Wednesday, October 10, 2007

LuLu. First self publishing effort now available


LuLu Book can now be previewed.

Click on the title to go to the LuLu website and preview the first couple of pages.

They make it very easy.

First of many to come.

17 comments:

Rickart said...

112 pages for 8 bucks! Wow! Now that's what I call value! I'm picking up a copy when I get home tonight!

Well done, Ellis!

Mr Goodson said...

It's an obvious outlet for you Rick.

Bundle a bunch of sketches, format them to about 6 by 9 or 8 by 12 (check the LULU web page for options ) and in photoshop go to File, automate and chose your pages.

Makes it easier to have the naming convention for the pages be in the numerical order that you want them of course.

Voila, everything that Lulu needs. A PDF. The covers are sperate downloads so have those in the smae 300 dpi format somewhere on your hard drive and you're ready to go.

Then go broke like me buying your own product.

Mine has all sorts of flaws , typos etc. Bad graphic design but it's cool. It's homemade and yet, there it is , ready to be cranked out in as big a NY times bestseller list numbers as you can promote it to..

Surly Bird said...

Just got one. Can't wait to see it. I'm intrigued, too. I have been wanting to do some kind of comic for a while now and this small-scale self-publishing angle is excellent.

Ellis, is this set up in a way so that you can create a link on a website and have people shop it 24/7 perpetually? And if so, do you actually get to make any money or are you just covering the printing costs?

Mr Goodson said...

Ronnie. I have no printing costs. That's the beauty. And if you bought one , you just gave me a dollar. That's the amount I said I wanted to make on each copy. That's an easy to click on item as the publication is being assembled, your profit.

And yes, I am selling it 24/7 on LulU right now and I think I can go ahead and sell it on Amazon as well. I'll have to investigate that angle. And they have other links to take you to self promotion idea help.

Thanks for buying one. It's expensive considering shipping. And it is just doodles. I'm just jazzed by the ease and the potential.

Surly Bird said...

I noticed there is also a way to just buy the PDF file. I suppose there is a little risk there with some schmo buying your stuff and then printing it and passing it off as his own work. Are there security measures available for that?

Mr Goodson said...

No extra security. It's just a copyright breach if someonne does make money on it., I'm not worried about it. Unless I recognze all of the doodles on t shirts when I walk in some comic book store. Then I might legally clear my throat. Ahem. Where did you get all your fine silkscreen design

Rickart said...

Well heck! I've got the Creeple comic and the Tux comic that I did on my blog that I could put in a book form, and I'm sure I could scrounge up some sketches for a sketchbook...

And if we could collect all of those TAG jam drawings into a book I'm sure we would all buy a copy!

Mr Goodson said...

Good Idea Rick!. I'll assemble those Jams.

Tom Carroll said...

You can chalk up another $1 from me, Ellis. I also can't wait to see what is in the book. I thought for about a nanosecond about ordering the .pdf file ... but really, you can't hold a .pdf file in your hand or feel that creak of the spline when you open it up for the first time ...

Thanks for letting us share in this!!

Rickart said...

I've got my copy on the way, too! Woo hoo!

Mr Goodson said...

Hey thanks guys. Rick Tom, Ronnie. I'm three bucks ahead. I hope you picked cheap shipping. It's wayyy overpriced

Dok as a Dog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dok as a Dog said...

Wow! I get FIVE (5!) copies for only 40 beans?!? Oh yeah! I can hardly wait for the media mail! But I will.

Mr Goodson said...

Hey Dok. Someone pointed out that I was rediscovering this Lulu in a kind of delirious way after you had introduced it a year ago. But I didn't understand then! Now I get it. It took a personal pitch from a guy at work for me to get it. Thanks for your support. Media mail all the way.

Dok as a Dog said...

Did you have any issues getting the "right" kind of pdf file constructed from your images?

I converted everything to pngs, brought them into a word processor (openoffice writer) and then wrote to the file from there.

If I were to do that over again, I'd be leery of the 150 line screen on the grey scale images. They double that when you pay for color and all mid tones come out so much better.

I also found that the rush order I initially placed was of lower quality than subsequent orders.

Mr Goodson said...

Dok, I haven't seen the first one yet. I bought 4. I suspect I'll have quality problems with the DPI myself. Maybe making the doc 6 by 9 will make it a little tighter. I had no problem with making the PDF. I just kept forgetting HOW to do it. In photoshop you go to FILE-AUTOMATE- and PDF Presentation. Then you browse to your pages and select them. But I kept thinking I would find the PDF solution under SAVE AS. Someone told me how to do it, I forgot, and how to look it up on the internet. I don't know how I've survived in video games with my porous brain. I'm going to see if I can find your sketchbook with a search.

Dok as a Dog said...

Porous? You call that porous? Hah! I could show you....

sorry, what were we talking about?

"Warm-ups and Waiting", my first one is available from Bud Plant (product code Doks]

http://budplant.com/cart.asp?product_number_1=DOKS&send_this_to=Myself&pn=DOKS&qty_DOKS=1&action=add_to_cart_quick_order

and they've reduced the price because... it didn't sell! Had a good start and they were jazzed, but then, AFTER my family and a couple friends bought one, it stopped. Lah de dah.

But now at $5.99 maybe it's worth it. They sure deserve to recoup at least some of their outlay so tell a friend?

- Mr. Porous Pathetico