I was just saying to someone I wished I had a way to make spiral bound journals. Being a sudoku fanatic, I love that I can actually make my own. How awesome is this!
Thank for you this video. I was stuck at the selecting the book option because of the general distribution option. I contacted Lulu and they sent an email that said they were auto closing the ticket without anyone looking at because it could be 'solved on the website'. I couldn't get past the selecting the book size until I saw your video and the part about the not being able to use the general distribution due to the spiral binding. HUGE RELIEF in fixing that! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
My pleasure. I’m so thrilled that you found my video so helpful. I will also forward this info to my contact at Lulu so they can use it as a “learning moment.”
Such a helpful video, thank you. I only publish via KDP at the moment and I've been meaning to look into spiral bound on Lulu for ages. It's great to see a complete overview of their process from a creator's perspective like this.
Yes, I use canva and love it! I would appreciate a video on creating covers with it. Thanks for the video! Lulu looks easy to handle. I will look into spiral bound for my life story journals.
Thanks for your tutorial, I just got my POD made for a friend's birthday through Lulu. I must say though that Lulu only accepted the order when I changed the cover dimensions to bigger than the note pages.
Thanks Keith. A great outline. I have read in a few places that people complain about paper quality for activity books with Amazon. I also have read that a lot prefer spiral back. So you have answered quite a few of the mysteries for me.
Thank you! I'm new to this low content idea and knew that the project I had in mind would not work with typical binding. THIS* is exactly what I needed to see! I published a book through Lu-Lu years ago and was quite pleased with the outcome.
Thanks Keith, excellent video as usual. I was wondering if you'd considering doing a video on Lulu vs Blurb spiral bound books for no/low content. I can't find a comparison anywhere. Thanks for all you do! 👍🙂
First, congratulation on your 24 years of marriage! You're right celebrating it: marriage is difficult, and marriage failures are daily news. I wish you many happy & healthy years ahead! Second, thanks for this tutorial! I love this channel; I'm learning tons with it. Third,my question is on the free ISBN: when publishing on KDP, the author is provided a free ISBN for its book on KDP, and then if the same book is made available on Lulu, it is Lulu that will provide the same document (with the same trim size or a Lulu trim size) another free ISBN? Each platform will provide its own free ISBN to the same document of the same author?
Thank you so much for the kind words. Unfortunately, you’re right about marriage these days, but I married my best friend so we’re in it for the ‘long haul’! In regards to free isbns, you are 100% correct, they’re only usable on the platform that provided it, so if you publish the same version and format of the book on multiple platforms, yes you’ll get a different isbn from each.
Long term, buying your own isbn is more professional. It allows you to set the name of the imprint, which is another opportunity for both brand building as well as ranking in Google search. It’s also easier to deal with one isbn per format instead of having to update the isbn in the interior every time you get a different isbn. But in the short term, using the free isbns is fine.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thank you very much, Keith, for this very comprehensive and clear explanation on ISBNs: free vs. paid, and long term vs. short term!
The spirals on Amazon are probably still done via Lulu, however, in order to be able to sell it on Amazon, you have to create a sellers account, which has a bit more hoops to jump through.
This was a great video. Do you mind doing an update since Amazon sells spiral bound books now? Also, can you do colored pages in Lulu? Nevermind my last question I see from your video colored pages are available.
While Amazon does sell spiral bound, they do not sell spiral bound directly from POD companies. Currently, the only way to sell a spiral bound book on Amazon is through other programs such as Amazon FBA or Amazon Seller’s Central, which both come with additional costs.
@@KeithWheelerBooks oh ok. I have purchased a couple of spiral bound books from Amazon, but I wasn't sure if KDP sold spiral bound books now. Thanks so much.
Understood. I absolutely use KDP for my paperback and ebook versions, but I also use Lulu for my hardcover and spiral bound books. Customers may prefer different versions so, where appropriate, I try to provide as many versions as possible.
Couple of silly questions from a newbie. Is it okay to sell with Lulu from any country as I'm in the UK and is it okay to sell one type of puzzle in a book for instance sudoku? Thanks
amazing information! thank you! if i publish the low content in Lulu and i already have it in Kdp they are going to link (so i can sell the spiral in amz) or they will be in conflict?
As a general rule, you create a version of your book on Lulu or other platforms and select Amazon as an avenue to distribute to, you can go into your KDP dashboard, contact support and ask them to link your other versions to your KDP version. This works for ebooks, paperback, hardcover and audiobooks. Unfortunately, at this time, Amazon will NOT carry a spiral bound book that is created on another site. It’s a limitation on Amazons end, not on the end of the other platforms.
I want to sell spiral-bound notebooks and planners in my Etsy shop but I can't afford to buy a large stock, or really any stock without knowing that it's going to be covered after the customer paid... if that makes sense. Could I list these, then put the customer's shipping info into the Lulu store when they order? Also, if you choose the global distribution option, where DOES spiral bound get distributed if it doesn't go to Amazon?
I completely understand. Lulu doesn’t divulge all of the online platforms they publish to(mainly because things change in this industry and they don’t want have to keep updating the site every time a retailer is added or removed from distribution.) They do state that they publish to barnesandnoble.com, major bibliographic databases, including Nielsen and Bowker, and it’s even made available to Ingram so brick and mortar stores have access to order them. To answer your other question, yes, you can order directly from Lulu after the customer placed their order.
Thank you. No I don’t. The majority of the traffic I get from my books there come from the traffic I send directly to it. I’ll check with them and let you know.
Getting back to you on this. I heard back from my contact at Lulu and for the past 6 months, they're averaging about 50k lulu.com visits. I hope this helps.
Thank you for video. Just subscribed! I have a question- Is it allowed to publish a spiral book on lulu with their number, and publish same book on Amazon kdp with kdp assigned number?
Thank you so much for subscribing! The short answer is, yes. In fact, it's a requirement. You CANNOT use a Lulu ISBN on any other platform(ie. KDP) and vice versa. Also, since KDP doesn't offer spiral bound books, your book published through KDP would need to be either an ebook, paperback or hardcover(if you have access) Since the book would be in a different format you'd need a different isbn regardless. I hope this helps.
I was wondering why some have an option for spiral coil and some no. Now I see that is only if you publish in lulu book store and no global. So how will you use it for? I will look at the video again.
Not that I’m aware of. The spiral bound books that you find on Amazon are not print on demand, per Anything else?. It’s done through something like opening a seller central account, which costs money and has a few additional hoops you have to maneuver.
Hi Keith, I don't see the book listed on LULU, are you still doing this book and know when you will be doing the follow up to this showing the finished book?
You won’t want to use a conversion software to convert from ePub to a spiral bound layout. Basically, the spiral bound layout will be the same as if you create any print version interior. You’ll want to do No Bleed.
Yep, you can even have the same format on both platforms. The only exception is if you’re ebook is enrolled in KDP Select program. If it is then the ebook version can only be on KDP, but the print version can be on both platforms if you want.
@@KeithWheelerBooks even if the book that I want to put on lulu has an isbn number from amazon, do I just get another one from lulu or use the same number
I saw your response regarding selling on amazon and needing a seller account if we wanted to sell spiral books . If I wanted to do this (I have a seller account) how would I get the orders processed through Lulu?
@@KeithWheelerBooks That's what I thought. Too much trouble. Want to be more hands-off. Thanks for the input. Keep those awesome videos coming. You're a great teacher.
It’s funny the number of people that tell me they’ve never heard of Lulu since they were actually the first print on demand platform(even before KDP) The sales volume really depends on your author platform. Lulu doesn’t have a huge organic search volume so you have to drive traffic to the book, but the royalties are quite a bit higher.
@@KeithWheelerBooks They should consider investing in a couple of bucks into marketing because had I not searched for spiral bound book publishing and found your video, I would have never known about them. It's important to note that I found YOU and not them with that search. I hope they throw some cash your way for brining them some business. :D
Technically, yes you can purchase spiral bound books from Amazon, but not directly through print on demand. So, if you use Lulu to create a spiral puzzle book, it will NOT be pushed to Amazon.
Hi Keith! If I had an FBM account with Amazon, could I drop ship from Lulu then? Since I'd be shipping it out physically from my address anyway, why can't I just manually type in the customer's information through Lulu every time one is ordered from Amazon?? Is that a workaround to still selling on Amazon but not having to burden the upfront costs of inventory or taking the time to ship?
@@KeithWheelerBooks I can see that for sure. Also Im trying to create a spiral bound notebook right now and the option says the "coil bound" is not available and in fact only says soft cover is. Have you ever run into this before? I did open a support ticket but wondered if you could shed some light on the matter.
You sure can. In fact, if you purchased your own isbn and it’s the same version of the book(trim size and style(ie paperback)) you can use the same isbn. But if it’s different or if you’re using a free isbn, then yes, you’ll need a different one.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Can I ask a question unrelated to this video? I gave a couple of my low-content books as gifts, and they want to leave a review, is that allowed?
Is there any way to convert interior templates to spiral. I searched (15,000 low content interior templates fiverr) and got over 15000 templates. How can I change these templates to spiral books?
I’m sure there’s a way. It’s just a matter of what format your interiors are currently in. If they’re in pdf format and they’re all the same trim size, you should be able to use the ilovepdf site to combine the interiors into one combined pdf.(like I did in the video) You can then upload that pdf to Lulu to create the spiral bound book. All that said, I do strongly suggest, to better your chances of getting sales, that you don’t just reuse interiors you found on the internet. First and foremost, you need to make sure you have commercial rights to use and publish those interiors. Also, you want to make your interiors somewhat unique to standout against your competitors.
You cannot currently create a spiral bound book on Amazon. The only way to get a spiral bound book created and put up in Amazon would be to create it on Lulu and then setting up an Amazon Sellers page and selling it that way. (Note: an Amazon Sellers page does have a few associated with it.)
I’m confused. I’m just now learning about publishing low or no content on kdp. I like spiral books option but does Lulu do print on demand? Or you have to buy a set quantity to sell on Amazon? I don’t have a website yet
No worries! This is a place where you can ask any questions you may have. Yes, Lulu is a print on demand platform. They offer paperbacks, hard covers, spiral bound, hardcover with dust jacket and a whole lot more, like calendars. Anyway, I hope this helps. If you decide to try Lulu out remember to use my link and coupon code KEITH15 to get 15% off your next print order.
Yes, Lulu is a print-on-demand platform. But to answer the rest of your question (Keith covered this in other responses above and in the video, I believe) ... yes again! If you create a spiral book on Lulu but want to sell it on Amazon, you will have to buy a quantity of books from Lulu and then sell them on Amazon the hard way: create a seller's account and an item description page for each title, and when someone buys one, Amazon will tell you and then you manually ship the item to the customer yourself. So, you either... 1. Use Amazon's convenient print-on-demand service (KDP) - keeping in mind that the only physical books you can create there are paperbacks - and let Amazon take care of everything (the book is not printed until somebody buys one; when one is bought, Amazon prints that one copy and sends it to the customer; the printing costs come out of the customer's purchase price; whatever is left over comes to you as your "royalty" for the book) OR 2. If you want to create a spiral book, use Lulu's service and sell it on their platform, which works much the same way. That is, use Amazon to sell the books you create on Amazon and use Lulu to sell the books you create on Lulu. Otherwise, selling Lulu books on Amazon requires you to maintain your inventory and handle shipping yourself (or buy an expensive Amazon fulfillment account). The missing piece of the puzzle, really, is that it helps to have some sort of base of operations - a website, a blog, an email capture system, etc. - where ALL of your titles are covered. From there, you can direct your customers to either platform. Sorry about the length of the reply. I hope it helps.
Great insight, however, I want to clarify a few things. You can absolutely use Lulu and sell on Amazon for hardcover and paperback. The only hiccup is with spiral bound and that’s because Amazon doesn’t accept it. So when you do a spiral on lulu, I’d suggest either using lulus api to connect it to your website or just directing people to the direct link to the book on lulu.
That’s odd because they actually have a cover creator with canva option when uploading your book. You may want to reach out to support to determine why yours isn’t being accepted.
Honestly it depends on what type of no content book it is. Sketch books are obviously faster to create than lined notebooks, while coloring books could take even longer to create. Then there’s the creation of the cover which can take a while depending on how the design. In general, I’d say the typical no content book takes about a day or two to make.
I was just saying to someone I wished I had a way to make spiral bound journals. Being a sudoku fanatic, I love that I can actually make my own. How awesome is this!
Great minds think alike! The quality of spiral books you get from Lulu is amazing!
Thank for you this video. I was stuck at the selecting the book option because of the general distribution option. I contacted Lulu and they sent an email that said they were auto closing the ticket without anyone looking at because it could be 'solved on the website'. I couldn't get past the selecting the book size until I saw your video and the part about the not being able to use the general distribution due to the spiral binding. HUGE RELIEF in fixing that! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
My pleasure. I’m so thrilled that you found my video so helpful. I will also forward this info to my contact at Lulu so they can use it as a “learning moment.”
Such a helpful video, thank you. I only publish via KDP at the moment and I've been meaning to look into spiral bound on Lulu for ages. It's great to see a complete overview of their process from a creator's perspective like this.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Best of luck!!!
Oh my God! This is amazing sir. Thanks so much for this awesome unveiled secret. I will live to remember this forever
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you found the video helpful!
Outstanding quality by LuLu!
Agreed! It turned out great.
Keith you're the man!!! I just ordered over 100 planners for my new business and used your promo code to get a discount on them!!! Thank you!!
That’s awesome! I’m sure they’ll turn out great!
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thanks again!
My pleasure! 👍
Wow very beautiful cover... that is the point where i fault.. my covers are realy ugly.. However thanks for your guide! Top!
She hired a reasonably priced cover designer.
Yes, I use canva and love it! I would appreciate a video on creating covers with it. Thanks for the video! Lulu looks easy to handle. I will look into spiral bound for my life story journals.
I have a couple videos on how to create covers in canva.
Thanks for your tutorial, I just got my POD made for a friend's birthday through Lulu.
I must say though that Lulu only accepted the order when I changed the cover dimensions to bigger than the note pages.
Yes, the cover needs to account for bleed, so it’ll be cut properly when printed. This is the same with KDP and other platforms as well.
Awesome information!! Do you know a printer who offers metal coil instead of the plastic coil?
Thank you for the kind words. Unfortunately, I do NOT know of a POD printer that offers metal coil options.
Thanks Keith. A great outline. I have read in a few places that people complain about paper quality for activity books with Amazon. I also have read that a lot prefer spiral back. So you have answered quite a few of the mysteries for me.
So glad I could help!
Very useful info! Thanks for sharing Keith!
You’re quite welcome. I’m glad you found it helpful!
Awesome video and content. Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Wow. This has been sooo informative! Thank you so much for sharing !
You’re very welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you! I'm new to this low content idea and knew that the project I had in mind would not work with typical binding. THIS* is exactly what I needed to see! I published a book through Lu-Lu years ago and was quite pleased with the outcome.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Lulu does amazing work.
Hey Keith, So could I take all my KDP books on amazon and set them up on Lulu as well?
You sure can
Thanks Keith, excellent video as usual. I was wondering if you'd considering doing a video on Lulu vs Blurb spiral bound books for no/low content. I can't find a comparison anywhere. Thanks for all you do! 👍🙂
Thank you for the kind words. I’ve never tried Blurb before, but that sounds like a great video idea.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thanks Keith! 🎉
You’re very welcome!
I always appreciate your videos! So helpful!!!
Thank you so much for the kind words!
First, congratulation on your 24 years of marriage! You're right celebrating it: marriage is difficult, and marriage failures are daily news. I wish you many happy & healthy years ahead! Second, thanks for this tutorial! I love this channel; I'm learning tons with it. Third,my question is on the free ISBN: when publishing on KDP, the author is provided a free ISBN for its book on KDP, and then if the same book is made available on Lulu, it is Lulu that will provide the same document (with the same trim size or a Lulu trim size) another free ISBN? Each platform will provide its own free ISBN to the same document of the same author?
Thank you so much for the kind words. Unfortunately, you’re right about marriage these days, but I married my best friend so we’re in it for the ‘long haul’!
In regards to free isbns, you are 100% correct, they’re only usable on the platform that provided it, so if you publish the same version and format of the book on multiple platforms, yes you’ll get a different isbn from each.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thank you for your quick reply! From your experience, is there any downside to go with the free isbn?
Long term, buying your own isbn is more professional. It allows you to set the name of the imprint, which is another opportunity for both brand building as well as ranking in Google search. It’s also easier to deal with one isbn per format instead of having to update the isbn in the interior every time you get a different isbn.
But in the short term, using the free isbns is fine.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thank you very much, Keith, for this very comprehensive and clear explanation on ISBNs: free vs. paid, and long term vs. short term!
You’re very welcome.
Thanks nice video. I see spiral books on amazon. What’s the difference. ?
The spirals on Amazon are probably still done via Lulu, however, in order to be able to sell it on Amazon, you have to create a sellers account, which has a bit more hoops to jump through.
@@KeithWheelerBooks ah, thanks!
My pleasure!
Hello Dear keith
I just want to ask about What do you think of making vids about publishing books with amazon fba or kdp business account?
THANKS
Those are interesting ideas. I don’t have an account for either so I’ll have to look into them and gain some data.
thank you so much the best explain i found about lulu
You’re very welcome!
This was a great video. Do you mind doing an update since Amazon sells spiral bound books now? Also, can you do colored pages in Lulu?
Nevermind my last question I see from your video colored pages are available.
While Amazon does sell spiral bound, they do not sell spiral bound directly from POD companies. Currently, the only way to sell a spiral bound book on Amazon is through other programs such as Amazon FBA or Amazon Seller’s Central, which both come with additional costs.
@@KeithWheelerBooks oh ok. I have purchased a couple of spiral bound books from Amazon, but I wasn't sure if KDP sold spiral bound books now. Thanks so much.
You’re very welcome!
Very helpful Information thank you so much!
You’re quite welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
Great information for me as usual. Thanks.
Aw shucks! Thank you so much for the kind words! 👍🤩
My book already sells on Amazon, but I wish it was spiral bound. This is cost prohibitive, though. I make $3 more per book via kdp.
Understood. I absolutely use KDP for my paperback and ebook versions, but I also use Lulu for my hardcover and spiral bound books.
Customers may prefer different versions so, where appropriate, I try to provide as many versions as possible.
Couple of silly questions from a newbie. Is it okay to sell with Lulu from any country as I'm in the UK and is it okay to sell one type of puzzle in a book for instance sudoku? Thanks
I believe UK is one of the supported countries that Lulu works in.
Yes you can publish sudoku books through Lulu.
amazing information! thank you! if i publish the low content in Lulu and i already have it in Kdp they are going to link (so i can sell the spiral in amz) or they will be in conflict?
As a general rule, you create a version of your book on Lulu or other platforms and select Amazon as an avenue to distribute to, you can go into your KDP dashboard, contact support and ask them to link your other versions to your KDP version. This works for ebooks, paperback, hardcover and audiobooks.
Unfortunately, at this time, Amazon will NOT carry a spiral bound book that is created on another site. It’s a limitation on Amazons end, not on the end of the other platforms.
I can't find any video about hardcover spiral notebook 😢 any advice?
I’m not aware of any print on demand platforms that provide hardcover spiral bound books.
I want to sell spiral-bound notebooks and planners in my Etsy shop but I can't afford to buy a large stock, or really any stock without knowing that it's going to be covered after the customer paid... if that makes sense. Could I list these, then put the customer's shipping info into the Lulu store when they order? Also, if you choose the global distribution option, where DOES spiral bound get distributed if it doesn't go to Amazon?
I completely understand. Lulu doesn’t divulge all of the online platforms they publish to(mainly because things change in this industry and they don’t want have to keep updating the site every time a retailer is added or removed from distribution.)
They do state that they publish to barnesandnoble.com, major bibliographic databases, including Nielsen and Bowker, and it’s even made available to Ingram so brick and mortar stores have access to order them.
To answer your other question, yes, you can order directly from Lulu after the customer placed their order.
Does Lulu allow you to have page/tab dividers?
Not at the current time.
Hi Keith! Thank you so much for the video, amazing value! Do you know how much traffic does Lulu get per month?
Thank you. No I don’t. The majority of the traffic I get from my books there come from the traffic I send directly to it.
I’ll check with them and let you know.
Getting back to you on this. I heard back from my contact at Lulu and for the past 6 months, they're averaging about 50k lulu.com visits.
I hope this helps.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Hi, Keith. Is that 50k per month, or 50k in the last 6 months?
Averaging 50k a month over the past 6 months
Hi. Thank you for the video! Is there a fee that lulu charges or it works like Amazon?
No charges to publish through Lulu.
Thank you for video. Just subscribed! I have a question-
Is it allowed to publish a spiral book on lulu with their number, and publish same book on Amazon kdp with kdp assigned number?
Thank you so much for subscribing! The short answer is, yes. In fact, it's a requirement. You CANNOT use a Lulu ISBN on any other platform(ie. KDP) and vice versa.
Also, since KDP doesn't offer spiral bound books, your book published through KDP would need to be either an ebook, paperback or hardcover(if you have access) Since the book would be in a different format you'd need a different isbn regardless.
I hope this helps.
@@KeithWheelerBooks thank you so much for that clarification!
My pleasure. Glad I could help.
I was wondering why some have an option for spiral coil and some no. Now I see that is only if you publish in lulu book store and no global. So how will you use it for? I will look at the video again.
That’s correct. Spiral bound is not available if you select global distribution because Amazon doesn’t carry spiral bound.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thank you, so it is good for publishing on Lulu.
It sure is.
Great tutorial!
Thank you so much for the kind words!
Can I take the same book I published on *Amazon* and create a spiral bound version of it?
You sure can.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thank you Keith
You’re very welcome! 😉👍
5:00 There are spiral notebooks all over Amazon so what do you mean?
Those spiral bound books are sold via other methods, like Amazon Sellers account, Amazon FBA, etc.
I just checked spiral bound journals, puzzle book , etc and they were listed. Has Amazon changed its policy?
Not that I’m aware of. The spiral bound books that you find on Amazon are not print on demand, per Anything else?. It’s done through something like opening a seller central account, which costs money and has a few additional hoops you have to maneuver.
Hi Keith, I don't see the book listed on LULU, are you still doing this book and know when you will be doing the follow up to this showing the finished book?
I did this book as a demonstration. I wasn’t planning on putting it up for sale. The unboxing video has already gone up.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Oh I see, thank you
You’re very welcome.
Is it possible to convert ebook into this spiral bound if so can you please show me how ?
Thanks
You can take the manuscript that you uploaded for your ebook and reformat it to be a spiral bound book.
@@KeithWheelerBooks I don’t completely understand
You won’t want to use a conversion software to convert from ePub to a spiral bound layout. Basically, the spiral bound layout will be the same as if you create any print version interior. You’ll want to do No Bleed.
Would Amazon allow me to include a link to the spiral bound versions of the notebooks on Lulu if I publish the regularly-bound books through KDP?
Interesting idea. To be honest, Amazon doesn’t regulate the links very much, so I’d say you should be safe.
@@KeithWheelerBooks We'll find out! :-D
Sounds good. Keep me posted!
If I have books on Amazon, can I also sell them on Lulu but in a different format?
Yep, you can even have the same format on both platforms. The only exception is if you’re ebook is enrolled in KDP Select program. If it is then the ebook version can only be on KDP, but the print version can be on both platforms if you want.
I have about 5 coloring books and some journals that I created but no sales whatsoever on Amazon so maybe lulu can help me out lol
What are you doing to market/promote your books?
@@KeithWheelerBooks even if the book that I want to put on lulu has an isbn number from amazon, do I just get another one from lulu or use the same number
You have to get a new one from Lulu. When you get a free isbn from a platform, that isbn can only be used on that platform.
I hope this makes sense.
Do you get any sales from lulu?
I do, yes. The key to getting many sales with Lulu is to direct traffic that way. Organic sales are more rare for me.
I saw your response regarding selling on amazon and needing a seller account if we wanted to sell spiral books
. If I wanted to do this (I have a seller account) how would I get the orders processed through Lulu?
I believe you’d have to order them manually through Lulu. I know Lulu offers an API option, but not sure if that’ll work with Amazon.
@@KeithWheelerBooks That's what I thought. Too much trouble. Want to be more hands-off. Thanks for the input. Keep those awesome videos coming. You're a great teacher.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoy the videos.
I have never heard of Lulu. How are sales compared to Amazon?
It’s funny the number of people that tell me they’ve never heard of Lulu since they were actually the first print on demand platform(even before KDP)
The sales volume really depends on your author platform. Lulu doesn’t have a huge organic search volume so you have to drive traffic to the book, but the royalties are quite a bit higher.
@@KeithWheelerBooks They should consider investing in a couple of bucks into marketing because had I not searched for spiral bound book publishing and found your video, I would have never known about them. It's important to note that I found YOU and not them with that search. I hope they throw some cash your way for brining them some business. :D
I really appreciate your kind words and regardless of how you found me, I’m glad you did. Because now your part of the write-right family.
How we can upload this spiral book on amazon????
I answered this on another comment you made, but basically, you have to create an Amazon sellers page and sell it that way.
Amazon does sell spiral bound books?
Technically, yes you can purchase spiral bound books from Amazon, but not directly through print on demand. So, if you use Lulu to create a spiral puzzle book, it will NOT be pushed to Amazon.
Hi Keith! If I had an FBM account with Amazon, could I drop ship from Lulu then? Since I'd be shipping it out physically from my address anyway, why can't I just manually type in the customer's information through Lulu every time one is ordered from Amazon?? Is that a workaround to still selling on Amazon but not having to burden the upfront costs of inventory or taking the time to ship?
Yea you could do that, but it seems like a very manual process and not very efficient use of your time.
@@KeithWheelerBooks I can see that for sure. Also Im trying to create a spiral bound notebook right now and the option says the "coil bound" is not available and in fact only says soft cover is. Have you ever run into this before? I did open a support ticket but wondered if you could shed some light on the matter.
Yes, that typically has to do with page count or trim size selected.
@@KeithWheelerBooks I figured it out, its because I had selected global distribution. Thanks for responding so quickly Keith!
That makes sense! I thought I mentioned that in the video, but maybe not.
Can I sell my books on lulu that I’m selling on kdp if I use a different ISBN#?
You sure can. In fact, if you purchased your own isbn and it’s the same version of the book(trim size and style(ie paperback)) you can use the same isbn.
But if it’s different or if you’re using a free isbn, then yes, you’ll need a different one.
@@KeithWheelerBooks Thank you so much for the quick response. I appreciate all the information you are sharing with us.
My pleasure. Happy to help!!! 👍
@@KeithWheelerBooks Can I ask a question unrelated to this video? I gave a couple of my low-content books as gifts, and they want to leave a review, is that allowed?
It sure is. They just need to state that they received it as a gift and decided to give their honest review.
Is there any way to convert interior templates to spiral. I searched (15,000 low content interior templates fiverr) and got over 15000 templates.
How can I change these templates to spiral books?
I’m sure there’s a way. It’s just a matter of what format your interiors are currently in. If they’re in pdf format and they’re all the same trim size, you should be able to use the ilovepdf site to combine the interiors into one combined pdf.(like I did in the video) You can then upload that pdf to Lulu to create the spiral bound book.
All that said, I do strongly suggest, to better your chances of getting sales, that you don’t just reuse interiors you found on the internet.
First and foremost, you need to make sure you have commercial rights to use and publish those interiors. Also, you want to make your interiors somewhat unique to standout against your competitors.
Do they operate in the uk?
Last I heard they do, yes.
I've considered LuLu, but needing to charge over £18 to make a single penny in profit for a 275 page A5 sudoku book isn't feasible!
I completely understand. In that case KDP may be your best option.
How we can create spiral book for Amazon????????/
You cannot currently create a spiral bound book on Amazon. The only way to get a spiral bound book created and put up in Amazon would be to create it on Lulu and then setting up an Amazon Sellers page and selling it that way. (Note: an Amazon Sellers page does have a few associated with it.)
If you’re selling this on your web store, would you still go with no ISBN? Could you use the free ISBN if you put it on your site?
Yes you can still use the free isbn on your website. You just couldn’t use that isbn on another platform.
@@KeithWheelerBooks thank you for your response
It’s truly my pleasure!
I’m confused. I’m just now learning about publishing low or no content on kdp. I like spiral books option but does Lulu do print on demand? Or you have to buy a set quantity to sell on Amazon? I don’t have a website yet
No worries! This is a place where you can ask any questions you may have.
Yes, Lulu is a print on demand platform. They offer paperbacks, hard covers, spiral bound, hardcover with dust jacket and a whole lot more, like calendars.
Anyway, I hope this helps. If you decide to try Lulu out remember to use my link and coupon code KEITH15 to get 15% off your next print order.
Yes, Lulu is a print-on-demand platform. But to answer the rest of your question (Keith covered this in other responses above and in the video, I believe) ... yes again! If you create a spiral book on Lulu but want to sell it on Amazon, you will have to buy a quantity of books from Lulu and then sell them on Amazon the hard way: create a seller's account and an item description page for each title, and when someone buys one, Amazon will tell you and then you manually ship the item to the customer yourself.
So, you either...
1. Use Amazon's convenient print-on-demand service (KDP) - keeping in mind that the only physical books you can create there are paperbacks - and let Amazon take care of everything (the book is not printed until somebody buys one; when one is bought, Amazon prints that one copy and sends it to the customer; the printing costs come out of the customer's purchase price; whatever is left over comes to you as your "royalty" for the book) OR
2. If you want to create a spiral book, use Lulu's service and sell it on their platform, which works much the same way.
That is, use Amazon to sell the books you create on Amazon and use Lulu to sell the books you create on Lulu. Otherwise, selling Lulu books on Amazon requires you to maintain your inventory and handle shipping yourself (or buy an expensive Amazon fulfillment account).
The missing piece of the puzzle, really, is that it helps to have some sort of base of operations - a website, a blog, an email capture system, etc. - where ALL of your titles are covered. From there, you can direct your customers to either platform.
Sorry about the length of the reply. I hope it helps.
Great insight, however, I want to clarify a few things. You can absolutely use Lulu and sell on Amazon for hardcover and paperback. The only hiccup is with spiral bound and that’s because Amazon doesn’t accept it. So when you do a spiral on lulu, I’d suggest either using lulus api to connect it to your website or just directing people to the direct link to the book on lulu.
@@KeithWheelerBooks does this coupon code still work? I buy my hardback journals to sell in my Etsy store and this would help with the cost.
It should still work, Yes.
do you have to order a copy of your book if so at what cost
If you select global distribution then yes you have to purchase a proof copy. The proof for this cost me ~$8 plus shipping.
Lulu is not accepting cover created on canva
That’s odd because they actually have a cover creator with canva option when uploading your book. You may want to reach out to support to determine why yours isn’t being accepted.
how long does it take for the turn round of a no content book
Honestly it depends on what type of no content book it is. Sketch books are obviously faster to create than lined notebooks, while coloring books could take even longer to create. Then there’s the creation of the cover which can take a while depending on how the design.
In general, I’d say the typical no content book takes about a day or two to make.
On the done for you journal pages, is there a way to customize the pages with using the same graphic on a page?
You can use a site like ilovepdf and add in an image or watermark
if i in Thailand how i got money because thai cant have PayPal account
Typically, Lulu pays via direct deposit to a bank account.
Mala
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