Lulu Press, Inc., doing business under
trade name
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
Lulu, is an online
print-on-demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
,
self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...
, and distribution platform. By 2014, it had issued approximately two million titles.
The company's founder is
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide.
Red Hat has become ass ...
co-founder
Bob Young. Lulu's current CEO is
Kathy Hensgen
Kathy is a feminine given name. It is a pet form of Katherine, Kathleen (given name), Kathleen and their related forms. Kathy may refer to:
In sports
*Kathy Bald, Canadian freestyle swimmer
*Kathy May, American tennis player
*Kathy Radzuweit, Ger ...
. The company's headquarters are in
Morrisville, North Carolina
Morrisville is a town located primarily in Wake County, North Carolina, United States (a small portion extends into neighboring Durham County). The population was 18,576 at the 2010 census. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the town's population t ...
.
Products
Lulu produces books in print and digital form. Printed books are available in several formats and sizes including paperback, coil bound, and hardcover. Books can be printed in black and white or in full color.
In 2009, Lulu began publishing and distributing ebooks. Lulu also prints and publishes calendars and photo books. In 2017, Lulu introduced an Open Access print-on-demand service.
itation needed
Process
Authors upload their book as a PDF file to Lulu using their book creation process. Material is submitted in
digital form for publication. Authors can then buy copies of their own book and/or make it available for purchase in the Lulu Bookstore.
Applying an ISBN and meeting distribution requirements makes books eligible for distribution to online retail outlets such as
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
,
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U. ...
, and Apple's iBookstore.
The author of a title receives an 80% royalty for print books and a 90% royalty for eBooks when sold.
Copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
of works uploaded and distributed via Lulu remains with the author.
Replay Photos
In January 2014, Lulu announced that it had acquired
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
*Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
(NC)-based sports photography company Replay Photos. Replay Photos sells licensed images of collegiate and professional sports teams as photographic prints, custom framed photos, photos on canvas, and original wall art.
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Lulu's final phase for their Digital Rights Management (DRM) Retirement project was released July 2, 2013. Prior to January 15, 2013, a Lulu author could choose to apply Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection to their PDF or EPUB.
Lulu Jr.
In 2014, Lulu launched Lulu Jr., which enables children to become published authors.
Lulu Jr. products include My Comic Book and IlluStory.
Lulu Blooker Prize
The Lulu Blooker Prize was a literary award for "
blook
A blook is a printed book that contains or is based on content from a blog.
The first printed blook was User Interface Design for Programmers, by Joel Spolsky, published by Apress on June 26, 2001, based on his blog Joel on Software. An early bl ...
s" (books based on
blogs
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
). It was awarded in 2006 and 2007 and sponsored by Lulu. An overall prize was awarded, based on the winners of three subsidiary categories: non-fiction, fiction, and comics. The Lulu Blooker Prize was open to any "blook" that had been published "to date" (i.e., by the entry deadline) by any publisher.
itation needed
2006
The first competition saw 89 entries from over a dozen countries. A panel of three judges decided the winners:
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...
, Chair of Judges; Paul Jones; and Robin "Roblimo" Miller.
Winners
* ''
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen'' by
Julie Powell
Julia Anne Powell (; April 20, 1973 – October 26, 2022) was an American author known for her 2005 book ''Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen'' which was based on her blog, the Julie/Julia Project. A film adaptation b ...
(main prize, non-fiction)
* ''Four and Twenty Blackbirds'' by
Cherie Priest
Cherie Priest (born July 30, 1975) is an American novelist and blogger living in Seattle, Washington.
Biography
Priest is a Florida native, born in Tampa in 1975. She graduated from Forest Lake Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school ...
(fiction)
* ''Totally Boned: A Joe and Monkey Collection'' by
Zach Miller Zach Miller may refer to:
*Zach Miller (tight end, born 1984), NFL tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Chicago Bears
*Zach Miller (tight end, born 1985)
Zachary Joseph Miller (born December 11, 1985) is a former ...
(comics, self-published through Lulu)
Runners-up
* ''Biodiesel Power'' by Lyle Estill (runner up, non-fiction, see
biodiesel
Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat (tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil with ...
)
* ''Hackoff.com: An Historic Murder Mystery Set in the Internet Bubble and Rubble'' by
Tom Evslin
Tom Evslin is the founder and was Chair of NG Advantage LLC, the first company in the United States to truck CNG to large users beyond the reach of natural gas pipelines.
Evslin previously served as Chief Technology Officer for the State of Vermo ...
(runner up, fiction)
* ''
Dinosaur Comics
''Dinosaur Comics'' is a constrained webcomic by Canadian writer Ryan North. It is also known as "Qwantz", after the site's domain name, "qwantz.com". The first comic was posted on February 1, 2003, although there were earlier prototypes. ''Dino ...
: Huge Eyes, Beaks, Intelligence, and Ambition'' by
Ryan North
Ryan North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer and computer programmer.
He is the creator and author of ''Dinosaur Comics'', and has written for the comic series of ''Adventure Time'' and Marvel Comics' ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl''. ...
(runner up, comics)
2007
The 2007 competition had 110 entries from 15 countries. The number of judges was increased to five:
Paul Jones (chair),
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...
,
Julie Powell
Julia Anne Powell (; April 20, 1973 – October 26, 2022) was an American author known for her 2005 book ''Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen'' which was based on her blog, the Julie/Julia Project. A film adaptation b ...
(2006 overall winner), Rohit Gupta, and
Nick Cohen
Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for ''The Observer'' and a blogger for ''The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and bega ...
.
Winners
* ''
My War: Killing Time in Iraq'' by Colby Buzzell (Overall Winner and Non-Fiction Winner)
* ''The Doorbells of Florence'' by Andrew Losowsky (Fiction Winner)
* ''
Mom's Cancer
''Mom's Cancer'' is an autobiographical webcomic by Brian Fies which describes his mother's fight against metastatic lung cancer, as well as his family's reactions to it. ''Mom's Cancer'' was the first webcomic to win an Eisner Award, winning in ...
'' by Brian Fies (Comics Winner)
Runners-up
* ''My Secret: A
PostSecret
PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren in 2005, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard. Selected secrets are then posted on the PostSecret website, or used for PostSecret's books ...
Book'' by Frank Warren (Non-Fiction)
* ''Island: A
Zombie
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
Novel'' by
David Wellington (Fiction)
See also
*
Smashwords
Smashwords, Inc., based in Los Gatos, California, is a platform for self-publishing e-books. The company, founded by Mark Coker, began public operation in 2008.
Authors and independent publishers upload their manuscripts as electronic files ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lulu (Company)
2002 establishments in North Carolina
American companies established in 2002
Publishing companies established in 2002
Publishing companies of the United States
Digital press
Self-publishing online stores
Online bookstores
Self-publishing companies
Book publishing companies based in North Carolina
Privately held companies based in North Carolina