What You Need to Know About Lulu Direct

If you are running a business built on books, or hope to, direct-to-consumer sales need to be a part of your strategy. Direct sales (along with print-on-demand) have exploded in popularity, and for good reason. 

“What are those reasons!?” I hear you asking.

Well, they are myriad. You may decide to sell direct because you want more control over the customer journey. Or maybe you want to get paid faster for your book sales. Or maybe you want the opportunity to collect customer data so you can see who’s buying your books and actually start building your business. These are all great reasons, but the benefits go beyond that. Incorporating direct sales into your book business allows you to create an infrastructure that scales with you as your audience and business grow.

There are a few different ways you can introduce direct sales into your workflow:

1. Sell at in-person events - this provides a great opportunity to meet your readers, get feedback, and create unique experiences with book signings and other activations.
2. Hand-fulfill orders through your website - as orders come in through your website, you manually pack and ship each one. This is time-consuming, but can also create opportunities for you to delight your readers by adding in handwritten notes, bookmarks, stickers, and other freebies.
3. Integrate with a POD + Dropshipping provider - that would be us. There are others, but you didn’t come to the Lulu blog to hear about them. Lulu has several ways for you to take advantage of direct sales:
   1. Lulu Direct - integrate your Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce website with our global printing and fulfillment network, so when orders come in through your website, we take care of the order fulfillment. Perfect for anyone who wants to white-label their book business and collect data on who actually buys their books.
   2. Buy Button - if you don’t have a website, create a button, link, or QR code to sell books directly from your newsletter, social media profiles, email campaigns, business cards, or collateral. Perfect for creators who don’t have a website yet but want to sell directly and boost conversion rates.
   3. Order Import Tool - place multiple orders with one simple upload. Perfect for large orders containing multiple projects and customers, crowdfunding campaigns, and pre-orders.

Best of all, no matter which option you choose, you never have to worry about shipping or inventory! So you can focus on other things, like growing your business.

There are, of course, many questions you might have about direct sales and how they actually work. And I’m here to answer them for you. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about selling direct with Lulu.

What Is Lulu Direct?

A good place to start! When you publish a book using Lulu Direct, your customers will buy directly from you. Lulu will handle printing and shipping the book to your customer while you pay Lulu for printing and shipping costs. These costs can be passed on to your customer in your retail price and shipping options.

Lulu Direct connects Lulu's global print-on-demand services to your website using popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce. It also includes access to the Order Import tool for shipping orders to a variety of customers, and the Direct Buy Button for fast, easy embedded checkout.

What Products Can I Print and Sell Through Lulu Direct?

All of them! You'll have access to all 3,000+ print book and calendar format combinations Lulu offers and the freedom to design your interior and cover PDFs. 

You can build a diverse catalog by offering multiple products for sale. Each product can include variants such as hardcover, softcover, or magazine formats, all fulfilled automatically and shipped to your buyers globally.

See Lulu’s product specifications to find all of your binding, size, ink, and finish options.

Please note: ebooks are not eligible for Lulu Direct at this time.

Why Should I Use Lulu Direct?

I’m glad you asked. Lulu Direct connects Lulu’s print-on-demand and fulfillment to your website. Using Lulu Direct brings several benefits to your content business, including:

• Retain 100% of your revenue
• White-label shipping for all orders
• Collect customer data
• Fully automated sales, printing, and shipping
• Support for multiple product variants
• Bulk ordering with the Order Import tool
• Faster payouts

If you know your audience and want to grow your bookselling business, Lulu Direct is the perfect way to build strong customer relationships while scaling your brand.

When you use Lulu Direct to sell your book, customers buy from you directly. You control the price and know exactly how much you'll earn from every sale. With white-label receipts, your customers only see you and your brand when they order your book.

Direct sales are a great addition to any marketing strategy, and Lulu Direct makes it easy for you to automate the manual aspects while getting actionable insights about your customers and business. Getting clarity on who’s actually buying your books creates opportunities for growth, connection, and community. You don’t need a third-party retailer to have a successful book-selling business. You just need the infrastructure that allows you to act like one yourself.