Wanting to move away for the other thread perhaps we can use this one to discuss those loosely related topics that were aired.
Peter asks "Why buy a Lulu book?" and Simon states "I then realised they are completely invisible to non-members of Lulu who are browsing the site."
This prompts me to ask how many non Lulu'ers, i.e. those who don't write or publish books actually browse lulu.com to look for titles?
What would prompt just book readers and buyers, excluding those who may have already purchased a Lulu printed book, to come to the Lulu site?
In fact what proportion of book buyers buy from the web?
For those who do is not more likely that they find books of interest listed on the main retail channel sites of Amazon and the like?
A quick search for books on 'Cornish History' gave me ten pages of Google search with not a mention of Lulu. However changing the search to 'Cornish History Chris Bond' did bring Lulu and Wiki up straight away.
So perhaps not 'Why a Lulu book' but 'Who buys Lulu books and how?'
I am pretty sure that lulu makes most of its money from authors buying their own books. I can't imagine trying to find something that would interest me by looking at either the top sellers or the front page recommendations. The website just isn't set up to promote what it offers for sale. But then fair enough, that is very much the job of the individual. However when I first thought of lulu I imagined they would put in much more effort looking through work submitted on the site and promoting it for sale. Then I realised that wouldn't be really worth their effort as if they did discover a sensation it'd be oh so easy for a real publisher to come in and take them away. So it's a bit of a dead end; either a online book publishin site moderates submissions and tries to promote them like a normal publisher (unlikely to make money when up agaisnt the big players), or it is a free for all and it's all down to the individul user (in this case the site will probably make some money from people buying their own products).
I'd love to see some official figures but I would think that Lulu sales are almost all authors buying their own work, friends/family of those authors or fellow authors.
If I had not been an author myself I don't think I would have even looked at their web page :-(
I always say that I tend to buy a 50-50 split of mainstream and self pubbies work these days. However, looking at my bedside table it is now more like 90-10 in favour of independents - and with the exception of one title, all writing has been up there with many mainstream titles!
taff
So far about 90% of the sales of my titles have been those I have ordered myself for interested parties. My books should be in the local libraries within the next two weeks so sales to other persons may improve through this, but I doubt by much. I have no distribution deal with Lulu so my titles don't appear on Amazon etc. I imagine that, as Simon states, most Lulu sales are to authors/publishers, but there are probably some who have a higher ratio for external sales. Susan may possibly be one such.
"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." ~ André Gide
I wonder how non-author sales have been affected by the recent upping of Lulu prices to fall in line with the high profit margins demanded by the on-line booksellers. I wonder too how many Lulu authors are now using E-bay or selling from their own websites to offer potential buyers a realistic price for their products. My 72-page paperback poetry book is priced by Lulu at £9.95. I don't think Seamus Heaney would sell many copies at that price.
I think the lowering of the postage prices by Lulu for up to three items has probably helped to offset this. Though, obviously, this would change if the special postage rate was ended. I still suspect that most of those taking advantage of this new postage rate are authors/publishers themselves, but I have had a few orders since this was introduced. I am considering putting a few of the paperback versions of my books onto my eBay shop, and may try the hardbacks if this goes okay. The low postage rate for small orders make this seem quite viable at the moment. I'm sure that Taff could give some advice as to how good an option this actually is.
"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." ~ André Gide
At shop stock prices it is silly not to have a listing up there almost permanently.
However, ebay is a strange place for book sales. After selling 20 copies in ten months of The Spider Gem I have sold none in three.
The Indie Bookshop I now run average around a book a week and has sold 12 books in 11 weeks.
Fiction does no where near as well as non-fiction both from hits and sales.
Apart from two books all the sales to date have been non-fiction.
Of coruse, with shop stock listings costing as little as 3p for 30 days, one sale will pay for a listing for quite some time :-)
Better results are enjoyed when listing books as Auction or Fixed Price, bu thten the listing fees are much higher and can only be placed for a maximum of three days. With SPider I tend to mix and match sometimes running it as shop stock but occassionally firiing out a Fixed price listing.
Good luck whichever way you go.
taff
Chris wrote
I think the lowering of the postage prices by Lulu for up to three items has probably helped to offset this. Though, obviously, this would change if the special postage rate was ended.
When I saw the special postage rate described as a "promotion" I wondered what the end date was.
From the email from Henry Hutton about the offer
"Offer valid 4/27/07-7/27/07."
Of course Lulu could decide to extend of amend the offer after after 27 July, but then again…………
Also Lulu's printing prices have gone up a little. I recently published a second version of one of my books. The two books are identical size; the price to me of the version published over a year ago is £5.11 and of thbe new version £5.58.
Susan
