Re: "The Lulu Method"

[Andrew Davidhazy <andpph@xxxxxxx>]

Manuel,

I am glad you like the product. I guess that is the bar by which success might 
be measured. In terms of preparing the book you can use as simple a word 
processing program as Word. You can send a Word file to them and they will 
transform it into a PDF or you can send a PDF that you have made.

Laying out the book in InDesign is not necessary and I went through a BIG and 
frustrating learning curve to get used to some of its features - and even now 
have only scratched the surface. I guess I used as many features as I needed and 
that was it. Kept is as simple for me as possible.

Lulu does have "live" (by way of instant messaging) help but sometimes it is 
hard to explain exactly what frustrates you as you are trying to compile your 
production.

In a way, the neat thing is that you can upload content but not buy any ... just 
download the "free" PDF. This way you can pretty much check what the final book 
will look like. This applies especially to the covers as they have to be 
produced and uploaded separately.

Their Black and White process is not a good (I think) as their color 
reproduction (in B&W you can easily see the halftone dots). I tried both methods 
with a couple of initial booklets. For what my images in the B&W book were the 
reproduction was OK - I accepted the halftone dots - and the color repro of the 
B&W white, was passable but at the time more expensive than B&W. I am not sure 
if pricing has changed so that it is the same regardless of B&W or color repro.

In any case, I think I (we) got a pretty good deal and appropriate quality. Not 
sure what else you want to know. I am personally working on putting some old 
notes of mine along with some articles and papers related to strip panoramic and 
peripheral, etc. processes and techniques online as another Lulu book. My 
approach to this particular book is that it will be a book in progress ... with 
more and more added as I have time and energy to deal with it. But at least 
something about my experiences and dealings with the technical and pictorial 
aspects of these imaging approaches will be in print-on-demand "somewhere" and 
not just exist as paper copies in one of my filing cabinets where even if 
someone finds them (on yellowing crumpled paper) they will immediately toss them 
in the garbage 'cause they won't know what they are about. This way (the Lulu 
way) at least there is a chance that someone who is looking for such stuff 
"globally" might find something useful!

cheers,

Andy