Lulu Partner with Author Solutions to Offer Premium Marketing Services

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It seems a week in the self-publishing world does not pass by without Author Solutions being in the news for the right or wrong reasons. Last week TIPM reported that US attorneys, Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart LLP, are currently investigating the practices of Author Solutions, the largest global provider of author services.

This week, in something of a very curious move, Lulu, one of Author Solutions biggest competitors, has announced that it has partnered with the company to provide marketing and multimedia services. The new premium service tools available through Lulu, but powered by ASI, will allow authors create multimedia marketing campaigns for their books including author websites, and a suite of online tools for creating videos and social media outreach campaigns.

In a statement issued by Kathy Hensgen, VP of services sales, fulfillment and customer voice at Lulu, she said:

“We listened to our community, and they wanted enhanced options in services. As author needs evolve, Lulu continues to innovate with a deeper range of multi-media solutions for its customers as well as an even keener focus on personal attention.”

Quite why Lulu could or would not develop such premium tools in-house is anyone’s guess. It does seem to be a further step in Lulu’s strategy of focusing on high end services in addition to their basic DIY self-publishing platform. I am also unsure whether this is also a sign of Lulu’s weakening position in the self-publishing market against CreateSpace, or Author Solutions’ growing strength in offering B2B services to publishers and other providers.

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