The Chicago Tap Theatre’s “Top Tap Tips”. Photo credit: Chicago Tap Theatre

Small, non-profit dance companies like the Chicago Tap Theatre in Chicago can ill afford to stick their toes into risky commercial ventures.

So when the nine-dancer company published a glossy photo book in 2007, it turned to Lulu.com to help illustrate its story.

“You get a quality product that you have a lot of control over for pretty cheap,” said Chicago Tap Theatre company member Jenna Deidel. She’s also the designer of “Top Tap Tips”. Deidel added: “You only have to make one copy, too.”

While the Chicago Tap Theatre invested time and resources to put the book together, it didn’t have to shop around for a publishing partner or commit to purchasing excess inventory.

Once the digital elements of the book were uploaded to Lulu.com, the theatre determined the purchase price and was only on the hook for units sold.

In return for a fixed unit price (currently less than $7) and the opportunity to market additional production and editorial services, Lulu.com handled all printing and fulfillment processes. Since 2004, Lulu.com has processed and distributed nearly 500,000 tiles from publishers all over the world.

The Morrisville, N.C.-based company is the brainchild of Bob Young (the former CEO of open-source software pioneer Red Hat). With revenue at more than $40 million per year, Lulu.com is one of a handful of companies like eBay and CafePress that make real money exploiting so-called “long-tail” commercial opportunities.

“The long tail” is a term coined by Wired editor Chris Anderson to describe how niche products with limited audience potential can be more effectively monetized via the Web.

“A big publisher would ideally have 10 authors sell 1 million books,” said Young, who’s also the co-founder of the Center for Public Domain foundation and vice chairman of the Canadian Football League. “We are looking for 1 million authors to publish 100 books per year.”

Lulu.com receives 20 percent of the profits of every book sold (the publisher receives the balance) and also charges for optional services like copy editing, formatting and public relations. The most sold from any one title is approximately 70,000 units. Most authors aren’t selling enough volume at this point to quit their day jobs.

Still, Young says the service increasingly attracts authors who appreciate the minimal financial risk and opportunity to publish on their own terms. He added: “We enable authors to bring their books to market without having to ask permission from somebody.”

Arrested Development

The 2008 Small Business Expo will be held this Friday at the UIC Forum at 725 W. Roosevelt Rd. Information about the free event can be found here.

Kenneth Coats – who in 2007 won an award at the expo for his company ArrestFree.com – is now working on a spin-off. His second company, CollegeScreen.com, helps students involved in health care training more easily comply with newly required background checks. The Web site is in beta and Coats recently inked a deal with a college in North Carolina.

Bits & Bytes

On Friday, i.c. stars and BlacksGoneGeek.org will offer the first-annual High School Entrepreneur Competition. Teenage tinkerers from Hyde Park Academy High School, Crane Technical Prep High School, Clemente Community Academy, the Chicago Vocational Career Academy and Washington High School will participate. More information about the program can be found here.

Chicago-based CarePages.com will debut new features to its social network this Saturday based on user recommendations. CarePages.com, which was acquired in 2007 by Steve Case’s Revolution Health, helps hospital patients share news about their health status with friends and loved ones. The company was founded eight years ago and financed by Chicago-based Hopewell Ventures.