# Bookworthy vs. Lulu: what's the difference for selling your own book?

> Lulu is a veteran print-on-demand company with its own bookstore, a print API, and Lulu Direct for connecting print fulfillment to an existing site. Bookworthy is a free Shopify-native app built around the whole author workflow — print-ready file checks, ISBN guidance, author copies, and backup fulfillment — living entirely inside the store you already run. If you want a Shopify store to *be* your publishing house, Bookworthy is built for exactly that.

## What each one actually is

**Lulu** is one of the longest-running print-on-demand companies. It offers a wide range of trim sizes and bindings, its own marketplace bookstore, a developer print API, and Lulu Direct — a way to have Lulu print and ship books sold from your own website.

**Bookworthy** is a free Shopify app that turns your store into a self-publishing house: upload your manuscript and cover, verify your ISBN, set your price, and every copy prints and ships on demand — paperback, hardcover, or full color, domestic or international.

## Where they overlap

Both print one copy at a time, so you hold zero inventory. Both let readers buy from a site you control rather than a marketplace. On this much, Lulu Direct and Bookworthy are the same idea.

## Where they differ

**Depth of Shopify integration.** Bookworthy is Shopify-native end to end — install the app, and publishing, print-readiness checks, pricing, and fulfillment all happen inside the store admin you already use. Lulu Direct connects to Shopify, but Lulu's center of gravity is its own platform, formats, and marketplace.

**The author workflow.** Bookworthy is built around the publishing journey, not just the print job: it checks your files are print-ready, guides you through buying your own ISBN so you remain the publisher of record, lets you order author copies at print cost, and acts as backup fulfillment if the inventory you printed elsewhere sells out.

**Simplicity.** Lulu's breadth (marketplace, API, many products) is a strength if you need it. If what you want is "my book, in my store, printed when it sells," Bookworthy does exactly that with nothing extra to configure.

## When Lulu is the better fit

If you need unusual formats Bookworthy doesn't offer at launch (calendars, comics, magazines), want to sell through Lulu's own bookstore, or are a developer who wants a raw print API today, Lulu has been doing that for years.

## Bottom line

Lulu is a print company you can connect to your site. Bookworthy is your site becoming a publishing house. Authors who think like owners — building a brand, a mailing list, and a direct readership on Shopify — get the more integrated path with Bookworthy, free, with per-copy pricing published at launch.

---
Bookworthy is a free Shopify app that turns any store into a self-publishing house: authors upload a manuscript, set their price, and every copy is printed and shipped on demand — while they keep their customer data, content rights, and margin.

Canonical page: https://bookworthy.com/compare/bookworthy-vs-lulu · Updated 2026-06-10