It all started with simply wanting to obtain the first C64 programming book I ever bought for myself, “Using the Commodore 64 in the Home”. Since I could not find a copy of this book on-line anywhere, at a reasonable price and in good shape, I turned to the publishing service of Lulu.com. After that, I was hooked, as they say.
I had a copy of the book in PDF format, but when I tried to use it in Lulu’s web interface, it did not accept it, as it did not meet the dimension/resolution that was required. I tried using other printing services and, although they did accept the PDF as it was, their printing costs (plus shipping) were well above Lulu’s. So, I decided to recreate the PDF of the book (to Lulu’s specifications) as best as I could.
It took a couple of evening sessions for me, but I was able to re-enter the text from the PDF into a word processor, as well as transfer the portions printed in Commodore BASIC into the new document. I submitted my new PDF to Lulu and awaited the arrival of my “new” book.
After just under two weeks, the book arrived and WOW! I was impressed! The results looked better than I ever imagined. It was such a thrill for me to have this out of print book; a book that taught me so much about writing programs for my C64 in BASIC. It brought back so many good memories, flipping through the pages, once again. I know, I always had the PDF, but there’s nothing quite like having a book to flip through… something “real” to enjoy.
Immediately, I began to think of what other programming books I’d like to have for my C64 and 128. There were several books already available on Lulu, but then I thought about maybe something related to what I’m currently doing on my Commodores would be nice; something more unique to what I was already seeing on Lulu. So, I decided to compile a couple of books (which have never existed as books before) from the “pages” of Loadstar.
I chose to turn the user manuals from the four BASIC enhancers, BASIC Plus, Star BASIC, NuBASIC, and BASIC 4 into an all-in-one manual, which I could use as a reference, rather than the PDFs I had produced earlier.
Once again, the results from Lulu where fantastic! They really do such a great printing job. The colours of the covers are sharp and bright. The paper they use is a real nice quality and feels good when flipping through. The printing is also sharp and good quality. For the price they charge for the basic printing fees, I really think you get good value for money. And what Lulu charges for shipping is reasonable for this day and age.
My next project was to combine the user manuals for Unix 128 and Loadstar Shell 128, which I’ve been using on my C128. This time, I printed the book in A5 format, rather than the 8.5” x 11” I had done for the previous two reference books. Again, the results did not disappoint.
It then occurred to me that Christmas was not too far away. For a long time, my wife had been wanting (one day) to find a nice copy of the book, “Treasure Island”. I had downloaded a real nice version of the book on The Gutenberg Project’s website, with illustrations. I thought, this would make a nice gift for her and would give me a chance to see what Lulu’s hardcover printing was like. So, I got started at converting the Gutenberg’s document into Lulu format.
The nice thing about printing your own books like this with Lulu is that, you can choose the formatting. Although both my wife and I can read small print, with the aid of our reading glasses, having a book printed with a larger font is certainly more convenient. So, with Treasure Island, I printed the book in a 12 point serif-style font, in an A5 sized hardcover. I created a unique cover image for the book and uploaded it to Lulu. At the same time, I also printed a softcover book containing two of my favorite Robert Krepps science-fiction stories, “Beware the Usurpers” and “The Giants From Outer Space”. My wife also likes good science fiction adventure stories, so I know she’ll like these.
Just a couple days ago, the books arrived in the mail and oh-my, they’re lovely! These are really going to make nice Christmas presents. The only negative thing I can about Lulu’s services at this point is that, unless the seller puts a very detailed description of the book being sold or off site links to more references, you can’t see anything more about each book than what’s on the cover. There’s no ability to see the back cover or even a page or two of what’s inside the book. It would be nice if you could see a few more details on how the books going to look, once you get it home.
I’m definitely hooked on Lulu printed books. And, you know, with the way the world is going (I just read recently that the Ontario Government is pushing to remove all books from public schools and libraries shelves that aren’t “inclusive enough”), books like these are going to become harder to come by. I guess Ray Bradbury had it right, with “Farenheit 451”. I’ve been working on more collections of “classic” science fiction stories in the public domain, which I want to add to our library in the future.
Anyway, if you’re so inclined to self publish or to reprint (for yourself) old out of print books, I highly recommend Lulu.com. Also, if any of the books I’ve mentioned above sound interesting, feel free to check out my Lulu page. I’ve been putting the books I’ve created available for public printing.