Hi everybody,
I just came across lulu.com, a print on demand publishing affair run
by one of the guys who used to be at the head of Red Hat Linux (which
gives the venture instant respect in my eyes, even if it means nothing
to others). The service seems very reasonable and there don't seem to
be any immediate catches.
It occurs to me that if printing on demand with Lulu (or whoever else)
turns out to be as easy as it looks then it presents itself as an
alternative to publishing things directly on the web. I wonder what
peoples thoughts on the relative benefits of each are?
Is the idea of printing deadtree volumes of poetry for small audiences
made obsolete by the option of publishing on the web? Obviously, the
two can easily be made to complement each other, but would the printed
book be anything more than a vanity?
If you, as a poet, were to decide you wanted to publish a volume of
your work, would you rather put together a nice website or print a
nice book? (Let's assume, for the moment, that we can't answer
"both".)
bob
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