Skip to main content

Self-Publishing Help

Okay, I can Write...How do I get Published? 


"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
― Maya Angelou

Who Are The Potential Authors?

In the past year, I have encountered many talented writers on LinkedIn, including Michael Spencer, Shashi Dhungel, Ivette Caballero, Brigette Hyacinth, Terry A Maiers, Steve Ater, Steve Cartwright and many others. All of these are potential authors and some have projects already in the works. So, what about you?

Who is Lulu?

No, Lulu is not the name of my great aunt. As many of you know, I have published a book or two. I do this as a self-published author. Actually, I am proud to be a Lulu author. Lulu.com is known for its remarkable books that Lulu authors create. Their support and author loyalty is unmatched. In recognition of their quality published products, Lulu has been named the 2015 Best Online Book Publishing Company by TopTenLists.

"Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer."
― Barbara Kingsolver

What is a Lulu Author?

As a Lulu author, I have complete control over the content, layout, cover design, book size and binding. More importantly, I control the price, at least that portion beyond the cost to produce a bound and printed book. Many of my books would cost in excess of $100 and some as much as $200 from a traditional publishing company. Distraught by the outrageous profiteering by the big publishing houses and their disregard for the size of the wallet of a college student parent, I made a vow to keep my book prices under $50. Of course, there are trade-offs to achieve this.


You can have drafts with no deadlines and complete control of your work, including discounts and access

Lulu for any Budget

I do not have an editor, I do not have a marketing vehicle, I do not have a graphic designer. I only have my computer. I produce my on typeset, graphics, and cover design. I do the layout, indexing and final document. I do it with an ounce of budget and a passion to write, coupled with a desire to transmit information at an affordable price. All this was doable, when I found Lulu.com. I have sold hundreds of books and the only complaints I have had are related to my inability to use the English language properly and failure to dot my t's and cross my i's. When Lulu ships you a book, the print is on quality paper, covered with quality and bound the same.


Choose to publish a Print Book or eBook

Lulu.com offers free guides, tutorials and templates

Lulu Makes it Easy

Lulu makes it easy to publish with various templates and cover design tools, as well as PDF settings for a final product. If you happen to be one who has received one of my PDF versions, you are getting the product that is printed. Moreover, you can find all my books on my Lulu Author Spotlight page and pay less than you would for the same book on Amazon.com (I set the discounts). But if you are a loyal Amazon consumer, you can find most of my books on my author page there.

An Author Spotlight page is one-stop shop for all your books

I ain't Mark Twain

My wife tells me not to say "ain't", but that's another story. I have said before that I had wanted to author a book for at least 10 years before I had the courage to do so. What if my grammar is not great (and it isn't)? What if my content knowledge is not the very best (and it isn't)? What if people do not like my writing (and I have found a couple that don't)? But, I imagine that Mark Twain had doubts about Tom Sawyer, and J.R.R. Tolkien probably had second thoughts about a story of elves, dwarves, wizards, dragons and a hobbit.
"If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write."
― Somerset Maugham

You Just Need an Idea

Many of you have ideas in you gray matter that are waiting to be unleashed on a wider audience than your bathroom mirror. You can write for yourself, your family and friends, or for the world. And Lulu can help you do it. If you are like me, once you start you will not want to stop. You can produce your work in hardcover, paperback or e-book with a variety of binding and cover options. You can also produce in color (I do not, because it costs more).

You have a variety of cover and binding options

Lulu Fits Your Wallet

If your budget is bigger than mine, Lulu also offers editing and review services, as well as marketing packages, all at reasonable prices. I still have two kids that have to put through college, so I save a dollar or two by not using these service. Maybe I will write all of their college textbooks, except for the one on grammar...


This marketing tool is free. You just embed it in your website.


Free, Free and Free! (But they also offer marketing that you pay for)

I cannot Write!

Well, neither could I until I did...and I am not really that good now. So, you can write, even if it is just for you.

"It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way."
― Ernest Hemingway

Endnotes

  1. Lulu.com is about to launch an academic textbook publishing capability. There are many authors self-publishing textbooks on Lulu.com, in order to lower the cost for students and families for astronomically expensive print on paper. Lulu.com has heard the call and will launch its exclusive academic publishing support (I do not know what this looks like yet) in the near future. 
  2. Please see the complementary article by Steve Cartwright, "Nine Tips for Creating Content for Books."

Who Wrote This?

Jeffrey Strickland, Ph.D., is the Author of “Predictive Analytics Using R” and a Senior Analytics Scientist with Clarity Solution Group. He has performed predictive modeling, simulation and analysis for the Department of Defense, NASA, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Financial and Insurance Industries for over 20 years. Jeff is a Certified Modeling and Simulation professional (CMSP) and an Associate Systems Engineering Professional. He has published over 200 blogs on LinkedIn, is also a frequently invited guest speaker and the author of 20 books including:
  • Logistic Regression Inside and Out
  • Data Science and Analytics for Ordinary People
  • Operations Research using Open-Source Tools
  • Discrete Event simulation using ExtendSim
  • Crime Analysis and Mapping
  • Missile Flight Simulation
  • Mathematical Modeling of Warfare and Combat Phenomenon
  • Predictive Modeling and Analytics
  • Using Math to Defeat the Enemy
  • Verification and Validation for Modeling and Simulation
  • Simulation Conceptual Modeling
  • System Engineering Process and Practices
  • Weird Scientist: the Creators of Quantum Physics
  • Albert Einstein: No one expected me to lay a golden eggs
  • The Men of Manhattan: the Creators of the Nuclear Era
  • Fundamentals of Combat Modeling
  • Quantum Phaith
  • Quantum Hope
  • Dear Mister President
  • LinkedIn Memoirs
  • Knights of the Cross: the True Story of the Knights Templar
Connect with Jeffrey StricklandContact Jeffrey Strickland

Comments

  1. Alia parkerJune 1, 2020 at 1:01 AM

    nice

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alia parkerJune 3, 2020 at 11:26 PM

    I was searching for this help so badly. I believe in self publishing. I am a writer. Few days ago i wrote a book. Now i need a publisher who will help me to sell more books.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Neural Networks using R

Neural Networks using R By Jeffrey Strickland on May 13, 2015 The intent of this article is not to tell you everything you wanted to know about artificial neural networks (ANN) and were afraid to ask. For that you’ll have to ask someone else. Here I only intend to tell you how you might use R to implement an ANN model. One thing I will say is that I rarely use an ANN. I have found them to work best in an ensemble model (using averaging) with logistics regression models. Using neuralnet neuralnet depends on two other packages: grid and MASS ( Venables and Ripley, 2002). It is used is primarily with functions dealing with regression analyses like linear models ( lm ) and general linear models ( glm ). As essential arguments, we must specify a formula in terms of response variables ~ sum of covariates and a data set containing covariates and response variables. Default values are defined for all other parameters (see next subsection). We use the data set infert that i
6 comments
Read more

Time Series Analysis using iPython

Time Series Analysis using iPython In this example, we will examine ARMA and ARIMA models with Python using the Statsmodels package. This package can be downloaded at  http://statsmodels.sourceforge.net/stable/index.html . Autogressive Moving-Average Processes (ARMA) and Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) can be called from the tsa (Time Series) module from the Statamodels package. Note: I am not as expert in time-series analysis as I am in other areas of Analytics, so if you find errors I would be happy to know about them and correct them. Introduction ARIMA models are, in theory, the most general class of models for forecasting a time series, which can be made to be “stationary” by differencing (if necessary), perhaps in conjunction with nonlinear transformations such as logging or deflating (if necessary). A random variable that is a time series is stationary if its statistical properties are all constant over time. A stationary series has no trend
9 comments
Read more

Where Did All The Thinking Go?

Where Did All The Thinking Go?   “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.” ― Henry Ford What Do We Really Want? We live in a fast-food society, at least in the USA. We want what we want, now! We prefer not to work too hard for it, if we work at all, and many of us have a sense of entitlement. We believe all of us should go to college and get our degree, but not much effort should be expended in doing so. After all, we have lots of cheeseburgers to munch on and many parties to attend. “Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” ― Thomas A. Edison When I was teaching, even at the United States Military Academy, I ran into this attitude often. Students wanted to do the minimum amount of work to get by with a passing grade. In contrast were the non-traditional students taking evening classes after working a fulltime job dur
3 comments
Read more