As an active poet writer contributor to an annual poetry anthology the publisher uses Lulu Press for order fulfillment where I have ordered many times. The anthology is professionally published and well composed in perfect binding. It is also professionally designed for artwork and layout. No account is needed to be created at check-out upon ordering, but I highly recommend clicking "shipping updates by text" option at the conclusion of your purchase to be informed of delivery times. Four stars rating because shipping time takes approximately 7 to 15 days which is excessively too long in the world of e-commerce. No comment on customer service as I did not utilize. read more

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This is a complaint regarding severe internal data security failures, unauthorized third-party metadata leaks, and paid commercial service non-delivery within Lulu Press, Inc. I am escalating this matter directly to the executive suite because front-line support staff and standard customer experience channels lack the technical security clearance to audit the severe system vulnerabilities exposed below. I am a commercial publisher managing a rapidly growing relationship guide portfolio that currently stands at 138 total ebooks. Let it be explicitly noted for the record that as of today, every single technical issue remains completely unfixed, and Lulu has taken absolutely zero real-world action to resolve these backend infrastructure defects. While Lulu has accepted and collected my upfront distribution and content review fees in full, the platform has completely failed to deliver paid services. A massive block of my passed inventory has been left stagnant for nearly two months inside an internal server transmission void, while automated software filters have been permitted to paralyze my files under false, repetitive "Copyright Infringement" flags. Lulu accepts upfront, non-refundable fees but freezes review services and distribution in complete silence.I am an independent author with a current portfolio of 122 ebooks published through Lulu Press. For every single title submitted, Lulu charges a mandatory, non-refundable $4.99 distribution review fee [64000255463-mandatory-ebook-distribution-requirements]. I have invested over $600 in upfront fees with this company, plus additional retirement fees.Despite collecting these non-refundable funds, Lulu has completely frozen operations and fragmented my portfolio across three distinct failures:The First Batch (55 Books): Distributed 5 weeks ago, and they successfully went live all around the world within 3 days. However, Apple Books is still missing 5 of them (stuck at 50), and Amazon USA is missing 39 of them (stuck at 16).The Second Batch (18 Books): Officially approved and marked "Distributed" on June 5th. It has now been 20 full days, and unlike the first batch that took 3 days, these 18 titles are completely invisible and show up NOWHERE on earth.The 30-Day Manual Review Freeze: Lulu has completely halted the mandatory manual review phase for all of my upcoming manuscript uploads. Exactly 49 of my paid books are sitting completely stagnant in a digital dead zone for over a month while my fees remain collected.Refusal to Escalate: When I requested that customer service representative "Michael" escalate this complete operational freeze to higher management, he blocked the request, went silent, and recycled generic excuses.It is an absolute violation of standard merchant rules to accept upfront, non-refundable service fees from a client and then place their account into a silent administrative hold without formal notice. I demand an executive supervisor bypass the standard help desk, manually review my account layer, and unfreeze my review queue immediately. read more

Books.by uses Lulu Durham to print its books. I have now gotten two sets of books that are useless (the original set and the replacement set). There are missing chapters, highlighting where no highlight exists, and the cover has my name and title cut off. Keep in mind, these SAME FILES used for Books.by were also used for IngramSpark and KDP. There were no issues with the proofs from KDP or IS. *ONLY* the books printed out of Lulu's for Books.by have been problematic. No one can tell me why, and no one can figure out how to fix it. Books.by doesn't have real people for support, so you can only talk to bots, and Lulu's phone number goes to nowhere, ensuring that they never have to take responsibility for their shit work. DO NOT USE THEM. Ever. For any reason. I did a video review that's too large for Yelp. You can find it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L-NfwL-ypohOnCu4Nt1smrP-DIcsXk7H/view?usp=drive_link read more

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Even though there was a problem, Lulu Press handled the situation quite well. All concerns were taken care of and I ended the situation with a positive outcome and attitude. read more

Do NOT use this company if you care about quality or support. I ordered 50 copies of my self-published book, and they arrived misprinted--despite uploading correct files and using their preview tool. Lulu took no responsibility and refused to offer a refund or reprint. Their customer service is dismissive, and they place all blame on the author, even when their system fails. I lost over $400. Save yourself the headache--go with a company that values their creators. read more

By far the worst service I've ever received!!! First they have no one to talk to over the phone! I paid extra for 2 day shipping and never received my order no tracking number or no update or anything. Its been over a week and still no response from this company!!! DO not use them they are a scam!!!!! read more

Some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced. The only support they offer is via tickets, you can't talk to a person and they take a very long time to respond to tickets. AWFUL. read more

I have been working with them for years but they have recenty gone through a leadership change and the customer service has disappeared into the rabbit hole of insanity. The first thing they do when you have a problem is to send you a list of the FAQs. When you tell them you've referenced those, they then say they don't see a problem on their end and that I must be doing something wrong. Or even better yet they answer with replies that have no relevance to the question you are needing help with. They have gone down hill badly. I will be moving my books to a reliable company who actually understands that without customers, you don't have a company. read more

I have had a soft cover book published with them FIVE times and each and every time they send it in cardboard boxes the same size as the book and they get ruined! One would think after the first order or even the second order, that they would send in a bigger box protected with bubble wrap! This is the stupidest company and no customer service! read more

Lulu Press - Bent books! - Print Media Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Was with Lulu for over 10 years and over 20 books. Some problems here and there, but overall it was good until suddenly a couple months ago for a historical book they cancelled by account because it "may" (their term) have been controversial. No discussion and no recourse. They cancel the account and then say if you want to write them about it use your account, after they closed the account and you can't get it. I guess they just blow off problems. I have switched over to books.by which is easier to use than Lulu. Although it requires a subscription, it does not require that you purchase proof copies. They are also more international than Lulu seems to be and have a flat $5.00 shipping fee, which you can have the customer pay. Am just getting started with books.by but seems better overall, simpler, and cheaper than Lulu. read more

I've published with lulu since 2009. Excellent at first, not so good later, terrible now. Fake roadblocks to global distribution with rejection emails claiming non-existent problems. Promises to fix issues that never come to fruition. I don't know what happened, but none of it good. Try another POD service. Anyone but lulu. read more

WTH, Lulu? I used Lulu a long time ago, and wanted to use them again because they offer coil binding. Well, I designed a coil bound book and couldn't get that, so... I ordered my draft Nov 15. It didn't ship until 11/25. It's been sitting in New Jersey not moving since 11/29 and it's now Dec 5. There's nothing I can do about it because it shipped "Mail Innovations" which means there is no day that it's considered "late." WTH? Are you serious? Nobody can do business this way. read more

Not the worst experience. The main problem is the quality of their books. The pages themselves look great (nice color, professional gloss) but the binding is horrible. The pages are literally falling out. In face, since we ordered the first book (our personal copy) every page has fallen out. The process of formatting is kind of a pain. There were weird glitches in the ordering process (several customers said their payment method wasn't recognized). read more

Lulu has definitely gone downhill. The books were great, but the customer service is practically nil. They don't have a customer service phone contact. They don't have chat. You can email them. In my case, the order I placed with them was short 9 of the 30 books in the box. It took them 4 days to respond via email. They asked for me to take photos of the box to show that it was short. Since it was expedited order, I had already shipped the 21 books to the customers. I did send them a shipping notice from FedEx that showed the weight was only 13 pounds, far too little for 21 170 pg books. I also had to send them the shipping notice (Note: both of these documents were available to Lulu without my assistance.) Sherman got back to me after a week. They were going to "expedite the books to me." However, the delivery date was 10 days after this email. The original expedited books took less than a week, so it was not expedited by any means. They did not automatically refund the difference in shipping since the books were not going to be anywhere near "expedited." I had to deal with them more. The amount returns was $4.86. Not exactly a fair amount. All in all, my expedited order will take 25 days to arrive. I was told that in the future, I needed to hold an entire shipment if the amount of books shipped is incomplete. Their mistake and they want to tell me how to run my business. Incredible. I won't be going back to them. read more

I ordered my first book and paid extra for expedited shipping. They sent it Fedex ground and was promised delivery4 days ago yet my book is still not here. I have put in several tickets on lulu's site to get a refund on shipping but have received nothing more than an email confirmation for my request. I don't even know how my book turned out yet! I did like their process cause it was pretty easy but I think I'll spend the extra money and use someone else next time. read more

Really bad customer service. They cancelled their support and now everything is automated (but badly automated). Not only there is no phone support anymore, even the email replies are automated (and the AI is not good in figuring the issues). When your price is super high, at least get a good support read more

I am sickened. I have used Lulu for ten years and spent tens of thousands of dollars with them. A customer of mine was looking for their order and contacted Lulu. Instead of restoring her account, they GAVE HER CONTROL OF MY ACCOUNT. They just changed the email on the account to hers. NO ONE CONTACTED ME, no security was in place. IT IS A SHITSHOW AT LULU SINCE LAST YEAR. A COMPLETE SHITSHOW. Do not use them. There are other companies! this is worse than when they sent porn to my customer with my cover on it. I would give negative stars if I could. read more

In general, not too many problems. First, Lulu does have phones, but obscure at 844-212-0689 and also 919-459-5858. Please search better, and do not tell half-truths. Not fair. Second, problems/defects/edits in final product are YOUR PROBLEM, caused mostly by unedited PDF's, as submitted. May need several PDF's to get all accurate and perfect. No Heaven on earth, sorry. Third, costs are estimates, but always usually have a 10% or 15% discount code attached. Please pay attention to all calculations. Fourth, PDF must be continous, one unit, submitted as one unit only. No segments or partials used. Fifth, some help (free) is given by e-mail by Lulu staff if needed or deemed as best solution possible. Some internal rules are also applicable, with no exceptions. Use creative solutions to get around problems, and learn to negotiate in order to modify items. Sixth, the use of artwork is always a challenge, both internal and external. If too tough, get an outsider to assist, and use help from internal staff as possible. Or use only very minimal artwork to simplify and expedite the time factor. The current system used allows just basic colors and simple line arrangements and geometric shapes in set/preset orientations. Seventh, e-mail contacts must be attempted by using certain stems, preset, ending @email.lulu.com. First names data may apply at first position (Sarah.staff@ ..., Kelly.art@ ...., Jim.accounts@ ...., Bee. editor@ ...,). Must use stem ending, and post several times. Traffic may be heavy, and may need repeat attempts. Or seek the work order section, and input data there, with description of problem. Submit two/three times. Wait for a response. May take time, or next day. Eighth, order copies carefully, after end point is reached. Use discount code, if applicable. Follow menu guidelines (size, shape, texture) as you navigate thru the entire system. Keep all e-mail copies SAVED and ARCHIVED on your computer/laptop. Watch the date and post reminders. You may have to return several times for late additions or adjustments. Keep your credit cards handy, and order items as needed, planned or unplanned. Ninth, watch text suggestions or parameters, as you place orders. Distribution words are specific and must be studied and followed strictly. Plan the journey accordingly. Tenth, use realistic and FAIR cost estimates for sales in various regions, zones, countries, continents. Compute as accurately as possible. This Lulu service is helpful beyond belief, and is rarely as effective as other self publishers or economy publishers. Eleventh, keep a diary or self journal for your computations, estimates, problems, reflections, solutions. Twelfth, buy solo or buy bulk--your choice. Study rate systems carefully for estimates and payments. Guard your control numbers per item, and use SAVED/ARCHIVED functions to retain control and adjustment if needed. USPS rates may differ from UPS rates. Each may have different delivery schedules too. Ditto FEDEX & others. Traffic load, weather, strikes, holidays, civil and political unrest, roadwork, mechanical problems, may all intervene. Expect delays, and always plan accordingly. Thirteenth, there may be some damage in final transit. Inspect all carefully, as finally received, and contact Lulu on any problems. Ditto, USPS vs. UPS. Fourteenth, read and relax. Keep all final paperwork, as found in your incoming order. Use distinct individual subject folders for all historical, numerical, financial items. Catalogue and sort and store for easy to use ready/reference, etc. Negotiate diplomatically as needed. Distribute finished items fairly and judic- iously. Discuss and note any internal text errors or rough spots, with your new readers or audience. Alert Lulu on same items. You can always return to your SAVED/ARCHIVED e-mail leading back to the Lulu publishing form, if adjustments or additions are needed. Unknown problems will always exist. Fifteenth, this is a learning process and ongoing circular project with lots of game theory. Success is possible at the end of the tunnel. Rome wasn't built in a day, so plan accordingly. Publisher predicts and promises that there will be a finished product, as you wish, and deem acceptable (with their input). Do hope this may help. JS. read more

LUlu Press - publishing - what a terrible service. Upload and sending orders are fine but then - they printed my book with defects and there is no place to find out the answer or reimbursment or any Customer Service- since everything is badly automated, there is practically no responsible email service , no pohne # no support!!! just their primitve automatic chat. All adds are misleading. I used them years ago it was decent support but I do not recommend them now- stay away from LULU - as you are in mercy of print machine and automated system with nobody to care after they take orders. read more

NO PHONE NUMBER FOR AT LEAST A MONTH OR LONGER. NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT. They were calling us when we were writing the book but now, when we finally uploaded it, it's impossible to get hold of ANYONE because even when you have an extension number, the phone just disconnects. If I could choose NO STARS, I would. Now we have to find another company to publish our book -- After all that money that was spent on Lulu. They are in a breach of their contract but since we paid about a year ago, I don't think we'll ever see our $$ back. AVOID AT ALL COST. RUN, RUN, RUN read more

Don't do anything with this bad company. They forced writers to pay for the book by promising to publish it. They lied to pretend to publish the book to extortion of the money. When I paid, they refused to fulfill their promises, and asked me to pay again for the same book. The book had a very some problems on the cover which were created by that company printing process (see the photos down below). I changed the cover and wanted to approve the book for the publishing. But Lulu forced me to pay again. They lie and cheat the writers to make only their own income. They did not want to do a refund, did not want to give me even 0.50 discount that they were running at the same time. They did not want to let me to send back their bad product. They blocked my account after I complained to Better BusinessB. Lulu Press is a very bad company and bad service. read more

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I uploaded my manuscript, then tried to design my book all was fine until I tried to size the book to be 6X9. The Lulu program would not let me set the book size, they set it a 8.5X11. I kept trying then noticed I had a message from them when I uploaded the manuscript. The message said: IMAGES: Your file contains images with resolution less than 200 pixels ler inch. Lulu suggests using images with a pixel per inch range of 200-600 for the best results. INK COVERAGE: Your file contains inks with high ink coverage requirements. Using Standard print for content with high ink coverage requirements may result in poor print quality. Please select Premium print or adjust your file to include lower in coverage. TRANSPARANCY: We detected an element that may be transparent within your file. We strongly recommend flattening or removing any transparencies in your file. First I don't know if that is why I can't select a 6X9 book size. I tried to call the phone number on the Lulu web site (919-459-5858) and a message that that is no longer a working number. Previously I had uploaded an earlier version of the manuscript and got it printed. It looked good. For the later one I had added a section into the one I had previously had printed and then I got the above message. This is my memoirs and I had planned to give copies to the grand children for Christmas gifts. read more

Good paper quality, good print quality, but the book fell apart on me when the glue binding came undone after a couple hours of reading. This is basically an unusable product. Avoid. read more

Terrible customer service! Trying to buy books in bulk but no person to help.

I recently published a book called "Kristie Kim Design" through Lulu and it was an easy, fast process! In a week of publishing, my book is now sold on Amazon and eBay. I did not have to do much but wait a few days. My book cover printed out great and I have all of my content the way I imagined it. Compared to other book publishing companies, I did not have to pay $500+ for marketing or a book signing event. I definitely recommend Lulu for those interested in self-publishing online. I was given the ISBN number 9780359839650 and a spotlight page lulu.com/spotlight/kristiekim where I uploaded onto my social media pages. I have happily added "Kristie Kim Design" to my Amazon author page with the help of Lulu's sales team. Thanks! read more

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I used Lulu for my first book, was pleased, and never had any issues until they did a major overhaul of their site with zero warning. The site has so many bugs, one of which released a draft of my book early and had people buying the wrong version for months despite customer service reps insisting that this wasn't possible, until I finally ordered a copy for myself and had physical proof. Shortly after this, revenue stopped going into my account. I had the receipts to prove that people were purchasing the book, but I've yet to be paid for any of it. When the site was overhauled, they took down all phone support lines and I notoriously cannot get a representative to consistently respond to my emails. It took over a month to get the titles removed from distribution in the first place, and I doubt I'll ever see the money they owe me. I filed with the BBB, but still have not reached a conclusion and have been ghosted by multiple reps. I'm mostly reviewing so that independent authors and self-published writers can stay away from this massive scam of a website. It's really horrible to treat customers this way in the first place, but knowing that many of them are indie authors who have trusted this site for years is even worse. After my own experience, I found hundreds of similar reviews, all talking about the same issues: no communication with customer support, missing revenue, unable to get into accounts due to site issues, etc. Stay far away. read more

Lulu used to be a great place to publish books. Then, they made a massive change to their software platform over a year ago, and the place has gone to shambles. With it, unfortunately, their customer support has succumbed to the pressures of the volumes of tickets they are facing...and it too has become slow and unresponsive. WARNING TO AUTHORS: You have to be careful to read through their helpdesk correspondence. Their automatic response says that they've got your ticket and that they're working on it - and then, somewhere down in the lower half of the email, they note that they have CLOSED your ticket as RESOLVED, unless you respond to the email to tell them otherwise. They haven't done anything other than acknowledge your problem, and they're closing their tickets - an obvious tactic to manipulate the numbers of open and aged tickets. If you're not careful, you will miss this point. Their "improved" systems upgrade has incorrectly set prices of my books (particularly for international pricing), made publishing ePubs extremely difficult (including a bug in their software that has prevented me from publishing a book prior to the Christmas holiday and still has not been resolved), inexplicably dropped substantial vendor's sales and revenues from the royalties (an outstanding - and unaddressed - problem still from my Dec volumes -- although they tried to close the ticket without actually resolving the issue), and dropped historical information for books that published over 8 years ago (that problem has since been resolved). What makes it worse is that these issues all take weeks to resolve, because the support staff is SO overloaded with problems, they, despite good intentions, cannot respond or address in a timely fashion...and the onus for keeping on them to resolve the issue is on you. Be the squeaky wheel. Until they get their act in gear, I cannot, in good faith, recommend publishing with Lulu. I do hope they will survive their current problems, but until then - I have to say, stay away. read more

Well after a long wait UPS and USPS finally got my book from Lulu press delivered. I contacted them when appeared my book was lost in Fife WA. So several interactions with their customer service all professional and ultimately effective. Will buy from them again, have several time in past years. They provide a venue for some of the more obscure authors I read occasionally, really important especially during these days of censorship. A bad time for free speech read more

i am a debut author and was so excited to share my book to all my friends and families at my book signing. turns out that they ruined my formatting (chapters are not sectioned by page and share pages with the end of the last chapter) , scammed me out of $60 for shipping (so my books won't even arrive for the book signing) and basically tell me that it's my fault. they dont have a call service so I have to email them multiple times a day only for them to reach out and find no solution whatsoever. lulu press is a huge scam and I am appalled and honestly confused on how they have stayed a running business for so long. probably because they scan new creators who are naive to the self publishing world. SHAME ON YOU. read more

I've had several books published with absolutely no complaints - the back-up service was great. Then in May of last year (2020) they messed about with the cover design process with the result that Volume 4 of a series cannot upload a cover, despite it being the same as the other 3, albeit a different colour. I've had umpteen reassurances that they know the problem and will bring back the old method - BUT that was over 5 months ago - meanwhile the contents of my book lie unfinished - I am losing revenue & Lulu are not selling it so they are missing out too! Bad policy! read more

If I could give 0 stars right now I would. I placed an order for expedited shipping as I have an extremely important meeting surrounding the item I published this week for my business. I received the order yesterday, however, it is not what I created and ordered. It is someone else's recipe book and I'm only assuming that someone else received my order. This is a huge concern for me and my company. The correct packing slip was included, but not the right item! How does this happen?! I put in a ticket as soon as my order arrived and I have not received any response other than the automated one. I tried to call customer support, but this is not currently an available service, which is unfortunate. If you are going to only offer email support, the ability to reach out to your customers should be done in a more pressing manner. Extremely frustrated! read more

I ordered a book from them in English. Although the cover was in English, the entire contents was in another language. I called and they said that I had to go on line fill out a form and send a picture of the contents. I stated that I was not going to do that. I also stated that why would I make this up if I wanted the book. I did offer to take the picture and email it to the customer rep. She declined. I don't recommend buying books from them. As an author, I surly don't recommend using them to publish and print books. read more

They have good and bad moments, but this service here sucks! I published two books with this company, and both times they gave me such a hard time! Plus, on my second book, I had it sent to Amazon and it was the wrong book! They used my cover and my author's page, but the whole entire story was someone else's book! So far, I've sent a ticket and tried called about 3 times, and still no response. Very irritated my work isn't being shared! read more

Sooo sad, I have not received not one royalty check, I have tried contacting them to get into my account in which they claim they can't find. My books that I published with them are in all digital outlets, they are receiving total commission from the sales. I have tried contacting them, to no avail, nothing!! PLEASE GO WITH ANOTHER COMPANY OR LOSE EVERYTHING YOUVE WORKED HARD FOR read more

I've been using this printing company to print books over the last 10yrs. In 2017 I published a book, had a few printing errors, got someone on the phone and they fixed the issue, issued me a refund on my proof, and was able to print over 75 copies that came out great. I've been working on a new book, its a lot more expensive since its hardcover and had 2 proofs come in the mail, and both were having printing problems. The first one was on my end. The second was not. I used their templates, having a lot of trouble with the bleed shifting in my proof, but when I download the pdf's of the order it doesn't show this shift. Understand they no longer have customer care via phone or instant chat. Ive sent out 3 emails in the last week with no response. I imagine COVID has changed a lot of businesses and major delays but I would think someone would get back to me in a week. I don't want to have to wait a month or more to get a response so I'm pretty upset and was planning to launch the book in 2 weeks before the holidays. If you are trying to do something on time I don't think they will be very responsive. read more

The worst. Updates cause numerous issues with Jumbled up book results. All this and absolutely NO customer service. Don't waste your time.

When I began using lulu.com I'd give it no less than four stars, but now during their updating, remodeling, pandemic era I am unable after several attempts to regain either my account or my published works. I can't even locate them on their site, it's as if they've been removed, yet no one has for months got in touch to even check up on the issues. My initial account address is no longer accessible and I'm trying to get their attention to this and the fact that my works are not showing up on their web page. read more

Serious scam alert! Ordered 2 books, over$200. Nothing, can't get anyone. They sure found my bank account number ok.

horrid customer service and insanely slow to print and ship orders. unacceptable. i have used competitors such as Blurb and it is night and day in terms of response and quickness. awful company. read more

I should have paid attention to the online reviews, especially from Google about Lulu Press. I had an author account for seven years without any issues. They even did really impressive work on my coffee table books. I was asked by a film production studio to do a coffee table book on a very popular, high profile celebrity who is having legal issues. I omitted any legal troubles the person is having, in the book. I just stuck to the facts that they mesmerized audiences worldwide, with their music production. The next thing I know, Lulu sends me a cold email saying that Barnes & Noble wants my account closed down, and they comply with it. When I published The Adrenochrome Witch Documentary with Barnes & Noble during the Pandemic of 2020, they sent me a cold email on a Saturday morning stating our business relationship was finished. It's best to have your own publishing company. Any little things encourages cancel culture in 2022 read more