|
|
Post by benziger on Apr 27, 2020 13:34:08 GMT
I find this a very serious change. For the simple reason that if my books are also sold through bookstores or Amazon, the price may become quite high. But the best thing for me as an author and the customer is to share the bookstore margin: I earn more and the customer comes at a lower price. Not cheap, because print on demand is more expensive anyway.
All my efforts to sell directly are lost. No, not quite all of them. But the customer no longer has an advantage when he buys directly from Lulu. So he orders from Amazon and my earnings evaporate.
I think Lulu should think about its authors because Lulu earns its money directly (percentage-wise) from us.
|
|
|
|
Post by adrianallan on Apr 27, 2020 15:04:10 GMT
So does this mean that we (the author) have to buy the books at full price?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2020 15:11:48 GMT
So many changes it's all very worrying. If I cant get my book published I was going to publish it on Lulu but I cant even log in now and customer services ar not responding to queries.
|
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Apr 27, 2020 15:24:38 GMT
Retail Price Discounts Removed
Previously, authors could set a percent-off discount for their books sold on the Lulu bookstore. With the updates to our bookstore and payment options, we've removed this feature. REQUIRED ACTIONS: We recommend reviewing the retail price for all projects on the Lulu Bookstore and making any adjustments to the list price as needed.
Yeah, the discount was what made some sales possible.
|
|
|
|
Post by benziger on Apr 27, 2020 18:25:39 GMT
So many changes it's all very worrying. If I cant get my book published I was going to publish it on Lulu but I cant even log in now and customer services ar not responding to queries. Of course, Larika, that keeps us worried too. But most of all, I think, the people of Lulu themself.
Because they don't want to lose their customers. Back when Lulu was new, they were unique. Today, there's all kinds of competitors. None exactly the same, but some are similar.
So I think they're doing everything in the world to solve the migration problems in the next few hours. Write a new novel, paint flower pictures, go for a walk, whatever. But don't go back to lulu.com until Thursday morning. I say: that's when everything is up and running, check for errors.
I don't know if this is really very British, but on the continent, they sell cups with the Queen's crown and the inscription "Keep calm and..." then follows what to do. The Europeans think, it's very British and very funny. In that sense: be a little more British  |
|
|
|
Post by benziger on Apr 27, 2020 18:33:36 GMT
So does this mean that we (the author) have to buy the books at full price? No, I guess not. I'm sure there'll still be the author's prize. But so far, I've been able to discount the book on Lulu.com
e.g. normal price 20.00 (bookstores, Amazon, etc.) Margin Amazon zz.zz Printing costs x.xx Lulu y.yy My profit 2.00 e.g. discount price 15.00 20.00 (directly on lulu.com) Printing costs x.xx Lulu y.yy My Profit 6.00
The idea behind: I will sell more books for 15.00 with a 25% discount and earn more (but less per book as it would be at the whole price, but as probabely less people buy so much for a book, still more benefit for the author and lulu as well.)
|
|
|
|
Post by adrianallan on Apr 27, 2020 19:44:12 GMT
Ok - and I really hope they still offer the codes like ONEFIVE, as I pass those savings onto my customers as a sale.
In my world, I advertise the books on my website - people pay me and then I order on their behalf, paying the author's price
When I get a ONEFIVE note I advertise my books as a sale on my website
It has to be said that this upgrade has obviously gone very badly for Lulu, even though they won't admit that, and I am sure they will lose some authors to Createspace etc. I don't know how practical it would have been to do this, but each new upgrade could have been introduced incrementally to save this sudden atmosphere of panic and frustration - as I know some authors really do depend on Lulu as an income stream.
|
|
|
|
Post by benziger on Apr 27, 2020 20:28:49 GMT
Ok - and I really hope they still offer the codes like ONEFIVE, as I pass those savings onto my customers as a sale. At the moment (when it runs again), there is 20% off orders of all print products | Use Code: ITSHERE | Ends April 30 at 11:59 PM It has to be said that this upgrade has obviously gone very badly for Lulu, even though they won't admit that, It's difficult to say anything from a distance. But you're right: it got her off on a bad foot!
I naive layman thought they would build everything in parallel and switch the URL on day x, when everything is running. But I am a publisher and not an IT project manager. |
|
|
|
Post by adrianallan on Apr 27, 2020 20:36:57 GMT
20% reduction would be fantastic - but I can't even log in !
|
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Apr 27, 2020 21:07:51 GMT
Ok - and I really hope they still offer the codes like ONEFIVE, as I pass those savings onto my customers as a sale. At the moment (when it runs again), there is 20% off orders of all print products | Use Code: ITSHERE | Ends April 30 at 11:59 PM It has to be said that this upgrade has obviously gone very badly for Lulu, even though they won't admit that, It's difficult to say anything from a distance. But you're right: it got her off on a bad foot!
I naive layman thought they would build everything in parallel and switch the URL on day x, when everything is running. But I am a publisher and not an IT project manager. Herr Benziger,
Having worked on system upgrade / migration in the past, the ideal is a parallel system built and all data populated before changeover then however much time spent "bug hunting". That works when the number of end-users is strictly limited and only logon from a few specified locations. It really helps when the company involved has plenty of extra servers and storage space.
A system of the type Lulu Press, Inc. uses has end-users logging on from widely separated locations, and is open 24/7/365 [24/7/366 during Leap Year], meaning it's difficult to just turn the old system off and switch the new one on. Add in migrating data, available servers, and for a company the size of Lulu Press, Inc. get multiplied because it's not a multinational with comparatively unlimited resources.
Easier to deal with the headaches of a switch that takes a few days than to have the new system go "Live" with a ton of unexpected problems because everything was "tested and approved" beforehand.
During the interim it's better to write a book, plant a tree, read a book, or take up gem crafting, black smithing, and white smithing. Whatever calms and relaxes in a positive way is good as it is what it is.
I've got characters getting in my dreams and showing me their stories on top of my daily duties, so I'm not going to sweat it. Not betting most people want to hear from the kid whose "Amerika" of the late 50s has a firmly emplaced eugenics program and "camps" for the aberrant.
|
|
|
|
Post by benziger on Apr 28, 2020 10:00:46 GMT
I found some very unpleasant comments about the removed retail price discounts:
"Seems that the higher price setting is indeed intentional and permanent. Lulu removed option to offer retail price discounts. This makes it impossible to offer a cheap price for Lulu buyers while still making a small profit if a book is sold through Amazon."
"Please DON'T buy our books. @luludotcom has fucked up its website beyond repair, and the Low-tech Magazine books are now sold for almost DOUBLE their normal price. We can't log in, so we cannot fix this."
|
|
|
|
Post by adrianallan on Apr 28, 2020 14:47:58 GMT
It is now Tuesday and I still can't log in.
I need to buy books for customers who ordered through my website
I have to agree that it is one almighty F- up.
|
|
