Adobe Acrobat is highly recommended; alternately you may use their conversion service and pay to have your document converted. This can cost $99 or more. You can also create a PDF version with Microsoft Word.

 

Step 1: Create a member account

Create a member account by supplying information including your:

  1. Full Name
  2. Email Address
  3. User Name
  4. Password
  5. Country
  6. Language

Read and agree to the Membership Agreement and click the signup button. You will be taken to your “My Lulu” dashboard.

 

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Scroll to the My Account section in the sidebar and edit your preferences.

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Step 2: Select your project

 

Under “Start a new project” click on Paperback book if you want to create one.

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Add a working title and your name.

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Select who has access. You may want to keep it private until you get a bit of practice.

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Click save and continue.

Step 3: Choose your project options

 

In this section you can select your preferences for your book’s paper type, size, binding, and printing color.

Paper

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This book will be approximately letter size.

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 Binding

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Color

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Click save and continue.

 

Step 4: Upload your PDF file

 

Check the PDF you’ve created, to make sure it meets the requirements for this book. If you want to make sure your PDF prints correctly, you may want to download this template in Word.

Once your document is formatted correctly, you may upload it.

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When your document is uploaded correctly and without errors, you should see a success message at the top of your page. If you don’t have fonts embedded or something else is wrong, you will see an error message instead.

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Click the “Make Print-Ready File” link. You’ll see a success message when it’s done and you’ll have a link to download and check it. Then click save and continue.

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Step 5: Add the book’s covers

 

Now you will be taken to a cover wizard where you can create your cover pages and add images. If you created a full image for the cover, you may want to upload it and then drag and drop it on to the front cover and just use solid colors for the back and spine.

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1. Select parts of the book to edit.

2. Choose background and text colors.

 

  • 3. Upload images to drag and drop into the photo areas.

 

When you’re done, click the preview and make print-ready button.

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When it’s finished, you’ll see a success message and two links for you to preview both the cover and the book’s content.

Review, click save and continue.

 

Step 6: Review your project

 

Review your project and make any needed changes. The items you can change have a “change” button beside it.

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After choosing the options you want, click the save and finish button.

You will then see a success page because your book has been published!

Next, you’ll need to set the preview for potential buyers.

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Step 7: Set custom preview

 

The default preview is up to 10 pages. You may or may not want people to view that many pages of your book.

Make your changes. Click save and continue.

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View the preview pages. Click the save and finish button. You then see the product page as potential customers would see it.

Once you have your book edited to your liking, you will need to change the private access (Step 6) so that you can set up your shop. Just go to your dashboard, click the revise next to the project and edit the access.

While you’re revising things, there is one more thing you’ll need to edit – your royalty fee! Click edit and add your royalty to the product price. Then click the “save changes” button.

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Before you log out, make sure you’ve edited all of your account settings so you’ll be sure and get paid. That’s all there is to setting up an account and creating a paperback book.