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Post by reinholdbehringer on May 11, 2020 22:01:42 GMT
Lulu Facebook page just shutdown....Good or bad news? actually, I just checked - the Lulu page on Facebook is still there. With a new 11th May update. The previous updates - except 27 April - are gone again. Is part of Lulu's daily purge of critical comments
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 11, 2020 22:44:52 GMT
A daily purge of critical comments isn't good either, it's more a sign of denial rather than good business practice.
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Post by ronmiller on May 12, 2020 12:25:29 GMT
"p.s. whoever was contracted to do the design of the new website should be terminated, along with the quality control folks who should have tested the system before it got released."
I second that motion.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 12, 2020 13:21:41 GMT
"p.s. whoever was contracted to do the design of the new website should be terminated, along with the quality control folks who should have tested the system before it got released." I second that motion. Odds are the ones at the top get promotions. It appears to be a case where the QC testing was extremely limited, just as it would be reasonable to assume the test data migration was a tiny fraction of what was needed.
But yes, those responsible have made it clear this was a self-inflicted debacle.
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Post by richard on May 12, 2020 14:04:52 GMT
When I try to sign in to Lulu today, and head to "My Projects," I am getting an "Internal Server Error" message. Anyone else noticed this?
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Post by uptimejim on May 17, 2020 12:41:47 GMT
I've been using Lulu for years (7 different technical book projects, several hundred sales), and while the old website was somewhat 'clunky' this was largely an aesthetic limitation, not a functional one. The new Lulu website is the opposite - looks more polished, but is broken in more ways than I can count (and I do math for a living). Seriously -- almost everything is broken -- exisiting book cover images - gone. Old retired projects - mysteriously ressurected, with no way to delete them. Current proects duplicated, with different prices. Various prompts appearing in what appear to be random languages on occasion (I got Ukranian this morning). No chance in seeing any records of past sales. The new Lulu website is absolutely attrocious. Enough so, that I'm going to have a long look at Bookbaby for my needs. Lulu has about a week of my time to get things right (hell, they should just return to the old website). Otherwise, I'm gone. Maybe the portents of Lulu tanking are all there...and this is just another indication of same. p.s. whoever was contracted to do the design of the new website should be terminated, along with the quality control folks who should have tested the system before it got released. I am quite similar - technical author, several books, good sales (largely for classes I teach and handout to client executives). I've worked on several major computer systems implementations and this one has most, if not all, earmarks of a project done wrong - likely under-scoped, likely under-funded, likely contracted to the lowest or lowest qualified bidder (they are never qualified), it was probably up against some arbitrary deadline and nowhere near done, rushed from sandbox to live to satisfy demands to stop spending and "get it online now" (usually that's from heads of finance or operations), no testing (we their authors are the testers now), reduced functionality, clunky user interface (I don't agree that it's slicker, it just looks a bit nicer), no user training and obviously no support staff training, poor to no support provided, and on it goes. A total cluster-f**k. Someone could write a book about how not to do this (oh, a friend already did that) and it sure looks like these folks at Lulu tick pretty much all the boxes.
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Post by uptimejim on May 17, 2020 12:42:59 GMT
A daily purge of critical comments isn't good either, it's more a sign of denial rather than good business practice. Learning from a certain US president - I wonder who they can blame though.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 17, 2020 12:52:42 GMT
A daily purge of critical comments isn't good either, it's more a sign of denial rather than good business practice. Learning from a certain US president - I wonder who they can blame though. If you consider the way far too many corporations function, it's all about accountability, meaning more often than not people at the top don't have to pay much if any price for their mistakes. The individuals behind the poor strategy should blame themselves, but as happens far too often they'll find a scapegoat.
Thinking about the "upgrade", it appears someone had the idea to do it on the cheap and then fix it up the way they wanted later as funding allowed, which never works out with any cost effectiveness since that approach is typically more expensive in the long-term.
But what would I know? I'm not a titan of business.
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Post by ronmiller on May 17, 2020 20:22:57 GMT
Oh, great. I went to order one of my own books for a friend and there is not even a search feature available any more in My Projects. I had to scroll through three or four pages before I found what I wanted.
Apparently they were anxious to not overlook anything that could be screwed up.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 17, 2020 20:45:46 GMT
Oh, great. I went to order one of my own books for a friend and there is not even a search feature available any more in My Projects. I had to scroll through three or four pages before I found what I wanted. Apparently they were anxious to not overlook anything that could be screwed up. One could posit that Lulu Press and management thereof has become leery of losing any more reputable author / self-publishers. One could also posit Lulu Press and management thereof with this "upgrade" sought out new and creative ways of screwing the pooch.
I'm still waiting for them to delete / retire print versions of anything I have on their site, especially since I'm still getting the no sales to date memo when I know I have sales I haven't been paid for because I haven't met the threshold for a check.
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Post by uptimejim on Jul 8, 2020 18:19:20 GMT
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Post by Alex Maddox on Jul 18, 2020 14:26:38 GMT
Most PDF converters installs require the page size to be set in the properties, I think I had to set it in two different places in Distiller to prevent it from defaulting to 8.5x11 inches. Small PDF uses the docs settings, so if Richard uses it and it still comes out at 8.5x11 then there's at least one page in his doc that is set at 8.5x11. No, it is coming out ok as 6 x 9 using small pdf converter. All the pages in my doc are 6 x 9. That's not the problem with the online converter. The problem is when I then upload a pdf from that to Lulu, I get an error message saying not all the fonts are embedded. I always embed true type fonts in Word under Options and Save. When I use Cute pdf writer, installed on my laptop, I can upload successfully to Lulu as regards the fonts being embedded, but using Cute pdf writer, a 6 x 9 Word doc comes out in the pdf as 8.5 x 11. This happens even if I use the postscript size option when I print the pdf using Cute pdf writer. So I have the page size issue with Cute pdf, but not the font issue. With the online pdf converters I have used, I don't have the page size issue, but do have the problem where fonts are not embedded (I should note here I only ever use one type of font in my book interior).
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Post by Alex Maddox on Jul 18, 2020 14:30:31 GMT
I recently ordered 3 books from lulu 2 were small landscape and 1 was a4. the word template is correctly sized, but when you upload the program tells me my pdf is 8.5x11
I have spent 2 days trying to work out why the size in the pdf is wrong. Lulu tell me that the word template is ok and they tell me the book is the size of the pdf …. which is exported from the template.
I flattened my embedded fonts using acrobat so I exported from word and then opened the pdf in acrobat and did file print to pdf When it prints it flattens.
Can anyone help me work out how to get a pdf the same size as landscape small. In acrobat the size of my word file is not an option just A4, a5 etc. no custom sizes.
Help
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2020 15:05:25 GMT
I recently ordered 3 books from lulu 2 were small landscape and 1 was a4. the word template is correctly sized, but when you upload the program tells me my pdf is 8.5x11 I have spent 2 days trying to work out why the size in the pdf is wrong. Lulu tell me that the word template is ok and they tell me the book is the size of the pdf …. which is exported from the template. I flattened my embedded fonts using acrobat so I exported from word and then opened the pdf in acrobat and did file print to pdf When it prints it flattens. Can anyone help me work out how to get a pdf the same size as landscape small. In acrobat the size of my word file is not an option just A4, a5 etc. no custom sizes. Help Download a trial version of Adobe Pro 9. Open your Word document, File, Print, click on the arrow to select adobe pro as your printer, click on Properties, click on Add next to the size, add your exact size, name it the same, click Add again, example 3.14x14, click print or OK, go back to properties, confirm size hasn't changed, click on Print square, save to your folder, name PDF your size, book name, date. Wait till it prints, close all, open it, file, properties, check the size is correct. I'll be back later if you need more help.
You can also go in Control Panel on your computer, click on Printers, right click on your PDF software, go into Properties and add a size. The above way is easier. If it doesn't work for you, I'll give you another way.
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Post by alex maddox on Jul 19, 2020 12:57:16 GMT
I recently ordered 3 books from lulu 2 were small landscape and 1 was a4. the word template is correctly sized, but when you upload the program tells me my pdf is 8.5x11 I have spent 2 days trying to work out why the size in the pdf is wrong. Lulu tell me that the word template is ok and they tell me the book is the size of the pdf …. which is exported from the template. I flattened my embedded fonts using acrobat so I exported from word and then opened the pdf in acrobat and did file print to pdf When it prints it flattens. Can anyone help me work out how to get a pdf the same size as landscape small. In acrobat the size of my word file is not an option just A4, a5 etc. no custom sizes. Help Download a trial version of Adobe Pro 9. Open your Word document, File, Print, click on the arrow to select adobe pro as your printer, click on Properties, click on Add next to the size, add your exact size, name it the same, click Add again, example 3.14x14, click print or OK, go back to properties, confirm size hasn't changed, click on Print square, save to your folder, name PDF your size, book name, date. Wait till it prints, close all, open it, file, properties, check the size is correct. I'll be back later if you need more help.
You can also go in Control Panel on your computer, click on Printers, right click on your PDF software, go into Properties and add a size. The above way is easier. If it doesn't work for you, I'll give you another way.
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