OystersandBeer .....
Actually in the past few weeks I've learned a LOT about self publishing and Lulu.com in particular. I am 99% complete with getting my Mom's book ready to publish ..... keep in mind her target sales audience is all of 12 people ... my stepfather, her 5 children and 6 grandchildren. 
I've set up a website so my Mom and I can communicate with each other from afar and so that she can "preview and approve/disapprove" of the edits, cover design, etc. that I am working on for her.
http://www.grannyliz.net
I have no problem with you or anyone else who is a potential self publishing author looking at her website and Lulu.com store as she and I finalize her book. We are still a week or so away from ordering the first demo copy of the book, so I don't yet know what kind of quality we are dealing with (which is why I started this thread).
I have learned a lot in the past couple of weeks. Here are a few of my Lulu.com do's and don'ts that I've picked up. Let me know if you have any specific questions should you decide to go the Lulu.com self-publishing route yourself. Good luck!
~~~~~ surfpirate
Lulu.com Tips
1. Formatting the
fonts and line spacing. A 6x9” book should have approximately 30 lines per page. Line spacing should be 1.5. A Serif based font (Garamond or Times New Roman) should be used. A font size of 12 works well.
2.
Drop Caps to begin each chapter. The drop cap should cover 2 lines, e.g.
The first sentence of each chapter should begin about mid-page, always on an odd numbered page, with the Chapter Number and Chapter Title situated about midway in the open space above the first sentence of the chapter.
3.
Margins. Top and bottom margins should be 0.5”. Outside margins should also be 0.5”. The inside margin where the page is bound to the spine should be 0.75” to allow for the additional space needed for the binding. NOTE: This is the left margin for odd numbered (right hand) pages and the right margin for even numbered (left hand) pages.
4.
Page numbering. As stated above, page numbering should be odd numbered pages on the right, even numbered pages on the left. The initial pages (title page, copyright page, table of contents, dedication, etc.) can be small roman numerals numbered i, ii … xiii, etc. Page numbers 1, 2 … 151, etc. should begin with Chapter I.
5.
Page numbering. I placed the page numbers in the footer right justified for odd pages and left justified for even pages.
6.
Page Headers. I placed the Book Title (Wit and Wisdom of Granny Liz) on the left even numbered pages, and the Chapter Title on the right odd numbered pages. NOTE: This required breaking the MS Word document out into multiple sections (one section per chapter), otherwise the page headings and footers (containing the page numbering) begin to mess each other up. Make each chapter its own section and configure the Header pages (odd and even) and the footer pages (page numbering) individually. Be sure to start the page numbering not with “1” for each chapter but rather with the page number which is one greater than the last page number of the previous chapter.
7.
Copyright page …. All the “legal” wording to protect your work. The copyright page is always page 2 (even numbered page) opposite side of the page one “title page”.
8.
Table of Contents ….. do NOT attempt to write this manually. Learn how to use and take advantage of MS Word’s table of contents which will “link” the table of contents to the page that content is situated. This is a tricky concept, but well worth the time to learn. As you revise and edit your manuscript, adding and removing material ….. the pages will increase and decrease so the page numbers will constantly be changing. MS Word will automatically update the table of content page numbering accordingly when you tell it to “sync” with the manuscript.
9.
Converting your
MS Word formatted document
to a
print ready PDF file, LuLu.com requires that the interior book content and the exterior cover work be in PDF file format. Fonts used must be "embedded" in the PDF document and it can not be password protected. There are many tools out there to do this ranging from free to cheap to moderately expensive. I opted to use CutePDF (google it) but you can also use the full version of Adobe Acrobat. NOTE: This is NOT the bundled Acrobat “Reader” that Microsoft gives you.
10.
Cover Design ………. Lulu.com will provide basic (very basic) standard cover templates. Covers must be uploaded to Lulu in PDF file format. The image should allow for “bleed” area of about 0.25” on all edges. The image size will vary depending upon the number of pages in your book, i.e. the spine width will be approximately 0.76” for a 250 page book, and will be smaller or larger with fewer or more pages. You’ll get much better looking covers if you design your own or pay someone to design the cover for you. Covers may be full color and should be minimal 300 DPI. NOTE: This requires some design skill and imaging software. Do NOT overlook this aspect of your book. Think about what you do when you shop at a bookstore or browse the shelves at the library. Sometimes all you see are the spine of the book. If that catches your attention you pull the book off the shelf and glance at and read the front and back covers. Perhaps you’ll open the book and read the inside flaps. All of this may take 8 or 10 seconds. If you haven’t caught the readers attention in those 8 – 10 seconds, your book won’t sell.
11.
eBook images, e.g.
will make your book look more professional, particularly if you will be promoting it on your Lulu.com store or personal website. NOTE: Lulu.com will provide you with a free “store website” to promote and sell your book. This also requires imaging software and some basic design skills to create.
12.
ISBNs (the bar codes on the back cover). These are only required if you plan to sell your book somewhere outside of the Lulu.com marketplace, e.g. Amazon.com or other bookstores. NOTE: Lulu.com will submit your book to Amazon.com and other sources for you. There are ISBN bar code generators available online (google them).
13.
Selling Price: Don’t get greedy. Lulu.com is a self publishing source. Price your book so it will sell and be happy with any profit around 5% of the sales price. Yep. Price your hard cover book at $19.95 and be happy if you can make $0.95 per book. This is about all you would get from a large publishing house (albeit they would likely market your book much better).
I bet it is awesome! 
"While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats." Mark Twain