I honestly don't know how I feel about this.
http://www.lulu.com/
Thoughts?
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A worm ate words. I thought that wonderfully
Strange -- a miracle -- when they told me a crawling
Insect had swallowed noble songs,
A nighttime thief had stolen writing
So famous, so weighty. But the prowler was foolish
Still, though its belly was full of thought.
4 comments:
It looks like one of those "we'll publish your book if you pay for it" sort of deals. ;~P
Just on a side note--I'm in Rochester, and all settled in my "new" (read: old and inexpensive) house. You all should stop by and visit if you ever get up here! :~D
Interesting that this company offers to "publish" more than merely books--including photo books, calendars, music/file downloads, images, cds, dvds, and artwork. In their diclaimer, they say:
Please note that Lulu is not a publisher, but instead provides users with tools to publish their own content.
It seems very much like a "produce-anything-you-want-to-distribute-at-your-cost" service, which opens many opportunities to many people who may not have had such opportunities before. Of course, it's not for anyone who hopes to market anything in the big-name markets--unless you plan on spending more money on advertising and press coverage.
I also find it fascinating that it's not just a service but has a full online "marketplace" to shop what others want to sell. And, more than that, even, the "marketplace" is set up to look an awful lot like Amazon's layout.
Interesting. I just glanced at the site--did any of you look at the 'products'? It's hard to imagine ordering anything from such a system, unless it was copies of something one had done oneself. (Which is in itself hard to imagine--but my kids tell me my imagination is maturing out of existence).
I think you'll need to work on reversing that process if it is true, MLP. Imagination is vital.
In the end, I daresay this whole 'publish yourself' thing really feels cheap to me. It cheapens the effort that so many people put forth to become actually published and sold by major companies, even though the self-published folks don't sell anything. Knowing someone who self-published a book [actually, her parents paid for it] who was not what I would call a stellar writer [those who know me can read exactly what I mean by that], it bothers me on a deep level because it makes people think that it means something to have it "published." Really all that happens is they are having it professionally bound...that doesn't mean that they are worth anything as contributors to the ever-growing pool of literature.
I think, in the end, that it almost cheapens literature as a whole...which is more or less how I feel about the whole "blog" thing at times. If you are going to try and put yourself out there to be taken seriously, self-publication is just not the way.
...I'm sure I can think of more to say, but for now, I'll settle for this.
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