Book buying (desperate) - Please Advise

[madbohemianpoetatgmaildotcom]

Hello

For the last six weeks, I have been trying to buy copies of my book from the lulu site either for friends or, in my current predicament, for the British Library.  As all new books need to be deposited with the British Library to complete the copyright process.

However, every time I go to complete the purchase all I get is a "general error" message and cannot complete the order.  This has happened for the last six weeks.  And every week, I have sent a message to Lulu enquiring about it.  Every week, all I hear is that it is a server problem and I should try again later.

Initially, I thought it may have been my credit card, the expiry date says March 2011 and although valid, the site could presume it to be out of date.  However, upon trying a new card I found this isn't the case.

Would this have anything to do with the Global Distribution now being in place?  I could try buying it via Amazon, however, for some strange reason the UK listing says the book is available in 2 - 6 weeks (not 3 - 5 days like Amazon US states), so it would take ages to get there.

Does anybody have any plausible, rational ideas other than "server issues"?

Thank you in advance

Lee

[Ken Anderson]

Lee,
What is the project number, ISBN and title of the book?
It shouldn't have anything to do do with Global Distribution.
The 3-5 days refers to how long after plaving an order with Lulu will the book be shipped from the printers whether UK or USA.
The 6 weeks normally refers to how long it will take for the book to appear on Amazon once you have approved it.

[madbohemianpoetatgmaildotcom]

Hello Ken

Thank you for the response.

The 2-6 weeks I mentioned regarding Amazon UK is actually the time they list on the site for the book to be available to the person who buys it from them.  The irony being that the US website states 3-5 days.  It was the same with the publisher details on the listing itself.  The US site listed it as expected, the UK site just said "unknown publisher".  So I completed the missing details form on the site and the bibliographic details are correct.

The details you've requested are:

Project Number: 9836978

Title: The Fall of Levitation

ISBN: 978-0-9567527-1-0

Please let me know if you require anything else.

Thanks

Lee

[Ken Anderson · Accepted solution]

Lee,
I didn't have any problems trying to buy it.
I suggest that you use a Paypal account to do the purchase.
If you haven't got one then you should have as that is the easiest way to recive any sales revenue form Lulu.

I suspect that if you actually placed an order on Amazon.co.uk it would be shipped within a couple of days. The message you see normally comes up if no purchases have yet been made on Amazon. Once a purchase is made thet notice will change fairly quickly.

[madbohemianpoetatgmaildotcom]

Hi Ken

Thank you for the help. 

I did have my paypal account linked to my lulu account, so the transaction went through okay.

I'm curious: there have been no problems doing it via credit card since November, so why should this change now?

Kind Regards

Lee

[NickPopio]

Lee,
I'm glad you got this worked out, but if you need the issue with your credit card sorted, then you should report the issue to customer service via our Support page. There you can find our Live Chat and Email Support options. Our customer service team currently has an 88% satisfaction rate, so you know you're in good hands!

[Eric Begbie]

Lee,

Glad you have got the supply problem sorted.

If I may just pick up on one point you mention in your original post. Depositing a book with the British Library (or any of the other mandatory "Legal Deposit Libraries" in the UK) has no effect whatsoever on copyright.

You hold the copyright on your work as soon as you publish it.

In reality, the legal deposit system in Britain is just another stealth tax on writers. At one time it was important for witers to have their books in those libraries so that their work was available for academic research but, of course, with the advent of the internet, the vast majority of literature searches are carried out online rather than in libraries.

We still do have this archaic "legal deposit" system in place (and being in Scotland, I should also donate one of each of my books to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh) but my advice is to tell them to stick their system up their fat arses. I have never heard of any writer being chased up under this system and one of the huge benefits of using the "Published by Lulu" system, rather than Lulu's "Published by You" system is that our books are actually published in America.

Anyway, I am rambing on a bit about one of my pet hates. The more important matter is that your copyright is not in any way affected by whether or not you comply with this "requirement".

[madbohemianpoetatgmaildotcom]

Hi Nick

Thank you for your message.

I have actually gone through the live support / email support process before.  With Live Support, I spoke to the advisor for half an hour whilst he tried to order the book for me from his end. He went silent for several minutes before cutting me off completely. As it was 10.30pm and having spoken to him for nearly an hour at that point, I decided not to reconnect with it. The email support responds, albeit relatively promptly, with the same "there is a server issue, please try again later" every time I attempt to purchase the book. I assume this can't be the same server issue every time, otherwise Lulu need to get new servers.

So I have tried, Nick.

Thanks

Lee

[Eric Begbie]

Just to add to what I wrote earlier, Lee, from memory it is not just one library that we are, by law, required to donate a copy of each book to - it is five! Lulu used to have a package where they would send a copy to each of the five UK Legal Deposit Libraries for a set fee (which was generally cheaper than the author having to buy 5 copies and send them himself) but I do not know if that service is still offered.

Anyway, the important point still stands - whether or not you choose to comply with that law, your copyright is not affected.

[madbohemianpoetatgmaildotcom]

Hi Eric

Thanks for the advice.

Lee