Lulu is not just for print on demand books, it's also a widely-respected ebook publisher. For ebook writers who don't want to start and market their own website for their ebook, using Lulu is a viable option. The requirements on formatting are strict, but the commission fees are reasonable and Lulu gets a lot of traffic from interested ebook buyers.
Selling an Ebook Through Lulu
Lulu publishes ebooks that are priced by the writer at whatever price point he chooses. There are no fees charged to the writer by Lulu to host the book or set up the account. The hosting is free, but there is a commission fee for sales.
Writers have the option of giving away downloads of their ebook for free. For some marketers, this is a valuable way to have free hosting for their promotional materials or even for their portfolios. In those cases, Lulu charges no commission.
When the writer sets a download price for an ebook, Lulu charges a 25 percent commission fee. There is the option of making the ebook available on a print-on-demand basis, but it's not required to do so.
Ebook Publishing
Lulu publishes ebooks that the writer has converted into a PDF file, but the site will convert a file to a PDF if needed. There are font and sizing requirements in place for files that Lulu will convert to PDF. The major consideration in formatting is making it easily readable. For this reason, Lulu has a required list of fonts and margins to use to increase readability.
What to Publish on Lulu
There are no content requirements when publishing a Lulu ebook. Some Lulu writers publish their fiction through the site. Others publish calendars or picture books. The ebooks are generally oriented toward nonfiction, but it isn’t a requirement. To get a feel for what ebooks are popular through the site, take a look at the Lulu best sellers.
There is no minimum page length for ebooks, so it is possible to publish short stories, novellas and essays through the site.
Marketing a Lulu Ebook
The site does extensive marketing to bring in ebook buyers, but to raise sales, many writers engage in their own off-site ebook marketing. This can consist of blog posting related to the ebook, starting an informational website that links to the purchase of the ebook or article marketing. Some writes also use pay-per-click ads to draw interested buyers to the ebook purchasing page.
