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I wrote a sci-fi novel that involved reincarnation called Transcendence.- shameful plug

http://www.lulu.com/au/en/shop...

"But... You're a horse"

rofl

That's not as bad as it seems:

" a collection of pranks, anecdotes and gags that have nothing whatsoever to do with the cover of the book containing them. "

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop...

It's been a long time since I've seen a reference to Shepard tones. I used this, along with another (novel) auditory illusion, as the basis of an auralization technique to complement visualization of computational fluid dynamics data, which became my dissertation research.

Umm... lulu?

Printing presses are also increasingly under pressure (no pun intended) by start ups like Lulu that essentially print books on demand.

my first "intro to programming" class was with python using this book http://www.lulu.com/shop/j-bur...

This already exists. It's called Lulu Helix review.

http://www.lulu.com/services/helix-review

"The Helix Review provides a detailed analysis of your submitted manuscript by comparing it with all published works within The Book Genome Project as well as making specific comparisons to titles in your chosen genre. "

The actual printing cost of any paperback where more than a thousand coppies are produced is a buck or two. You can print a single copy of a 6"x4" 100page paperback(color cover) for $5.25 at http://www.lulu.com/calculators/bookCalc.php?cid=publish_book

My mobile devices have actually contributed to my creativity. I'm a writer, and I've come to depend on my mobile devices quite a lot to, well, write. From my first palm Zire to my current Motorola Flipout, I've depended on my mobile devices to write and edit my various stories. The internet connected devices have also been tremendously handy to do quick research on the various subjects relevant to my writing. In each of the boredom cases listed in the article, I'm much more likely to be continuing whatever current story I'm working on or doing research directly related to it. Before my mobile devices, I had to use a notebook if I wanted to get some writing done away from the computer. Obviously, that was quite a lot less convenient than a handy gizmo that fits comfortably in my pocket and is easier to read than the nigh-indecipherable scribble of my handwriting. So you'll see me standing in line between the guy texting his girlfriend and the girl giggling at the latest grumpy cat picture while I'm actually doing something worthwhile, and creative.

If you're curious, my first completed, published novel, which was written entirely on mobile devices, is available here:
Amazon Trade Paperback (Createspace pays me better, but it's still Amazon),
Lulu epub, Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.
It's also free in its entirety on wattpad. I've actually gotten sales from people who started reading it here.

This. i came here to say this. pick up a few python books, read through some examples, pick a project and start. any book that covers basics will probably have a hello world in first chapter. cover loops, for,if,else,case,while,do ... variables, and variable types strings,arrays i started with this book http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/j-burton-browning/design-logic-and-programming-with-python-a-hands-on-approach-third-edition/hardcover/product-4519569.html

You could buy my book. No one has complained it's not "professional-quality." I specifically requested no DRM from Amazon. It can be done. It's easy. Amazon doesn't require it, it's up to the publisher, and since the publisher is me, and I think DRM is stupid, I made it DRM-free. Just because I'm not a big name yet doesn't mean I can't produce a worthwhile piece of entertainment that stands equal to the best of what's available. If I were a big name, writing for a big publisher, I would demand DRM-free, since it doesn't matter how big you are, DRM is always stupid. Of course it's also available in paper form, for those who prefer it that way.

Links:
Amazon Kindle version of Cerberon
Printed version from Amazon
And if you prefer it from someone other than Amazon:
Lulu totally device agnostic DRM-free epub from Lulu. Wil Wheaton told me to use them.
B&N Nook version (also DRM-free, as far as I'm aware).
Apple iTunes iBook version, despite the fact that iDespise iTunes.
Createspace printed version, which is also Amazon, but gives me a better commission if people buy it here.
Straight from me, half the book as a free preview. DRM-free epub, of course.

Apologies for the advertisement, but you asked.

Five editions? Of course, it's an ebook, they can claim it's a new edition every time they make an edit and press the save button. Considering that they call their book a bestseller (during a tiny little period of time on amazon.fr), I wouldn't surprised if they would stoop to that level of exaggeration when it came to numbering their editions as well.

And who is their publisher anyway? Lulu is a print-on-demand outfit for self-publishers. My understanding is that you just need to sell one book, in order for yourself to make your royalty.

And also, Lulu doesn't edit your work, nor does it promote it in any way. In that sense, they're just like your local Kinkos or your local copy store, except that Lulu provisions your book a ISBN number for you to be able to get it listed on Amazon (or make it look more like a real book at least), and they take care of doing the printing-on-demand procurement for your customers (although, it's not immediately obvious to your customers that "ships in in 3 - 5 business days" really means "will print and ship in 3 - 5 business days").

Five editions? Of course, it's an ebook, they can claim it's a new edition every time they make an edit and press the save button. Considering that they call their book a bestseller (during a tiny little period of time on amazon.fr), I wouldn't surprised if they would stoop to that level of exaggeration when it came to numbering their editions as well.

And who is their publisher anyway? Lulu is a print-on-demand outfit for self-publishers. My understanding is that you just need to sell one book, in order for yourself to make your royalty.

And also, Lulu doesn't edit your work, nor does it promote it in any way. In that sense, they're just like your local Kinkos or your local copy store, except that Lulu provisions your book a ISBN number for you to be able to get it listed on Amazon (or make it look more like a real book at least), and they take care of doing the printing-on-demand procurement for your customers (although, it's not immediately obvious to your customers that "ships in in 3 - 5 business days" really means "will print and ship in 3 - 5 business days").

Fun Science with your Computer by Christophe Cornu.

This book explains how to solve interesting (and progressively more complex) problems, using Java to work through the examples, building up from basic principles in Chapter 1 to implementing a chess program by the end of the book. It's not quite as polished as a professionally-edited book (you can tell his native tongue is French, although he writes in very good English), but it's a better self-study aid than any book I've seen from a mainstream publisher.

(Full disclosure: I used to work with Christophe at a previous job).

Booki was what there was before Booktype, and FLOSS Manuals used other software before Booki which I also used. The great thing about all this software is that many people can collaborate on a book online, then distribute in in multiple formats:

1). As a website
2). As a PDF that can be published as a print-on-demand book by Lulu or Create Space.
3). As an EPUB (which you can run Kindlegen on to create a MOBI for the Kindkle).
4). As a "newspaper".

Some examples of books I have created:

websites

http://en.flossmanuals.net/make-your-own-sugar-activities/

http://en.flossmanuals.net/como-hacer-una-actividad-sugar/

http://en.flossmanuals.net/e-book-enlightenment/

epub, mobi, and pdf

http://www.archive.org/details/MakeYourOwnSugarActivities

http://www.archive.org/details/ComoHacerUnaActividadSugar

http://www.archive.org/details/EBookEnlightenment

On the Kindle Store

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Sugar-Activities-ebook/dp/B0050VAHKW/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329414720&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Hacer-Actividad-Sugar-Spanish-ebook/dp/B0058DBRVA/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3

http://www.amazon.com/E-Book-Enlightenment-ebook/dp/B005BYST5I/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Bhakta-Jim-ebook/dp/B00730HE54/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329414780&sr=1-1

On Lulu

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/make-your-own-sugar-activities/12995552?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1

And soon, The Life And Times Of Bhakta Jim on Create Space.

The Spanish book was translated from "Make Your Own Sugar Activities!" by a team of volunteers, mostly in South America, who likely had never met in person.

Don't underestimate what this software can do! It isn't perfect, but in time it will change how we author and publish books.

Apparently, it will be soon available at Amazon, but for now you can buy it here. The money would go to Lydia Pintscher, who has been actively involved in FOSS since 1990, and in recent years KDE. So pretty sure it will get poured into OSS development.

IMHO though, it would probably just be better to directly send donations, bug reports and patches to your favourite open source projects. :)

I you expect me to believe that Lydia Pintcher has been involved in FOSS since she was 5 or 6 years old? http://www.lydiapintscher.de/about.php

Apparently, it will be soon available at Amazon, but for now you can buy it here. The money would go to Lydia Pintscher, who has been actively involved in FOSS since 1990, and in recent years KDE. So pretty sure it will get poured into OSS development.

IMHO though, it would probably just be better to directly send donations, bug reports and patches to your favourite open source projects. :)

Lulu is good. My sister used it: http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/the-god-eaters/16595193?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1 (Blatant Plug)

First entry up on google for self publishing epubs:

http://www.lulu.com/

They even do paper versions.
 

No one mentions on-demand publishers.

http://www.lulu.com/publish/

https://www1.lightningsource.com/default.aspx

I always like honest seekers. I have a book I wrote that you can get free in ebook format. I figure to make it free because I'm not writing for money, but to help more people learn about God. People might not believe me, but I know God exists for a fact, he loves us all, Jesus is LORD. And God approved of that book. Victor writes about applying spiritual truths to your life in the first half. In the second half I write more about answering modern questions to Christianity,"How can Evolution and Creationism coexist?" and "How can God be good and all powerful when suffering exists on Earth?"

You can call it a coincidence, but God seems to only really work in noticeable ways in my life when it is super important. As for this first book, this was the official prayer on the book. You might think my prayer doesn't sound great and glorious as something God would treat seriously. I said,"God I hope everything is cool." I guess it makes me sound like a surfer dude, and I can understand if people think it is funny :) But I know the Holy Spirit translates prayers to God for him to know exactly what you mean. If you read the things I write in this book, it stretches the very bounds by which one interprets the Bible like the "Long Day Theory" article. If you teach people something that goes against how God wants us to live(Peace and Love), it can have dire consequences for your own soul! So I was seriously worried upon publishing this book that I was going outside the bounds by which God allows you to interpret scripture. Because God worked in my life to let me know the book is approved by God it gives me great confidence by which I can share it with others. The only other book I know that is approved by God is the Bible. As such, you might even be able to say the book that Victor and I wrote is holy.

And if you think that is a coincidence:
God only ever spoke to me once that I know of,"Good News" then my dad hands me a Good News Bible. People have called me names on forums for saying the voice of God has spoken to me. And people have called it a coincidence. But neither really makes sense alone, and the miracle happened with two pieces.

Do you know nothing of Christianity? God says,"Love everyone and try to live in peace with everyone." If you think that is a pretty cool philosophy, read my book and read the Bible.

*ahem*

Indeed. (moderately NSFW)

AFAICT TFA more or less is the online version of the book.

If you want a link where to buy a printed version, you can go here.

Christianity and Evolution are very compatible. Christians should not challenge evolution, they should challenge their own theology. Just as God spoke to me one time to let me know he is real, he also let me know my first book was approved by him. In the book I wrote about God, I have an article entitled,"The Long Day Theory", Read it here

But I'll tell you why I am not inclined towards E-books. I like to read in the tub.

Derp. Also there are more out there. Pick one, or print it yourself.

I have tried OCR and it's not worth it. Also, when copying a 105,000 word novel such as mine The Butcher of Leningrad", speed is not the issue: quality is. When I am forced to type from my paper manuscript into a Word document, I silently omit the less-than-stellar parts. So, this is a quality step and doing an OCR would skip that step and lower the quality. So, no thanks. http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/leningrad

I have tried OCR and it's not worth it. Also, when copying a 105,000 word novel such as mine The Butcher of Leningrad", speed is not the issue: quality is. When I am forced to type from my paper manuscript into a Word document, I silently omit the less-than-stellar parts. So, this is a quality step and doing an OCR would skip that step and lower the quality. So, no thanks. http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/leningrad

Should have just bought my book instead: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/class-war-a-citizens-guide-to-insurrectionary-warfare/5191975 Would have saved him a ton of searching.

I just wrote a book which is compilation of the blog/articles on my website over the past years. By going through LULU.com, we were able to publish the book for free when no other people wanted to publish our book. My family members who don't use computers got to read what I wrote and they enjoyed it. If you ever have some information available to you, put it in book form, maybe someone will want to buy it. Like I said,"You can do something as simple as compile all your blogs/articles over the past few years, and turn it into a book!"

>>>we have what amounts to a protest over the cost of the original book...

Bullshit. It's theft of another person's labor. Equivalent to if you spend a year of your life as an engineer, but you only get half the pay. The other half gets distributed among thieves claiming credit for your work, even though they didn't do a damn thing. They are parasites... nothing more.

No, the parasites are the ones who change the edition of the book every 6-12 months, making the used book market nonexistant and allowing for inflation like this (usually in the realm of kickbacks to teachers/schools to "encourage" them to cycle out the editions on command).

$225 list price for a goddamned math book? Apparently selling textbooks allows for some really high quality drugs.

Having said that, note that the article submitter's name first comes up on Google as a Math Professor in Washington State who teaches Calculus 3. Even more amusing is the fact that Whitman's Math Department uses Lulu to sell their own line of College math books.

Let me interject real quick with the statement that I do not intend to suggest any shenanigans -- I just thought it was really unusual. In a good way. I've never heard of a college designing, testing, and printing their own textbooks -- and at vastly better prices ($9 instead of $225) to boot! And that's assuming you don't just want to download the PDF for your iPad or whatnot.

1. Go to the Amazon page for Calculus: Early Transcendentals
2. Click the cover image (Click to look inside!)
3. Go to the Lulu page for Calculus Twirly Exponentials Volume 1
4. Click on the Preview link (under the cover image)
5. Look at the cover page of both: they are different
6. Look at the first page of both (and every page after): they are the same

I've refreshed to make sure it's not a temporary bug with Lulu that has been fixed. It happens every time.

There's Lulu, which was recommended here, but I haven't used the service myself, so I can't vouch for how hard/easy it was to use.

Then this should be right up your alley:

Natural Harvest - A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes

Well, this book has been written by the author typing on a Nokia phone while daily commuting. So why couldnt't somebody develop code on a cellphone ?!?

Yes, please point out what is wrong with my implication.

Write a book, keep tight control, make profit on its sales = $X.
Write another book, put it online for free, make profit on its sales > $X.

Is that really what you're saying? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to be an idiot.

Say you are either an obscure or not a top-shelf author. The publisher isn't going to spend a bunch of money on promoting you, so you are left to get your name out there. The hardest part about being a writer is getting people to recognize your name and read your work.

Fans will buy what you write no matter what, but you have to get the fans before that can happen. Slashdot favorite Wil Wheaton is a great example of this. He makes the majority of his income from book and audio book sales...yet try to find his work on torrent sites. You will be suprised at how little of his work is pirated. This is because people love what he does and understand that their support enables him to care for his family. His books have gotten slightly more expensive over the years, because his fans are willing to pay for his work. He still gives away a TON of content at very little or no cost. His audio production diary from Criminal Minds is a good example of this. It was originally a free blog post, people enjoyed it, and now he can charge money for it.

In summary:

Write a book, sell it = sales
Write another book, put it online for free = exposure
Write another book after the increased exposure, sell it = more sales than your first book.

Making a portion of your work available for free increases the number of people that it will reach, since people don't have to spend money to see if they like what you do. Exposure is basically free advertising. Given what it costs to properly and professionally promote your work, giving some of it away for free is the cheapest and most effective form of advertising you could possibly engage in.

I'm skeptical. Itunes, eMusic, the CD burner, or other self-publishing routes haven't killed the music majors. As for books, people can have professionally printed books made on demand in runs as short as a single book for cheap, e.g., http://lulu.com/ . A 200 page paperback with a print run of ONE book costs $5.50 according their book cost calculator -- that's a pretty low barrier to entry for a self-publisher. Still, companies like Lulu aren't a real threat to the big publishers because people like that someone out there is filtering their options just as is true with music.

Note -- it is true that there will be some small percentage of people who will be dedicated to the small publisher but if you are about to say how much you love small bands (I personally do too) or self-publishers, realize that you and I are outliers in the market. We're not bringing down the majors.

Exactly. The artist in question even had an exhibition called The Value of Nothing that included this artwork. Even more obvious is the $10,000 Sculpture

Simply using the name in a commercial capacity is enough to get an unregistered trademark. However, the problem is that he is not selling the Go! programming language. If it's not a commercial entity, then trademark doesn't apply.

He has a book for sale on the programming language. That sounds like using the name in a commercial capacity to me.

Lets Go!
by Francis McCabe
Book published in 2007

http://www.lulu.com/content/641689

Here it is in google..
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:lulu.com+go+programming

Yes that search is with a site restriction but still it is indexed by google and the page is more than a day old.

There's already a Go! programming language for that matter. You'd think Google would have Googled Go. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=998367 http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/lets-go/641689

You're right, that would have helped, because looking in Google's issue tracker for "go" we find there is already a programming language called Go! The author of the Go! language has published a book and isn't OK with Google naming this new language "go"...

I've been using lulu for several years now. As with most long-term relationships, there are some things I like and others that drive me crazy. In general, however, their positive attitude toward free information is one of the big pluses. They were founded by a former Red Hat guy. They have always offered CC licenses as an explicit option in the menus when you set up your book in their web interface. Also, if you set your own royalty to zero, they do not take their usual cut. (This is what I do, because I'm a college professor, and I feel that taking a royalty raises uncomfortable conflict of interest issues, since I'm using my books in my own classes.) After reading TFA, I updated one of my books to see what the deal was. I have always had my books set so that people can buy printed copies (with zero royalty to me) or just download them for free in PDF format. When I updated my book I got a page like this:

Download
Makes your content available as a download
Sell My Download
Base Price $ 1.49

The base price covers file hosting, bandwidth, and credit card transaction costs.

*

My Revenue $
Please enter a number between 0.00 and 999999.99
Lulu $ 0.00

Lulu's commission (20% of the total profit)
Learn more about the Lulu commission

*

Price $
Please enter a number between 0.00 and 999999.99
Give My Download Away For Free
To account for hosting and transaction costs, we had to add a base price of $1.49 if you collect a creator revenue. However, if you want to give your download away for free, Lulu will waive this base price.

If you look way down at the bottom under "Give My Download Away For Free," you'll see that they are not going to charge money unless I do. Here is the book, as updated today. You can still download it without paying any money.

I do feel that DRM is evil. I'm not happy that lulu is supporting it. However, their over-all support for free information seems to me to be a lot better than you'd expect from Random Corporation, Inc.

For the record, here are the things I like and dislike about lulu:

Likes: They are the only POD or vanity publisher I know of that will let you set up and sell your book with zero initial cost. They handle all of the shipping and order processing, which was a huge hassle for me when I was doing it myself. They are relatively friendly toward free information.

Dislikes: They have a business model sort of similar to Paypal, i.e., it is absolutely impossible to get a Lulu employee to talk to you on the phone, and very difficult to communicate with one in any other way, either. I have had repeated technical issues with them before, where the printer they subcontracted out to couldn't output a book that had outputted successfully for a long time before with other subcontractors; lulu wasn't willing/able to help me figure out a workaround, although I eventually figured it out myself. College bookstores have reported problems to me where lulu sent them bogus bills ($700 for books that FedEx tracking showed were shipped to someone's house in a different state), and made it an incredible hassle to straighten out the problem.

"One was marked as a first sale", "bought all but one of the sold copies".

And one has appeared radically marked up (just under his own much cheaper version) on Amazon.

Sorry, sounds like someone bought a copy and is trying to see if it's worth reselling at that price. Do a search on "office_bookshelf" and you'll find that whoever it is, does this with more than your book.

Check this forum.

Here is why I'm likely to boycott Lulu, and recommend against them whenever asked. I've already cleaned up my storefront to only indicate this removal of support.

First I offer http://www.flora.ca/own for what I consider DRM to be, given there isn't a universal meaning for this acronym. It is also an explanation for less technical people about how DRM works, rather than the unscientific "magic" that some people believe it to be.

I believe that authors imposing technology brands on audiences (DRM on content) is even less legitimate/moral than audiences imposing prices on authors (IE: copyright infringement). I don't condone either, but consider DRM to be worse.

I consider the activity of locking technology such that the owner does not have the key (DRM on hardware/software) to be a direct attack on property rights. I consider this a form of "theft" that should be made clearly illegal -- not encouraged (through locks on content), legalised or legally protected.

In the case of Lulu the blog article was clearly encouraging authors to put DRM on their content, making false (but common) claims that DRM would reduce infringement. DRM on content then imposes/encourages specific brands of technology, specifically technology that is locked down against the interests of their owners.

Lulu is and should also be held to a higher standard. This is a company founded by Bob Young who knows better when it comes to the harms of DRM. If this were an old-economy publisher adding DRM-free digital distribution to an existing DRM-only system, this would be seen as a step in a positive direction. In this case this is a theoretically new-economy publisher adding and promoting DRM in addition to a long-standing DRM-free system, clearly a step in a negative direction.

Idiocy is bad for society, as I am sure you have noticed. A world in which I need to get permission from the authors every time I was to read a book is not a world I want to live in. A world in which I am unable to share a book with a friend is not a world I want to live in. Those are the most mild affects of DRM -- Lulu even suggests that authors could use DRM to restrict the number of times you can read a book:

http://www.lulu.com/en/help/drm/?cid=us_ebk

The idiocy of the authors and of Lulu is detrimental to society -- and should be opposed as vigorously as possible.

If we take that the "A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming" is reasonably representative of a sizable number of OD&D fans, it is surprising how little coverage Tunnels & Trolls gets. By the standards of the "Quick Primer," T&T stomps OD&D all over, but it doesn't get the love. It makes me suspect that the old-school movement is more dominated by nostalgia than they care to admit.

(There is also really interesting work done on rules light systems since then, much of it in the "indie games" space. If you're looking for, say, compelling stories, games like Shock: Social Science Fiction, My Life With Master, and The Mountain Witch deliver with extremely light rules systems.)

Well, your professor didn't think about it much then, or didn't bother to do any research on the subject. This guy seems to have figured it out just fine, with free downloads and print-on-demand from Lulu. I've had many other professors who offered just PDFs.

Look at the comments above:

Lulu is expensive [lulu.com], in my opinion. For a 300-page hardbound book, 1000 copies: "Manufacturing cost: $72,000.00 Per unit cost: $72.00".

Gorham Printing quote [gorhamprinting.com], 300 pages, 1,000 copies, paperback: "Your Price: $5,130.00 ($5.13 per book)".

Wow! Lulu is expensive, in my opinion. For a 300-page hardbound book, 1000 copies: "Manufacturing cost: $72,000.00 Per unit cost: $72.00".