The leaders in affordable print-on-demand, Lulu.com, have just launched a book publishing service for academics. Glasstree offers the…

“tools and services needed by academic authors, and will leverage technology, such as print-on-demand, to distribute their works more cost-effectively. [aims to boost the] commercial academic publishing market, such as accelerating time to market, more transparent pricing, and reversing the revenue model to allow academics and scholars to realize 70% of the profit from sales of their work. Among Glasstree’s advertised services: support for open access, including the deposit of works in institutional repositories; Tools for bibliometric tracking, so academic authors can monitor Impact Factors, and other relevant measurements; More control over licensing options, through a partnership with Creative Commons; and access to traditional peer review.”

Note that…

“Glasstree is currently in a limited free trial period until 31st December 2016. During this time, authors can publish as many titles as desired, free of charge, receiving a range of complimentary services.”

Somehow I doubt that includes the related Glassleaf services where book production… “Packages start at as low as $2,625”. Ouch.

The Glasstree signup doesn’t port over your existing Lulu details, and thus presumably can’t port your academic book files over from Lulu either. Looks like it’s a wholly separate system.