Self Publishing in Europe

lulu
lulu - the most well known self-publishing company
bubok
bubok@pt, the only Portuguese-based self publishing company

I have been publishing some books lately. First, a scientific journal about computer linguistics applied to the Iberian languages. It has two editions per year, and as the PDF version is free, the paper version does not sell well. But some people like to have it, and therefore I created the books in lulu, where readers can buy it. Unfortunately lulu is from United States and to ship a single book to Portugal, cheapest delivery method, is worth about eight euros. More recently, together with some friends, we decided to publish a book with the best jokes from a Portuguese jokes site. As it is a small book (pocket book), we wanted to have it as cheaper as possible. As delivery is costly with lulu, we searched for self-publishing initiatives in Europe, and I found bubok. It is a Spanish company with a Portuguese website. While the books are printed here in the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain, to ship a book to Portugal costs seven euros. As you can see, the difference is not relevant. Also, lulu has discounts for small quantities (five copies) while bubok only have discounts for fifteen copies or more. But, what annoys me is that a trip of thousands of kilometers have almost the same cost than a trip of some hundred kilometers. I really can’t get it. I need to find a viable alternative…

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