Please allow us to organize our books in the order we want on our spotlight

[#1]

Currently, there is very little control over the order in which the books appear on the spotlight/storefront, except by publishing them in a certain order, in order to get them in the publication date order. Another way to attempt to control the order of the books is to tweak the customer rating, but none of these ways are satisfactory. Recently I had to modify a cover, and it damaged the carefully planned order of my 32 volumes.

I suggest you create a way for authors to choose the order in which their books are displayed on their storefront. I also suggest you allow us to create sets of books (2 volumes sets) to show which books go together, if not when buying, at least on the storefront/author spotlight.

[#2]

This is suggested at least once a day.

[#3]

Then I wonder why Lulu is not doing something about it???? It seems so simple!

[#4]

I suggested this idea months ago when Lulu transitioned from the old (and customizable) "storefront" to the new (and awkward) "spotlight". The storefront allowed users to place more relevant titles near the top and to group them. It also supported "groups" which made it much easier to showcase and promote certain genres of our work. With the "spotlight" approach all of this creative control is gone. If Lulu really does get a suggestion about this topic "every day", it is very puzzling that nothing is being done--especially since what is being asked for is to go BACK to something that worked in the past.

I strongly support this idea. Lulu, please help. By helping the contributors (us) you are helping all of Lulu to success.

[#5]

Why don't you guys search for previous messages on the subject and stop posting suggestions on what has been discussed at length with information on what Lulu are doing?

[#6]

to: Ken

The reason that we are re-posting suggestions is that Lulu representatives who we have contacted have informed us that Lulu to decide what is a priority based on user response. We are "voting" with our posts. Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks, Bill J

[#7]

That's just a stock answer to keep the peasants down.

I doubt if it will have effect.  

It's on their program but a long way down the line.

[#8]

to: Ken Anderson

I guess a better answer would have been to add "Kudos" to suggestions that we like, rather than suggesting it again, as explained here:

http://connect.lulu.com/t5/Announcements/Out-with-the-old-Storefront-in-with-the-new-Author-Spotligh...

This would be a better "stock answer", and it would give the peasants something to "do" (click on "kudos") that may actually "count" as a vote.

In any case, I have learned MY lesson and will not vaguely add suggestions that have already been suggested--instead, I will click the "Kudos" icon and naturally feel that I have done all I can for now.

Just saying, I think Lulu is an excellent resource, even for all the flaws and complaints. It really is the best website for doing what I want to do with short-run book publishing for minority languages. Thanks for your help and advice in the "Connect" tab.

Bill J

[#9]

It's always a pleasure. And I agree with you on your comments about Lulu being an excellent resource. I've used them for many, many years and published hundreds of books for both myself and many others. But they are not above criticism and I shall never be backwards in coming forwards to highlight their failings - the main one of which is their stupid adherence to the Mushroom Principle!

[#10]

But who takes notice of Kudos? and there are some on here who give them to each other just for sneezing, and some even create many accounts to give them to themselves! 

[#11]

I agree.  The sorting in the Storefront is silly and confusing.  Spotlight has lots of problems and I hope Lulu is working on improving it, 'cos there are suggestions being made constantly.  For instance, it took me a long time to figure out that Spotlight shows all my books, even the ones under revision.  Why isn't there a button in the My Projects list that says "include in Spotlight" so that I have control over when to do this?  I also discovered--accidentally--that Lulu automatically makes ebook copies of every revision, so we have several incorrect versions out there in cyberspace.  Again, a button saying "Make ebook" would be great!  Another thing I'd like to see is a separate page for print eds and ebooks.  And can't we have a better icon, like a book, for the print edition?  The ebook looks like a washer in a laundromat but they are so similar I didn't realize the difference right away.