lulu | Self-Publishing Review

Author Solutions Buys Xlibris Creating a Self-Publishing Triumvirate

In a story from the Wall Street Journal, Author Solutions, Inc. has bought Xlibris, furthering the consolidation of the print on demand industry. Author Solutions now runs three of the most popular print on demand houses – AuthorHouse, iUniverse, and Xlibris. Eyebrows were raised when AuthorHouse joined forces with iUniverse, and this acquisition will have people raising the specter of “monopoly” and the potential for the three POD outlets to corner the market on print on demand publishing.

Generally, the three companies offer the same types of services. Unlike Lulu.com, which lets authors print up books one at a […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T21:24:37+02:00January 13th, 2009|Categories: News|

Self-Publishing Mistakes

Running a site devoted to self-publishing, for however short a period, I’ve gotten a quick sense into some of the mistakes self-publishers make when sending out a book. I don’t want to single anyone out here by linking to anyone, but I wanted to point these things out. It occurs to me as well that scathingly attacking a self-published writer makes little sense. After all, the writer is self-releasing the book at his or her own expense, and will struggle to find readers. Why bother attacking someone who’s already struggling to be read? That said, I wanted to point some […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T21:25:45+02:00January 10th, 2009|Categories: Features|

Mill City Press Review

The first thing you notice about Mill City Press is the quality of the website. It has a matte-quality similar to book covers of contemporary fiction – and something that most self-publishers do not offer, as most publishers only offer glossy covers. So Mill City’s website has the appearance of a traditional publisher, not a print on demand house. Mill City Press just sounds like a traditional publisher. One of the things we point out here in publisher reviews is that the less well-known self-publishers can actually pass for a legitimate publisher, unlike the major self-publishers like Lulu, iUniverse, and […]

Henry Baum2014-04-18T17:22:01+02:00January 10th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

Interview: Kristen Tsetsi, author of Homefront

Kristen Tsetsi’s Homefront (reviewed by the Self-Publishing Review) is one of the most moving and evocative portratits of people left back at home while their spouses fight overseas. Her own husband was stationed in Iraq. Here Kristen Tsetsi talks about the origins of the novel and her experience with self-publishing.

Self-Publishing Review: How did you come to self-publish? Did you try to get published traditionally?

Kristen Tsetsi: I did try the traditional route. I sent an initial series of queries, the first three of which were (to my great excitement) met with requests for first chapters. Once the first […]

Henry Baum2018-05-15T16:06:12+02:00January 9th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Homefront by Kristen Tsetsi

There’s something about discovering a great self-published novel that’s different than discovering a novel that’s traditionally published, no matter how small the press. On the hand, you’re happy to have found something good, on the other hand you think, “Why did this have to be self-published?” For anyone who thinks that if a book is great it will find a publisher is just wrong and Kristen Tsetsi’s Homefront is the perfect example.

It may be understandable why the novel didn’t find takers – though the novel’s about the biggest thing imaginable, war, there’s no great overwhelming dramatic arc – no […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T21:27:36+02:00January 9th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Print on Demand vs. Print Run Publishing

Print on demand makes sense for the vast majority of self-published writers – especially fiction writers. The average sales for a self-published book of fiction is 30 copies, and that might be generous. If you sell 100 copies or over, you’ve done very well. 500 is extraordinary and anything over 1000 is in the stratosphere. That’s the plain truth: if your book is not in bookstores, it’s much harder to unload copies of your book.

It’s a very tactile experience picking up a book, leafing through it, and finally making a decision to buy the book. A book is an […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T21:33:37+02:00January 7th, 2009|Categories: Resources|

Selfpublishing.com Review

You have to imagine that a site with the URL Selfpublishing.com gets a lot of traffic – it comes up first in Google results for “Self-Publishing.” That’s impressive but how’s the actual service? Overall, Selfpublishing.com offers well-priced packages that include services such as marketing, which makes Selfpublishing.com a good to choice to print a book. Though SelfPublishing.com is affiliated with an online bookstore, like every self-publishing service, the recommended use of selfpublishing.com is if your interested in starting an imprint, rather than publishing a book with AuthorHouse or iUniverse, which will bear the stamp of those presses.

What this means […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T21:34:25+02:00January 6th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

Publishing a Book with Cafe Press

Let’s just start off this review by stating that you shouldn’t publish a book with Cafe Press. Of course, this depends on your overall plans for the book – but if you’re serious about marketing a book, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, Cafe Press is not a place to publish your book. Even if you’re looking for a free self-publishing service, Cafe Press is not necessarily the right choice when compared to other self-publishers.

The closest comparison to Cafe Press is Lulu – as writers can upload a book and cover and order one book at a time, rather […]

Henry Baum2018-10-29T12:14:36+02:00January 6th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

Wheatmark Books Review

Wheatmark is unique among self-publishers: it’s a kind of hybrid self-publisher/publisher. Not that they turn anyone away – which is the main dividing line between a traditional publisher and a self-publisher – but they do give each author more personal contact. So Wheatmark acts as a traditional publisher would: they try to help books get sold. As a business model, this makes sense – if books get into the hands of more people, more new authors will want to sign up for the press.

Otherwise, self-publishing is kind of an isolated process. On the one hand, this is good news: […]

Henry Baum2009-12-31T21:37:45+02:00January 6th, 2009|Categories: Publisher Reviews|

Creating a Self-Publishing Imprint

Creating a self-publishing imprint can reduce the stigma of self-releasing your own book. Instead of having your book on one of the major self-publishing sites (Lulu, AuthorHouse), you can instead choose to print up your books independently under your own company brand. Alternately, you could use a major self-publisher like Lulu to handle the printing and processing of your book and create your own separate imprint – possibly with its own website and list of authors. A self-publishing imprint really depends on how it’s marketed: as an independent entity or part of a larger self-publishing site.

Note: Technically, a […]