How to Write & Publish an eBook and Sell It for Profit
eBooks
At Lulu you’re free to create all sorts of remarkable works from photo books and cookbooks, to calendars and eBooks. Today, we’re going to focus on teaching you how to publish your very own paperback, hardcover print or eBook that you can sell to the millions of customers in the Lulu Marketplace, Amazon, and retail stores around the world.
Let’s begin by visiting the “publish” tab at Lulu.com. You can select from a range of products such as photo books and eBooks, but for today let’s focus on paperback and hardcover books.
Step 1: Getting Started
Click the “books” tab. Here you can look over all your paper, binding, and size options. Once you’re ready, click the “start publishing” button, which will launch the publishing wizard.
Step 2: Selecting Paperback or Hardcover
In the wizard, you can choose to create a paperback or hardcover book. The process is similar, but today, we’ll select “make a paperback book.”
Step 3: Title and Author Name
On the “Start a New Project” page, enter your book’s title along with your author name. And decide if you want to make you book available to the general public. Click “save & continue.”
Tip: You can change your book’s availability and add an ISBN at anytime, but it’s important to note ISBNs can only be applied to certain book sizes.
Note to videographer – make public
Step 4: Choose Your Project Options
In this step you’ll apply your preferred paper type, sizing, binding, and choose a color or black and white interior. You can get an estimate of your book’s manufacturing cost using the cost calculator in the upper right hand corner. Click “save & continue.”
Step 5: ISBNs
You’ll need an ISBN to sell through retail channels around the world. You can add your own, or get a free ISBN from Lulu. Click “save & continue” to view all your ISBN options and you can save a copy of your ISBN to your computer.
Step 6: Add Your Files
You can upload Microsoft Word files, PDFs, RTFs, or Images such as .jpg, gif, and .png files by clicking the “browse” button. Once uploaded, you’ll see your file in the “Project files” section. Click “make print ready file.”
Step 7: Making Your Print-Ready File
If you’ve uploaded anything other than a PDF, we’ll convert your file to PDF for you. Review your PDF for errors, then click “save & continue.”
Step 8: Creating Your Cover
You can upload a cover designed by yourself, or you can pick from one of hundreds of our pre-made templates and themes that’ll make your work really stand out. Further customize your work by adding images from your computer. Click “upload your images,” then drag and drop onto your cover. Rotate, resize, and add text as needed. When finished, click “preview and make print-ready cover.” If everything looks good, click the “make print-ready cover” button.
Step 9: Making Your Print-Ready Cover
Once your cover is converted to a print-ready file, review your PDF for errors, then click “save & continue.”
Step 10: Describe Your Project
Select your book’s category, enter in any keywords to help customers find your work more easily, and add your description so readers will know what your book is about. You can also set language, copyright notice,license, and edition, and you can pick a publisher imprint for your work. Once finished, click “save and continue.”
Step 11: Pick Your Price
You’re free to set the price for your work beyond the manufacturing cost and you get to keep 80% of the profits. Once you set your price, you’ll see a breakdown of how much you’ll make on every sale through the Lulu Marketplace, as well as any other retail channels you may have selected. Once you’ve picked a competitive price, click “review project.”
Step 12: Review Your Project
Lastly, you’ll be able to review your settings and make any changes by clicking the “change” button located in any given section. Once you’ve gotten everything just the way you like it, click the “save and finish” button and you’ve successfully published a book on Lulu, ready to be sold to millions of customers all over the world. You can then view your book’s product page, purchase a copy of your work, or customize a preview for your readers.
Did you know?: Author Mark Twain originally self-published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884 by selling door to door. This work would go on to be called the first “Great American Novel.”
Join this LinkedIn Group about: Benefits of eBooks
How To Publish an eBook
This video focuses on teaching you how to publish your very own eBook that you can sell to millions of customers around the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vgXpxFQhoI
How to publish and sell a print book with Lulu.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBmsWTwPBCk
