Blurb discussion
Amazon Tricks
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by
Miss
(new)
Apr 03, 2008 05:46PM
Yes, I agree. Bad way to do business, IMO...
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It's a peculiar idea on amazon's part, as it limits the number of books they will be selling. They can't honestly expect everyone to go with BookSurge.That said, I've had a reasonably satisfactory experience with BookSurge. There was a hiccup in my amazon listing that took about a month to straighten out, but other than that they've been helpful and supportive, and very fast to address issues. The biggest annoyance has been that by going with BookSurge, it's pretty impossible to get into the major chain bookstores, because they all want you to have Lightning Source.
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There has been some confusion about missing "Buy Buttons" on Amazon UK and other non-US Amazon sites. There are a lot of reports that Lightning Source's computer feeds are in a mess and that has resulted in missing "Buttons" on Amazon UK, for instance. My own recent release, Rebody, (SF) is available on Amazon US for instance, but not available on Amazon UK except via the market traders.
The big issue with Booksurge of course, as Cayr pointed out, is that it doesn't have Ingrams as distribution ... personally I am sticking with Lightning Source, at least I know how to successfully produce a book with them, I am not about to go through another whole process with Booksurge.
Can somebody who has used lightning source tell me about the experience by answering these questions?(I can go to their website to find a lot of this out, but I'm really interested in your personal experiences with them)
1. Is LS publication considered POD?
2. How costly is it?
3. Who holds the ISBN - the author or Lightning Source?
4. How difficult is it to make changes to your book? (if, for instance, you notice the original edition has typos?)
5. Does Lightning Source list your book on the online bookselling sites?
6. Does LS list your book in library trade journals or in marketing catalogs to bookstores?
7. Does LS do any marketing for your title at all, or do you have to buy a marketing package from them?
8. If you publish through LS are you automatically picked up by brick and mortar bookstores?
9. Are you able to acquire a library of congress number through LS?
Please feel free to add any additional info.
Belle wrote: You pay for their upfront services. I spent about $150 to $200 on each title. But, after that, they don’t attach any costs to the cost of printing, which is considerably cheaper than Lulu (who doesn’t ask for upfront fees, but attaches their cost to the printing fees). A book at LS will cost $7.50 to Lulu’s $10.15.Can you clarify a little? You said they are a printing source...how do they handle order fulfillment? do you have to purchase large quantities of your own book to sell - or do they take orders and ship them? Is the book price you quoted for hard back or softcover?
Also, what online book selling sites do they post to?
And have you had any luck getting your title into the brick and mortar bookstores?
