Print quality in UK

[davidfarmer]

I've been very pleased with the quality of my books to date - I've had 10,000 copies published by Lulu. However the first two batches of my new book had several glitches. At least 10 out of the first 100 had not been cut properly so that the text seemed to slope at the bottom of each page. I had to wipe traces of glue from most of the covers. In the second batch there was inconsistency in page cutting so that the page numbers were at different heights from the bottom and four copies had been cut a few millimetres short. Most copies have at least one random blob printed somewhere in them, often on the title page. I mailed out about 80 before I noticed the irregular cutting on the first batch so am not sure how many were like this. Obviously I am contacting Lulu Support to ask for a refund on the copies I have discovered.

I wondered whether other authors in the UK have experienced similar issues. I am currently posting out copies from home but will be purchasing a distribution option before long and am concerned about copies of the book being sold through Amazon and other channels which I will be unable to check.

[Ken Anderson]

David,
This seems to happen occasionally with all the printers and without rhyme or reason.
It's important to ensure that Support is aware so that they can send in the QA watchdogs.

[james_denham]

I had a similar problem but only with a couple of books and Lulu were not difficult to deal with. Support asked me to email the photcopies of the problem books and they replaced them. In the icase where Amazon or any other stockist sells your books and there is a problem with them, then that is Amazon's problem, though doesn't help your of peace of mind, and pride.

[davidfarmer]

Thanks for the helpful answers - Ken, I will certainly contact Lulu with scans of the offending books and James I agree that it is important to have a sense of pride - especially when (as happened to me) people post comments on Amazon about what they view as poor quality paper (the cream colour): 

"If the 'look inside' had shown the colour of the pages I would never have bought the book - whoever chose that peachy orange colour clearly has different ideas about dynamic presentation to me! It looks like a telephone directory, and does not encourage you to read on."

But then there are always some people who like to have a moan!

[Nohoarii]

David

You have a right to moan when you are investing money like that. It is with individuals who moan when they can't get free copies of the books that they have designed (for free) and who then slag off Lulu that members get irritated.

Trevor

[davidfarmer]

Actually I meant the person who had posted that comment on Amazon about the "peachy orange telephone directory" paper which the rest of us call cream! But thanks very much for the support

[Nohoarii]

Sorry, David, but we get a bit jumpy here about gratuitous whingeing.