Not Happy With Lulu & Global Reach ISBN

[jojokitty72]

Thank You for your response, Rachel.  It is good to know that  we are being heard and taken seriously.  I am fond of Lulu, and have had many great experiences here.  To me, though, even 24-48 hours  seems  like a lot  when  someone is experiencing what can only be some kind of technical difficulty.  I am not saying that the technical difficulty is necessarily LuLu's  fault.  Perhaps there is a software or hardware conflict that causes Windows 7 to have difficulties with the Lulu uploader, I don't know, and am not tech savy enough to figure it out.  What I do know is that I sent a polite e-mail expressing my frustration regarding this issue back on March 27.  I got a response only yesterday, and the response I got had nothing to do with my question. It was insulting and patronizing as it (albeit patiently and politely) instructed me how to go about creating a preview and uploading a file,  a process I am familiar with and have been following  for years.  The question I had asked regarding the difficulty with the uploader was patently ignored.  I feel my e-mail was clear and should have been correctly interpreted by anyone who was really taking the time to read it and understand the issue.  I know we are now off the topic of ISBN/Distribution  quite a ways and  I have  a whole other set of issues with that, but I would be satisfied, as a place to start, with being able to communicate easily and efficiuently with customer service. 

[anicoleoneill]

Hey I have been using Lulu for a long time and I too am extremely disappointed lately.  I can not save any changes in the "Author Spotlight" LINKS section.

I too have no revenue which is really strange, considering my five books have been uphere and on Global distribution with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc --  

ALL OVER THE PLACE on the internet and there is NO INCOME / ROYALTIES from any distributors at all.

Since 2009 when I first published my five books on here.

So -- 

either Lulu is keeping any profits from printing book orders from their distributors, which  may be the case,

and I am very unhappy because I too feel stuck.  I am a "writing machine".  I have written 3 more books I want to publish and I am afraid due to bad customer service here from the beginning - the usual ignore your questions, no phone number to call for help, etc --

So instead I have released them in ebook format directly with Amazon Kindle myself but this does not solve the problem and issue that I want to be able to have a place to print them.  

So until I get better treatment from Lulu as a long-time customer and author, I will wait and see if I get any kind of response to my inquiries.

[judicoltman]

Thank you!!

[matthewcchiversathotmaildotcodotuk]

Big thank you Rachel for taking the time to give us an update on the happenings inside the Lulu machine!

I have got a response now from Colin from the help team and he is looking into the Amazon and Distribution matters for me. Everything seems okay with the inner workings from what he has investigated already, however Amazon has been contacted by Colin so hopefully he will get some forthright answers from them.

Good to see Lulu is addressing the problems and that they are hard at work. I've had no problems with them up untill this year since the big updates. If it's anything like my companies upgrades - they are never %100 smooth - and quite often a tire will flatten and slow things down.

Again, round of applause Rachel, your input is saluted! Can't thank you enough for taking the time to get back to us in this thread.

[kevinlomas]

Paid for or not, a Lulu ISBN is a Lulu ISBN, and is coded as a Lulu ISBN belonging to a book created at Lulu, so no you cannot use it anywhere else.

PS: Lulu's email help has never been good, and I do not recall it getting better, so that it could then get bad again! If you think it is bad now watch what happens when the schools are on hols again.
Lulu uses the DIY aspect and us free helpers in the forums far too much as an 'excuse', and we cannot solve eveything.
Rach does her best, but can only knows what she had been told by her boss and she has no more control over email help than we have! :-)

[Peter May]

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anicoleoneill wrote:

I too have no revenue which is really strange, considering my five books have been uphere and on Global distribution with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc --  

ALL OVER THE PLACE on the internet and there is NO INCOME / ROYALTIES from any distributors at all.

Others here are getting monthly revenue from Lulu so the most obvious response is that no-one has bought your books. Having global distribution just means the book is available if someone wants it. It doesn't mean Lulu are going around marketing the book.

If you really think there is a problem then buy a copy of your own book from Amazon and see if the sale appears on Lulu - be prepared to wait a couple of months for it to show.

So instead I have released them in ebook format directly with Amazon Kindle 

How many have you sold on Kindle? If you're selling scores on Kindle then you  might expect some sales of the paperback, but few books sell many copies, even prize-winning authors who get reviews in the national newspapers can sell <5000 copies.

So until I get better treatment from Lulu as a long-time customer and author, I will wait and see if I get any kind of response to my inquiries.

What sort of better treatment are you expecting? What response are you expecting? If your account isn't showing any sales then all the Lulu staff can tell you is 'no sales, no revenue'.  Lulu can't make people buy your book. You have to go out and promote  it.

Talking of pomotion - you missed the opportunity here to name your books and give a link to them

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[Ken Anderson]

Well said Peter. I never understand why folks expect other folks to just come along and buy their books. If I walk along the High Street I'm not expected to enter every shop and buy something! As for those who say "I had lots of sales last year" well perhaps they've saturated their particular market.

[matthewcchiversathotmaildotcodotuk]

I've no problem with not selling

I was more worried something had gone wrong with the inner workings of Lulu itself (be it distribution etc).

Running a server like Lulu is a titanic task indeed (no pun), and infact running any massive website is such a thing.

I have seen Amazon sales flow through now, so Rachel was right about them sorting out the problem. Good timing!

[asdfg]

Not to muddy the waters, but since I revised my book, I am not seeing revenue (not receiving it, mind you) from something called extended reach and global reach.  I seem to remember being asked if I wanted it since it was "free."  What is the difference?  Has one take the place of the other?