Cross-stitch Self-Publisher creates book in 700 hours!

Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts has already sold 100 books.

Maybe she has not fully recovered money to compensate for the 700 hours she took to create a book on how she created a cross-stitch version of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

But she is published and thrilled about that.

The link above takes you straight to her $70 book!

Once again it is Lulu that has lead the way for her.

Lulu has been churning out an average of 167,000 books per month so far this year — compared with 122,000 in its best month last year. Revenue last month totaled about $1 million, up from $300,000 in May 2005.

The company, which has 45,000 titles available for sale on its Web site, has been profitable since last fall.

Lulu created a new category of book company when it started in 2002. It’s not a mass market publisher like Random House, nor is it a “vanity press” that charges an up-front fee — a minimum of several hundred dollars, if not much more — to produce an author’s book. Those fees typically cover services such as editing and sales promotion.

Lulu doesn’t offer any of those services. And it doesn’t receive a penny until a book is sold.

“We make money when you, the author, make money — and not before,” said Bob Young, Lulu’s chief executive and founder.

Read the full article on Lulu and Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts here!