I paid for services including an ISBN number – about $40, if I remember right. I contracted to have someone produce the barcode. $15. The .pdf files I created myself using OpenOffice. The actual production of the files went well (I’d done a poetry book earlier, so some of the technicalities were already known to me). The book went into print with little trouble.

Author’s copies tend to be somewhat pricey, but not out of line with other services. Print quality is good (naturally – they use the same service everyone else does!) When Lulu changed their publishing efforts to include more listings and more services, I think I paid another $80 or so for that. I also revised the book somewhat. That was free, though they now charge for the service.

On balance, I had a good experience with Lulu and would recommend it for anyone seeking to publish poetry, personal journals, family histories, or anything else with very limited sales potential. Though Lulu’s services are priced somewhat higher than they were a couple years ago, their system works well (if you take the time to learn it!) for certain types of books.

For a book like “Gehenna Station”, Lulu simply isn’t the right answer. I’d like to revise the text slightly, to eliminate a couple minor wording and format issues. That will cost me about $80. I think I’ll pass and move on to a more suitable publisher.

On balance, Lulu’s main problem is their insistence that their service is “free”. Well, it is, for a very limited type of publishing. For the rest of us, it ain’t free. My next poetry book will probably be published via Lulu. For fiction, I’ll look elsewhere.

jim