What Are Your Opinions of the Lulu Storefronts?

[joanellen]

This comment probably doesn't belong here but I still can't figure out where anything goes on these new boards.

I have 5 books on lulu and now only ONE  of them has a sales ranking displayed on the product page. Ironically, the one that does have a sales ranking (Dynevor Terrace, by Charlotte Yonge) is the only one that I haven't had any sales for, except my own purchase of a copy.

Apparently sales ranks now seem to be part of Ratings && Reviews, and because I chose NOT to have my books on We Read, I can't have my lulu sales rankings posted either.

Feh.

[BILLKNOTTPOETRYBOOKS]

LULU continues to be useful for my purposes, but at times it's frustrating—I just spent ten minutes waiting for my projects page to open—I will continue to create projects for it, but will only order single copies from now on—I can buy a hundred copies from Mirasmart for what 50 copies cost from Lulu—

[pierre1]

Would like:

1) option to bundle electronic downloads for free with printed book (as opposed to a separate product). This way one can also get PDF right away while waiting for mail.

2) coupons for flexible pricing - including volume (not unlike booksurge or yahoo store etc)

[24 Palmer Street Press]

Perhaps someone can help me with a question about storefronts?

Just started on Lulu.  Have two books.  Currently only listed by direct URL because we have an event in a few weeks where we want to introduce our books and then we'll make it fully public.

I wanted to set up the store first but I can't find a link anywhere to set up a store.  It's not under My Lulu or my account like Lulu Help says it should be.

Are you able to set up a store if you don't have any books set up for public sale?

[darduncan]

So far, I like my storefront. I use my storefront site address on all my printed promotional materials and web links. I added a link to my Facebook Fan Page, added a hit counter by using the html block, a review, a brief bio, my own customized header and a headshot of me. http://stores.lulu.com/DarDuncan

[Robert A Boyd]

From what I am told by your help desk people, the store fronts are being replaced by my Spotlight, which seems to have the same features.   I recently signed up on several groups, and my member listing on each includes a link to 'my storefront', which are without exception inactive.   How do I replace 'my storefront' with 'my Spotlight' in these links?  

[darduncan]

"From what I am told by your help desk people, the store fronts are being replaced by my Spotlight"

Robert where on Lulu is this notice? - If a change to the stores is coming I hope Lulu does NOT change my Store address to a Spotlight address. - ALL my online websites & printed promotional pieces (postcards, handout cards, posters) direct people to MY Lulu STORE address. http://stores.lulu.com/darduncan - I will be extremely upset if the store links change.

As a Blogger and graphic designer, I am used to using online templates to plug in text and photos. Perhaps Lulu needs to demonstrate to it's authors how to set up their storefront with a comprehensive video - and - have more user friendly storefront customization templates.

I have looked at many storefronts and I'm sorry to say... most look identical to each other, very plain, boring and the book cover photos are too small. Lulu provides the tools for authors to "dress up" their storefronts... but Lulu's store design template is not easy for non-designers to understand.

[TheresaMMoore]

Nick, I must say you have done a tremendous job with the Connect forum, and I'm glad I was able to reconnect. For months I could not get in to participate because the old HelpStream software kept jamming up. I like Lithium's format and it is better than the older forum format.

As for the Lulu storefront that still needs work. It would be nice to just see a page like Amazon's front page with a section of links instead of a huge "find" banner at the top. A search window like Amazon's is sufficient. Then you would have more room for other more important things, like some kind of patch showing the categories and subcategories of books available, and against a slightly different color background. It is vitally important that Lulu focuses on inviting authors to publish WITH a marketplace for them to promote. Using Lulu buy links to promote the books is not enough. If you show a list of LULU authors' bestsellers with thumbnails, visitors to the site would see that we are successful at publishing quality books.

[NickPopio]

Theresa,
I'm glad you are enjoying the new Connect! I also appreciate your feedback on the storefront. I'll make sure it gets passed on to our product managers.

[bobgreenwade]

I like the new Spotlight storefronts in principle, and in general; in fact, when people ask, "Where can I buy your book?" that's the page I usually direct them to. I do have some quibbles, though.

First, I endorse the earlier recommendation that a book/project with both print and PDF versions should be listed as a single unit. They have the same cover and the same description; all that needs to be separate is the link buttons to the two product pages (one for print and the other for PDF).

Second, I also endorse the earlier request for greater customization. The old storefront had this Spotlight beat hands down on this. Custom colors, background images, text boxes, and so much more could be done to make our pages look professional and exciting.

Third, I'd like to see the ability to insert more than one video, and the return of a "Contact" button so someone can send the author an email without having to publicly post our email address.

Fourth, some customization on the product pages would be nice. The ability to insert links to online reviews and other features is the first thing that comes to mind, but if there was some kind of switch to have the product pages match the Spotlight page in terms of colors and graphics that could help unify our general look.