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Post by JesusNinja on May 21, 2020 2:28:02 GMT
I received 10 emails at once from support tonight. Each in response to my problems. But each one was a cookie cutter response like the rest but these did include an apology. And said if the problems listed in the email were not fixed to contact them again. I looked through each one and most problems were fixed. But still have corrupt cover and books still not on Amazon after six weeks, or anywhere else for that matter beside Inook and Ibooks. My revenue is slowly being reported although only the two proofs I purchased and one sale I just got on Lulu.com.
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Post by benziger on May 21, 2020 9:10:33 GMT
Many tickets concerned problems that have now been generally solved. Therefore, tickets are generally closed from time to time when they have been assigned (presumably automatically) to a corresponding topic.
As you have written, this is correct in many cases. If not, you only have to click on "Reply" and write: 'please re-open, thank you'. This relieves the support team incredibly and allows them to solve the remaining problems faster.
By the way: Following another automated mail I got, Lulu has increased its support staff. After a crisis that felt for a very long time, light is now slowly appearing at the end of the tunnel.
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Post by hulsey on May 21, 2020 9:29:49 GMT
Although I can now sign in, all of my thirty-one books barring my new one is showing as pending distribution. Also, my new ebook is yet to show on Kindle and readers are waiting to purchase it. Received a response for my ticket, but never mentioned my problems. Instead, they suggested I refer to that question mark facility, which does not cover my problems.
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 21, 2020 11:55:09 GMT
All my books still show as "pending distribution review" too. There seem to be slight changes on Friday every two weeks but I feel like any past project is still in limbo. I'd just like to know what the heck is going on.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on May 21, 2020 12:35:15 GMT
I finally got a response, telling me "you may check what you’ve previously reported and found that it is now resolved. If not, rest assured that we’re still working on it."
Since the majority of what I reported has not been resolved [which I know because I have been checking] my reply reiterated leave the Epubs alone but delete / retire all print versions. I might recoup the money spent on "Global Reach" years ago or I might not, but that point is now irrelevant.
We're coming up on the end of the fourth week of what was supposed to be a weekend switch to a new system, which with proper planning, testing, and competent implementation could have happened. I really don't care that Lulu Press has finally added staff in order to deal with its self-inflicted issues.
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Post by richard on May 21, 2020 12:43:23 GMT
I finally got a response, telling me "you may check what you’ve previously reported and found that it is now resolved. If not, rest assured that we’re still working on it." Since the majority of what I reported has not been resolved [which I know because I have been checking] my reply reiterated leave the Epubs alone but delete / retire all print versions. I might recoup the money spent on "Global Reach" years ago or I might not, but that point is now irrelevant. We're coming up on the end of the fourth week of what was supposed to be a weekend switch to a new system, which with proper planning, testing, and competent implementation could have happened. I really don't care that Lulu Press has finally added staff in order to deal with its self-inflicted issues. I got those copy and paste emails as well. Three of them. No help at all and none of the issues I raised have been resolved.
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Post by markcbrown on May 21, 2020 14:30:38 GMT
Strange all I have had is radio silence and I've put in only three (3) tickets. The only email I get are promo discounts. This has been really discouraging and I'm about to call it a day, hang my head and goto Amazon.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2020 15:08:58 GMT
Strange all I have had is radio silence and I've put in only three (3) tickets. The only email I get are promo discounts. This has been really discouraging and I'm about to call it a day, hang my head and goto Amazon. Everything will be sorted in two weeks, I'm estimating. If you want to do a backup, new size, at KDP, not a bad idea, but Lulu has better distribution -- in my experience.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2020 15:10:07 GMT
Many tickets concerned problems that have now been generally solved. Therefore, tickets are generally closed from time to time when they have been assigned (presumably automatically) to a corresponding topic.
As you have written, this is correct in many cases. If not, you only have to click on "Reply" and write: 'please re-open, thank you'. This relieves the support team incredibly and allows them to solve the remaining problems faster.
By the way: Following another automated mail I got, Lulu has increased its support staff. After a crisis that felt for a very long time, light is now slowly appearing at the end of the tunnel. That's good. They appear to be adapting according to need.
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Post by aacain on May 23, 2020 8:56:26 GMT
Strange all I have had is radio silence and I've put in only three (3) tickets. The only email I get are promo discounts. This has been really discouraging and I'm about to call it a day, hang my head and goto Amazon. Everything will be sorted in two weeks, I'm estimating. If you want to do a backup, new size, at KDP, not a bad idea, but Lulu has better distribution -- in my experience. The distribution is very good - I do the occasional Google search on my titles and find them all over the place. So far, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, South Africa, Japan, Amazon in multiple countries, places in Eastern Europe whose languages I don't recognise. Not many purchases though - although right now, how would I know?
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2020 9:25:52 GMT
Everything will be sorted in two weeks, I'm estimating. If you want to do a backup, new size, at KDP, not a bad idea, but Lulu has better distribution -- in my experience. The distribution is very good - I do the occasional Google search on my titles and find them all over the place. So far, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, South Africa, Japan, Amazon in multiple countries, places in Eastern Europe whose languages I don't recognise. Not many purchases though - although right now, how would I know? I've been actually analyzing the differences in distribution among Ingram Spark, KDP and Lulu. KDP really pushes Amazon sites, naturally, and they take a huge cut to send your book elsewhere, don't know the exact math just the results. And Lulu, even though they are more expensive than the other two places, sells more books through distribution. Very hard to understand. Ingram Spark, however, treats you like a Traditional Publisher, and makes sure you have the exact same opportunities: Bookstores, Espresso machine, returns. And lower prices.
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Post by benziger on May 23, 2020 12:35:35 GMT
I've been actually analyzing the differences in distribution among Ingram Spark, KDP and Lulu. KDP really pushes Amazon sites, naturally, and they take a huge cut to send your book elsewhere, don't know the exact math just the results. And Lulu, even though they are more expensive than the other two places, sells more books through distribution. Very hard to understand. Ingram Spark, however, treats you like a Traditional Publisher, and makes sure you have the exact same opportunities: Bookstores, Espresso machine, returns. And lower prices. I like it best when I can do everything with Lulu. One partner, one settlement, quickly reach the minimum amount. A system that I need to know about, but now it seems to have several shortcomings.
From what I've read here, I tend to think - to use Lulu for direct purchases (bookstore links). That seems fair to me and even with a reasonable sales price a good margin. - collect printed books and, if there is a coupon (e.g. now until the end of the month), to publish via Ingram Spark.They seem to be fast and professional, as well as involving the stationary book trade worldwide. And lower prices. - for e-books I squint at Streetlib because they have a very wide distribution network outside USA/Amazon and 70% of the market is ex USA. - Lulu also for certain landscape formats that I really want and that are not available elsewhere.
There would also be Epubli. If I didn't have to take a mandatory ISBN of Epubli there, I would probably be there by now. In terms of formats, distribution and price/performance ratio, they combine many advantages of different competitors. (Their site is German only, for me not an issue.)
Are my thoughts comprehensible? Or have I missed something? Are there any better suggestions?
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2020 14:23:03 GMT
I've been actually analyzing the differences in distribution among Ingram Spark, KDP and Lulu. KDP really pushes Amazon sites, naturally, and they take a huge cut to send your book elsewhere, don't know the exact math just the results. And Lulu, even though they are more expensive than the other two places, sells more books through distribution. Very hard to understand. Ingram Spark, however, treats you like a Traditional Publisher, and makes sure you have the exact same opportunities: Bookstores, Espresso machine, returns. And lower prices. I like it best when I can do everything with Lulu. One partner, one settlement, quickly reach the minimum amount. A system that I need to know about, but now it seems to have several shortcomings.
From what I've read here, I tend to think - to use Lulu for direct purchases (bookstore links). That seems fair to me and even with a reasonable sales price a good margin. - collect printed books and, if there is a coupon (e.g. now until the end of the month), to publish via Ingram Spark.They seem to be fast and professional, as well as involving the stationary book trade worldwide. And lower prices. - for e-books I squint at Streetlib because they have a very wide distribution network outside USA/Amazon and 70% of the market is ex USA. - Lulu also for certain landscape formats that I really want and that are not available elsewhere.
There would also be Epubli. If I didn't have to take a mandatory ISBN of Epubli there, I would probably be there by now. In terms of formats, distribution and price/performance ratio, they combine many advantages of different competitors. (Their site is German only, for me not an issue.)
Are my thoughts comprehensible? Or have I missed something? Are there any better suggestions?
Everything is clear except for why you squint at Streetlib. If someone offered me 70% of book sales and sold a million of my books, it would be better that if I got to keep 95% and that company sold five books. I'm being over the top with the numbers just to demonstrate my point. I uploaded three ebooks to Ingram Spark in the last few months and I have made one ebook sale. Will I be using them for ebooks again? Never.
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Post by JesusNinja on May 23, 2020 16:35:22 GMT
I sell way more ebooks than print. Although that has picked up some due to people selling my books on Ebay. Lulu has great ebook distribution so I'm sticking around. I'm still angry at what has happened and how it's putting me behind making money when I need it the most. But overall they have fixed my problems except for the 20 odd books that are still listed as pending and showing as out of print on Amazon. Because these particular books weren't selling anyway I'm not too concerned yet. What I am concerned about is the files of our books. I'm hearing many complaints of orders people getting their books with older covers and interiors. I myself ordered a proof of my newest book published just before the update. I looked at the files and sure enough they were the older one. I had just revised and updated the interior right before the update happened. So to be safe I had to update the files and ordered another proof before I sent it out to dist. So if we go in and switch these files we may have to buy yet another proof to get it corrected. But our updated books would be already in dist. It would be just on the Lulu site that the older copies would be found. For those of us who can create one piece covers I think the new creation wizard is awesome! For those who can't it's a nightmare. That's why with the help of Maggie I learned to do it myself and you do get a much better looking cover than using the cover creator. My only complaint now as is some others, is there is still no delete/retire option for projects. And many have retired files showing. Also there is no link to Spotlights inside the site. Also no way to create or delete it if you chose to do so. And no way to edit the text in the about the author section. Minor things but much wanted by many of us on Lulu.
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Post by benziger on May 23, 2020 19:24:11 GMT
Everything is clear except for why you squint at Streetlib. If someone offered me 70% of book sales and sold a million of my books, it would be better that if I got to keep 95% and that company sold five books. I'm being over the top with the numbers just to demonstrate my point. I uploaded three ebooks to Ingram Spark in the last few months and I have made one ebook sale. Will I be using them for ebooks again? Never. E-books are new territory for me. Are you addressing Amazon through KDP - or through Lulu? At Streetlib you can choose from about 50 partners: e.g. all except Amazon and Amazon offers through another service. At Streetlib I see the advantage that (besides Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo) they have two German speaking providers under contract. (also Italian, Spanish, etc.) If you offer books in these languages, this is obvious to me.
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