Lulu Direct: Lulu's Ecommerce Brand

News 2 min read

If you’ve been using Lulu’s ecommerce solutions for any time, you might have noticed something recently; a new logo and name. Well, you’re not going crazy. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks releasing a new brand that includes all of Lulu’s ecommerce tools.

Today’s post will be short—I just want to take a moment to introduce you to the Lulu Direct brand and what this means for you and your bookselling goals moving forward.

What Is Lulu Direct?

Lulu Direct refers to our new ecommerce tools. What does that mean?

Historically, Lulu has offered you two primary options for selling your book:

Using the Lulu Bookstore to sell to readers. Lulu prints and ships your books. Because there’s no wholesale cut being taken by retailers, selling on Lulu was important for selling to readers who find you directly (like on social media, from your emails, or through a search engine).
Using Global Distribution to sell on retail sites. This includes Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online booksellers. This method exposes your book to the widest audience but pays the least in revenue.

Over the last few years, we opened up our Print API to everyone; making it possible for anyone with a website and coding skills to use our print-on-demand services. Then we built the Lulu xPress app for Shopify, making it possible to plug Lulu’s print-on-demand into your Shopify store to sell books directly to your readers.

The goal all along has been and continues to be setting up an easy way for you to sell directly to your readers. No retailers taking a cut (that includes us!).

This all leads to the new, third option we’ve introduced:

Selling directly to your readers on your own website or social profile. This method makes Lulu your printer and gives you complete control over your retail choices.

The Lulu Direct brand is our moniker to signify any ecommerce tools we offer. That includes our Shopify integration and a whole range of new options coming very soon.

Sell Your Book, Your Way

Sell books on your Wix, Shopify, or WooCommerce website with Lulu Direct.
Or use our Order Import tool for your next book launch.

Learn About Lulu Direct

What Does This Mean For You?

If you’re already using Lulu xPress for Shopify, nothing but the name is changing. No features or options will differ from the previous version of the app.

Our new brand name is just a herald of things to come. That includes many more ecommerce options, easier-to-use integrations with ecommerce platforms, and a central dashboard to help you keep your bookselling organized in one place.

The long-term goal is to help you position your author brand and business exactly the way you want. That means options to go wide or stay focused—all while helping ensure you keep as much of the revenue from every sale as possible. It also means you’ll be able to white-label your books—your reader will see your branding on the receipt and won’t even know Lulu is printing for you!

As direct-to-consumer retail continues to grow, Lulu Direct will play a pivotal role in helping you get the most out of your book sales and own the entire customer buying experience.