Below is a professional, print-ready workflow specifically for Lulu, used by small presses and indie publishers to turn Project Gutenberg books into clean, compliant interior PDFs that Lulu accepts without revisions.
1. Choose the correct Lulu trim size (first decision)
Lulu will reject or resize files if trim is wrong.
Common Lulu book sizes
- 5″ × 8″ → classics, fiction, folklore (best choice)
- 6″ × 9″ → academic, nonfiction
- 8.5″ × 11″ → textbooks
👉 Recommended for Gutenberg fiction: 5″ × 8″
2. Clean the source text (critical step)
Best source format
- HTML from Project Gutenberg
Remove completely
- Gutenberg legal header/footer
- Table of contents auto-links (you’ll rebuild them)
- Extra line breaks
- Inline fonts
Keep
- Chapter headings
- Italics
- Poetry formatting
- Footnotes (convert to endnotes)
3. Set Lulu-compliant page layout
Lulu uses mirror margins (inside / outside).
Standard margin setup (5″ × 8″)
| Area | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Inside (gutter) | 0.75 in |
| Outside | 0.5 in |
| Top | 0.75 in |
| Bottom | 0.75 in |
⚠️ If book is over 150 pages, increase gutter to 0.875 in
4. Font rules that Lulu accepts
Safe print fonts
- Garamond
- Baskerville
- Caslon
- Minion Pro
- EB Garamond (free)
Body text settings
- Size: 10.5–11.5 pt
- Line spacing: 1.2–1.35
- Alignment: Justified
- Hyphenation: ON
Paragraph rules
- First-line indent: 0.25 in
- No extra spacing between paragraphs
5. Chapter formatting (Lulu standard)
Chapter start pages
- Always start on right-hand (odd) pages
- No headers on chapter opening pages
- Chapter title centered, ⅓ down the page
Example:
CHAPTER I The Beginning of the Tale
6. Headers, footers, and page numbers
Headers
- Left pages: Book Title
- Right pages: Chapter Title
- Small caps or italic
Page numbers
- Bottom center or outside
- Start numbering after front matter
- Title page = no number (counts as page)
7. Build the PDF (Lulu-approved methods)
BEST tools (ranked)
- Adobe InDesign (gold standard)
- Affinity Publisher
- LibreOffice Writer
- Pandoc → PDF (advanced users)
LibreOffice export settings
- PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-3
- Embed all fonts
- No crop marks
- No bleed (unless illustrated)
8. Lulu interior PDF checklist (do not skip)
Before upload:
- ✅ Correct trim size
- ✅ Page count divisible by 2
- ✅ Fonts embedded
- ✅ No headers on chapter openers
- ✅ Inside margins wide enough
- ✅ Black text only (no RGB color)
- ✅ No hyperlinks
9. Cover file note (important)
Interior and cover are separate uploads on Lulu.
- Interior: PDF only
- Cover: Lulu Cover Wizard or full-wrap PDF
10. Recommended production workflow (publisher-grade)
Project Gutenberg HTML → Clean text → Import into InDesign / Affinity → Apply master pages → Export PDF/X → Lulu upload
11. Common Lulu rejection reasons (avoid these)
- Wrong trim size
- Gutter too small
- Fonts not embedded
- Page numbers too close to edge
- Blank pages missing where required
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