Lulu Sucks

[hafoc]

Yes, they do. I do not recommend them to anybody.

Hilltown is approved, with the IBSN, so it's good to go. But now I can't recommend that anybody buy it.

You see, I signed a distribution agreement with Lulu.com. And they imposed their retail discount policy on me-- which they never told me about at the time. At least not in any way I noticed. I'm reasonably sure it wasn't even in the fine print.

What it means is that a book that ought to cost $24 and change, and give me $2 back toward the $500 or so I spent putting it together (which costs aren't complete yet, come to think of it-- I really should send two copies to the Library of Congress, law obligates me to do so--) it now costs nearly $40, and gives me $13 back. That's if you buy it from Lulu.com directly, from the Lulu Marketplace.

Which is fine for anyone to whom $40 is not important. Knock yourself out. Go to http://www.flankers-tale.com , follow the link in the News posting to get to my Lulu storefront, and get yourself a copy. But understand you're paying Lulu and me way more than I ever intended.

Lulu says they do this so prices in their Lulu Marketplace will be the same as prices in retail bookstores. That's the theory anyway.

Here's how it works. If any bookstore DOES buy my book, I still get the $2 profit I asked for. Well, actually, now it's $2.08 to make the price come out to an even dollar amount.

The retail discount is the kicker. About $15 of suggested retail is actually the difference between suggested retail and the bookstore's cost.

When they sell at the Lulu Marketplace instead, with the price set at suggested retail, that $15 discount becomes extra profit. Lulu takes some and gives the rest to me, whether I wanted it or not. Any discounting that gets done will be done by the bookstore owners, or Amazon, god help us.

This is fine, except it assumes there WILL be some bookstore sales. There won't be, mainly because I have no money to promote the damned thing-- tonight, I wish I had never put it up for sale, perhaps that I'd never written it-- and I don't know how anyway.

Worse, because the price is now insane, there won't be any Lulu Marketplace sales either.

They didn't screw with the .pdf download, at least. So that's still a much more reasonable $2.50. I get $2 of that, just like I wanted from the hardcover. Whatever format, $2, that was the plan, except that you can also always go to my website and read it for free. I don't much care which, as long as you enjoy what I wrote.

I want the prices set to a reasonable level again. It looks like in order to get prices to a reasonable level I'm going to need to revoke the sales agreement and probably the IBSN too-- for which I paid $150. That's a lot of cash for me, what with all that's going on right now.

I won't go into that. Or at least I won't go into stuff like that any more than I can possibly avoid.

Every so often I go nuts here and start whining about my job and my personal life, or screaming about politics. I shouldn't do that, not because I don't have valid complaints (who doesn't?), but rather because it's boring.

I know I will crack and start screaming about non-writing things that bug me. But I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Comments

BEWARE OF LULU

[(Anonymous)]

Two weeks ago, I decided to self-publish my book using Lulu's services. I cannot express what a nightmare this turned out to be. During the book set up process, they state that publishing is free. Once the set up is complete, you are lead to a page that tells you that in order to have them submit your book to stores (such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble), you need to buy a publishing package. For $50, you are assigned your own ISBN number and your book will be submitted to these stores. After I paid for this service, I was then lead to a page stating that in order for my book to be approved for sales at these stores, I must pay for a proof copy and check it for errors. So I did. The book arrived and looked fine. Suddenly, a few days ago, I received an email saying "Congratulations! Your ISBN application has been approved. Now you must order proof copy before you can sell your title at Amazon, etc." Naturally, I went to customer service (which is a live instant message forum... no phone number is provided). I first spoke with Rey G and explained that I already bought a proof copy as instructed and it's fine. He told me I needed to revise my book by inserting the new ISBN into the copyright page. HE SAID I DIDN'T HAVE TO PURCHASE another proof as long as I was happy with the first one. So I Did what he told me to. After revising the book, I tried to approve it for distribution... I was instead promted to BUY A PROOF COPY. I went back to customer service and spoke with Mark B, explaining my situation. He told me that I had to purchase another copy. Feeling confused and purposely mislead, I went to BBB online and found the email address associated with "Mo Tinani" at mtinani@lulu.com and was instructed to contact this person first. So I did. After explaining these events, I was told that not only would I have to pay for another proof copy (despite buying one already AND being told by Rey G that I didn't need to), but it gets MUCH worse. I was told "I'm sorry that you have not gotten firm answers to your question. The way our Distribution process works is that everytime you go through a revision of your book, it will ask you to purchase and approve a proof copy. This is for your own benefit, since changes across the distribution channels take weeks and revisions also cost $80. So, it's better to order a proof copy and be safe than have errors down the line." WAIT A MINUTE: WHAT'S THIS ABOUT AN $80 REVISION FEE?! ***Nowhere before, during or in check out, nor through conversations with customer support, was this new fee mentioned to me. I was then told that in order for books to be approved for sales at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In exact words "The system charges you $80 once you approve your book to make changes. I'm not saying you have to pay. Obviously, you have not approved your book. My point is that it is very important that you have a proof copy in front of you before approving your book because once you approve, it takes time and money to make changes." I was then lead to a link on their site disclosing these "extra" fees. It is important to note that this page is hidden and NOT ATTACHED to set or check out pages. In fact, I, like many others I've spoken with on message boards and websites, also complain of similar incidents. Since day one, I have been mislead by the site's text and customer support. Instead of handling this mess, they kept adding new fees as we went along. Because of this, I simply requested a refund for the $50 I paid to have my book sent to online retailers. They refused. I also know that a few people who filed complaints at BBB online, told me their case was considered resolved even though they did't agree. my wife and I are honest people. Believe me, I wouldn't spend time and energy on this for no good reason. I have been mislead repeatedly by three people and site text. All I ask for is a refund and was denied. I simply requested a refund for $50 which I paid for the ISBN AND submission of my book to online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The $50 for the self-publishing package CLEARLY includes book submission, otherwise no one would pay that fee (why would they, since selling your book on Lulu's webite is free... the $50 fee is what gets a book to retailers).