Complaint Review: Lulu (lulu.com) - Internet

I seriously considered useing Lulu before my current publisher.  Maybe they make the process so complicated because selling a package is how they make real money.  After trying repeatedly to figure out Lulu's highly cumbersome instructions for useing their 'free' software, I gave up on them.

If someone with an advanced degree and enormous experience online can't get through Lulu's 'free' software, what good is it?  You get what you pay for!

Following are my comments (as a Lulu-published author who has no ties to the company) I will paste in the complaints in parentheses, and answer afterward: ----------------------------------- (I had been working with Lulu for almost 2 years. I had already published several titles using their distribution packages, and spent about $1,500 on setting them up for sale to major booksellers, including Amazon. After an exhaustive bout of self-promotion of these books I discovered that the glitter had tarnished somewhat. For one thing, it appears that Lulu does not offer a return policy on books they print, which means that stocking them on the shelves became impossible. Second, the ISBNs and barcodes which I purchased from them were already in circulation when I discontinued the packages, so I cannot register with a direct distributor like Lightning Source right away. Lulu insisted that I now have to wait 6-8 weeks for the distribution channels to clear, which represents a significant loss of outside income for me. Further, I sold very few books through them; only one seemed to attract interest since it was nonfiction.) They never said they would accept returns. You have to understand the relationship. Unlike mainstream publishers, they are POD (Publish on Demand) which means there are no "print runs" and warehousing of books. Each book is printed and shipped after it is ordered. The "Creator- author- is the actual publisher, with Lulu handling the printing and other technical/adminitrative matters. They are not equipped to accept returns and warehouse them, and they have no way of billing us creators for returned volumes. It would be an administrative nightmare! (We would be ultimately responsible for the cost of returns, not Lulu. Mainstream publishers like Random House build in a profit margin to cover the expense of returns.) However, I have found that some bookstores WILL order and shelve our books, IF we get out there and give them a reason to believe we won't just abandon them. We have to promote our own books, set up signings, etc. Not Lulu. It's our responsibility to create a book people will want to read, and then work to make our books stand out from the millions of other titles out there, including all the other POD titles being published. (Many of which are totally amateurish crap.) That's the stigma of POD! Your other course, if you can write a good enough book with enough potential reader appeal, is to query agents and mainstream publishers. If you can swing a deal with them, your book will actually get a print run, where, instead of POD, your book will be supported by the publisher and not you. Your book will then be returnable. But again, if you are willing to work at promoting your book, you will interest some booksellers in stocking your book. (As it is, most sellers will sell your book if ordered by a customer, via special-order.) But to do that, YOU have to interest potential buyers that your book is worthy and interesting! ----------------------------- (Lulu claimed that it was a way for a new author to get published. However, many authors do not get farther than that unless they want to spend hundreds of dollars in order to have their book publicized. The retailers which demand a return policy will not deal with Lulu, so in essence Lulu becomes a closed system retailer like Amazon, but without any of the real selling power. Lulu's public image leaves the impression that it is the best, but in fact they have only succeeded in sucking in unsuspecting authors wary of other POD publishing companies before they have a chance to learn the truth. ) Lulu offers you a deal. You can, at no cost, create and sell your book through them (although they offer services to perform some or all the work for you, at some cost.) This makes your book available on Lulu.com, along with tens or hundreds of thousands of other books. That's what you get. Period. However, you can also buy one of several "distribution packages" that will make your book available to Amazon, other Internet booksellers, and bricks-and-mortar bookstores. In other words, if a customer knows about your book, they can find it on the book store computer terminal. But Lulu never said they will get them stocked. (Do you realize if every bookstore stocked a single copy of each new book published daily, it would take 13-15 feet of new shelf space EACH and EVERY day? So, you have to do like the rest of us. Pound the pavement. Do press releases and try to swing interviews. Offer yourself to speak on your book and its topic *(I have one presentation tonight and one next week)* where you can also sign and sell books. Offer yourself to do book signings at stores. Some will accept. WaldenBooks and Borders Express are two really great prospects, and the local managers have the authority to order your book and stock it, too! Barnes and Noble is much more strict. (Many other stores, especially indepndents, will require that you bring in a supply of your own to sell.) The fact is that, with Lulu, you can get your book published and printed at next to no cost to you. But then all the responsibility at promoting it and getting it sold is yours. And, forget them ever accepting returns. They would have to bill you for the returns, and I doubt you would pay it. ------------------------------- (Further, any forum to which any authors having a complaint or an issue to resolve could post is managed by individuals who are not employees of the company and authors who want to discuss anything having to do with Lulu's problems are frequently locked out. Certain of the moderators use the power of the kill button to block anyone out who disagree's with Lulu's business model or questions why Lulu cannot change policies which clearly interfere with the author's ability to retain control over titles and rights. The issues have angered many authors already stuck like flies in amber. ) I am a frequent reader and sometimes contributer to the support forums. I don't recall posts being blocked or deleted. In fact one thing I appreciate is that, while they will sometimes "lock" a thread where you can't respond to it any more, the entire thread continues to be visible. Many other boards delete threads and posts without comment. (You can always start a new thread or answer a different one.) But of course, they have rules like no spamming and no posting the same issue on multiple threads. Seems very reasonable to me. --------------------------------------- (Luckily I got out before many more titles were conscripted by Lulu, but I recommend that if you want to be a published author that you invest in a pdf maker and good imaging software and produce the books yourself. For the proper ISBNs, Bowker sells single ISBNs so if you're just starting out you can still buy just one. Avoid any POD printer that pretends to help you publish or offer expensive packages that you could spend yourself on setting up and printing your own book under your own imprint. There are real legitimate POD printers that will set you up to sell without all the extra stuff. Do some research and avoid self-publisher aids like Lulu.) Agreed. That course is always open to any author-creator. But remember what Lulu provides that your pdf maker won't. It enables you to create, using their software, a complete book from copyright and title page all the way through to the conclusion. You can add photos and control the entire appearance of your work. You have the control (but also the responsibility) because the system is (while quite easy to use) automated. You can also create your own cover using their system, either a front-and-back or a one-piece cover that wraps around and includes the spine. You should research the other POD printers out there. If one seems better to you than Lulu, go ahead and use it. But if you exdpect them to, for example, guarantee to accept returns, or activey promote your book, forget it. Unless you are willing to pay a bundle up front for additional services, and unless you are willing to subsidize returned books. (Do you have that kind of room in your garage, to hold books that were pored over by readers who decided not to buy, and therefore became shop-worn?) Lulu is what it is. They make it possible for you to create your book, and make it as professional-looking as your input will permit. And they will make it available at no cost on your Lulu Storefront. At extra cost, they will make it available to booksellers world-wide. period. But the responsibility for success of your book is yours. You can sell many hundreds of copies of your book like me, or fail utterly. But I doubt Lulu would be the problem if you fail. And, moving the problem to another company won't fix whatever lack of effort or quality that was the cause of your disappointemnt.