Feb 08 2009
Joseph “Ozero” Picard at Lulu.com
Today it’s the turn of Joseph Picard, another Lulu.com customer:
Did you look at other publishing avenues before settling on Lulu.com? What led you to pick Lulu?
My journey began, as many do, at google. This of course was after I gave up on traditional publishing. I gave up on that pretty quick, after seeing the submission hoops that most publishers make you jump through, and the year you wait just to hear anything back. To heck with that…
After looking through a bajillion self publishing companies, including (off the top of my head) Xlibris, iUniverse, Vantage and Booksurge, I was seeing a common thread. “Invest a huge stack of cash, and WHEE! You get 20 copies FREE!”
Ehhh, no. I was whining about that in a forum on DeviantArt, where I had submitted a handful of short stories, when someone pointed me at Lulu. No startup fee, and nobody PHONING ME to upsell me? Sold.
You mention your graphic art background was an advantage in publishing with Lulu. Why?
Custom covers, mainly. The card I gave out for my (now closed due to fatherhood) graphics business said on the back, “No clip-art. No templates. EVER.” It was my cause. I’ve been known to do business cards for the cost of printing, just to stop people using those sheet kits from staples. So you can imagine how I felt about a clipart cover on my book.
Design was one thing, but conforming to the measurements, formats, cutoff margins, and all that… it was messy as heck! A novice would have likely ended up either hiring out to a person like me, or going with the clipart.
You say you’re looking at Createspace now. Is that for a different book or the same book?
Same book. There is another one in the works, mind you. I became aware of CreateSpace a little while ago, and their pricing looks really favorable against Lulu’s, which I had always held as being the leader of the pack. Most of my sales are done personally, via friendly local stores, or conventions. It looks like I can stock myself at a much lower price, and set a lower retail price… with is a ratio that is currently pretty tight when selling through a store.
How easy have you found it to market your book? Any tips?
Ack. Marketing was never my strong suit. To make it worse, I’ve become a stay at home dad for a daughter who is 20 months old, and has just given up naps. Add my disability (paraplegia from a spinal injury), and marketing gets put on a distant backburner. BUT….
Know your target audience. I sold horribly at a Blackbond books, (don’t get me started - that’s another story), but do nicely at a shop that specializes in tabletop and roleplaying games. Don’t advertise to the general public, when you can aim at your niche.
Pimp it out. Don’t cram your book down people’s throats, but be ready with:
-website: preferably pay for a site so you can have your own name on it, no ads, and no address like www.yahoogimmiefreewebbs/35638462/whee.com. You don’t need a lot of space. A cover shot, maybe your mug, a description, maybe a few excerpts, links to buy, etc. If you’re feeling cheap a freebie site is better than nothing.
-Business card: This is a card for your book. Your name is on it, sure, but the card is about the book. Title big, a nice graphic, web address, etc.. My rule is: Front side clean and pretty, back side crammed with info. Be ready to hand one out at the drop of a hat. (vistaprint.com is a great place to get cheap cards)
-Postcards: Again, simple on the front, crammed with info on the back. (again, vistaprint have magnetic or huge oversized postcards) Mine are pretty enough that people at a convention grab one and go, then come back after they read the back as they walked around. Postcards make good bookmarks as well, but if one wants a cheap source of traditional (kinda) bookmarks, you can make a design that prints 2 on a postcard, and cut em in half.
Did I mention I’m cheap?
-Vistaprint also does these cool corrugated plastic lawn signs. I took one to the last sci fi convention, and perched it on my table. Just a splashy logo and a catchphrase.
Another thing I’ve done… well, I can’t say it’s a sound marketing technique, but it has gotten me a handful of sales for something I was going to do anyway. I was very excited for a game called littleBIGplanet on the ps3. The big feature for me is the ability to make your own levels. Being my own biggest fanboy. I set out to create a series of levels that retold the book… in a very rudimentary, and cute-ified way. I also have done two contests, where they highest score after a week on a level I set up for it, got a copy of the book, a t-shirt, etc. That was a blast. (any LBP players out there should do a search of my PSN, ozero, and play my book…!)
Currently I’m researching options for online advertising…
Thanks Joseph. Your experience illustrates why science fiction is one of the two best genres for self-published authors! Science fiction and fantasy fans congregate. Conventions give sci fi authors a rare chance to meet a large number of readers face-to-face. If only they held thriller conventions, or whodunnit conventions! You don’t mention science fiction and fantasy forums, which offer similar opportunities online. The gaming connection is a fantastic idea and may work better than you think!
Joe’s book is available at Lulu.com. Here’s a taster :
She lost her brother.
She learnt to fight a legion of dead.
She spent two years alone, scavenging to survive.
Then to make things difficult,
…she fell in love with a straight girl.
Microscopic technology is making leaps and bounds. Unseen robots, or ‘nanites’ already work many mundane tasks, creating materials previously impossible. In the near future, advanced nanites will become the weapon of choice for a man with no purpose other than bloodthirsty mischief - and millions will pay the price. When a city is overtaken by vicious puppet corpses, the only defence is quarantine.
A debt to a brother, duty to the military, and a feeling of responsibility for one who’s been wandering in quarantine since the outbreak - all fuel the need to resolve a crime against humanity that has had the corpses of its victims roaming the streets of a damned city for two years.
As the puzzle pieces begin to click, an unwanted love constantly gets in the way, between the woman who can’t stop loving, and the woman who can’t accept it.
…meanwhile, a cruel imagination considers its next step…
