Print book retailers have established minimum requirements to ensure they can print your book correctly and efficiently using their system and printing network. In order to make your print book available through Lulu’s Global Distribution service, all requirements from all retailers must be met.


Failure to comply with any of these standards can result in rejection from our Global Distribution service. This includes any noncompliant file settings, content, or metadata.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Distribution Limitations

All retail distributors manage their own retail sites and requirements. Lulu’s distribution requirements reflect the minimums and standards we’ve received from these retailers. But any retailer may, at their own discretion, update, amend, remove, or otherwise alter these requirements at any time and without notification. In the event of a discrepancy between Lulu’s requirements and a retailer’s, the retailer's requirements will supersede the list that follows.


Restrictions are as follows:

  • Content must be published in an available Distribution-eligible language.
    • You will be limited to languages that are eligible for Distribution on the Start step after selecting the goal “Global Distribution”.
  • Content cannot be published with Premium Black and White Interior Ink as a selection.
  • Coil binding is not an option for any size.
  • See our article Global Distribution Print Exclusions to learn about which sets of products are eligible for Amazon and not Ingram, and vice versa.
  • Public Domain - content that is freely available elsewhere, including but not limited to public domain material, content aggregated from online sources, and content that is identical to existing publications by other authors or publishers is not eligible for Global Distribution.

Proof Copy

Every print book submitted to our Global Distribution service must first be reviewed and approved by you. Doing so helps minimize delays when submitting your work to our distribution partners and ensures you have reviewed your project.


It is not possible to change the book specifications of a project in distribution once it has been published.

File Standards

All print books must be created from two (2) files: a PDF interior and a PDF cover. The source file must be well-formatted and Lulu is not responsible for the design, layout, or any other aspect of the converted PDF.


To ensure your PDFs meet our distribution requirements, we recommend creating a PDF from your own word processing or page layout software. The following standards should be maintained when creating your PDF:

  • Ensure that all fonts are properly embedded in your PDFs.
  • All layers must be flattened and all vector images must be rasterized.
  • Your PDF should be a single-page layout.
  • Do NOT include trim or bleed marks in your PDF
  • Recommended file size less than 500 MB.

Content Standards

Lulu does not read or review the specific contents of your file. As part of our distribution review, our team and our retail partners must review the file to ensure it is properly formatted and can be printed correctly by all retailer’s printers.


Content Requirements:

  • Your Interior PDF must have a Title page with accurate metadata including:
    • Title/Subtitle
    • Author
  • Your Interior PDF must have a Copyright page with accurate metadata including:
    • Title/Subtitle
    • Author
    • Copyright Date
    • Print Book ISBN
  • The Copyright page must come after the Title page.
  • No more than two (2) consecutive blank pages are allowed. Content such as “Page Intentionally Left Blank” or lines for note-taking are accepted.
  • Page numbering must be correct. No page numbers may be skipped or repeated. A page can go without a number, but it must be counted and consistent. Each page must have only one page number. If you include a table of contents, pagination in your PDF must match the pagination in the table of contents.
  • Text and Images should not overlap or be layered in such a way that the content is obscured.
  • Images should be high-quality, clear, and complete. A blurry, pixelated, or cut-off image will cause your book to be rejected.
  • Images, tables, charts, or maps with text must be clearly readable.
  • The Interior PDF color must match the metadata. If you select color printing when creating your project, the Interior PDF should also be in full color.
  • The language in your Interior PDF must match the language selected in the metadata.
  • If your Interior PDF uses a Header, any instances of the author, title, or subtitles must match the metadata.
  • Each retailer reserves the right to select the genre for your book. We recommend selecting the most accurate genre when creating your book on Lulu to help retailers correctly classify your book.
  • Erotica or adult content must be categorized appropriately.
    • Explicit content, as defined in the Lulu membership agreement and superseded by any retailer's standards, may cause an immediate rejection.
  • All content must comply with Lulu’s membership agreement.

Title and Copyright Page Example

If you decide to sell your book using Global Distribution, your interior content must include a title page and a copyright page.


The title page comes before the copyright page. Your interior PDF must have a title page with accurate metadata including:

  • Title: Subtitle
  • Author


Example:

Your Book Title: Subtitle

Author Name


The copyright page comes after the title page. Your interior PDF must have a copyright page with accurate metadata including:

  • Title: Subtitle
  • Author
  • Copyright date
  • Print book ISBN


You, as the creator, are both the copyright holder and publisher of all works created and distributed using the tools and services available on the Lulu.com website. When creating your copyright page, you should list yourself as the copyright holder and publisher.


Example:

Copyright © 2021 YOUR NAME. All rights reserved.

Published by YOUR NAME / COMPANY NAME

ISBN 123-4-567891-01-2

Title / Subtitle

Your title and subtitle must match anywhere they appear, including the cover, title page, copyright, individual page headers, and elsewhere in your Cover and Interior PDFs.

  • The title and subtitle must be 200 total characters or less.
  • Only use Latin Character sets for the title and subtitle.

Author Information

The author, illustrator, editor, or any other credit given to an individual or group who participated in the creation of your book must follow these requirements:

  • First name should appear before the last name.
  • Author names must be correctly spelled and capitalized on the Cover PDF, within the Interior PDF, and in your metadata.
  • Do not enter author names in all capital letters.
  • Retailers list up to five (5) contributors including author, editor, illustrator, and artist. Please list all contributors individually.

Description

Your print book’s description is used by retailers and Lulu to give potential readers information about your book and to help them decide whether or not to purchase your book. Be sure to carefully review the requirements for your description, as these rules are specific and must be adhered to.

  • Your description must be unique to the book and must accurately describe the contents.
    • Do not use a generic description for multiple print book projects
  • Do not use the title, subtitle, or other metadata as the description.
  • Your description must consist of at least 50 characters, excluding blank spaces.
  • Your description cannot contain any advertisements or hyperlinks.
  • References to pricing for the book cannot be included.
  • Do not use HTML tags or other text formatting for the description.
  • No mention of included materials (EX: CDs, posters, etc.).
  • Your description cannot upsell a more complete version of the book.
  • Do not mislead buyers or misrepresent your book in the description (EX: Calling your book ‘Illustrated Guide’ but including no illustrations or images).

Keywords

Keywords must be less than 50 characters. Keywords that exceed the maximum character limit will be removed from the distribution partners' listings.

ISBN & Metadata

Your title, subtitle, and author information all constitute metadata. For clarity, all required metadata is listed here. This is not an inclusive list of all data or content that may be considered metadata for the purposes of categorizing your book, but if any of the information listed below is missing, inaccurate, or inconsistent, your print book will be rejected.

  • Title
  • Subtitle
  • Author
  • Copyright notice with date
  • ISBN
  • Description

Cover PDF

Your Cover PDF must be a single page PDF sized to the specifications provided by Lulu.


Note: The cover spine width for Lulu's print network and our distribution partners varies slightly. To accommodate this variance, we require a Lulu Bookstore Cover and a Distribution Cover.


We provide a template for each cover file with the specific spine width required.


Additional requirements for your Cover PDF include:

  • The title, subtitle, and author must appear on the cover and match exactly your print book’s metadata.
  • Cover text must use Latin character sets.
  • All text and images must be high resolution (300 ppi). Please be sure the images or text are not blurry or overlapping other elements on the cover (including the barcode).
  • No mention of included materials (EX: CDs, posters, etc.).
  • Your cover cannot upsell a more complete version of the book.
  • Do not mislead buyers or misrepresent your book on the cover (EX: Calling your book ‘Illustrated Guide’ but including no illustrations or images).
  • Your description cannot contain any advertisements or hyperlinks.
  • Spine text must be at least .0625" / 0.159 cm away from all edges of the spine.
  • Do not include spine text on your cover if the book has fewer than 100 pages.
  • The cover must have the correct 13-digit ISBN/EAN barcode, provided in black on a white background; Sized at 2" (50.8 mm) wide, 1.2" (30.5 mm) tall, and positioned at least 0.25" (6 mm) away from the cover’s edge.
  • If including the retail price on the Cover PDF, it must exactly match the retail price for the book. Lulu will not add the price to the book cover and we strongly recommend you do NOT include a price on your Cover PDF.


Note: Ingram may exclude your title from their channel if it is priced at $125 USD or higher.