Lulu Press Alternatives: The Best Self-Publishing Platforms for Print

Lulu Press has been around since 2002 and has a loyal user base, but it's not the right platform for every author. Some authors find that Lulu's royalty rates leave thin margins. Others discover that getting their book onto Amazon requires going through a third-party ISBN workaround. Still others want bookstore and library distribution that Lulu doesn't reach cleanly. Whatever the reason, there are strong alternatives, and this guide covers each one honestly, including where they're better than Lulu and where they're not.

What Lulu Does Well

Before looking at alternatives, it's worth understanding what Lulu genuinely gets right. Lulu supports specialty formats that most competitors don't: spiral-bound, square books, large-format photo books, comic books, and coil binding. If you need a format outside standard trade paperback dimensions, Lulu often handles it when KDP won't.

Lulu also has a built-in direct storefront. Authors can sell books directly through Lulu.com and keep a higher royalty than they would on Amazon, since there's no retailer cut. For authors with their own audience who want to sell to readers directly, this is a real advantage.

There's no setup fee on Lulu, and you can order proofs and author copies at print cost. The platform is accessible for first-time authors without a budget for platform fees.

What Lulu Lacks

The limitations show up most clearly when you want broad retail reach. Lulu's Amazon distribution has historically required using an ISBN that Lulu provides, which complicates things if you want a clean imprint setup. Bookstore distribution is available but not as seamless as IngramSpark's established trade relationships.

Royalty rates on Lulu can feel tight once you factor in Lulu's base printing cost plus their platform percentage plus the retailer's cut. On a $14.99 paperback sold through Amazon, you may net $1.50–$2.50 after everything: a thin margin that improves only if you price higher or sell direct.

Quality is generally acceptable, but Lulu's print quality has received more mixed reviews than KDP or IngramSpark, particularly for color interiors and photo-heavy books.

KDP Print as a Lulu Alternative

Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing print service is the most natural replacement for Lulu for most fiction and narrative nonfiction authors. KDP Print is free to use, supports paperback and hardcover, and your book appears on Amazon immediately after approval, typically within 72 hours.

Strengths:

• Free: no setup fees, no revision fees
• Direct Amazon listing with automatic Prime eligibility through Expanded Distribution
• Hardcover support (case laminate and dust jacket)
• Strong print quality for standard trade paperback formats
• Royalties: 60% of list price minus printing cost (paperback), 40–60% for hardcover

Weaknesses:

• No bookstore distribution. Booksellers are reluctant to order from Amazon's Ingram channel because returns policies are restrictive.
• Limited trim sizes compared to IngramSpark
• Expanded Distribution (non-Amazon retail) pays lower royalties and has weaker reach
• Not suitable for specialty formats

For an author who primarily cares about Amazon sales and reader discovery through Amazon's ecosystem, KDP Print is the strongest choice. It's free, it works, and Amazon is where most indie book buyers shop.

IngramSpark as a Lulu Alternative

IngramSpark is the professional tier of self-publishing distribution. Ingram is the largest book wholesaler in the US: libraries, independent bookstores, and chains order from Ingram every day. Publishing through IngramSpark puts your book in the catalog those buyers actually use.

Strengths:

• True bookstore and library distribution: independent bookstores can order returnable copies
• Wide trim size and format support
• Hardcover, paperback, color and black-and-white interiors
• Ebook distribution alongside print
• Global distribution including UK, Australia, and Europe
• Royalties: 40% of list price minus print cost, on standard terms

Weaknesses:

• Setup fee: $49 per title (though this is waived during promotional periods)
• Revision fee: $25 each time you upload corrected files
• Slightly longer approval time than KDP
• Amazon distribution works but ranks lower than books published through KDP directly

The revision fee is IngramSpark's most common complaint from authors. If you upload a file with errors and need to correct it, you'll pay $25. This is manageable if you format carefully before uploading, but it punishes iterative publishing workflows.

For authors who want their books in bookstores and libraries (and who are willing to pay a modest setup cost) IngramSpark is the strongest all-around platform.

Read more in the complete IngramSpark guide for indie authors.

Barnes & Noble Press as a Lulu Alternative

Barnes & Noble Press is B&N's self-publishing platform, covering both print and ebook. It's free to use, with no setup fees, and B&N's distribution includes their retail stores (for ebooks and some print titles) and their online store.

Strengths:

• Direct relationship with Barnes & Noble
• No setup fee
• Ebook distribution to B&N's Nook store
• Print books available for purchase on BN.com

Weaknesses:

• Limited reach outside B&N's own ecosystem
• Print quality is competitive but not exceptional
• B&N's market share continues to be smaller than Amazon's
• No bookstore distribution comparable to IngramSpark

Barnes & Noble Press is a reasonable secondary platform for authors who want to establish a B&N presence alongside their Amazon and IngramSpark distribution. As a standalone replacement for Lulu, it's too narrow.

Blurb as a Lulu Alternative

Blurb occupies a different niche from Lulu, KDP, and IngramSpark. It's built around high-quality printed products: photo books, trade books, magazines, and art-forward projects. If Lulu's specialty format support is what drew you in, Blurb may be the right alternative.

Strengths:

• Exceptional print quality for photo books, color-heavy interiors, and premium formats
• Magazine format support (unique in this space)
• Blurb-to-Amazon distribution available for trade books
• Blurb Bookstore for direct sales

Weaknesses:

• High production costs: Blurb's base print cost is significantly higher than KDP or IngramSpark
• Not well-suited for novels or standard trade paperbacks
• Distribution is limited compared to IngramSpark
• Royalty margins are narrow because print costs eat into the list price

If you're publishing a photography book, a high-design travel memoir, a children's book with full-bleed color illustrations, or a magazine, Blurb is a strong choice. For standard fiction or nonfiction, the cost structure doesn't work well.

Bookvault

Bookvault is a UK-based print-on-demand platform that has grown significantly as an alternative for authors with European audiences. It prints in the UK and ships domestically there, which reduces shipping costs and delivery times for European buyers.

Strengths:

• Competitive pricing for UK and European distribution
• Good quality print output
• Direct integration with some author website tools
• Print costs for European authors can undercut KDP's international pricing

Weaknesses:

• Smaller distribution reach than IngramSpark
• Less name recognition with US retailers and libraries
• Fewer format options than established platforms

For UK and European indie authors, Bookvault is worth considering alongside IngramSpark. For US authors with a primarily American audience, it's a secondary option at best.

The Dual-Platform Approach: KDP + IngramSpark

The most common professional approach for indie authors is to publish through both KDP and IngramSpark simultaneously, using each for what it does best.

KDP handles:

• Amazon (the largest retail channel for most genres)
• Amazon-specific features (Kindle Unlimited eligibility for ebooks, Amazon hardcover)

IngramSpark handles:

• Bookstores and libraries (Ingram's wholesale network)
• International retail distribution
• B&N, Book Depository, and other non-Amazon channels
• Library systems via OverDrive and Baker & Taylor

The setup requires care. You need to disable KDP's Expanded Distribution when using IngramSpark so you don't compete with yourself, and pricing needs to be consistent across platforms. But once set up correctly, this approach maximizes reach while maintaining strong Amazon placement.

This is the approach most career indie authors with print ambitions use. It takes more initial setup than Lulu but delivers significantly broader reach.

Decision Guide: Choosing the Right Lulu Alternative

Full Platform Comparison

Draft2Digital as a Lulu Alternative for Ebooks

While this guide focuses primarily on print, it's worth noting that Lulu's ebook distribution is one of its weaker offerings, and authors looking specifically to replace Lulu's ebook side often land on Draft2Digital rather than any of the print-focused alternatives above. Draft2Digital distributes ebooks widely (Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and more) at no upfront cost, taking a commission instead: a meaningfully simpler model than piecing together ebook distribution through a primarily print-oriented platform. See KDP vs. Draft2Digital for how that comparison plays out for the ebook side of your publishing stack specifically.

Migrating an Existing Lulu Catalog

If you already have titles live on Lulu and are considering a move, the migration is more mechanical than risky, but it requires planning:

• Gather your source files first. You'll want your original manuscript file (not just the PDF Lulu generated) and your original cover design files, ideally from whoever did your formatting and design originally, since reformatting from scratch is more work than re-exporting from source files.
• Decide on ISBNs before you start. If your existing titles used a Lulu-assigned ISBN, that ISBN is tied to Lulu as the publisher of record. You cannot simply reuse it on KDP or IngramSpark. You'll need a new ISBN (or a free KDP-assigned one, if you're comfortable with Amazon listed as publisher) for the new listing.
• Expect to lose your existing reviews and sales history on the old listing. A new ISBN means a new product listing, which starts from zero on the new platform. This is the single biggest reason some authors hesitate to migrate even when the new platform offers better economics.
• Run both listings briefly in parallel if your contract allows it, rather than pulling your Lulu listing immediately, to avoid an availability gap for existing customers searching for your book on Lulu's storefront if you have direct sales traffic there.
• Update every external link (your author website, email signature, social media bios, and any existing marketing material) once the new listing is live, since stale links pointing to a discontinued Lulu listing quietly bleed sales.

A Note on Print Quality Expectations

It's worth setting realistic expectations across all of these platforms: print-on-demand quality has converged significantly over the past several years. The gap that once existed between, say, KDP's earlier print quality and traditional offset printing has narrowed enough that most readers cannot reliably distinguish a well-formatted POD paperback from a traditionally printed one in a blind comparison. The meaningful differences between platforms today are less about raw print quality and more about distribution reach, royalty structure, and the specific format support (hardcover construction, specialty binding, color fidelity) covered throughout this guide.

Related guides: for the basics behind every provider here, read print-on-demand explained; for Amazon's side, see KDP royalties explained and KDP categories and keywords.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use KDP and IngramSpark at the same time? Yes, and most professional indie authors do. Use KDP for your Amazon listing and disable KDP Expanded Distribution. Use IngramSpark for all other retail and library channels. Price your IngramSpark title $1–$2 higher than your KDP price to ensure Amazon maintains the lowest price and avoids suppressing the KDP listing.

Does IngramSpark actually get books into bookstores? IngramSpark gets your book into Ingram's catalog, which all bookstores use to order. Whether a bookstore actually stocks your book is a separate question: it depends on demand, your publisher's returns policy, and local buyer preferences. Most indie titles don't get shelf placement but can be ordered on demand. Enabling returns on IngramSpark dramatically increases bookseller willingness to carry your title.

Is KDP quality good enough for professional publishing? Yes, for standard trade paperbacks and hardcovers. KDP's print quality has improved significantly and is now competitive with IngramSpark for black-and-white interiors. Color interiors are slightly better on IngramSpark. For a novel, KDP prints well.

What's the difference between Lulu and IngramSpark on royalties? Both calculate royalties as list price minus print cost minus platform/retailer percentage. IngramSpark typically offers 40% of list price as your royalty base (before print cost). Lulu's calculation is similar but their print costs can be slightly higher. The difference per book is usually $0.25–$0.75, which compounds across volume.

Can I migrate from Lulu to KDP or IngramSpark? Yes. You'll need your formatted manuscript files (PDF for print, EPUB for ebook) and your cover files in print-ready format. If you used Lulu's ISBN, you'll need a new ISBN for a new listing on another platform. Your existing Lulu reviews and purchase history don't transfer.

LiberScript produces print-ready and ebook-ready files from your manuscript that work on KDP, IngramSpark, and every other platform in this guide. Get started with a Day pass to format your manuscript today.