In this week's podcast, we gear up for the Holiday shopping season. We are also pleased to welcome Rich Burk to the Lulu Radio team. Rich interviews Chris Attrell, creator of a series of calendars and a 440 page photobook on the grain elevators of Canada.

The Holiday shipping deadlines have been announced, so make sure to take note before you place your Christmas orders!

Christmas is also the perfect time to focus on your own marketing efforts. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Visit Marketing Central - Lulu's hub of marketing info and services.
2. Make sure all your products have working previews.
3. Tell all your family and friends about your book!

Calendars and Photobooks can be the perfect personalized gifts, and they are easy to make! However, for anyone having trouble (don't worry, it happens to all of us), Henry Hutton has been working on some terrific publishing how-to's.

Rich Burk talks with Chris Attrell about his calendars and photobook--all focusing on the disappearing grain elevators of Canada. 

Check out Chris's website - www.grainelevators.ca - and visit his Lulu storefront at www.lulu.com/grainelevators.

This week's podcast is all about Lulu's community leader program and features four interviews.

First up, I talk with Nick Popio, director of Community here at Lulu, about community leaders, Team Lulu, and the recent Community Leader Summit. The summit was a way to thank our loyal community volunteers, let them meet the folks behind the scenes, and give direct feedback on how we are doing.

At the summit I had the opportunity to sit down with three of the visiting Power Posters:


From here on out, Lulu Radio will be updated with a new show every Wednesday. Next week we talk about calendars and photobooks, and how to use Lulu to make a variety of personalized gifts.

Are you still downloading Lulu Radio by hand? There is an easier way! If you subscribe to the podcast through services like the iTunes music store and Yahoo! podcasts, every new installment of Lulu Radio will be delivered directly to your computer. You can also paste the feed url directly into a podcatcher of your choice--such as Juice, Doppler, or Transistr. Remember, Lulu Radio is always free!

Lulu product guru Joe Komenda  imparts his  wisdom on  Photobooks, the newest option for publishing with Lulu.  Next, developer Clinton R. Nixon enlightens us about the new My Account page, which will welcome you when you log-in with all of the Lulu information that's most pertinent to you.  Pictured is Joe (just pretend to be scared, we don't want to hurt his feelings).

Our latest edition takes you from west coast to east coast as your Lulu podcasters travel to the BlogHer Conference in San Jose, California and the Yart Sale in Durham, NC. 

First off, Jason lets us in on why BlogHer was such a great event for Lulu to sponsor.  Bloggers are already in line with the Lulu philosophy of self-publishing, and they've got the tech smarts to make it happen.  The BlogHers were really excited about the 2nd annual Lulu Blooker Prize, which just opened for entry. 

Interviews from BlogHer:

Charlotte talks to the ever-engaging Susie Bright, who talks about her experiences with publishing.  She's gone from an underground high school paper to small presses to the big New York houses.  Hear it straight from a publishing veteran and internet diva: Lulu is great.

Jason snagged the few moments of spare time that Heather Powazek Champ had to get this second interview.  Heather is the co-editor of JPG Magazine, a stunning quarterly publication that features the best of amateur photography.  She talks about JPG's latest issues and her journey from fine art to the web and back to print, and even throws in some of her design mantras!

Interview from a Yart Sale?

Finally, we feature an interview recorded right here on the east coast.  A group of Durham, NC artists held a Yart Sale, a yard sale for art, on July 22nd, and we got to meet a Lulu artist, Darius Quarles.  Standing among his amazing paintings, Darius tells Jason how Lulu can be "an excellent machine for the starving artist."

Give Lulu Radio #9 a listen.  As always, send your questions, comments, and haikus to radio@lulu.com.

Tune in for a podcast overview of comics at Lulu.  Heroes, explosions, and Comics Subversives , POW!

HeroesCon sound bytes from artists:
Angie Shearstone of What Have I Done?
Joe Komenda of Feral Chicken
Jennie Breeden of The Devil's Panties
Likely Stories of The Dada Detective

Staff interview:
Leah Riley of the Lulu Comics Subversives

And lots more!

Other Links:
You can always find all of the comics at Lulu in one convenient Comics Storefront.  Don't forget to stop by the Comics Forum to talk about your favorites.

Author Interview:

Mark Jeffrey author of The Pocket and the Pendant

Also available as an  illustrated hardcover and as a podiobook.

Other links:
www.pocketandpendant.com
www.myspace.com/maxquick

Staff Interview:

Melissa London on Marketing Central

If you have any feedback on what we've been doing with Marketing Central, and the Services Marketplace in general, please visit our Forums.

In the news:

Socceranto: Birth of a Language - Just in time for the World Cup!

Want to contribute to the development of Socceranto? Visit the Socceranto Group Forum.

Creator Interview:

Noreen Finneran author of The Incredible Edible Spa.

Learn more about Noreen's work at www.noreenfinneran.com.

Staff Interview:

Katie Jamison, Community Events Coordinator

A few upcoming events Lulu will be a part of:

BlogHer Conference (San Jose, CA) - July 28-29
Portland Zine Symposium 2006 - August 11-13
Design Expo Raleigh - October 20-November 4

Want to be involved in Lulu events? Email events@lulu.com or visit the Events Forum.

Lulu News:

New Community home page!
Marketing Central

This show features not one, not two, but three interviews! (I knew you'd be impressed.)

First up is my interview with Mark Wilkerson, author of Amazing Journey: The Life of Pete Townshend. For more information on Mark's detailed examination of one of rock's most compelling musicians, visit his website - www.townshendbio.com.

Next, Henry Hutton talks with Nick K. from the Lulu QA team, taking us behind the scenes of the most recent site release (11.1, if you're keeping score at home), and providing a sneak peak at some of the exciting projects we are working on for future releases.

And lastly, I chat with James and Jeremy, the dynamic duo behind Lulu TV - your one-stop shop for cutting edge internet video.

Subscribing to Lulu Radio has never been easier! In fact, it's just a click away:

*iTunes
*Yahoo! Podcasts
*Podcast Pickle

Latest features in the Latest Lulus blog:

*gardening
*home businesses

Interview with Matthew Wayne Selznick author of Brave Men Run.

*print edition
*ebook
*podiobook (podcast of the novel)
*audio CD (the complete podcast in mp3 format)

My Odeo Channel (odeo/a4fb27fc7b15837b)

The winners of the first annual Lulu Blooker Prize were announced on Monday, 3 April.

It was my great pleasure to interview all three of the winners.

Overall Winner (as well as the winner of the Non-fiction category):
Julie Powell for Julie & Julia (Little, Brown, $23.95)

Fiction Winner:
Cherie Priest for Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Tor, $13.95)

Comics Winner:
Zach Miller for Totally Boned: A Joe and Monkey Collection (Boxcar Comics, $12.95)
*Buy it at Lulu! *

Runners-up:
Non-fiction - Lyle Estill for Biodiesel Power
Fiction - Tom Evslin for hackoff.com
Comics - Ryan North for Dinosaur Comics

The Blooker has been getting press coverage all over the world!
Here are some of the highlights:

You can download this podcast directly by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post, or, better yet, subscribe to the feed through iTunes, Juice, or a similar "podcatching" client.

*Henry Hutton interviews Joanna Roberts

She's the author of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling in Cross-stitch, and she's even been linked on BoingBoing!

Also in Show 2.2:

*Lulu crashes the podcasting panel at StellarCon!
*New site releases
*London Book Fair/European expansion
*Lulu Blooker Prize short-list is announced!
*Latest Lulus blog
*Press coverage galore!
The BBC
Daily Telegraph
The BBC again
US News and World Report
Times of London (The print edition featured six Lulu authors!)

The podcast is back, bigger and, hopefully, better than ever!

You can download it directly by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page, or, better yet, subscribe to the feed through iTunes, Juice (formerly known as iPodder), or a similar "podcatching" client.

Show 2.1 features:

* highlights from the Lulu Poetry Slam
* Blooker Prize update
* Lulu Titlescorer - Titlefight!
* Henry's interview with Reb Livingston, co-editor of The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel
* someone proposed marriage with a Lulu book!
50 Reasons You Should Marry Me and 51 Reasons I Should Marry You

While on the subject of podcasting, Lulu is the new sponsor of I Should Be Writing , a podcast "for wanna-be writers by a wanna-be writers." Every week, host Mur Lafferty shares the lessons she's learned from her own experiences as a writer trying to get published. She regularly features interviews with published authors, and this week she talks to Mark Jeffrey, author of The Pocket and the Pendent.