BP5_Lulu.com

http://www.lulu.com/index.php
I've known about lulu.com for a while but they have grown and evolved a lot in the past two years it's amazing.

This service let's you publish a book, ebook, a video, or song for a nominal fee and is easy to do, and you only make the copies you need, no bulk orders or anything like that. If you make a video let's say with your students, you can make a few DVD's with cases and printed labels and ask for donations. Or if you want to see if there is an interest for a short story you are writing, you could just print a few copies and show them around to book reviewers or such.

They will even help get you an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and a distribution package if you are thinking about retailing your book. I do have to say that if you are really serious about publishing in the retail market, and your material is good, you should let a publisher handle all these things, but if you want to self publish and pay up front to get all the profit later, then this is one of the easiest services (but not the cheapest) to do this. Another use I thought for lulu.com is to print your portfolio, and they have a whole section for this.

For educational use, it is always nice to present student with a printed book or DVD that is professionally made. And instead of selling chocolates every semester, maybe something different (and created by them) could help.

Just check their site (they have a forum and blog also) and see if it's right for you. Let me know what you think...