Borders and Lulu.com Launch Personal Publishing Service

Bringing the dreams of the everyday writer to reality -- Borders and Lulu.com are blazing trails in publishing with the launch of the Borders Personal Publishing program powered by Lulu. The easy-to-use and cost-effective online publishing tools of Lulu.com combine with the wide-reaching audience and customer service associated with Borders stores for this exclusive and unique service -- a match made in publishing heaven!

After field-testing, Borders unveiled the program this week upon the opening of its first concept store in the nation, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Borders Personal Publishing is available in the concept store's Digital Center through interactive kiosks, and will also be accessible via these digital kiosks in 13 additional concept stores Borders plans to open across the nation in 2008. Existing Borders superstores across the country do not have these self-publishing kiosks but will soon offer a Borders Personal Publishing how-to book as well as informational literature on the program. Through this exclusive offering, millions of customers will be able to fulfill their dream of publishing their stories and sharing them with the world.

Over time, Borders and Lulu plan to jointly develop other service offerings designed to empower content creators. As with Lulu.com, publishing through Borders Personal Publishing is free. There is no set-up fee and no requirement to buy copies. When someone buys content created with the Borders Personal Publishing services, Lulu.com handles the transaction as well as creator revenue payments.

To register for the Borders Personal Publishing service, customers can sign up at an in-store Borders digital kiosk within a Borders concept store or online (http://publish.bordersstores.com/). There, customers will set up a personal user name and password at the kiosk, as well as take a guided tour of the process. Once registered, the Borders Personal Publishing account can be accessed on the Web from anywhere.