Streamlining Kickstarter Fulfillment: How Kris Waldherr Used Lulu’s Order Import Tool

Authors 7 min read

Back in the fall of 2022, we released a new feature for Lulu we called the Order Import tool. Yes, we workshopped that name a lot. Let me tell you, naming features with very specific uses should be easy. It’s not.

I could digress for 1,000 words about the challenges inherent in naming and branding any product. But that’s not what we’re talking about today.

No, I want to spend a moment relating just how one creator is using Lulu and how the Order Import tool simplified her ability to fulfill orders in an easy and timely fashion.

What is the Order Import Tool?

Basically, you take a bunch of orders for your book ahead of time, then place all those orders at once with Lulu. This compliments the ability to sell directly to your readers with Lulu Direct. Now you can sell your published books on your website while taking orders for a presale or crowdfunding campaign, all using Lulu’s print-on-demand network.

Ways to Use the Order Import Tool

Any time you want to sell your books without having those books on hand or ready to print. All you need is a Lulu account (which is free) and a published book in your Lulu account.

Setting up direct sales tools with Lulu Direct is an awesome way to sell your book without inventory or upfront costs, but that process requires each reader to shop online. What about at events? Or presales before your book is published?

The Order Import tool gives you another way to take advantage of opportunities to sell your books.

Here are a few ways you can use the Order Import tool:

Presales – It has never been easier to take orders using your own ecommerce platform, then ship all of those orders the day your book launches.
ARCs, editors, and beta readers – You might have a few different versions that need to be reviewed before your book launches. Using the Order Import tool makes it simple to send each reader or editor their own copy to review.
Crowdfunding campaigns – Add various special editions to encourage your fans to back your next campaign. Then export your list of backers and bring it to the Order Import tool!

How Does the Order Import Tool Work?

It’s not much more complicated than I mentioned already. You collect orders in any way you’d like. You’ll need your customer’s shipping information and a list of the books they’ve purchased. And, of course, those books will need to be published on Lulu and ready to order.

Then you’ll need to create a spreadsheet that aligns your customer’s with their orders. Don’t worry, we provide a template to help you sort out what needs to be included in your spreadsheet. It’s worth mentioning that many ecommerce and crowdfunding platforms will create that spreadsheet for you. All you’ll need to do is edit it to include information we need—like your project ID for each book in the order.

With a spreadsheet built that includes all your customers, their shipping info, and the books they’ve bought, you simply upload and order.

We’ll do an automated review of the spreadsheet to make sure all the details are in place and everything is accurate (including verifying addresses). Then we’ll create one Lulu order for you to pay for printing and shipping.

Once payment is collected, your orders go to our printers and from there directly to your readers.

Watch the Order Import Tool Tutorial

Lulu’s Order Import Tool in the Wild

Recently, we had a conversation with author and artist Kris Waldherr. Before you dig into her experience using the Order Import tool, take a few minutes to check out her extraordinary website.

Back? Great.

Kris is a bestselling indie author and illustrator. She’s written several books for children and adults, including Bad Princess, Doomed Queens, and The Book of Goddesses. Waldherr is also the creator of the Goddess Tarot and teaches tarot to writers and other creatives.

Her work has earned her fellowships and reading grants, as well as featuring her illustrations in exhibits for Ruskin Library, the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Now let’s learn a bit more about how Kris uses the Order Import tool and how it’s helped her author business.

Building a Direct Sales Author Business

Kris told us that she first learned about “the integration of Lulu and Shopify for dropshipping books, but was hesitant to migrate to a Shopify site.” Lots of creators have the same initial reaction: building a website and store with Shopify (or any ecommerce platform) is a lot of work.

To learn more about Lulu, Kris said she “reached out to Lulu for more information, and one of your representatives alerted me to the Order Import tool, which made more sense for a Kickstarter campaign.”

She’s absolutely right too. Using the Order Import tool only requires publishing your project on Lulu.

Using Kickstarter to Crowdfund Books

During our conversation with Kris, she very kindly provided some details about her author business. When we asked about her experience with crowdfunding, she said, “I’ve run three Kickstarter campaigns so far. All three funded; I’ve had about 800 backers. Right now, I’m planning two future Kickstarters, one of which will include other authors for the first time. As an independent publisher and author, Kickstarter has become an essential part of my business.”

That’s just over 250 backers per campaign. I could not imagine sitting down and placing 250 individual orders. I bet a lot of you could write half of a new book in the time it would take to fulfill your last one.

About using Kickstarter, Kris said, “I ran my first campaign before I learned about Lulu’s Order Import tool. I fulfilled those orders myself, which was a lot of work! I also used a different printer, where I had some quality control issues. Between your Import Order tool and their higher print quality, it was a no-brainer to use Lulu for my next two campaigns.”

This is exactly what prompted us to build the Order Import tool in the first place!

It’s always been possible to use Lulu to fulfill orders for a book launch or crowdfunding campaign. The issue is the time invested in doing so. Placing 100 individual orders would take days. With the Order Import tool, it’s more like an hour.

Saving time is the key reason. Here’s Kris again, “Of course, the most important [reason] is that it makes dropshipping so easy—simply fill out the spreadsheet and upload.”

But she also pointed out “how easy the Order Import tool makes checking on delivery and fulfillment. All orders are tracked no matter which shipping method you choose. It’s also super easy to ship internationally for a reasonable rate, which definitely helped the success of my Kickstarter campaigns.”

Now, I should mention that Kris added to this statement that completing the spreadsheet is a bit of work. Even with Kickstarter being able to export a list of your backers, you’ll still need to revise the list to match Lulu’s requirements. Kris mentioned the first order taking “about half a day to set up the spreadsheet, mainly because I had so many orders.” But once the spreadsheet is prepared, completing your orders takes a matter of minutes.

Supporting Author Businesses and Growth

I’m not here just to toot Lulu’s horn. I think what we’re doing is going to define what self-publishing looks like in the coming years, but it won’t be Lulu (or any self-publisher) who makes that happen.

It’ll be authors like Kris (and you!) who are driven to connect with readers and turn content into products to sell.

The tools that exist today, like ecommerce platforms, Kickstarter and other crowdfunding options, and versatile print-on-demand options like the Order Import tool, only exist because creators and entrepreneurs want them.

For Kris, Kickstarter allowed her to “expand from traditional publishing (where a publisher produces and distributes your book) into direct sales as an independent publisher without risking financial resources. I use Kickstarter to fund the production of a book, to connect directly with readers, and to build publicity buzz; later I release the book ‘wide’ on other retail platforms. The Kickstarter platform is really supportive of independent authors—I’ve loved working with them.”

That’s right, Kris isn’t even a dedicated self-publisher. She simply uses the Order Import tool to fulfill large orders while working with her traditional publisher for wide distribution. Though she did mention, “I do plan to eventually migrate to a Shopify site for non-Kickstarter orders.”

To close us out, I want to mention one last comment Kris offered about using Lulu: “I really appreciate that I can print books without barcodes at Lulu, which allows me to produce Kickstarter exclusive special edition designs for my backers.”

Print-on-demand makes it really easy to customize books. That means artistic and design control, along with options like excluding a barcode for special editions.

Individual creators like Kris are exploring the best ways to create, connect, and sell. At Lulu, we’re responding with new tools and features to make selling books easier and more efficient.

Thanks to Kris Waldherr

We spend a lot of time at Lulu talking to our users, pondering what kinds of tools you’ll need for your next project and how we can help your business keep growing.

Special thanks to Kris for telling us about her experiences with the Order Import tool and for being willing to let us share that conversation with all of you. Here’s one more link to her amazing catalog of books; they’re all beautifully written and illustrated.

I can’t imagine running a Kickstarter campaign without Lulu’s Order Import tool for dropshipping. Besides being easy to use, every order is tracked, which grants me peace of mind no matter where in the world my books are headed.