March 23, 2012, 6:47 am -- /EPR NETWORK/ -- Lulu.com, the leader in self-publishing, has launched a new ecommerce platform along with major site upgrades that will give authors and readers the absolute best self-publishing experience for buying and selling books in any format across the globe.
Powered by leading ecommerce platform provider Elastic Path, the upgrades are designed to maximize author agility in a rapidly changing publishing industry and ensure that readers can easily buy books online anywhere in the world, including the places they already shop like Amazon.com, the iBookstore, and Barnes and Noble's NOOK Bookstore. Customers can expect an even easier to use Lulu.com with new capabilities such as registration-less checkout, faster browsing times, enhanced international language and currency support, improved address validation, and customizable marketing tools for authors, adding to Lulu.com's already free ebook publishing services.
"Lulu and Elastic Path have made publishing and buying quick and easy," says Matt Dion, Vice President of Marketing for Elastic Path. "Lulu is a great example of an innovative company providing their customers with a compelling value proposition, cementing Lulu's leadership position in the publishing technology arena for years to come."
The new platform creates an entirely new infrastructure for Lulu.com to build upon, which greatly increases the speed at which the company can release new features and updates in the future to better equip customers with the tools they need, when they need them. For example, Lulu.com's soon to be available ecommerce APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) enables businesses and publishers to build Lulu.com and Elastic Path's ecommerce tools into their own branded websites, absolutely free.
"We’re constantly looking for ways to make it easier for our customers to take advantage of the ever-increasing opportunities in publishing today, from easily creating print and eBooks, to expanding author reach to more places," said Bob Young, CEO of Lulu.com. "We're in the business of removing limitations for creators and with these upgrades, we're providing publishers, authors, and their readers, with a world-class ecommerce experience."
With just a few clicks of a button, anyone can upload content to Lulu once, and sell it through a global network of premier retail channels as a print book or eBook, all for free. Creators set their own price for their titles and keep up to 90 per cent of the profit whenever their works sell.
Interested parties can learn more about self-publishing and the new and improved Lulu.com by visiting, www.lulu.com, while British users can visit Lulu UK at www.lulu.com/uk.
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About Lulu
Lulu.com, founded in 2002, is a one-stop shop where, with a few clicks of a button,
anyone can publish a book for free and sell it to customers all over the world. Lulu has helped over 1 million creators publish in over 200 countries and territories. Creators set their own price and keep full creative and copyright control over their works. With over 1.2 million titles in their catalogue, Lulu is the clear leader in self-publishing solutions.
About Elastic Path Software
Elastic Path is the leader in digital commerce technology and expertise for enterprises selling digital goods and content. Major global brands such as Google, Time Inc, and Virgin Media rely on Elastic Path to monetize digital relationships with their customers in ways that are frictionless, social, and everywhere.
PR Contact:
AJ McDonald
Public Relations
Lulu
3101 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh
North Carolina
27607-5436
919.447.3290
www.lulu.com