Does Lulu.com Pose a Serious Threat to the Major Publishing Houses?
Bob Young, former CEO of Red Hat — distributor of the open source computer operating system known as Linux — wants to conquer the publishing world, in every language. How? By offering writers — whether they are established bestsellers, newcomers or simply fans — the opportunity to publish their work without cost. Put simply, Young’s goal for his new business, called Lulu.com, is for the site to represent literature the way eBay represents commerce. How realistic a goal is that? And can his business model work? “Short term, its future is promising,” notes Francisco Sandulli, professor at the Complutense University in Madrid. “Currently, Lulu is focused on growth; the greater its volume on a world scale, the more it can take advantage of economies of scale in its business base. It is a similar model to others on the Internet such as Google, iTunes and eBay, where the goal is to achieve a dominant position. Once Lulu is established as the leader in publish-on-demand and vanity publish
