Archive of Chapters/Indigo discussions with Lulu Publishing
Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 28 Aug 2007 03:34 pm Post subject: Chapters/Indigo distribution
I’m wondering how many of our very few members have their books listed wtih Chapters/Indigo? Mine is not, and I know Conny’s is not. After reading through the forums, I’ve discovered there seems to a problem wtih Chapters/Indigo and Lulu. I have a query in to support and will let the group know what comes of that correspondence. In the meantime, here is what I have posted to Lulu: I’ve been posting the forums for several weeks, even months, regarding the difficulty with authors getting their books listed with Chapters/Indigo, and no one from Lulu has responded. And reading the archives it would seem this problem with Chapters/Indigo is an old one. I’ve found messages dating back to 2004. I love the Lulu service, don’t get me wrong. But for Canadian authors the very real marketing need of getting listed with Canada’s top bookseller is pressing. While some Lulu authors do appear on Chapters/Indigo’s website, certainly a great many don’t. I know. I’ve checked. And I’m one of them. So, to reiterate just one of my queries in the forums: In March I released Recipes of a Dumb Housewife ISBN 978-1-4303-1789-0. I am soon to release Shadow Song, a historical fantasy ISBN 978-1-4303-1294-9,. I purchased the Global Distribution service for both. I have a few questions, however, for the Lulu support team, or any of the power posters, all of which are specifically to do with Canadian markets. 1. Although Recipes of a Dumb Housewife was picked up by Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders and W.H. Smith, it was not picked up by Chapters/Indigo, which is the leading book retailer in Canada. I’ve read their site to ascertain why the recipe book might not have been picked up and found the price had to be printed on the cover. However, I’ve recently purchased a book from them that had no price on the cover, published by Oxford Press. Curious. I do know Chapters/Indigo is very particular about the distributors they use. Could it be that the distributors handling Lulu’s books are not the distributors Chapters is using? As a Canadian author it would be wise to have my books appear in Chapters, and while I’m printing the price on the cover of Shadow Song I want to be sure of what I’m doing before I release it. Any thoughts? (I’ve since ascertained, by reading the forums, that indeed there is a problem with how data feeds from Ingrams to Chapters, a problem which apparently needed to be address by Lulu, and which, apparently, has not. It would behove Lulu to deal with this problem or end up loosing Canadian authors after they learn their books won’t be appearing with a major Canadian retailer.) 2. Are there any plans in Lulu to see about setting up a Canadian imprint? Doing so would alleviate not only the currency conversion as well as shipping, but would also alleviate the rather onerous US income tax requirement. As it is, I’ll be paying double income tax on books, even though I’m not an American citizen. And it rankles a bit that although I’m a Canadian citizen living and working in Canada, I’m required to pay US income tax. I would very much appreciate a timely response, as I am ready to release Shadow Song, for which I’ve also purchased Global Distribution, and being as this is a Canadian story, by a Canadian author, I very much need to have this appear in Chapters. ——————————— When I receive further information, I’ll let you know. Regards, Lorina
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Conny ManeroJoined: 28 Aug 2007Posts: 10
Posted: 28 Aug 2007 09:29 pm Post subject:
The sad thing is Lorina that Chapters has this big slogan going … “Support Canadian Authors”, but they mean only authors who are published by mainstream publishers. I approached them some time ago about my book Waiting for Silverbird. I spoke to one of their buyers at length and she was really enthusiastic. So enthusiastic in fact that she agreed to shelf the book in book stores around Toronto, later to be expanded to Ontario, and then ever further still. All enthusiastically she asked me who my publisher was. And that’s where the dream ended. As soon as she heard that I was a POD publisher everything changed. That’s what makes me so mad about Canada and Chapters Indigo. Support Canadian Authors … my foot. Even sadder is that I’ve read a couple of those shelved books and returned them. My goodness, such trash. Some was boring trash, some was ridiculous trash. There even was some discriminating trash. I honestly wonder how those books ever got published. Unfortunately I can’t name any names. Anyway, it seems I’ve stepped on my soap box and I should. Or maybe I should. I think Canadian authors should get together and stand together and have it out with Chapters Indigo. Light a fire under their butts if necessary. And what about Lulu? When are they gonna get into the game? In response to one of my posts I’ve been told to be patient. I’ve been patient, more than a month, but nothing’s happening. If we get represented on Chapters Indigo, Lulu will benefit from it too. Since when is making a buck a bad thing? Conny Manero http://www.connymanero.com/
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 29 Aug 2007 05:22 am Post subject:
Unfortunately POD comes with a very bad reputation simply because by comparison to the drock one can find published by conventional publishers, the drock produced through POD takes all the awards. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are some writers self-publishing who really shouldn’t. That leaves those of us who take a great deal of care about what we write, who believe in excellence, lumped together with the compost. And how do those conventionally published writers of drock make it? it’s that networking thing. Time and time again you’ll find it’s who you know, not just what you know. And if you’re not good at the art of schmooze, and have established contacts, the likelihood of that brilliant novel making it into conventional publishing evaporates. Frankly, I consider myself lucky to have made it to acquisitions and senior editors, given my work came over the transom. But, again, without that network behind me, editors are reluctant to take a risk with a new author that is a complete unknown. At least wtih the association of a network that network stands as your witness, so to speak. As to Chapters stocking our work: did you give the sales manager a copy of your book, get the person to read it? Promotional copies can and do work, if you can afford that route. There’s also the pricing issue. We have to be sure we don’t price ourselves out of the marketplace, and, unfortunately, because Lulu is a bit of a middle-man, there’s an extra cut tacked on which may affect your retail price points. As to Lulu getting on board regarding Chapters, I’m allegedly supposed to have a response to my official query today. If not, I’ll start yelling tomorrow. I don’t like having to be a bitch, but I’m good at it when I have to be. Regards, Lorina
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Conny ManeroJoined: 28 Aug 2007Posts: 10
Posted: 29 Aug 2007 09:48 am Post subject:
I hope you don’t have to be a bitch, but if that’s what it takes … go for it. Also, have you tried the direct chat with one of the Lulu people? That might help. I did that at one point, but nothing came of it. Maybe you have better luck.
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 29 Aug 2007 10:01 am Post subject:
This subject, I think, is bigger than an employee staffing the Live Chat could handle, because we’re dealing with corporate policy. I’ll keep you posted. Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 29 Aug 2007 02:15 pm Post subject:
After receiving no response today to my query regarding Canadian distribution and Chapters/Indigo, I initiated a LiveChat. What follows is a transcript of that chat. ——————————————- Erin J: Hello info@5rivers.org: Hi, Erin. Wondered if you would give me an update with this ticket #, please. Erin J: I was just reading over it and I can see that it was mistakingly resolved. I will escalate it back to the correct department info@5rivers.org: Mistakenly resolved? Meaning it wasn’t looked into at all? Erin J: Not yet, and I do apologize info@5rivers.org: No problem. Any eta on this? info@5rivers.org: It’s rather important. Erin J: Hopefully not long. That department isn’t that busy, so it should definitely be done by the end of the week Erin J: It should be, mind you info@5rivers.org: Not to be troublesome, but I’m not quite clear why a simple response from distribution should take until the end of the week, especially in light of the fact this was erroneously deleted. If this could be expedited quickly I would appreciate it, especially in light of the fact I, and many other Canadian authors, are not getting maximum marketing impact for our distribution dollars, given Chapters/Indigo is Canada’s largest bookseller. Erin J: Yes, I understand completely info@5rivers.org: I’m sure you do. info@5rivers.org: I’ll look forward to a timely response then. Is there a particular person who will be dealing with this? Erin J: I’m really not sure. Sorry info@5rivers.org: You can’t ascertain that information? Erin J: I’m not sure who is the contact for that information. They stay pretty close knit back there info@5rivers.org: Perhaps for good reason, it would seem. I’ll wait until tomorrow afternoon, and if I haven’t heard anything, I’ll be escalating this. info@5rivers.org: Thanks for your time and assistance. Erin J: Thank you ——————————————- Chapter 2 tomorrow.
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Conny ManeroJoined: 02 Mar 2006Posts: 132
Posted: 29 Aug 2007 04:28 pm Post subject:
Mmm, I hope this gets resolved
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 30 Aug 2007 04:49 pm Post subject:
Thursday now. Form response quoting ticket number on my most recent query to Lulu’s support email. There are no phone numbers listed with Lulu so I can speak to someone live. I’m about to try LiveChat again and see how much I can raised my blood pressure. I’m also trying to make contact with someone live at Chapters to see if I can ascertain the problem from the other end. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 30 Aug 2007 05:06 pm Post subject:
This is the result of today’s exercise in frustration: —————————————————– info: You are now chatting with ‘Adam M’ info: Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK91020781497X Adam M: hello, welcome to lulu chat info@5rivers.org: Hi. I think you’re going to have to look up the Ticket # to become acquainted with the problem. Adam M: ok, i’m reviewing the ticket information now info@5rivers.org: Thank you Adam M: ok, i’m really sorry but at this time our distribution people have already gone home for the day, i have left a message with them to look at it in the morning info@5rivers.org: Wow, that was convenient of them. This issue is unresolved from Monday. In fact, this issue has been in existence, according to what I’ve read in the forums, since 2004 when policies at Ingrams changed. I will be contacting Lulu first thing tomorrow in order to get an answer. Can’t help but feel that department is avoiding the issue. Not too impressed. info@5rivers.org: Thanks for your help anyway. —————————————————– Tomorrow the BIATCH comes out to play. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 31 Aug 2007 12:11 pm Post subject:
This is the result of today’s LiveChat session: —————————————————– Gene T: Hi info@5rivers.org: Hiya. You’ll need to read the background on the ticket # Gene T: let me take alook… info@5rivers.org: You still there? Gene T: still trying to find an answer for you info@5rivers.org: Okay, Thanks. I’ll hang on. Gene T: I apologize – I can’t find out anything. Your best option is to wait for a response to your support ticket. info@5rivers.org: Is there someone there in Distribution I can call? This has been waiting since Monday. Not to be a pain, but I, and a lot of other Canadian authors, are waiting on the answer to this problem. info@5rivers.org: And there has been no response at all. Not even that they’re working on the problem, or even explaining what the problem is, exactly. Gene T: We don’t offer phone support in general, and not everyone who works in distribution is availabe this morning even online. info@5rivers.org: This is very frustrating, as many Canadian authors feel that Lulu is hiding, that there won’t be a response. Some communication from them is necessary in order to keep just good customer relations, if for no other reason. info@5rivers.org: If you would pass that along I’d appreciate it. And in the meantime hope for some response today or Tuesday. Gene T: I will. Best of luck on this. info@5rivers.org: Thank you. And thanks for your efforts. ———————————————————————- Not very satisfactory. I would appreciate it if other Canadian authors would agitate on this front, so I won’t be the ‘spokesperson’. There is strength in numbers. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 04 Sep 2007 09:53 am Post subject:
It would appear this topic is not of much interest to the majority on this forum, given the lack of comments but for Conny and me. Unfortunate. However, I shall continue to post my progress regarding subject in the interest of valuable information. Today I have been in contact with the cookbook buyer at Chapters/Indigo, and she is going to contact their data department to see about getting the information on my cookbook from Ingrams so it can be listed in Chapters/Indigo’s online catalogue. I’ve also queried her regarding why the book wasn’t listed in the first place and hope she will be able to either answer the question, or introduce me to the correct person. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 04 Sep 2007 03:24 pm Post subject:
I received this response today from Lulu: ——————————————————————– Reference number: LTK91020781497X Please use this ticket number in any correspondence with us. Subject: Chapters/Indigo Dear Lorina, We are currently working on our relationship with Chapters/Indigo, but they do currently have access to all your bibliographic data. For example, you could go into a bookstore and “look up” your book as well as order it through our distributor in the US called Ingram. Since your book has a US ISBN, Chapters may treat it differently than a Canadian ISBN. In the near future, we will be working on offering distribution for foreign ISBNs, and since Canadian ISBNs are free, we anticipate the transition to be quite smooth. I apologize, however, for not having a definite time table for this. Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions. Please use this link to rate the response you received in this email. Regards, Anne-Marie C Lulu Support http://www.lulu.com/help http://www.lulu.com/services http://www.lulu.com/forums ————————————————————– More to follow Lorina Stephens
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 04 Sep 2007 03:25 pm Post subject:
Follows my response to Lulu’s email: ——————————————————- Dear Anne-Marie, Thank you for your response. I am well aware Lulu’s distributor is Ingram. However, your statement that I could go into a bookstore and look up my book is incorrect. I have just contact Chapters in Newmarket, Ontario (905)836-8508, and ISBN 978-1-4303-1789-0, Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, is not available in their system. I have had the same response from Indigo Books in Richmond Hill, Ontario, (905)731-8771. Lulu’s information is not feeding to the Chapters/Indigo chain, plain and simple. And it’s that problem more than any other I, and other Canadian authors, wish resolved in a timely fashion, given it does us no good whatever to have purchased a distribution agreement with Lulu that doesn’t garner a booth in Canada’s major book marketplace, namely the Chapters/Indigo chain. Without bibliographic data being in Chapters/Indigo’s system, it is impossible for Canadian writers to set up book signings and other promotions with this mammoth chain that dominates the retail book market both online and bricks and mortar stores. That my books, and other Canadian authors, have a US ISBN is irrelevant, as there are thousands of US authors listed with the Chapters/Indigo chain. Lulu needs to investigate this problem further, in detail, with Chapters/Indigo and resolve it. I look forward to a timely response. Regards, Lorina Stephens Five Rivers Chapmanry purveyors of quality customs shower doors, books by Lorina Stephens, hand-crafted cooperage, fine art, embroidery supplies, Porter music boxes. Now Available: Shadow Song, by Lorina Stephens Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, by Lorina Stephens 519-799-5577 info@5rivers.org – http://www.5rivers.org/ ——————————————————— Regards, Lorina Stephens
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Matthew WilesJoined: 03 Oct 2006Posts: 18
Posted: 04 Sep 2007 10:51 pm Post subject:
Hi Lorina I am very interested in how this plays out for you – I’ve been rather disappointed that my novel hasn’t shown up in the Chapter’s listing yet either. Someone to contact may be M.G. Belanger, another Canadian Lulu novel whose book is listed on Chapters.ca. He may be able to provide some insight into how he had his novel listed. I will send him a message through Lulu and keep you informed. http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Aeldenwood-Book-One-Drayenmark-Saga-M-G-Belanger/9781411684560-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+ Thanks, Matt
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 05 Sep 2007 06:07 am Post subject:
Thanks for the lead, Matt. Very helpful. I did notice Belanger’s novel was released in 2006, which may or may not be a factor in this equation. It may also be he contacted Chapters directly, as did I, to get his novel picked up in their catalogue. I’ll let you know if anything comes of my investigation. Very expensive book, btw! Regards, Lorina
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Conny ManeroJoined: 02 Mar 2006Posts: 132
Posted: 05 Sep 2007 07:51 am Post subject:
I would be interested in the outcome of this too.
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Michael BelangerJoined: 19 Jan 2006Posts: 2
Posted: 05 Sep 2007 10:35 am Post subject: Aeldenwood and Chapters, Lulu and Other misc. stuff.
Hello there. I recieved an invite into this community tis morning, perused the forums, this thread specifically that asked about my first novel Aeldenwood, and thought I’d send a quick reply. After publishing in March of ’06, I waited about three to five weeks before my book appeared on all the bookstore lists through Ingram. Anyone has always been able to go into any Chapters. Barnes & Nobles, etc, and order it. It has appeared on all the online booksellers and what not as well. I assume that if your book info has not been appearing or is even accessible, there must be a problem somewhere down the line. I did, however, buy the international distribution package but I am not sure that matters. As for publishing with Lulu, I went a different route with book 2, H’rothgarr ( may 2007 ), and have since found much more success, mainly on the financial front. The problem with the distribution of Aeldenwood was the cost to order in books across the border ( they often got stopped and we paid a ton at customs ) and the inability to truly get the book cost effective and into bookstores. Yes, my book is exspensive but unfortunately whatever Chapters and them set it at I cannot change. Heck I can’t even change the price on Lulu anymore and yet it still sells. The book is far larger than most on the site, especially in the Fantasy genre and at 500 pages I have little choice in the matter. I did however, and still do, pick up sales from the states and the U.K, but that number is barely 5% of my sales, with Lulu buyers making up about 20%. The remainder has been simply through hard work, signings and some luck. I have found independant bookstores a complete joy to work with and have had much success in approaching them over the big box stores. Getting an independant bookstore to read your book, hopefully enjoy it
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 05 Sep 2007 10:54 am Post subject:
Thanks, Michael, for your information. Very helpful regarding bookstores. Re: Chapters/Indigo. I purchased the internatinal distribution package like you. However, unlike you my book hasn’t show up at Chapters. It does show with Barnes and Noble, Amazon, W.H. Smith and Borders. Just not Chapters. Whatever magic faery you happened to snafoo, would sure like a bit of her mojo on me. And it would seem Lulu has obliquely admitted there is a problem with Chapters which they are apparently working on. Some of us are considering doing mini-book fairs and cooperative email book marketing. Would like your thoughts on that. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 05 Sep 2007 05:13 pm Post subject:
This is the latest in the Chapters/Indigo problem: ——————————————– Dear Anne-Marie, I have just received an email from Dave Reynolds, Regional Consultant at Chapters/Indigo, regarding the difficulty with Lulu books being listed with them. Follows my email to him, and his response: ————————————————- From: Five Rivers Chapmanry [mailto:lgsteph@wightman.ca] Sent: August 27, 2007 8:43 AM To: Regional Consultants Subject: Lulu Publishing I am a self-published author using Lulu Publishing and their global distribution service, and wondered if you’d mind answering a query for me. It is my understanding there is some difficulty between Lulu, possibly Ingrams (one of the major distribution services Lulu uses) and Chapters, in how bibliographic data feeds, which consequently results in many Lulu writers not being listed in Chapters’ catalogue. Is this so? If not, can you enlighten me as to what, exactly, is the difficulty? There are a number of other Canadian authors with whom I’m in contact who very much have a vested interest in the answer to this problem, and what they can do to resolve it. As a Canadian author, mostly writing about Canadian issues, it is in my best interest to be listed with Canada’s largest and premier book retailer. I have one title in print with Lulu, Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, ISBN 978-1-4303-1789-0, which is not listed with Chapters, unfortunately. I’d like to rectify that so I can work on book signings and promotion. I’m about to release an historical novel, Shadow Song, ISBN 978-1-4303-1294-9, and want to be sure I’m doing everything correctly in order to have Chapters pick up that book as well. Any light you can shed on this subject is greatly appreciated. Regards, Lorina Stephens Five Rivers Chapmanry purveyors of quality customs shower doors, books by Lorina Stephens, hand-crafted cooperage, fine art, embroidery supplies, Porter music boxes. Now Available: Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, by Lorina Stephens Coming Soon: Shadow Song, by Lorina Stephens 519-799-5577 info@5rivers.org – http://www.5rivers.org/ ———————————————————— Lorina, Apologies for the delay or if you have already received a reply – we’ve been having a few issues with this inbox lately. There are currently over 3600 Lulu titles listed on our website. Lulu should be submitting data to us that lists them as the publisher and whomever they use (typically Ingram) as a distributor, on a regular basis. Once data has been submitted it usually shows up on our website in about 7-10 days, as long as there are no issues with the data. Since your title is not listed on our site, you should talk to your contact at Lulu to make sure data has been submitted. I do not know of any current difficulty with data uploads specifically related to Lulu Press. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know. Thank you, Dave —————————————————————– So, clearly Lulu isn’t submitting data on a regular basis, else this problem wouldn’t show up, I’d say. I also found the following on URL at Chapters/Indigo’s website, specifically for vendors, which you may find of use: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/Vendors-subsite-Master-Data-BookData/VendorsMasterData-art.html?Section=home&ArtCode=VendorsMasterData&arttype=RS&Lang=en Look forward to hearing from you and a timely resolution to this issue. Regards, Lorina Stephens Five Rivers Chapmanry purveyors of quality customs shower doors, books by Lorina Stephens, hand-crafted cooperage, fine art, embroidery supplies, Porter music boxes. Now Available: Shadow Song, by Lorina Stephens Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, by Lorina Stephens 519-799-5577 info@5rivers.org – http://www.5rivers.org/ —————————————————————-
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Conny ManeroJoined: 02 Mar 2006Posts: 132
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 08:02 am Post subject:
Well if 3600 Lulu titles are listed on Chapters Indigo, why aren’t ours there? Did Lulu stop submitting to Chapters? This is getting very interesting.
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 10:43 am Post subject:
If you dig through the other Lulu forums, you will discover there was some sort of a change at Ingrams in how they streamed their data as far back as 2004, according to my research. Lulu never responded to the shift, and as a result data began dropping from Chapters/Indigo. This is the ‘problem’ Lulu allegedly is addressing. It would seem, however, that some authors since 2004 have had their books appear on Chapters/Indigo’s list without any input from the authors. Others have not. I urge you, Conny, and any other concerned Canadian author, to open a support ticket with Lulu to agitate for action and positive results regarding this matter. The more people who complain, the more urgent the situation will become for Lulu. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 05:39 pm Post subject:
This is today’s response from Lulu: ————————————————– Dear Lorina, Since all of our bibliographic data is sent out via automatic feeds, there is no way that I can manually sent your book’s info to Chapters/Indigo. I will reset your book’s bibilographic feeds so that the info will be resent to retailers again, but that is all I can do. Everything on our end has gone through as normal, and I cannot see any reason why C/I would have 3600 other Lulu books but not yours. Again, I’ll resend all your data, and hopefully they will pick up your listing this time. Thank you. Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions. Please use this link to rate the response you received in this email. Regards, Katy D Lulu Support http://www.lulu.com/help http://www.lulu.com/services http://www.lulu.com/forums ___________________________________________ I shall have to think on this for a bit before responding. While appreciate the faster than normal response, I’m also a bit skeptical about the information, you will forgive me. Again, I implore those authors on this list who have the problem of not being listed wtih Chapters/Indigo to please contact Lulu support. My instinct tells me Lulu is going to attempt to sweep this away as a sole occurrence, when it appears it’s not. Regards, Lorina
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 06:07 pm Post subject:
This is my email to today’s Lulu support response: ———————————————————————- Dear Katy, Thank you for your response. While I do understand Lulu’s bibliographic feeds are automatic, and that you can’t send manual information out to Chapters/Indigo, it would seem there is something wrong with the format of the feed, or that the feed is faulty in some manner, if I may humbly suggest. This in light of the fact I am in correspondence with two other Canadian Lulu authors who also don’t have their books listed with Chapters/Indigo, despite being listed with Amazon, et al. There are, namely: Conny Manero, Waiting for Silverbird, ISBN: 978-1847284235 Matthew Wiles, Red Phoenix, ISBN: 978-1-4303-1825-5 I can only hope your resubmission of my information will meet with success. However, you will appreciate my scepticism. I do believe there is a larger problem here that bears investigation, and I would appreciate knowing if Lulu acknowledges the problem, and is doing something to correct it. What I don’t want to hear is that Lulu is working on resolving some nebulous flaw in communication between Chapters/Indigo and Lulu, and that a time frame for that resolution is equally nebulous. What I would appreciate knowing is exactly what is the problem, why it exists in the first place, what tangible steps are being taken to correct the problem, and when may all of us expect completion of the task. Further, I would like to know why there isn’t one person assigned to this query? Why is it I have the feeling a response comes from whatever lucky person happens to have the next support ticket number come up? This doesn’t make for clear communication and access of information, as each support member must again invent the wheel, so to speak. So far I’ve had a response from you, Katy D, and from someone equally cryptically known as Anne-Marie C. I don’t wish to be a pain, trust me. But as a business owner myself, I know the foundation of any successful business is quality customer service, and in this regard Lulu is failing. Please, talk to your cohorts. Talk to Bob Young. Come back with some tangible answers for me. Regards, Lorina Stephens Five Rivers Chapmanry purveyors of quality customs shower doors, books by Lorina Stephens, hand-crafted cooperage, fine art, embroidery supplies, Porter music boxes. Now Available: Shadow Song, by Lorina Stephens Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, by Lorina Stephens 519-799-5577 info@5rivers.org – http://www.5rivers.org/ ———————————————————- This is becoming a soap opera. Regards, Lorina
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Conny ManeroJoined: 02 Mar 2006Posts: 132
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 07:55 pm Post subject:
Jeez thank Lorina, that was really nice of you to mention my book too. Rest assured, I will also put in a query with Lulu. I wish I could chat with someone again, but since I’m working during the day, that’s not possible.
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 07 Sep 2007 11:26 am Post subject:
The following was posted by Adam Guida, Lulu Staff, Sept 7, 2007, 10:45 a.m., in the Lulu Requests and Feedback Forum, Chapters/Indigo — Can Lulu Help?
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Lorina, It appears to me that our Global Fulfillment team is actively working with you to address your concern. I see no reason to continue airing emails and chat transcripts on this issue to the request & feedback forums as it is not only off topic for the nature of this forum, but inappropriate. If this continues I will lock this thread and discontinue the discussion. Again, we are actively working to improve our distribution services in Canada which includes expanded distribution into Chapters Indigo, but this will take some time. If there are any updates we can communicate we will be sure to pass these along as soon as we know more. -Adam
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Lorina StephensJoined: 16 Mar 2007Posts: 62
Posted: 07 Sep 2007 11:28 am Post subject:
The following is my response to Adam Guida’s Post, Sept 7, 2007, 11:17 a.m.
Quote:
Adam, I am disseminating information, something every user of Lulu has a right to know. Should Lulu choose to shut down this thread, it will only demonstrate that Lulu has everything to hide. Quote: Again, we are actively working to improve our distribution services in Canada which includes expanded distribution into Chapters Indigo, but this will take some time. If there are any updates we can communicate we will be sure to pass these along as soon as we know more. Ah, and here is the nut of the problem, it would seem. Your statement implies there is no distribution into Chapters/Indigo. Yet there are 3600 Lulu titles listed with Chapters/Indigo. Why not mine and others? That questions simply hasn’t been answered. It’s been left in a sea of correspondence from various people. No one single person from Lulu has been assigned to this problem, from what I can tell, and so information that’s streaming from Lulu to me, and thereby other authors using Lulu, is contradictory, vague and highly unsatisfactory. Further, Canadian authors who purchase global distribution through Lulu, are being provided a service with misleading information in that: Quote: Online booksellers (like Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble) decide whether or not they would like to list the book. (In our experience, they almost always list it.) As a Canadian, I, like many others, have assumed Chapters/Indigo is included in this package, being as they are the largest book retailer in Canada, not Amazon, not Borders, not Barnes & Noble. You claim Lulu is working on the problem. Yet no one at Lulu has clearly stated what is, exaclty, the problem. Why should distribution to Chapters/Indigo be any different than to Amazon, et al? An answer to that question would be appreciated. Further, you state the solution to this nebulous problem will take some time. How much time? It would appear this has been going on since 2004, from my understanding of the posts I’ve read throughout Lulu’s forums. If that’s indeed true, Lulu has had three years to work on this problem. Surely in three years distrubution problems into Chapters/Indigo could have been solved? I reiterate: how much time? I and other Canadian authors are not looking for an exact date. But some indication of an esitmated conclusion to this problem, i.e. spring of 2008. And this is of enormous import to Canadian authors as it does us no good whatever to purchase Lulu’s distribution service if we are not being represented with Canada’s largest bookseller. All our marketing efforts are for naught. And so for many of us a timely resolution to the Chapters/Indigo distribution problem may very well effect our business decision whether to publish now or later, or save our funds and go directly to Lightning Source, one of the print services Lulu uses. In my defence, I have to state that it has been Lulu support’s inaccessiblity, and lack of cohesion that has exacerbated this situation. Had one person in authority been assigned to this query, and come back with reasonable, business-like responses, I would have stopped agitating. As it is, all that’s resulted is a threat to censor. Which, in its own way, is ironic given we’re dealing with the very foundation of the fundamental issue of freedom of speech. Regards, Lorina Stephens
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Adam GuidaLulu StaffJoined: 02 Feb 2006Posts: 2254
Posted: 07 Sep 2007 01:48 pm Post subject:
Lorina, You concerns here are duly noted, but I assure you there was no threat to censorship intended or implied in my prior response to you on this issue. The concern I expressed was the posting of chat and email support transcripts which are inapproriate to this discussion. I will reiterate that we are doing everything we can not only to help you with your particular problem, but also to improve upon our distribution services for our Canadian user’s in general. Bear in mind however that online booksellers ultimately decide whether or not they will list your book. If there was a problem or particular reason why your book was not picked up by a retailer in the past and our support team decided to attempt to resubmit, it can take 4 weeks or longer in some cases before a retailer will list your content, if they decide to or are able to do so. For assistance with your particular problem, I strongly suggest that you continue to work with our distribution team through the support channels which you have already established. This may take some time, but we will do our best to make sure you are happy with our service. Again, we have noted your general concern and I have also asked that someone in our Distribution team gets back to you via email to work with you on this issue. I will not however continue to allow posts of this nature which do nothing but quote private support transcripts on this forum. I am now locking this thread as I believe this concern has been fully communicated and do not believe any further productive discussion can continue. Regards, Adam
Reference number: LTK91020781497X Please use this ticket number in any correspondence with us. Subject: Chapters/Indigo
Dear Lorina,
First of all, I would like to say that I had full access to your previous discussion with Anne-Marie when I received your support ticket. In addition Anne-Marie sits right behind me, so we are able to discuss these kinds of issues.
When you purchase retail distribution, you are purchasing a service which makes your book’s information available to retailers. We do not guarantee that any retailer will pick up your book, because that is up to them. There is nothing wrong with the feeds; it may depend on what sources Chapters/Indigo uses, but we have no control over that. As we’ve told you, we don’t have a direct relationship with them.
We cannot force them to pick up your book’s information. Rest assured that the information is available.
We are always working to broaden relationships globally, but I cannot give you tangible information on our plans, contracts, or possible partnerships.
I have done all that we can do on our end. Good luck with your book, and I hope Chapters/Indigo picks up the listing.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.
Please use this link to rate the response you received in this email.
Regards,
Katy DLulu Supporthttp://www.lulu.com/helphttp://www.lulu.com/serviceshttp://www.lulu.com/forums