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Post by potet on Oct 23, 2021 9:11:18 GMT
Yesterday, in the forum run by Lulu Paul giving weekly advice to authors, I suggested Lulu allowed authors to sell their books under two different prices - one for purchases from the Lulu bookstore, the other for purchases from distributors like Amazon, the latter being bigger than the former. For instance a book I'd sell for 20€ with Lulu, would be sold for, say, 30€ with Amazon. The bigger price would be calculated to compensate for the heavy fees exacted by Amazon and their ilk.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 23, 2021 12:01:27 GMT
I'd be curious about the response to that suggestion. It wouldn't surprise me if there were some sort of "unfair business practice" law prohibiting it though.  One small step toward that goal is the new discount pricing feature Lulu implemented recently. But yes, I agree that the distributors seem to take an awful hefty bite. I worked in a retail store for a few years when I was young. We sold books there. Our book wholesaler gave us (the retailer) a 40% discount on the books we bought. The old boy who owned the store wouldn't even carry anything he didn't make at least 30% on, including consignments, so it isn't really surprising that retailers who actually print the books (like Amazon) want a hefty slice of the action. That doesn't mean I like it, because it is the author who carries the discount, but it is the way of the world. |
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Post by markcbrown on Oct 23, 2021 17:57:15 GMT
Lulu used to let you set your own discount, thus making you the lower price. They need to bring that back.
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Post by potet on Oct 23, 2021 21:57:43 GMT
Lulu used to let you set your own discount, thus making you the lower price. They need to bring that back. That's why I want to have the same or a similar facility.  Allowing a discount for a limited period is not convenient. It should be permanent. Why would it be illegal? In France, many industrial plants have a store where they sell their manufactured items at "prix d'usine" (factory price) i.e. cost plus about 10%. Such stores are patronized by people living in the vicinity; the rest of the customers buy them at standard outlets at prices way above the factory price. When I was in Lille (French Flanders), a region that used to have many garment factories at that time, I could buy beautiful suits at factory price, although I was only a student with a grant. |
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Post by Ken on Oct 24, 2021 10:04:43 GMT
I don’t understand the policy of the Lulu Discount.
Surely one can just reduce ones own prices.
Please explain……….
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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 24, 2021 12:32:11 GMT
It's temporary and targeted, then the prices bounce back to normal automatically (I hope).
I'm thinking it's a first step toward something even better.
We wait and see...
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Post by Ken on Oct 24, 2021 13:03:05 GMT
I still don’t understand.
What gets discounted?
Does the royalty stay fixed or is that reduced as well?
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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 24, 2021 15:46:49 GMT
Oct 1, 2021
Introducing Promotional Pricing!
With this new feature, you now have the ability to create and manage Author Promotional Pricing for your published projects.
This feature allows you to set a discounted price per currency, select the Lulu Bookstore and/or the Distribution channel to apply the promo to, and schedule when and for how long you want the promotion to stay active.
In the Lulu Bookstore, products running a promotion will display a purple percentage icon and a strikethrough across the original price.
Head over to one of your published projects and scroll down to the Pricing and Payees section to get started on your promotion.
^^^ Do This ^^^
and you will see all.
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Post by Ken on Oct 24, 2021 16:15:21 GMT
Done that as I said before, but it does nothing.
When trying it tells me that none of my books can be discounted.
So again the question, how does it affect revenue?
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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 24, 2021 20:36:19 GMT
I have no idea, Ken. Perhaps your books are already priced too low? There is a minimum price listed for each in the interactive pricing table.
I guess you'll need to contact Lulu for the answer. It worked fine for me.
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Allowing a discount for a limited period is not convenient. It should be permanent.
