in praise of lulu

i got a copy of kester's book sic at the weekend.

in case you don't remember or missed the series of posts kester has published sic via lulu. lulu is a site created for people wanting to self publish. you create a word or pdf file, upload it and lulu publish your book - people can order online and you make a royalty on each sale (amount decided by you). there's no big outlay for publishing a minimum number of books. i loved the idea when kester told me about it but wondered what the book would actually look like. well i am impressed - it looks fabulous - hardback with a colour sleeve/jacket and the print is good. it looks like any other hardback book... this is a publishing revolution. kester is an early adopter i'm sure but i can really see this taking off. and rumour has it that lulu will be setting up in the uk as well (currently the cost of postage from the usa is offputting).

sic is a record of kester's blog entries and comments on them through 2005. i think he got it done so he had a record for himself but it makes an excellent book. i really recommend you getting a copy. it made me realise...

• even though i follow kester's blog via a newsreader and track the conversation on certain posts i have tended to skip a lot of things. having  a hard copy helps me digest it in a different way. this is partly indicative of my busy life - it's hard to keep up with everything. but i must do this with so many other blogs as well.
• because blogs are quite an immediate format - read today and down the page tomorrow - it's easy to forget that some of the content, the issues being wrestled with and the theologising going on is simply amazing. some of the content on kester's blog is fantastic  - the series on leadership and the spirit in the emerging church are prime examples. since reading the book this weekend my mind is buzzing about leadership in the emerging church.

sic makes a great book - it doesn't sound like it would - a year of blog entries?! but it does. i read the whole thing cover to cover in a weekend... and it is a great follow up to the complex christ which is of course what kester set the blog up to be. hardback | paperback | order via kester from uk

so thanks kester for blazing the trail. you've got me thinking about if and what i should publish via lulu...

Technorati Tags: lulu, selfpublishing

Comments

[brian]

I've wanted to check out lulu for a while, seems like a solid self-publishing platform. I've wondered what a blog would read like in book form.

[Fernando Gros]

The idea of publishing blogs is a good one, especially if the book can pick up on comments and maybe tap into posts from other blogs when a topic goes viral. It's a new way of writing, maybe a new way of editing as well (do we have a word that is the literary equivalent of sampling?).

I'm also keen on anything that subverts the current structures of publishing and distribution. The blogosphere keeps surprising me with great voices and ideas from folks who probably never would have come close to a conventional book contract.

However, I'm still not sure about lulu, or about POD in the current format. It looks too much like vanity publishing and that has issues for the long term for a writer. I keep wondering if what we need, along with the technological breakthrough of lulu/pod is more guerilla/grassroots publishers who will use the lower overheads and barriers to entry as a way to take on riskier and more interesting publishing projects. Or, is the future simply that we all become our own publishers?

[jonny]

fernando - say a bit more about your concerns in the long term for a writer?...

[Mark Berry]

The reason I am tempted to get a copy is that Kester tends to post pretty long and 'complex' entries... and if I don't have time to read them that day I kind of get behind... we are thinking of doing one in the summer as W.O.W. is a journal of our project so we would then have a record of the first years journey for non-bloggers.

[Fernando Gros]

The two main issues are hurdles to a work being picked up by a publisher in the future and the ownership of the digital images used to make the book (rather than the copyright). I did a little looking into POD a while back because some stuff from the creative worship ministry in the 90s that I wanted to make available. The impression (this was not Lulu) was that to ever republish that (say a few years down the road), I would have to do so in a different format, which defeated the purpose since I wanted to publish the materials used (slides etc). It also seems important to keep options open for future publishing of the work, without the need for major revision. Publishers I have spoken to don't like the idea of dealing with stuff that has been through a vanity press. It might be less of an issue for an established writer, but for a nobody it looks like trouble.

I need to look a little more at the fine print with Lulu as I get the impression they are trying to be a little more open and author-oriented, but I'm still very wary, especially after the courtcases with some vanity presses in the US. It's all about the hidden strings.

[djchuang]

I'm on the verge of clicking publish for a book I've been editing on behalf of an organization I work for, and I'm glad to hear of the praise for Lulu.com -- they are the POD service I'm looking to go with.

I read Fernando's concern, and I agree that one has to read the fine print. From what I've read at the Lulu.com website, the copyright and ownership of the digital image remains with the author. The problem of long-term implications is more of an issue with some (many? most?) traditional publishers than an issue with the POD service.

from http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fSymbol=lulu_basics_faq#otherco

"Can I use Lulu in conjunction with another publishing company?"
Lulu doesn't restrict the marketing of your work, but other companies may do so. Make sure you understand the terms and conditions of all the businesses you deal with. We urge authors to take advantage of all the sales venues available to them and to share their successes with us and with other authors.

"Who is the publisher — me or Lulu?"
You are the publisher. Lulu makes no claims or restrictions on the ownership of your work. You are free to offer your work elsewhere or to remove it from Lulu at any time.

If you utilize one of Lulu's distribution services, Lulu will appear as the publisher of record. This will allow stores to order your product directly from Lulu.

[jonny]

thanks dj - hlepful stuff. good luck with the publishing... must get myself organised!