FOR every budding JK Rowling who can’t get a publishing deal, the answer is finally here. Lulu, an internet business that plans to be the Ebay of publishing, is offering wannabe authors a chance to print their own books and still make money — even if they achieve only a fraction of the sales of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Lulu is the latest venture of Bob Young, the Canadian entrepreneur who founded Red Hat, the Linux software company that has mounted a serious challenge to Microsoft. Lulu’s website allows authors to upload their manuscripts and edit them on-screen. When they are happy with the text, they can publish it, either electronically or as a conventional book.

The key is technology from Xerox that allows authors, via Lulu, to print single copies of books at a time. This avoids the risks of inventory and remainders. Young said authors would receive 80% of the profit on any sales made via the website — far more than the royalties a conventional publisher would offer them.

Young, inspired by his unhappy experiences as an author, said the publishing industry catered only for those who sold thousands, or tens of thousands, of books. “Authors get rejection slips not because the book is bad but because the publisher thinks the book will not sell enough,” he said.

Some of the 23,500 books published via Lulu are for small specialist audiences — such as Richard Brown’s Replica Watch Report, on how to spot a fake Rolex. Others are strange and quirky, such as crochet patterns for dishcloths.

Lulu is now looking at establishing a print centre in Britain, in addition to one in Xerox’s home town of Rochester, New York. After a slow start, caused by problems with an early version of the site, Lulu’s revenues are now growing 10% a month.

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