Digital Technologies for Books Reshaping All Production

Lulu uses Lightning Source to print many of its books and get them into Amazon and Ingram. Lightning Source provides the backbone for many self-publishers in the Print On Demand (POD) industry, though BookSurge may become more of an option now that Amazon owns it.

Companies such as Lightning Source, Xlibris, iUniverse and dozens of others use new computer equipment to print and bind single book copies that can be finished in minutes. Setup fees typically range from $80 to $120. Many self publishers pay a 15 percent royalty on any books sold. But Lightning does not pay royalties, but pays its publishers compensation from books sold (wholesale price of the book less print cost). Each book costs $4 to $7 to produce, but can be printed in runs of one or a dozen, compared to $3 to $5 for books produced by a traditional printer, in runs of hundreds.