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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 0:49:15 GMT
I was looking up population per country yesterday; India and China have the most people, and third is the USA, which means booksellers should be aggressively distributing to those countries and making easy for them to buy books.
And today I went to Jeff Bezos' twitter account only to find out that he is in India, providing electric rickshaws for Amazon drivers, hiring deaf/mute employees, learning and teaching sign language, making the media rounds, being seen with Indian celebrities. That is a brilliant businessman.
Lulu should do the same--target these countries with huge populations, make publishing and buying platforms in their language, get distribution contracts with local distributors. And open whatever other doors they can think of.
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Post by adrianallan on May 17, 2020 6:00:06 GMT
Yes, but that would need a whole team of people fluent in each respective language. It could be an eventual aim, but Lulu is obviously (hopefully) focussed on its current mess right now.
Amazon has the resources to employ such a team to represent each nation. I am not sure how many people actually work for Lulu, but I really do get the impression that it's a smallish business with maybe less than 100 employees.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 7:46:44 GMT
Yes, but that would need a whole team of people fluent in each respective language. It could be an eventual aim, but Lulu is obviously (hopefully) focussed on its current mess right now. Amazon has the resources to employ such a team to represent each nation. I am not sure how many people actually work for Lulu, but I really do get the impression that it's a smallish business with maybe less than 100 employees. Yes, adrianallan, Amazon certainly has the resources and Jeff Bezos himself has a fortune of 144.1 billion USD. I think you are right about Lulu, they certainly don't have the wealth or resources of Amazon. I hope too that they are focused on getting their act together for the many unhappy people who made books with them.
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Post by benziger on May 17, 2020 9:03:15 GMT
Even small companies can do great things! Do you know for example the browser Vivaldi? It's from a small company in Norway with 41 employees. Their product, the browser, is now available in 53 languages, the website not quite, but at least in 7. How does that work? The company has succeeded in building a dedicated user community. From these circles enough volunteers were found, who did all the translations. Besides vivaldi.com there is vivaldi.net. There, Vivaldi people discuss new ideas, existing problems with the users and also take up ideas from the user groups. In principle, this would also be conceivable with Lulu.
Of course, it's not possible to control which languages are added and when. But when a new language is added, there are always committed people who tell the world about it. Maybe paul can check this with his superiors as a case study. Since the Lulu site is already multilingual, it will be technically easy to add more languages as needed. It goes without saying that Vivaldi does not offer support in all 53 languages. But on the community portal, some languages are used.
It goes without saying that there is also a forum for this partnership dialogue.
[Vivaldi Browser in one sentence is Chrome without all the spy stuff from Google and many new features added.]
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 9:07:11 GMT
Even small companies can do great things! Do you know for example the browser Vivaldi? It's from a small company in Norway with 41 employees. Their product, the browser, is now available in 53 languages, the website not quite, but at least in 7. How does that work? The company has succeeded in building a dedicated user community. From these circles enough volunteers were found, who did all the translations. Besides vivaldi.com there is vivaldi.net. There, Vivaldi people discuss new ideas, existing problems with the users and also take up ideas from the user groups. In principle, this would also be conceivable with Lulu.
Of course, it's not possible to control which languages are added and when. But when a new language is added, there are always committed people who tell the world about it. Maybe paul can check this with his superiors as a case study. Since the Lulu site is already multilingual, it will be technically easy to add more languages as needed. It goes without saying that Vivaldi does not offer support in all 53 languages. But on the community portal, some languages are used.
It goes without saying that there is also a forum for this partnership dialogue.
[Vivaldi Browser in one sentence is Chrome without all the spy stuff from Google and many new features added.] You either grow or die. I think it's time for lulu to take some aggressive, inclusive steps. I hadn't heard about Vivaldi. I will check it out. Thank you.
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Post by benziger on May 17, 2020 9:18:24 GMT
I was looking up population per country yesterday; India and China have the most people, and third is the USA, which means booksellers should be aggressively distributing to those countries and making easy for them to buy books. The international book market is about $143 billion (I do not know if american billion or european billion, but a lot in any case.), 70% of which is happening outside the USA. This key numbers are taken from the home page of one of Lulu's competitors: streetlib.com.
The strategy of this Italian supplier is to conquer exactly this 70% of the world market. And just like Lulu, Streetlib has a problem: Lulu is currently migrating and Streetlib is printed books. In fact, the print sector was suspended last year and its reintroduction is still delayed - without a precise timetable. I do not want to discuss either of these issues here, but I would like to show that, once migration has been completed, there is still the possibility of getting ahead.
And last but not least, just between us and paul: When I keep talking about small landscape formats and small squares, this has a very serious background. Lulu could become a distribution partner of an organization that would provide half a continent in dozens of languages with inexpensive stapled print-on-demand children's books.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 9:20:10 GMT
I was looking up population per country yesterday; India and China have the most people, and third is the USA, which means booksellers should be aggressively distributing to those countries and making easy for them to buy books. The international book market is about $143 billion (I do not know if american billion or european billion, but a lot in any case.), 70% of which is happening outside the USA. This key numbers are taken from the home page of one of Lulu's competitors: streetlib.com.
The strategy of this Italian supplier is to conquer exactly this 70% of the world market. And just like Lulu, Streetlib has a problem: Lulu is currently migrating and Streetlib is printed books. In fact, the print sector was suspended last year and its reintroduction is still delayed - without a precise timetable. I do not want to discuss either of these issues here, but I would like to show that, once migration has been completed, there is still the possibility of getting ahead.
And last but not least, just between us and paul : When I keep talking about small landscape formats and small squares, this has a very serious background. Lulu could become a distribution partner of an organization that would provide half a continent in dozens of languages with inexpensive stapled print-on-demand children's books. They could. I think Streetlib now offers a platform in every single language in the world. A small Italian company.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 10:12:36 GMT
And last but not least, just between us and paul: When I keep talking about small landscape formats and small squares, this has a very serious background. Lulu could become a distribution partner of an organization that would provide half a continent in dozens of languages with inexpensive stapled print-on-demand children's books.
Benziger you may be right about Lulu expanding, but we feel they should first concentrate on getting it right for us, then they can focus on your suggestion.
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Post by benziger on May 17, 2020 10:55:55 GMT
Benziger you may be right about Lulu expanding, but we feel they should first concentrate on getting it right for us, then they can focus on your suggestion. Of course, you are right, Larika. But one thing is already possible: communication with business partners. Here, on trustpilot, on Facebook, and much more. It could be improved immediately, or rather on Monday: with an open ear, understanding, honest and transparent. Maybe under a new name (we don't know whether the names under the support tickets are real or not).
It doesn't matter if Lulu chooses a way with a community in the future, or if it's all on its own.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 11:24:09 GMT
I was looking up population per country yesterday; India and China have the most people, and third is the USA, which means booksellers should be aggressively distributing to those countries and making easy for them to buy books. The international book market is about $143 billion (I do not know if american billion or european billion, but a lot in any case.), 70% of which is happening outside the USA. This key numbers are taken from the home page of one of Lulu's competitors: streetlib.com.
The strategy of this Italian supplier is to conquer exactly this 70% of the world market. And just like Lulu, Streetlib has a problem: Lulu is currently migrating and Streetlib is printed books. In fact, the print sector was suspended last year and its reintroduction is still delayed - without a precise timetable. I do not want to discuss either of these issues here, but I would like to show that, once migration has been completed, there is still the possibility of getting ahead.
And last but not least, just between us and paul: When I keep talking about small landscape formats and small squares, this has a very serious background. Lulu could become a distribution partner of an organization that would provide half a continent in dozens of languages with inexpensive stapled print-on-demand children's books. Streetlib was using Createspace for its print books. They ceased during COVID because delivery in Italy was almost impossible. That's all I know.
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Post by potet on May 18, 2020 22:35:12 GMT
I don't think any of the companies you mention can supply the same gamut of services that Lulu does, and with the same professional quality. Let's be patient, and everything will fall back into place. Unless Lulu closes down, I am certainly not going to address another POD publisher.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2020 22:54:37 GMT
I don't think any of the companies you mention can supply the same gamut of services that Lulu does, and with the same professional quality. Let's be patient, and everything will fall back into place. Unless Lulu closes down, I am certainly not going to address another POD publisher. There are other companies that are professional and produce great quality books. But, lulu has printers around the globe, therefore their shipping prices are lower. Which is a huge bonus. Plus, despite the website disaster, they still shipped books and paid everyone. They didn't fall apart. And I believe they have integrity. They do not promote their own free books above those of their authors, as KDP does: Free books first, then books with their ISBNs, then the rest. Worst sales in the history of the world.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 19, 2020 18:45:09 GMT
Interesting reading about KDP and Ingram Spark regarding publishing a 6x9 Trade Paperback if you buy your own ISBNs if i understand it properly.
Do the KDP 6x9 version, go for the regular Amazon Distribution without opting for its Expanded Distribution. Meaning the KDP version will be listed on the various Amazon sites for the different countries you choose to sell in, meaning the books are POD in those countries.
Next upload the same to Ingram Spark, register the ISBN for the book there, and let Ingram distribute it everywhere except Amazon.
It almost sounds like Lulu Press isn't the only option for having POD printers located around the world.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 20:35:25 GMT
Interesting reading about KDP and Ingram Spark regarding publishing a 6x9 Trade Paperback if you buy your own ISBNs if i understand it properly. Do the KDP 6x9 version, go for the regular Amazon Distribution without opting for its Expanded Distribution. Meaning the KDP version will be listed on the various Amazon sites for the different countries you choose to sell in, meaning the books are POD in those countries. Next upload the same to Ingram Spark, register the ISBN for the book there, and let Ingram distribute it everywhere except Amazon. It almost sounds like Lulu Press isn't the only option for having POD printers located around the world. Hmm..why upload to two different places? Ingram Spark does it all. It sends your book to all Amazons, Canadian included, and bookstores do order and libraries, and every other retailer in the world. And the prices are lower than lulu, and no preference is given to books with their own ISBN. There is an abundance of legitimacy... No down side except for shipping cost for me, and setup cost (which is free for now).
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 19, 2020 21:01:13 GMT
Interesting reading about KDP and Ingram Spark regarding publishing a 6x9 Trade Paperback if you buy your own ISBNs if i understand it properly. Do the KDP 6x9 version, go for the regular Amazon Distribution without opting for its Expanded Distribution. Meaning the KDP version will be listed on the various Amazon sites for the different countries you choose to sell in, meaning the books are POD in those countries. Next upload the same to Ingram Spark, register the ISBN for the book there, and let Ingram distribute it everywhere except Amazon. It almost sounds like Lulu Press isn't the only option for having POD printers located around the world. Hmm..why upload to two different places? Ingram Spark does it all. It sends your book to all Amazons, Canadian included, and bookstores do order and libraries, and every other retailer in the world. And the prices are lower than lulu, and no preference is given to books with their own ISBN. There is an abundance of legitimacy... No down side except for shipping cost for me, and setup cost (which is free for now). There is a cost differential besides setup between KDP and Ingramspark, one example [from a year ago] being a 150 page book on KDP going for $2.65 while on Ingramspark it's $2.97.
The strategy anyone adopts should look at all factors. With someone buying one copy, KDP works, with a bookstore buying multiple copies Ingramspark works.
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