I do have a degree of sympathy with TM Moore's views. Some people probably don't bother to look at the FAQs or the Forum pages. As with most things these days, they expect instant answers to problems.
However, some software is, and some websites are, easier to use and navigate around than others. This is usually because some thought has gone into the design - what people want, what they are likely to be technically capable of - that sort of thing. Again, a site such as Lulu must, by its nature, be somewhat complicated, to cater for all the differing needs of its customers. Although new to publishing I am reasonably computer "literate", but I still found the Lulu site extremely confusing; and when I started into the publishing process itself I found the same ambiguity and confusion. The whole thing should have been a relatively easy "step by step" process - although, as with all software, it did become easier with familiarity and use.
I too contacted Lulu on several occassions about problems that could often - although not always - be found on the FAQ pages or in the Forums. When I hadn't found an answer to a particular problem I did what they suggested - contacted them. Most times, the response was favourable, whether by Livechat or email. Usually it was friendly, helpful advice from people doing their job. But I got the feeling (as evidenced in the various forums) that a great many people were having problems with Lulu, in one way or another.
Overall, my experience with Lulu has not been good. All I really wanted was someone to publish some hardback books - books likely to be of interest to a limited audience, but nevertheless available on demand when a customer ordered a single copy.
What did I get? There were problems throughout the whole publishing process, most often because instructions were not clear or were ambiguous. Then the problem of the wrong title printed on the spine of the book - and what I think is unforgivable, Lulu telling my customers that this was MY fault as they had no control over the publishing process!!!!. To top everything, extortionate shipping charges to the UK and elsewhere.
Now Lulu informs me that the problem with the spine title is due to a glitch in their publishing / printing software (or similar). The chances are that they cannot fix it. Their solution is that I need to start each of my projects afresh. This, of course, means producing a new ediition for each title - assigning new ISBN numbers (at a cost to me) plus providing additional copies to each of the Legal Libraries in the UK (at another cost to me). And this for books which I am likely to sell relatively few copies.
The current situation is that II have now stopped the sale of the hardback versions of my books on the Lulu site. I really don't want irate emails from customers telling me the spine title printing is wrong. Lulu either cannot - or does not want to - solve a problem that is by their admission of their own making. I have waited about a month for the problem to be resolved, but nothing has happened so far. What is worse, replies to emails take about a week. This is no way to do business. Meanwhile, my own sales literature has gone out, articles describing or promoting my books have been published in magazines, people are being directed to my website and to Lulu; they want copies of my books and can't get them!
I am afraid what little confidence I may have once had in Lulu has evaporated. Even if the current problems are resolved, is Lulu likely to perform any better in the future? I think not. Whereas once I was telling everybody about Lulu and what a great thing it was, now I find myself saying "don't go there".
Most likely I will indeed have to assign new ISBN numbers and pay out for more legal copies on new editions of my books......
.........but they will not be published by Lulu.
