- First their so-called economy shipping is anything but economical. I needed some review copies and it cost me $15.72 for two books; the shipping and handling (this is to Canada, where I live) was $19.96. How is paying over double the price of the book cost, economy shipping!?
- Second they currently have a serious glitch with their site; my book, Chronicles of the Undead, is not showing on my storefront or in the store widgets I have on my website. Also the buy links are missing from the book's Lulu page, effectively removing it for sale at Lulu.com (and this is currently the only place to download the ebook). I have contacted Lulu, and they say they are working on it, but I'm not seeing improvement or hearing any updates on the situation.
- Third, their distribution changes just confuse me. They say their free distribution gets you on Amazon.com. Fine, no problem, but what about the other Amazon sites? I've done some checking and Chronicles of the Undead and Inside Realms seem to be on sale at some of the international Amazon sites (except for the Canadian one; I'm a Canadian author who can't effectively sell her books in Canada). So what is it Lulu, how many Amazon sites does the free distribution get you?
Join the Shadowy World of Fantasy and Horror Author A. F. Stewart
Pages
▼
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Lulu.com Troubles
I like publishing with Lulu.com, I really do, but lately they are making very difficult to consider using them for future books.
I chose Lulu because it was easy and no up-front costs, but I'm not sure it was the best financial choice. Their postage is really expensive. I've had feedback from several people who didn't buy my book because postage made the cost too high. And their web site keeps getting glitches. I'm amazed they haven't made getting your book back on sale a higher priority. That's really disturbing.
ReplyDeleteThe shipping costs are why I add the Amazon link to my sites more often than the Lulu one.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why Lulu wants to drive away business.