Burtonia Blogs: CreateSpace vs. Lulu

Friday, May 23, 2008

CreateSpace vs. Lulu

While pursuing my self-publishing adventures, I have done some research into the various options for getting a book professionally printed. A whirlwind of creative destruction is just revving up to tear through publishing, so it's a fun time to have a manuscript in hand.

Publish-on-demand is a big driver of these changes. Instead of keeping stacks and stack of books in a warehouse, ready to ship out to bookstores, a manufacturer just prints off a single book when an order comes in. This works great for virtual bookstores like Amazon. On the internet, two of the biggest players are Lulu and CreateSpace (a subsidiary of Amazon). I've used both services, so this post will be an effort to compare the two.

Characteristic	Description	Lulu	CreateSpace
Cost	If you want to print more than about three books, CreateSpace is the hands-down winner. The wholesale cost for my book (~250 pages) is $4.15 at CreateSpace, and $9.50 at Lulu. You can get volume breaks at Lulu, but the quotes they gave me were not impressive.		X
Time	Lulu's turnaround time is much better than CreateSpace's. CreateSpace has an approval process that takes at least a day. Plus shipping is slower.	X
Shipping	Lulu seems to print and ship a little faster. Their shipping costs are much lower (they offer a Media Mail option). However, once a CreateSpace book is in the Amazon system, you can take advantage of free shipping and Amazon Prime. I'll give them both a nod here.	X	X
Revisions	Because CreateSpace requires a proof for every revision, Lulu is more practical if you are rev'ing something a lot. Plus the high shipping means at least $10 for every turn of the crank at CreateSpace.	X
Amazon	Since CreateSpace is owned by Amazon, it's free to get an ISBN and get your book into the Amazon system. Also, as I said before, all of Amazon's great shipping deals apply. This is an astonishing thing - to be able to get a book into the greatest book distrubtion system in the world for nothing.		X
Distribution	Lulu has other distribution systems that I don't really care about. Consequently, I have not investigated them. Lulu charges $300, though, to get it into Amazon or any other system.	X
Profitibility	This is a labor of love for me, so I don't care about the money. But if I did, CreateSpace is a much better deal. For the same retail price, the author keeps a lot more of the dough.		X
Quality	This is close, but I would give this one to Lulu. The CreateSpace books are not as uniform, in size or cover registration. It's not a big deal and you would never know unless you had a stack of them in front of you. None of the CreateSpace books have been bad, but I just noticed the minor inconsistencies.	X
Cover Options	Lulu offers softcover, hardcover, and spiral bound (great for reports or editor's manuscripts). CreateSpace only has trade paperback.	X

Bottom line: I am using CreateSpace. I think Lulu would be great for a business user who has lots of really low-volume kinds of books (reports, etc.).

Labels: CreateSpace, Lulu, Publishing

23 Comments:

Please keep us updated on how it goes.

By erin, At May 28, 2008 at 10:08 PM
I've also elected to go with CreateSpace over Lulu, primarily because of production cost concerns. With CS, I was able to price my 310pp, perfect-bound trade paperback at $14 and still earn about $3.80 in author royalties per copy sold. The same book would've cost me $10.74 in production costs at Lulu, forcing me to price the book at $18 just to break even. $19 to earn $1 in royalties per copy sold.

The secondary advantage of CS, for me anyway, was the fact that your book gets the full 'Amazon treatment' at no extra charge: Buy Now button, always listed as 'in stock', eligible for free shipping and 'buy these books together' promo offers, and even Search Inside the Book.

Finding all the info and instructions I needed while prepping my manuscripts for CS was hassle-filled and time-consuming, and in the end a lot of what I learned about what works and what doesn't was through trial-and-error. Drawing on my past experience as a technical writer, I decided to document everything from manuscript prep through promotion in a how-to reference book, The IndieAuthor Guide. I published the book through CS and it's now available on Amazon, but some of its content is offered for free on my website:
www.aprillhamilton.com/iaguides.html

By April L. Hamilton, At July 1, 2008 at 2:55 PM
I appreciate your clarity and the content, particularly. I am looking at Self Publishing and have reviewed all of the sites-- including Lulu and Booksurge. You didn't mention the initial price CreateSpace charges to set the book up, such as putting it into format for publishing. Booksurge seems to cost in the neighborhood of $1500 to get started with around 100 copies and the free access to Amazon system.

What is the initial outlay for CreateSpace? Thanks so much.

By Patient On-line, At October 22, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Createspace does not offer a service to format the material. You have to do that yourself or hire it done. That is a huge advantage for someone who (like me) knows how to do it.

By Jeff Burton, At October 22, 2008 at 11:22 AM
great post. im in the process of publishing my non-fiction book BLACK PASSENGER YELLOW CABS: Of Exile and Excess in Japan, and was wondering how creatspace compares to blurb.

check them out at blub.com

By blackpassenger, At November 12, 2008 at 4:23 PM
I'm listining. Just came across createspace and was thinking of giving it ago. I might check out that book april. A guide to preping my work seems like a good investment to me. I presume i cna find it on amazon

By Aaron Hanlon, At November 17, 2008 at 11:03 AM
lulu talks about an option for owning the ISBN number - does createspace offer that? is it even an issue?

By Jonathan Blundell, At November 20, 2008 at 9:46 AM
I'm curious if you've used either to publish DVDs or CD. I'm looking at producing a multi-media packet with a book(or eBook on CD)/DVDs/Audio CDs.

By The RebelWoman, At November 26, 2008 at 1:40 PM
Previous commenter April Hamilton offers a fantastic how-to book on self-publishing which not only gives you instructions on how to typeset your book using MS Word but also a by-step process to use CreateSpace. I followed it recently (she offers it free in electronic format) to publish via CreateSpace.

They have NO upfront cost, just the $10/crank turn that the blog poster mentioned.

The interface can be a little confusing and clunky but, again, I referred to April's guide to walk me through it and it turned out fine.

By T.D. Newton, At December 23, 2008 at 1:29 PM
I used to use Lulu but there was an issue with content control so I pulled out. I went to CreateSpace but now they still owe me for 2008 and they contradict some of their own statements. I went to the BBB to complain and someone at CS swore blind that I would be paid at 1/30. Here it is 2/5 and the payment still has not cleared my bank. No matter how much they ask you to pay up front for everything you do with them they refuse to pay on time on their end. I'm contemplating using a collector.

By Anonymous, At February 5, 2009 at 8:08 PM
Nice introductory article, but a little misleading or at least out-of-date. For example: it doesn't cost $300 for Lulu to get your book onto Amazon and other retailers.

Anyone looking to decide between Lulu and CreateSpace, or thinking of using both (yes you can) would benefit from reading Book Publishing DIY : The Do It Yourself Guide to Self-Publishing using Lulu and CreateSpace.

By Anonymous, At March 4, 2009 at 4:06 AM
Greetings:
I have to disagree with a few minor things. However, first a comment not touched.
Lulu customer service is worse than bad. Reps, don't read your question enough to understand it, as if they are working on multiple cases while you wait. I have been given clearly wrong information by a Lulu Supervisor that took a week to clear up. I never got an explanation or apoligy. This is why I went to Create Space.
CreateSpace customer service is not great, but head and shoulders above Lulu.
I have found CreateSpace production time to be quicker rather than slower. I have found Lulu shipping to very expensive compared to CreateSpace.
I can agree with the Paperback comparison, but for CD and DVD Lulu puts an ugly bar code on the disk. (Perhaps CreateSpace does, but CS does not produce a disk product that I can use.
On Lulu a customer can search books. CreateSpace does not offer this. You have to give a customer the link. Yes, it is automaticly on Amazon which has been great for me, but an Amazon sales takes 40% while a CS sale take 20%
Lulu will not bundle products like a book and a CD. I have gotten around this by taking a discounted payment myself and haveing the products delivered. This works, but requires interaction with the customer.
Peace
Arsalaanhttps://www.blogger.com/captcha?type=IMAGE&captchaKey=1n7q8unt00xak

By Arsalaan, At April 12, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Choice between Lulu and Createspace - difficult to make. I have used both. Createspace gets your books on Amazon.com very quickly compared to going through Lulu, and that also applies to getting the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon up and running. Quality - I found both identical. Shipping - Lulu is more expensive. Cost to print your book - Createspace wins hands down and it also sells your book on Amazon.com at a price cheaper than Lulu, one which readers are more likely to pay.

But, your choice depends on which end result you are aiming for.You can publish through Lulu using your own ISBN, using Lulu solely as a printing service, or you can opt for the Publish By Lulu which costs you nothing but will only get your books on Amazon.com. But, for $49 you can get Lulu expanded distribution and Lulu will get your book on numerous online book stores worldwide, not just Amazon.com.

So if you are willing to put a lot of effort into marketing and selling your product yourself, I recommend Createspace; otherwise I would go with Lulu.

By Anonymous, At April 27, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Obviously, the writer seems to have gotten better service from Lulu.com. But if the writings is based on just visiting Lulu.com, then the writer is totally wrong. Lulu.com is not recommended to anyone. Please read about Lulu.com victims: on

http://kujakupoet.blogspot.com/2007/03/lulucom-shoddy-and-shady.html

By Anonymous, At June 7, 2009 at 10:51 PM
Hi, UniBook
is also a free self-publishing service , not mentioned in this article. The prices of hardcovers are very low. Maybe worth to have a look at.

By Anonymous, At August 24, 2009 at 6:52 AM
This information is very helpful, thanks! I'm just getting started in this whole self-publishing process. I had booklets made up at my local print shop and am selling copies on my website, but would love to get into Amazon. My information is more of a small book, or booklet size.

http://wwwhow2winscholarships.com

By Monica, At August 25, 2009 at 6:45 AM
I have a lot of books on the market, both on lulu and createspace. many of them are exactly the same books. When I went to Createspace, Lulu was still charging for ISBN's where as Createspace was giving them to us. Createspace will accept the PDF's for content and cover that I make up on Lulu. If I pay extra for pro the cost of the book on createspace is 1/3 that of Lulu. You can also change the content and cover down the road without fees on createspace.
If you are formating on LULU and plan to print with createspace watch your borders because the books are not the same size.
What I like about LULU is the preview and download ability they offer, most of my sales on LULU are downloads also a client can preview it on LULU where as on the createspace e-store I don't see this ability downloads or preview.
Example I just finished an edition of a book on alternative health for Truck drivers. The title of the book on Lulu is Truck Drivers guide to health 101. 247 pages soft cover my cost per copy $11.70 hard cover $21.18 both books are higher quality illustrations in black and white. I can also present this same book with color items in the PDF that will come out in black and white in print, but in color in a download. I do not have an ISBN with the books on LULU. Then what I did is take the content pdf and a different cover pdf made on LULU and print A million miles later on Createspace. I pay for the pro to get the discount and I have both ISBN's 10 and 13 free. With pro my cost is $3.82 per copy which I am selling for $11.00 less than the print cost at LULU. The size is smaller and the paper and quality is inferior, but it is a good item.
Without the ISBN on LULU I can update the book and update the other book in the same way on createspace under a different title. So I use the best of both companies.
As for payment I like LULU and Paypal over royalties sent directly to my bank.
John M. Wansor

By John m. Wansor, At September 2, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Thank you for this clear, detailed, and illuminating - if slightly dated - article.

As somebody who was moved to CreateSpace from Booksurge via Amazon, I've been pleased with the increased pay per book and the entire Amazon factor.

On the other hand, I've also been given conflicting and contradictory information from different CreateSpace employees which is more than a tad annoying. The gap between the potential and the actual seems wider each day.

Bottomline: my current book is with CreateSpace, but I'm actively looking for alternatives. Lulu came to mind because it also allows spiral binding for a teacher's guide. Yet I'm also wondering if it's time to just go with a more traditional distributor/publisher like Bookmasters too.

Thoughts?

By Eric Roth, At March 16, 2010 at 4:30 PM
At first I wanted to go with lu.lu, but a free isbn with CS is much better.

By Jake, At April 12, 2010 at 10:35 AM
I'm using CS for my paperbacks, and LULU for hardcovers and e-books) as CS currently doesn't offer those.. but the cost for a hardcover is high enough that it's not marketable at all... only for devoted fans who are really into hardcover.

As for printing quality goes, I have no complaints with either over the other- except for the last page on a CS book where it proclaims 'made in the USA'... well.. constructed and printed in the USA, fine, but I would argue that the WRITING and cover design have a little to do with the making, and that was me, a tad north of the states.

I also offer smashwords e-books, for the multitude of formats available... but between CS, LULL, and SW, it was quite a task to wrangle all of that neatly into my web page... have a peek as how I've done it: www.ozero.ca

By Joseph Picard, At June 4, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Thank's for the useful info :)

By Blaine Johnston, At August 5, 2010 at 8:04 PM
Very useful post. I'm about to self publish, and was leaning towards CS too. Lulu seems expensive!

By · month thesis, At April 14, 2011 at 2:55 AM
Basically, it's marketing and advertising that is going to be kind of tricky. A week ago, I decided to create a YouTube video to talk about my story entitled Aendaria. Just type Aendaria on the subject line.

T. L. De Allanne.

By T. L. De Allanne, At February 27, 2013 at 5:47 PM