Lulu Offers Free Publishing Advice
Just learned, through Publisher’s Weekly, Lulu offers free “custom publishing advice” for authors.
The questions were to determine your mindset on the whole publishing process and where you are with your WIP. The tips was pretty bare bones. I learned something new though.
“When you have seconds to convince readers to notice your book on the shelf, the cover matters. Don’t try to tell your entire story with an illustration of all the characters. Keep it simple; make readers want to know more. The back cover copy is a vital marketing message. You want to give readers an honest idea of how they will feel or what they will know after they’ve turned the last page. You’ll also want a great author bio and headshot.”
Never thought of dong this for my book title but it’s a great idea.
“Find your most honest go-to friend/relative and ask their opinion on the title. Your feelings might get hurt, but you’ll thank them in the long run. Repeat that step with five more peers. An alternative is sending an anonymous online survey to your group with choices for a title, allowing them to write one in. You’ll be surprised what you learn.”
This is obviously a way to get more people to use Lulu. Pretty good move. It provided strong yet basic advice. I’m thinking this would be a better tool for writers who just finished their book and have no idea what to do next.
I had no idea they did this, but I've never really looked into them so that may be why. It seems a lot of companies like this offer free stuff to get more clients.
I've never used Lulu, but I think it's nice that they are giving publishing advice. I think both are great advice, but just one of many methods for each task. There are so many different ways that people come up with titles. Some know the title before they even write the book!