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Post by JesusNinja on May 27, 2020 23:59:51 GMT
I started using the suggested link inside lulu's site in the projects page. So far I've gotten three responses in relatively fast time. My corrupted cover was fixed in one day. I had books still saying pending and this support person told me the meaning of the colored bars in projects. This is what they said...you will see a purple "Pending Distribution" status bar in your My Projects list if a title has been approved and is in the queue to be submitted to retailers. Once a title has been submitted the status bar will change to green. So I had to ask why I have books that are listed pending but are already listed on Amazon. She asked that I send her the ISBN's and she'd look into it. I also had another small problem but seems that it's outside of Lulu and a slow down in the distributors online. But using this link support got back to me very quickly and fixed the problems so far. They also mentioned they are working on delete project link again. So that is coming back.
I ordered a proof of my new book Saturday before last and got it in today. So ten days printing and shipping. Not that bad. Although the printing was a little dark on the cover, there were no mistakes and it looked great. I admit though I had to update the files as my first proof used the old files lulu had saved just before the update. So had to order another proof. It might be good to check all files in our books to see if they need updated. I approved my proof copy and it was approved for distribution by lulu in about an hour. Things are slowly getting better.
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 28, 2020 0:34:25 GMT
So, are you saying that we are going to have to re-submit all our files and buy proofs of all our books again to ensure they got them all correct at some point? When will it be safe to do that without fear that they will get screwed up AGAIN? I hope that is not what I am reading into this. ALL of my books are still: Distribution review pending, one book which has been available on retail sites now says, " DRAFT" and two of my books that were updated in April are now showing the old covers. Heaven knows what the interior files are. TODAY IS DAY 30 (Que up Thirty Days in the Hole, Folks.)
Oops. My Mistake. Today is DAY 32.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2020 0:59:27 GMT
So, are you saying that we are going to have to re-submit all our files and buy proofs of all our books again to ensure they got them all correct at some point? When will it be safe to do that without fear that they will get screwed up AGAIN? I hope that is not what I am reading into this. ALL of my books are still: Distribution review pending, one book which has been available on retail sites now says, " DRAFT" and two of my books that were updated in April are now showing the old covers. Heaven knows what the interior files are. TODAY IS DAY 30 (Que up Thirty Days in the Hole, Folks.)
Oops. My Mistake. Today is DAY 32.
Based on what Winter is saying, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Start squeaking until all your books are fixed. |
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 28, 2020 1:19:24 GMT
I have refrained from flooding them with redundant tickets because I am sure there are a LOT of wheels already squeaking. I'd just really like to get a realistic timeframe for the point at which our projects will be stabilized at the point we left them on April 25. And yet the prairie grass sighs in silence as miniscule, incomplete tidbits of pretended progress tantalise us from week to week. Expectations pale with the fading rays of hope as the daylight of progress is swallowed by the black night of the reality of ruin.  Oops again. Attitude crisis! |
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Post by JesusNinja on May 28, 2020 2:00:03 GMT
Yes that's all I'm saying. If you go into projects look down to the bottom right corner. You'll see a blue ? mark. Click that and then announcements. A form pops up. They recommend that if you have any of those problems listed that this form is the quickest way to get it fixed. I got my drafts fixed, and an answer to why my books were pending. This is after I used the normal route to contact support. Things were fixed much faster. As far as the files go, I'm just saying many have had problems with orders. That being that older files were used by lulu to print the books. That's what happened to me and what happened to Dane who posted his proofs on here. So it wasn't the cover wizard at all, it was that lulu used the old files. I didn't notice it while I was revising my proof. After I did I re-uploaded my updated files and ordered a proof. I'm just saying if you download the files of your books and see if they are the right files before buying a proof. If your book is already on Amazon chances are they have the correct files already.
The problem where the projects are saying please buy a proof and your book is already out, is on the list I mentioned. You don't have to buy more proofs. Just contact them through the method I mentioned. It will get to the right people faster. Sorry wasn't trying to add to the confusion just pointing out a method that is working for me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2020 3:09:13 GMT
I have refrained from flooding them with redundant tickets because I am sure there are a LOT of wheels already squeaking. I'd just really like to get a realistic timeframe for the point at which our projects will be stabilized at the point we left them on April 25. And yet the prairie grass sighs in silence as miniscule, incomplete tidbits of pretended progress tantalise us from week to week. Expectations pale with the fading rays of hope as the daylight of progress is swallowed by the black night of the reality of ruin. Oops again. Attitude crisis! Mr. Hopeful, get your hope back on.  It's late here and still your post make me laugh out loud. I LOVE the poetry. |
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 28, 2020 12:56:27 GMT
Sorry, Maggie. I try to stay upbeat about the situation, but it is very disconcerting to see an expensive book that has been in distribution for months labeled as "DRAFT". I would hate to get an e-mail from a customer telling me something foul happened with their order when all should be fine. Here's a question: What happens when someone buys that hardback book through Barnes&Noble while it is showing as DRAFT?
Is the book still correctly available for sale through them?
I am going to put my Hope Hat on and assume that what we are seeing on our Projects page is just a jacked-up interface from our end, and that the Bookstore is functioning correctly. There!  All better? And yes, I used the Blue Question Mark to whine a little to them this morning too. |
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2020 14:51:38 GMT
Sorry, Maggie. I try to stay upbeat about the situation, but it is very disconcerting to see an expensive book that has been in distribution for months labeled as "DRAFT". I would hate to get an e-mail from a customer telling me something foul happened with their order when all should be fine. Here's a question: What happens when someone buys that hardback book through Barnes&Noble while it is showing as DRAFT?
Is the book still correctly available for sale through them?
I am going to put my Hope Hat on and assume that what we are seeing on our Projects page is just a jacked-up interface from our end, and that the Bookstore is functioning correctly. There! All better? And yes, I used the Blue Question Mark to whine a little to them this morning too. Ok, so, your best bet is do not touch anything. Don't move. Lulu has sent off the PDFs to retail partners. Chances are, they use their own printers to print. Which means, they have your file before the website disaster. Therefore your buyers will get a good copy. If it was flawed and you're scrambling to fix it, pray they don't mind and are kind forgiving people. If it's a spiritual or belief book they will let it slide.
Too stressful. I have been there.
We're all allowed to lose it. I would be going psycho if I hadn't used other PODs as well. P.S.Y.C.H.O |
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paul
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Post by paul on May 28, 2020 18:01:33 GMT
So, are you saying that we are going to have to re-submit all our files and buy proofs of all our books again to ensure they got them all correct at some point? When will it be safe to do that without fear that they will get screwed up AGAIN? I hope that is not what I am reading into this. ALL of my books are still: Distribution review pending, one book which has been available on retail sites now says, " DRAFT" and two of my books that were updated in April are now showing the old covers. Heaven knows what the interior files are. TODAY IS DAY 30 (Que up Thirty Days in the Hole, Folks.)
Oops. My Mistake. Today is DAY 32.
You won't need to re-submit or republish anything that was previously published. Not one single file that was uploaded to our old site was lost. If you're not seeing something on your account, get a support ticket in our system. It might take the team a few days to get back, but they will. Also, anything that was already reviewed and live on distribution channels are still live, regardless of any status like 'draft' or 'pending review' you might see. Now, if you submitted a book for distribution and it had NOT been approved prior to our update, you might be seeing the 'pending' status because retailers haven't approved it yet. On the whole, the vast majority of our users did not experience any issues with file migration or project status. Anything that was system wide was (like the sign in problem) is fixed. So if you still see things that are weird, please please please submit a support ticket. |
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Post by hulsey on May 28, 2020 18:32:46 GMT
Sign in problem fixed? No, Paul, I don't think so. I must have changed password well over one hundred times and still I'm asked to do so. Tired of having to go through this routine three times per day. Yes, I've submitted several tickets but no joy.
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Post by richard on May 28, 2020 19:23:17 GMT
So, are you saying that we are going to have to re-submit all our files and buy proofs of all our books again to ensure they got them all correct at some point? When will it be safe to do that without fear that they will get screwed up AGAIN? I hope that is not what I am reading into this. ALL of my books are still: Distribution review pending, one book which has been available on retail sites now says, " DRAFT" and two of my books that were updated in April are now showing the old covers. Heaven knows what the interior files are. TODAY IS DAY 30 (Que up Thirty Days in the Hole, Folks.)
Oops. My Mistake. Today is DAY 32.
You won't need to re-submit or republish anything that was previously published. Not one single file that was uploaded to our old site was lost. If you're not seeing something on your account, get a support ticket in our system. It might take the team a few days to get back, but they will. Also, anything that was already reviewed and live on distribution channels are still live, regardless of any status like 'draft' or 'pending review' you might see. Now, if you submitted a book for distribution and it had NOT been approved prior to our update, you might be seeing the 'pending' status because retailers haven't approved it yet. On the whole, the vast majority of our users did not experience any issues with file migration or project status. Anything that was system wide was (like the sign in problem) is fixed. So if you still see things that are weird, please please please submit a support ticket. I have raised a number of support tickets with Lulu since the beginning of this month. I have not received a single human response to any one of them. I have been, for the past two weeks, unable to access the Projects Overview page in my account. I keep getting an Internal Server Error message and something about someone tripping over a cord. So as far as I'm concerned, Lulu are not responding to support tickets. |
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Post by JesusNinja on May 28, 2020 20:55:27 GMT
After using the form I mentioned above I got a fairly quick response from support asking me to send them the ISBN's of the books I have listed as "pending" but are already in distribution. I checked today and some are fixed, some are not. But the 20 odd books that have been pending since the update, most are now showing as approved. I still have around three drafts I can't delete and there is no info or files those projects. As far as logging in I've been able to do so since day one. Guess I was one of the lucky ones. My only complaint now is mainly why is it taking so long for books to appear online. I have two books still not showing anywhere but Apple or Barnes "one is not even on Barnes" after six weeks now. I could be making a little money hopefully but now I'm told they won't be submitting books until the end of June? So one month then possibly one to two more for them to appear. I really can't afford to wait so long. I need to be making money.My only guess on why it's taking so long on Amazon is the huge amount of spamming going on. People putting up huge amounts of blank journal each week. Amazon now is checking each paperback by hand individually. This is slowing them down considerably. Not sure about the other sites. It seems even Barnes is taking quite a long time to list my books.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Jun 6, 2020 20:22:13 GMT
On the whole, the vast majority of our users did not experience any issues with file migration or project status. Anything that was system wide was (like the sign in problem) is fixed. So if you still see things that are weird, please please please submit a support ticket.
I suspect that "on the whole, the vast majority of" users are just not accessing the site yet. But many of us certainly are.
I opened a support case on 1 June, and another one today, 6 June. Assuming support case numbers increment numerically, if I subtract the June 1 case number from the June 6 case number I get 6,402 cases in roughly 5 days.
That's about 1,280 support cases per day. No wonder they can't get back to us. Those poor folks are buried! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2020 21:50:30 GMT
On the whole, the vast majority of our users did not experience any issues with file migration or project status. Anything that was system wide was (like the sign in problem) is fixed. So if you still see things that are weird, please please please submit a support ticket.
I suspect that "on the whole, the vast majority of" users are just not accessing the site yet. But many of us certainly are.
I opened a support case on 1 June, and another one today, 6 June. Assuming support case numbers increment numerically, if I subtract the June 1 case number from the June 6 case number I get 6,402 cases in roughly 5 days.
That's about 1,280 support cases per day. No wonder they can't get back to us. Those poor folks are buried! Buried. |
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Post by BlueAndGold on Jun 6, 2020 22:42:38 GMT
For fun let's convert that to cases per week: 1280 X 7 days = 8960 per week 8960 / 5 workdays = 1792 per day Now, figuring a 7.5-hour workday (2x15min breaks and no smoke breaks or potty breaks) we get: 1792 / 7.5 = 239 cases to deal with per hour. That's 4 per minute. That's 15 seconds available to spend on each case if they just want to keep up, making no headway against the six-week backlog. I would suspect they don't have more than two or three warm bodies available to work the issue. If they had four that would still be one per minute just treading water.
I could be way off-base here, but it sure explains why they might just throw their hands up in the air and crack open a cold one and turn off the phones. I would.
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All better?
