Aaarrrgh!

[alex_beecroft]

Argh!  Lulu, not only do you slap £5 on the price, but then you tell me I can't get the 'published by Lulu' option because I don't live in the USA.  And *then* you only give me a button to buy the option I can't have, and no way to buy the option I *can* have, which is strangely and coincidentally on special offer today.

You're just lucky I can't get to you with a crowbar, that's all I'm saying!

Comments

[wulfila.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, poor you! That sounds quite terrible indeed (but your icon made me grin nevertheless). I hope you can figure out what to do - or find another (self-)publishing option if Lulu does not work.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I'm beginning to reconsider the whole self-publishing thing and thinking about trying to find an agent again, who could place it with a real publisher. I didn't try the American market last time around, and nowadays with email it has to be cheaper than it was 10 years ago when you had to send the manuscript by post!

I'm cynically guessing that when they put the 'this option on special offer' button in for the option I want they forgot to actually connect it up to anything - and that the option will come back when the special offer is over!

[spacebabie.livejournal.com]

It might be the effect of the cold medicine that is making my mind all loopy, but what is Lulu? I have seen it mentioned on LJ before, but I am still confuzzled as in what it is.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Lulu is a self-publishing company, where you can upload your manuscript and your cover images, and the site will format them to be printed on demand. Then if you buy a distribution package they will also send your book out to be listed on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, so that people can buy it through bookshops.

Have a look on lulu.com :) It seems like a great idea, but I'm finding all the drawbacks now!

[spacebabie.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I need to add that to my options now that I basically have the rough finished for my first novel.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Good idea! And I'll do an instruction leaflet once I've finished the process so that no one else has to go through the hair-pulling frustration of the thing :)

[mrs-norrington.livejournal.com]

I wish I could help, but I had enough trouble trying to get my free copy of my nanowrimo novel. I ended up having to chat with their help desk until they helped me format it right.

Good luck!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think after further cursing and starting again from the beginning that I have it sussed out now. But honestly they really don't want to make it easy on you! :)

I didn't know you could get a free copy of your Nano novel! *Sulks* Oh well, in my case it was only half a novel anyway. I got to 51,000 words, but I was nowhere near the end of the story. (I'm going to do the second half this year.)

[joyful-molly.livejournal.com]

That's very odd... have a look at this, it might be an alternative for you, as you're located in the UK:

http://www.diggorypress.com/

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That looks rather nice actually :) I've figured Lulu out now, I think, but prepare for more almost-swearing when I've checked the proof and try to finish the process!

I'll bear diggorypress in mind for next time :)

[black-hound.livejournal.com]

I should be more suprised by this than I am. :P

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

LOL! The strange thing is that it's really a very simple process once you've done it :) It's just there are no instructions on how to go about it, and the whole thing seems completely arse about face. (You have to publish it first in order to get the ISBN number which you need to put inside on the copyright page - so you put up a version, publish it, get an ISBN and then replace the previous version with a new version with the ISBN on it. Not only does this seem ridiculous but it nowhere tells you that this is what you have to do - you just have to figure it out by experimentation!)

Also it won't allow me to have 99p as royalties - which is what I had reckoned on - it insists on me having nearly £4 per book, so I can't set the price as low as I wanted to. So, to make things simpler, I've removed the price from the back cover. That way no matter what the difference between Lulu's mark up and the retail mark up there won't be a wrong number on there!

OTOH, your files worked like a dream! Perfect first time :) And there's a font for the spine which is a nice compromise between the two fonts on the front page. I've set the font colour to one of the golds in your text and it all looks very splendidly matching. So it's going to look fabulous when it's done! *Big hugs!!*

But when it is, I'm going to post an instruction set for other people going through the process, because it's taking years off my life!

[hms-dauntless.livejournal.com]

*groan* There must be a curse upon us all.... I'm so sorry to hear you too are going through such a stress ! Would send you the best wishes, were it not that I'm not in my luckiest time myself. But you've all my affection and hugs. Hold on ! I'm sure there is a way to have the book published as it deserves. :)

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is nothing to your problems! I had a frustrating day yesterday, wrestling with Lulu, but I finally beat it into submission and ended the day with the book all uploaded, and my first copy on the way to me to check that it's all OK before I make it available to others. So in its way it's actually very exciting :)

Today I'm *definitely* going to get back to work on the Secrets novel (she says without much enthusiasm :) ) The sooner I get it finished, the sooner I can work on one I do want to do!

I hope your problems resolve themselves too - at least by the end of the week!

[hms-dauntless.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you were able to solve the problems with Lulu and, in the end, things ran smooth for you. I can imagine you cannot wait to have the book in your hands. :)

Any specific reasons whay the poor Secrets fails to interest you any more ? Problems with the plot ? the characters ? or is it just the "brewing plotbunny" syndrome ?

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I think it's a fairly straightforward process as long as you've been through it once already! The trouble is that there aren't any instructions for the first time, and the process is dreadfully counter intuitive. So I'm definitely going to write a 'how to', when I've finished the process myself!

I think that it's mainly the inertia of the summer holidays which I have to overcome to get into Secrets again. I finally started writing it again today, and am quite pleased with what I've done. But it's growing more and more away from the plan with every sentence - which I suppose is inevitable, as a book just can't be like a series of drabbles. It has to be itself.

Would you like me to send you what I've got so far, to cheer you up a little?

[hms-dauntless.livejournal.com]

Oh, no need to ask ! You know I'd absolutely love to read it ! Thank you so much for such a wonderful treat. :)
*dancing the happy dance of the reader who knows she's going to read something excellently written*
I'm starting to relax a bit after last's week's burst of tension, but the prospect of a narrative cheering up is particularly appealing. Due to the mess of the last week (the medical emergencies, a night shift, the complaint, the paper to revise, the supermarket, the housework, etc etc), I had to interrupt the revision of my Conversation and had barely time enough to read. My Age of Sail addiction asks for feeding :)

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I hope you're not too disappointed! I seem to have been writing it forever, and yet it's still only 7,000 words long - barely more than a good week's work. If it doesn't shake loose and get going soon, I'm going to have to think about writing something else first. Possibly the problem is that I don't much like John at present, but once we can get to Mahon and bring his problem out into the light he might become a bit more interesting. I hope so!

[sheebeen.livejournal.com]

You could always try the Irish publishers, if this internet yoke drives you mad and the English publishing houses don't take submissions.
I think Poolbeg Press might be looking for new authors. Or was it Lilliput? One of those, I think was looking for submissions in recent weeks.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a great idea! Thank you :) Yes, I'll definitely try looking them both up and seeing if they'd be likely to take it. Heh, if only there was twice the time, so that I could spend the same time on writing and still figure out markets and so forth!