Lulu.com

Barnes & Noble announced Wednesday that it will enter the self-publishing business this summer with the launch of PubIt, a digital publishing service that will make it simple for hopeful authors to sell their books and content on its Nook e-reader.

Getting paid by authors to publish their books is a booming business, and Raleigh, N.C., firm Lulu has been selling the dream to a fair share of of those aspiring writers. Now, Lulu is preparing to go public, but its own dreams of a $9.50 per share IPO price are being tempered by business reality.

Here's yet another sign that pay-to-publish firms are booming: Lulu.com, a firm that lets authors publish their own books and sell them directly to their audiences, is set to launch an initial public offering worth approximately $48.25 million.