Ok here it goes. Hope I don't sound dumb. My friend and I are starting a publishing company. I write and edit, she's a professional illustrator. We have decided to do this on our own and chose lulu for our printing purposes. I was givin a link to the developer page where I had to sign up for an api app. I have no clue what an api is, what purpose it serves, or what the keys are for. I know that sounds silly, but I'm new here. I don't know where to begin. I already have books that need to be published and don't know where to start on this site. I've been bouncing around on this site trying to figure it out. Can anyone help?
An API is the means by which a website can expose features to the public in a way that allows outside developers to include them in their own applications. If, for example, you wrote an application that collects information (title, authors, description, etc) about a book along with the files making up the book block and cover, you could by making a few HTTP requests with this data publish those books through Lulu.com.
Are you planning to build a web application? Who do you imagine using the end product and how?
It sounds like you aren't software developers, which is the target for this section of Lulu. You probably need to start with http://www.lulu.com/, and click on the Publish tab. For right now, you can start by publishing books one at a time through the web interface.
Ok here it goes. Hope I don't sound dumb. My friend and I are starting a publishing company. I write and edit, she's a professional illustrator. We have decided to do this on our own and chose lulu for our printing purposes. I was givin a link to the developer page where I had to sign up for an api app. I have no clue what an api is, what purpose it serves, or what the keys are for. I know that sounds silly, but I'm new here. I don't know where to begin. I already have books that need to be published and don't know where to start on this site. I've been bouncing around on this site trying to figure it out. Can anyone help?
Message edited by TheSkysTheLimitPublishing 2 years ago
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Josiah Gore – 2 years ago
An API is the means by which a website can expose features to the public in a way that allows outside developers to include them in their own applications. If, for example, you wrote an application that collects information (title, authors, description, etc) about a book along with the files making up the book block and cover, you could by making a few HTTP requests with this data publish those books through Lulu.com.
Are you planning to build a web application? Who do you imagine using the end product and how?
Ryan Bloom – 2 years ago
Let me add to Josiah's comments.
It sounds like you aren't software developers, which is the target for this section of Lulu. You probably need to start with http://www.lulu.com/, and click on the Publish tab. For right now, you can start by publishing books one at a time through the web interface.
Let us know if you need more help!
Ryan