Lulu - online self-publishing

Lulu is the latest venture of Bob Young, the Canadian entrepreneur who founded Red Hat, the Linux software company that has mounted a serious challenge to Microsoft. Lulu’s website allows authors to upload their manuscripts and edit them on-screen. When they are happy with the text, they can publish it, either electronically or as a conventional book.

The key is technology from Xerox that allows authors, via Lulu, to print single copies of books at a time. This avoids the risks of inventory and remainders. Young said authors would receive 80% of the profit on any sales made via the website — far more than the royalties a conventional publisher would offer them.

More from Paul Durman in The Sunday Times.