ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Information for publishing your own books with little cost.
Apart from buying the resulting books, the only costs are internet access and your time.

As some of you know, I use Lulu.com to publish book for myself and friends.
This is because of the helpful free assistance available to all authors, artists and creators of books (print and eBooks) music and audio discs.
It is an American company and a credit to the publishing world; earth-based or in cyber-space.

I have not found any Australian publishing websites or houses that offer a service equal to Lulu.com
THERE IS NO OTHER COMPANY offering the FREE customer services they give, not just through the forums but, especially with the service from the technical staff through email contact. There are NO FEES.

When there is a need to publish and author's funds are low or negligible, Lulu.com proved that publishing professionally is possible. Cost of books relate to the number of pages; colour or B/W, (colour paged books are dearer) plus shipping. I

NOW FOR THE LEGAL STUFF yet?
The author keeps the copyright of the text and the illustrator keeps the copyright of all pictures. next to the ISBN.
The compiler, (That's the person who formats the book for you) of the edition is also noted on the copyright page. (They do not have copyrights or share in profits unless you agree to do so.) You are in control.

Every book receives its own free ISBN from Lulu, if the author does not have one of their own.
if you accept the Lulu ISBN, then your book is placed in the world market through book wholesalers and retail outlets, as well as available on Amazon.com world wide.

If you choose book sizes that are printed with the Melbourne printer delivery is within TEN days of ordering.
If you want to use your local printer then because there is no watermarks or copyright claims from Lulu you use the Print-ready PDF, which you download from Lulu, after your project is complete.
A Preview is created of the inside pages, YOU choose which ones, so anyone visiting your 'Spotlight' can see what you are selling and what they are buying.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/EJsbooks

This is my link to my Spotlight. 'Spotlight' is another name for store or page on Lulu.
You can see my books and then go to the home page; http://www.lulu.com
Where you can see what kind of books are available to produce.

There are videos to watch explaining the process and you can click on the 'buy' tab at the top of the page and view books to your hearts content. Click on the book and you are given a preview with a link to 'that' authors Spotlight page.

I will stop this post here and if you want to know how to, and the actual steps for creating your book then go to my next post on this subject.
I have succeeded; you can too. I hope I can help.
Eliza

Had a look around this site Eliza and it certainly looks interesting and user friendly Not something I have explored - wonder how the costs relate to book publishing in Australia???? Presuming we do something similar here, maybe with our wage infrastructure we dont/ Anyway thanks for sharing the info with us,,,,something to keep in mind for future considerataion

Cheers

Maureen

G'day Maureen,
Thank you for the interest it is because of the success that I want to share this experience and encourage others.

The Lulu site's members are friendly and comprehensive in their willingness to assist anyone who asks.

[*]how the costs relate to book publishing in Australia?
The end cost of books published with Lulu depends on where you get them printed.

I only purchase books in small numbers (Thelma sells them and I purchase more for her) so I use the Lulu partner in Melbourne and it puts roughly $1 on the cost price of each book.

For instance re Thelma's last book, the $ cost to purchase 10 of her 60 page B/W book online, as the publisher, is $7 each; all up.

[*]book publishing in Australia?
We have NO publishers/agents/distributors in Australia, who give any their publishing assistance for free.
Vanity Press and self or partner publishing in Australia is with a contract where you can be required pay up front and/or with ongoing fees for publication and distribution as well as self distribution of your book.
Thelma and writers like her, do not have the required funds to get published, and because I have learned the skills of formatting and editing I am in a position to assist writers to self-publish.

[*]maybe with our wage infrastructure
The wage structure doesn't come into the equation because Lulu is run and manned by volunteer, professional authors, and editors, publicists and artists.


Cheers Eliza

Thanks Eliza for sharing that information.
If it is ok, I would like to pass it on to a friend of mine. She has recently had two books published - one an adult only book, and a childrens book, but she had no end of trouble with it, and it cost her a lot of money.
She is currently looking at another company and is waiting for a quote to get more printed, but is still exploring options.

I had a quick look at their site, but plan to go back and have a proper look shortly. I am looking at putting some of my poems in a book, mainly for my kids and family, but I am looking at a coffee table type book with quite a lot of colour. Will check out what they offer.

thanks
IRene

Hi Irene, Your last remark is right on the target for what is possible and easy to publish.
Stay tuned for the next post.

Eliza

Thought I may wade into this one as well ...


Amazon has announced that it will only sell print-on-demand books printed by its own print-on-demand service BookSurge (now trading as CreateSpace). The print-on-demand book business has thrived in the last few years as players such as Lulu, Blurb and others have catered to publishers looking to reduce overhead on inventory. It will be very difficult for anyone to compete with Amazon in the print-on-demand space.


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https://www.createspace.com/

This mob are Amazon's vanity publishing arm (distribute your books etc. on Amazon for free) but their quality seems a bit dodgy ...

(Taken from: https://www.createspace.com/en/community/message/132639)
30. 11-Aug-2011 13:12 in response to: Songwriter01
Re: Quality of CS Books has diminished lately below any reasonable level.

Hi Songwriter01,
I was feeling like giving up on my project after recieving very bad quality printed books from CS. Now you are saying that there may be hope yet. You say you use Lightning Source exclusively and get great results. How is it you can choose where your book is printed? Is this something I missed when setting up my account with CS?

You also say you have to use CS printing when someone orders through Amazon. I would love to know more about your experience with POD services, what has worked and why you are using the services you are using, the type of projects you do (color illustrations or just type etc.)

I would love to figure out a way to get my project out there and not be ashamed of the print job that someone might get when ordering my book. Also, and this a different subject, do you buy your own ISBN seperate or use the free one from CS? You seem like someone who has been doing this and knows a few things on this subject if you don't mind my asking. My project is complicated in that it is a color childrens picture book (http://www.amartiancookbook.info). And so far, CS has only been able to give me a few good proofs over the last few months, as I have been learning what works and what does not work when it comes to color, shading, tone, brightness/contrast, etc. with printing on non-glossy papper. Now I like my file and what it looks like when printed well at CS, and am ready to publish, but am having a hard time commiting to CS due to their lack of print quality.

Customer services are polite but I wonder how commited they are to feedback and changing what is wrong, when so many people have been telling them this same thing for years now and, well, there are still obvious issues with quality.

Kay

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Good informative website about self-publishing ...

http://www.newselfpublishing.com/

Aaron Shepard’s Publishing Page
The NEW Business of Self Publishing
~ How to Publish Books for Profit with
Online Book Marketing on Amazon,
Print on Demand from CreateSpace and Lightning Source,
and Do-It-Yourself Book Design ~


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Keeping it in Australia have a look at ...

http://www.griffinpress.com.au/small-se ... ffin-press

They're based in south Australia ...
Griffin Press not only provides printing services for leading read for pleasure publishers, but we also extend our quality services to small and self publishers - whether you're printing 100 or 100,000 copies, Griffin Press can help. We recognise the importance of getting the correct advice and assistance so your book looks and feels as good as any of the books we produce for the major publishing houses in Australia and in the UK.

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The Australian arm of an International mob ...
http://www.lightningsource.com/internat ... #WhatIsPOD

What is print on demand?

Print on demand is a process that offers many advantages over offset printing. All books are held in a digital library and are immediately available to print in any of our facilities. The text portion and the cover are typically printed simultaneously and bound together. The complete book is automatically transferred to our shipping department and the book is dispatched as desired. The quality of our books is comparable to offset printing and manufactured to the highest specification.

There is no minimum order requirement—order a single copy or 10,000. Because each book has a unique identifying number, we are able to print 10,000 books and send them to 10,000 different locations - to wholesalers as well as individual customers.

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And for some good consultancy regarding setup, distribution etc. (remembering once it's out there there's no calling it back), take a look at Jim and Roey's site ... http://www.starhillstudio.com.au/

Hope this helps,

Manfred.

Hi Manfred,

Thank you for your input and adding to the information. I agree with your experience and that of Kay with 'createspace'.
I found this company to be a paperback novel POD and the feedback was not encouraging.
I can only relate what I have experienced first hand without bagging anyone in the process.
If what I say creates uncertainty then a person can do their own investigation to find out what is what for themselves.

I only want to encourage our great artists and word-crafters to get their work published and printed.
Thelma Driver is now in a nursing home in her 90th year. She first wrote the story for her latest book fifty years ago, but before she asked me in 2008 'if' I could help her, her 'little stories and poems' were dismissed as just that. Now they are in book form AND in the national and State Libraries, (this is a legal requirement for Australian publishing) and available on Amazon.com/ , Thelma is acknowledged as an author by the local community.

I copy them below so you pr anyone can see that books from Lulu are available on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Book-SootyS-Adven ... 1446613070
http://www.amazon.com/LordS-Songs-Thelm ... 1447520637
http://www.amazon.com/LordS-Songs-Thelm ... 1447520637
http://www.amazon.com/Thelma-Driver-Sto ... 1446786722

Thanks again for including the other links to self-publishing, the more information, negative and positive, shared the better.

I only publish my works in formats that print in Australia one off or lots.

Eliza

G/day Eliza,
I had a quick look at the site and must have a proper look Later. (I think I may have foolishly left my full name there somewhere)
I have been thinking of publishing a small book of poems and short stories even if only to give away to friends and family If I can't sell them.
I haven't had time to even read all of what you have posted yet but will tonight, so do you think that this is the way to go for someone like me?

Cheers Terry

G'day Terry,
The short answer is, yes I think it a perfect place for writers to learn and publish their works.
The products are very good quality, B/W or colour text or pictures or both.
I want you to feel you can do, what you want to do and if I can I will help.
I know how it feels to have my own, professionally created 'real book' in my hot little hand, and the joy on Thelma's face when she took delivery of her 'daughter's story', was worth the journey to Lulu.

Any way keep an eye on this subject as I will post more pertinent details re layout, sizes and costs and where to find much needed information.

Thank you for the contact Terry

Eliza

Thanks Eliza,
I will keep my eye out for that extra information you're going to post.

Terry