I'm Done

Benziger thanks for the advice. I'm just so frustrated with them right now. As to relisting the books on other sites how do you do that since Lulu owns the ISBN? That is my main concern.

I make no money at all from lulu's site. I can't afford to use any of their services since I was relying on profits to help pay rent etc. Before this update I was fine. Books were all there and selling. That's why I was considering deactivating the account there and moving my better selling books somewhere else with new ISBNs.

What drives them to buy my books? One because thousands of people all over the world enjoy learning about and practicing martial arts. Two, where do they know where to look? Millions of people shop on Amazon.com which is where most of my books sell the best. The next places are Scribd, Apple, and Barnes and Noble. Anyone shopping any of those interested in martial arts can easily find them. How they are found is that I include in all of my titles the words people look for when shopping for said books. I also add additional key words in the subtitles that help increase them being found during a search. I've researched this stuff and I know it works to get your books found. If you click on the search box at Amazon and start typing, it will show you what others are looking for also. This can be a clue for what to use in your title and subtitle. These can also be used for key search phrases where they apply such as Amazon.As far as guiding someone to Lulu to buy my books...That's doesn't happen. I rarely ever sell anything on Lulu. Many people won't buy there as they don't know the site, may not trust it and some people have said it's too much of a hassle to sign up, log in, and purchase. Simpler to go to your favorite shopping site Amazon, Apple, or Barnes depending on the reader you use or if looking for paperback using Amazon or Barnes. I've advertised on Youtube.com doing unboxings and gave links to Lulu and Amazon so anyone interested could click on one and buy the book. No one ever goes to the Lulu, only to the Amazon link. As far as saturating the market, it's possible with the first book or two. Which is why I wrote more of the series with each book adding a little more content that builds on the previous books. The first book in the series when first published sold 10 copies or more a day for the first month! I also keep them under the same pen name making them easier to find.

Earlier this year I published the sixth of the series which was selling until it disappeared along with five other books. That was over three months ago. I've contacted support eight times and they still are not listed yet. I just published a new paperback and kindle which was selling until it also disappeared from all sites. When these books disappeared from Amazon I lost all ratings, rankings , etc. These things add up to help get your books get found during searches. It also gives more confidence to the buyer if your book has reviews and a good ranking. If it has only one or none it probably won't sell well. Amazon said the rankings and review would come back. They haven't. That really hurts sales. My first book is the only one that has not disappeared.It still has over 94 ratings and many reviews. It still sells around 20 copies each month along with the others in the series. But the others are not on Scibd, Kobos, or Barnes.That's cutting out half of my potential market. I also add the titles of all of my books in the back of each book I write. So if someone likes the book they might go look for the others. But if they aren't online for sale they can't buy them. That's my complaint about Lulu, ever since the new update it's been one problem after another. Book after book gets missing or taken down and I'm given no reason why. Lulu used to send emails if there was a problem with a book so you could go fix it. I've gotten nothing. Lulu used to send out emails when you got paid. I've gotten nothing. Just from PayPal. Selling books is like a business, you have to research, learns what people are buying, where they are looking, what covers, fonts,color, attracts what type of people. Then learning how to drive people to the books. As I said before I'm broke, I rely on three part time jobs and Lulu to pay bills. I had a fourth which was teaching private lessons. I made $90 an hour each weekend. With the shutdowns this is much more difficult to do. Getting an email saying Congratulations you just made $15! is a little insulting after five years of hard work and my loyalty staying with Lulu through all of this when others said leave. That's why I'm leaving for Streetlib. I found my account info today and did contact them for more info and the ISBN problem. Searching online I find many more complaints about Lulu then Streetlib. So I'm choosing the later. I do apologize for my ranting but today was the last straw.I do this for the money and Lulu doesn't seem to care like they once did. I realize my earlier works are terrible looking. I had intended on going back redoing all of my book covers. At the time I didn't know what I was doing, but with Ron Miller and Maggie's help I've learned more about making covers. How to make them attractive and more professional looking. I have much more to learn but I am learning. As Maggie told me once don't put all your eggs in one basket, I finally learned that. But anyway thank you Ron Miller and Maggie for all of your help. I'll probably need it again later as I love to learn new things. 

Don't remove all the ebooks from Lulu at once. Try one first.

Tiny learning curve. Ask if you get stuck. I should have access to my old computer in the next three weeks.

Two things Ninja.
Subtitles can be tricky in ePubs. It’s not just a case of how and where they are in the ISBN description but also in the heading and metadata content of the code of the ePub. Lulu now uses EPUB3 checker and verifier and can reject an eBook for difficult to locate errors in these.

Secondly if you are looking for an alternative to Lulu for ePubs then try Digital2Draft as they are receiving excellent reports on their operation. Search for previous comments here on their performance.

I wouldn't just put the best-selling books in a new place, but - as Maggie recommended - begin with just one. If that works, the next one, the third, the fourth, until you have re-listed them all. The advantage of the internet is that not only the best-sellers are sold, but also the long tail. That's why all of your books have to stay in the long tail.