Within its first 5 years of business, lulu had users from 80 countries and was the top ranked self-publishing site on Alexa. Lulu's CEO, Bob Young, has four successful multi-million dollar startup companies under his belt.
All lulu users must own the copyright to material they publish through the site. No fan-fiction is allowed unless the rights have been properly obtained, and can be verified if requested.
Lulu has three project types for publishing. The first type, which is free with no setup fees, keeps everything private and is for people who wish to make personal books for family and friends, not to be distributed or sold. The second type, also free with no setup fees, is public and allows the books to be sold in the lulu marketplace. The third type allows you to purchase packages from lulu that makes the book available to online bookstores like Amazon.
Some works on lulu.com can be in print or digital form. The site walks you through the process step by step for either publication method.
Lulu makes a profit off the sale of your work. When a product is sold, lulu gets a 20 percent commission.