stock to sell @ conventions

[jshweid]

I want to sell my book at a convention next year. the last time I bought a proof copy from lulu.com, there was  a printers error so I am uncertain of buying from them again. the thing is, which would be cheaper if buying in bulk? 25-40 books on Amazon(my book has free shipping over $25) would be between $275 and $440.

If I buy that amount from my lulu.com account, would the savings be better?  what about the print quality? I am nervous about getting errors again; would hate to sell a book in person that had spacing mistakes from the printer's end.

thoughts, folks?

Thanks

[kevinlomas]

For a start, via lulu you only pay the cost of producing the book ( as long as you are logged in to your account) not the 'mark-up' as seen on Amazon or on Lulu on your Storefront etc. So by default it should be cheaper off Lulu. The free shipping at Amazon is enticing, but may not save you as much as buying at 'cost'. I think lulu now have a discount built in to the Checkouts depending on what you order of the same book at the same time. They did not used to. If you look at the bottom of all Lulu pages you will also see the offer of Bulk Printing. What the min is I have no idea!
Print quality is rarely an issue, but you do have plenty of time to order, view them, and reject them for replacements if need be!

PS. I am not sure if a spacing error is a printing error, but a file error ... Have you viewed the Print Ready PDF?

[jshweid]

Yes the print PDF was just perfect; out of all the proofs I ordered(4 or 5 I think) only 1 had the error. I had to email them  for quite a while to get a refund on the book( then approve it all over again, quite a PAIN!)

all the pages were of embedded JPEGS since the book was a comic book, squished to 0.5 inches on all sides for the "margins".

hmm the first con I would like to go to is in Jan or Feb of next year(timing uncertain this early in the game)

Ah, me. never studied business so this is all greek to me!  perhaps if I knew what the shipping costs were before finalizing the order I could compare easier?

[johannastirling]

To find out all the shipping costs, go through the order process until you get the information you need, then delete the order. I  haven't found an easier way.

Johanna

Author of Teaching Spelling

[Keith Shovlin]

I was lucky enough to secure a spot at a book festival just before last Christmas. As part of my agreement, I had to supply 10 copies of my book so I made a bulk order from Lulu. If you time it right with some of the discounts and order many copies (25 or more), the price really cuts down. If you can get the deal offering free shipping, you can save a lot of money. So be smart about your ordering, and it doesn't hurt to have a dozen copies sitting on a bookshelf at home just in case. I find it is always helpful to have a copy with me for quick sales or advertising.

Keith Shovlin

Author, Polk's Soliloquy

PolksSoliloquy.com

[bettyoverstreet]

When I order from LULU I always see the shipping amount before ordering , because they give various ways and costs to ship