Lulu provides new and experienced authors a means to create the right print book for their market and their fans’ bookshelves. You can choose from our most popular formats or design your own book from our unmatched selection of sizes and bindings.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Before Publishing

You will upload your print book manuscript as a properly formatted PDF file. The file must contain all interior content, including a title page, copyright, table of contents, manuscript, index, etc. with the page size set to the book size you intend to create.


For your book cover, you can use the Create Your Cover tool or upload your own cover as a PDF file.

Start Your Project

Before you even enter the book’s title or upload your manuscript, we suggest starting with the Pricing page to view book formats, paper, and print options as well as price estimates.


When you are ready, Lulu walks you through the six-step process of creating your book. You may stop at any time and your progress will be saved automatically. To access projects that are in progress, click My Projects in the header. Then click on your project title to continue creating.


Pro Tip: Publishing steps are displayed below the page header. Completed steps are designated by a check mark above the step name. Click the next incomplete step to quickly return to where you left off. Or, click through the publishing tool screens to review your previous selections.


To publish your book, choose a Product Type:

  • Print Book - Choose from a wide range of paper, color, and binding options.
  • Photo Book - Featuring the highest quality paper and rich color ink, our photo books highlight the best of Lulu's print options.
  • Comic Book - Bring your art to life in black & white or rich color in traditional comic book size.
  • Magazine - Create beautiful magazines with rich color printing on paper stock designed for magazines.
  • Yearbook - For schools and institutions, a print-on-demand yearbook provides flexibility at a fraction of the cost.
  • Ebook - Create an ebook from your PDF or EPUB file ready for viewing on an eReader, tablet, or smartphone.


Select a Goal:

  • Do you want to publish your book?
    • Lulu Bookstore - Do you want to sell it in the Bookstore?
    • Global Distribution - Do you want to distribute it online through major online retailers?
    • Lulu Direct - Do you want to sell it on your site or ecommerce store?
  • Do you want to print copies for your own use?


Enter Book Details:

        1. Title

        2. Language

        3. Category

  1. Enter your book's Title. The title entered here must match all metadata and files. It does not need to be matching the Project title entered at the Start step.
  2. Enter a Subtitle, if needed.
  3. Edition Information such as first edition, illustrated edition, annotated edition, etc.
  4. Contributors - Enter the author's name as well as other contributors such as co-authors, editors, illustrators, etc. Note: Our Bookstore will show up to two contributors underneath the title. All contributor names are listed under the book Details.
  5. Copyright License - If you plan to distribute your book to online retail sites, you must select a copyright license to protect your author’s rights.
  6. International Standard Book Number (ISBN)- An ISBN is required for retail distribution. You can use a free Lulu ISBN or use one you purchased. Once the ISBN is assigned, we provide a barcode in SVG, PNG, and PDF formats you can download to add to your back cover if you upload your own cover. If you create your cover with our cover tool, the barcode will be added to the back cover. To assign your own ISBN, choose I have my own ISBN, then follow the steps below:
  1. Enter the ISBN and your publishing company or imprint name.
  2. Complete the remaining fields with the same information provided when purchasing and registering the ISBN.
  3. We will confirm the authenticity of the ISBN to confirm your ownership based on the information provided above.

Design Your Book

  1. Interior File Upload - Your Interior file must be a PDF that includes all interior content for your project such as title page, copyright page, table of contents, body, index, etc. For detailed PDF creation instructions, see our Book Creation Guide.
  2. If something doesn’t seem right - such as the displayed number of pages or available book sizes, review your PDF file, make any necessary changes, and click Replace your PDF to upload the revised file.
  3. Book Specifications - The book sizes and formats available to you in this step are determined by the page size and number of pages in the PDF you upload. 
    1. Book Size and Page Count are determined by your uploaded PDF file. If you do not see your desired book size or format, review the properties and page size settings in your PDF file. Adjust as necessary and re-upload the file. 
    2. Interior Color - Using the examples for guidance, choose the print quality you want for the interior pages of your book. Note: if you have one page in your book that you want printed in color, the entire book will be printed and priced as if every page is printed in color. 
    3. Paper Type - The interior color options selected above determine the paper color and quality options available for selection in this step. Pro Tip: If you selected Color Premium above, you should consider selecting the 80# Coated White paper to prevent ink from bleeding through the paper. 
    4. Book Binding - Select the binding type you want for this book. The available options are based on book size and number of pages. 
    5. Cover Finish - Choose between a glossy and matte print finish. 


This is the manufacturing cost to print your book. It is determined based on the number of pages, the selections you made in the Book Design steps, and your current location. If you edit these selections to change the ink, paper, binding, and cover options, the print cost will be recalculated.


Why does my location matter? 

While Lulu works hard to provide high-quality printing around the world, production and labor costs vary by country.


4. Design Your Cover - We have two options available to help you with cover creation! You can create a book cover using our fully customizable cover creation tool! It allows you to select from a variety of cover layouts and designs that you can customize with text and imagery.


See: Lulu's Cover Tool Guide


You can also design and upload your own book cover. Make sure you get it right the first time by downloading the Lulu book cover template we create for you. It includes the exact cover dimensions for your book based on the number of pages, paper, and cover type you selected in the steps above. It also displays the safety zone, trim area, and where to place your ISBN barcode.


See: Upload Your Cover File


Preview

Before you move on to the next step, use the preview tool to review your book cover and interior layout. Use the sliders above the preview pane to view margins, page trim, and cover fold lines. Click the arrows in the preview pane to turn the pages and see how your book will look when printed.

  1. Book Cover - Ensure essential design elements are not trimmed or folded over the binding. Also review the title, image, and spine text elements for placement and correct spelling.
  2. Interior Pages - Confirm your page numbering is correct and that odd-numbered pages in the preview are on the right. Also, review your margins and the page trim areas to ensure no crucial elements will be lost during printing and binding. If you notice anything unexpected or out of place, stop here and review your cover and/or interior PDF files. Make adjustments as necessary and re-upload the file(s).

Project Details

In this step, you will describe your book and add other details so that readers can find and buy it online.

  1. Description - Enter a synopsis or brief description of your book. The text entered here will be displayed on your book’s product page in the Lulu Bookstore and retail sites online. Your book description introduces your book to new readers. Make sure your first impression is a good one by carefully proofreading the text.
  2. Contributor Notes (optional) - Enter information about the author and contributors such as related works, websites, social media profiles, and other notable achievements to help readers find you and your book.
  3. Table of Contents (optional) - Add your book’s table of contents as a comma delimited list (items separated by commas). This extra step is especially helpful for text and reference books you sell through our Global Distribution network. While the table of contents will not display on your product page, it will help people search by specific terms to locate your book.


Categories and Keywords

Think of categories as the labels on the bookshelves at your favorite bookstore. The categories applied to your book in this step determine the digital “bookshelf” on which your book will appear in online bookstores.


  1. Lulu Bookstore Category - This is the category under which your book will be cataloged in the Lulu Bookstore.
  2. BISAC Main Category - Book Industry Standards and Communication (BISAC) categories are the lists of standard book subjects. This category is used to catalog and “shelve” your book properly in online bookstores. Simply start typing a book category and a list of matching options display for selection. You must choose or enter at least one main BISAC category if you wish to sell your book through our Global Distribution partners.
  3. BISAC Categories 2 and 3 - Further refine your categories with additional categories and sub-categories.
  4. Keywords - If someone was searching for your book, what search terms do you imagine they would use? Enter a list of keywords here, separated by commas. Use terms that are distinct and specific to your book and avoid general keywords that could describe any book. At least one keyword is required for books sold through our Global Distribution partners.


Audience

Who is your intended audience for this book? Select an audience from the provided list. An audience designation is required for books sold through our Global Distribution partners.


Let your audience know if your book includes explicit content. If your book is intended specifically for adults, check the box and select the type of adult content it contains.

Pricing and Payees

Set Retail Price

The retail price for your book is calculated by adding the production cost, retail fees, and your profit. There are two ways to set your retail price.

  1. Enter a revenue goal per book sold. We’ll calculate and display the retail price per book in each retail channel.
  2. Or, set a fixed list price in each currency. The list price must be greater than or equal to the displayed minimum price. We’ll calculate and display the revenue you can expect to earn in each currency.


Set Payees

If the sale of your book generates revenue, we need to know who gets it and where to send the payment. You can select from previously entered payees or click Create a New Payee to create a new payment profile. You may create payee profiles for everyone who will get paid from the sale of this book including yourself, co-authors, editors, illustrators, your publisher, agent, etc.


To create a new payee profile:

  1. Click Create a New Payee on the Prices and Payees screen.
  2. Enter Payee information.
  3. Select the currency in which you want to receive payment.
  4. Select payment options
    • PayPal - Requires an active PayPal account. Monthly payments are made directly to your PayPal account when revenue equals or exceeds $5.00 US dollars or the equivalent in your preferred currency.
    • Check - Quarterly payments are mailed to the Payee’s address when revenue equals or exceeds $20.00 US dollars or the equivalent in your preferred currency.


To complete tax-related information:

  1. Enter your Social Security Number or Tax ID number depending on your country of residency.
  2. Download and complete the required tax forms.
    1. W-9 for US citizens
    2. W-8 BEN for other nationalities
  3. You can upload the completed and signed forms or mail them to the displayed address.
  4. Standard US tax withholding will be applied to all revenue until completed tax forms are received.


Click Create Payee to complete the Payee profile.


You can add multiple payees for each project, but make sure you set and double check the percentage share of the revenue they will receive from each sale. The total of the shares must add up to 100%.

Complete

Note: If you cannot progress to this step, it is likely you missed a required step along the way. Please review all previous steps for missing information then return to this final step.


Carefully review each section. This is your last chance to make changes before completing the book creation process. If you discover something you would like to change, click the Revise button to return to that step. Once you make your updates, you can return to the final step by clicking the Review step in the page header. Finally, click on the Confirm and Publish button to complete your project.

Retail Options

The retail options in this step are determined by the choices you made previously.

  • No option - If you choose to simply print your book, no retail options are displayed.
  • Private Access - Only you can purchase this book from the My Projects page in your Lulu account.
  • Select Access - This book can be purchased from the Lulu Bookstore; however, you will have to provide customers with a direct URL to the book. They will not be able to find it by searching the bookstore. This type of access is great for specialty content, limited editions, pre-publication sales, or pricing promotions where you advertise and provide a link to your customers through social media, blog, or email advertising.
  • General Access - This book will be available for purchase in the Lulu Bookstore within minutes of publishing. Anyone in the Lulu Bookstore can search for, view, and purchase this book.
  • Global Distribution- This book will be sent to our global distribution partners for review if all requirements are met. Once accepted for distribution, the book will be available for purchase in online bookstores around the world.
  • Lulu Direct: Use Lulu Direct to connect your new Book to your ecommerce store. Get connected and start selling your Book on your own site today!


Finally, you can click on Order Copies of Your Book to purchase your newly published title to order copies of your book at the author's price (manufacturing price).