Update: Our specialists are happy to help you find the best solutions to all your publishing needs via email or LiveChat. Feel free to contact them by visiting our customer support page.
For this month’s post, I’d like to address one of the most frequently asked questions: “Is there a number I can call to talk to someone at Lulu?” As a web-based company, our services are offered through the Lulu.com website and our customer support issues are handled through emailed electronic tickets. These tickets are useful because they provide something for the customer voice team to reference as a customer’s relationship with Lulu grows. Customers can send in photos of what they are referencing along with their order and content ID numbers, allowing everything to be consolidated in one place.
We recently upgraded our system and moved all tickets to a more streamlined database in an effort to improve organization and efficiency in our response time. We also doubled our customer voice team in just a four-week period! All this hard work is to get Lulu’s support back to the standard of a two business-day turnaround.
That said, a recent addition to Lulu’s masterpiece publishing package is phone support. A Lulu specialist will be assigned to a project and will work with an author by email and phone. This specialist is dedicated to helping an author’s publication reach its full potential. While there is a price for this, a dedicated specialist might be a good investment for an author depending on how much help they think they might need. Lulu offers several professional publishing packs for anyone that wants help through their publishing experience. These packages continue to evolve as the needs of the customer change.
Self-publishing is an industry that empowers authors to realize their dreams and ambitions, and Lulu is always growing and improving to keep up with your needs. Presently, there are a number of help options for an aspiring Lulu author to seek out, such as excellent video tutorials, an extensive FAQ page, an in-depth help knowledge base, and customer voice team members that are just an email away!
24 Comments
I am glad to here that LuLu cares. I very much dislike it when a computer comes on to answer my questions. It makes me feel like a number. Thanks for your concern.
Addition to the previous post. I have tried to email support@lulu.com, but this email address failed to deliver. I can’t believe that I am now not able to contact lulu in any other way than posting on your “Understanding Lulu: Can I talk to someone?” post. No email without being logged-in. No phone. No technical support, as my log-in doesn’t work? A company which can NOT BE REACHED? You’re kidding. I DO need access to my account within the next 24 hours. Please resolve this matter and email me at designhouse@live.com.ar
Monika,
I am sorry that you have had trouble with your password. The ticket system requires you to log-in so that your account information is linked to the ticket. A customer service representative can easily log into your account and see your projects and order history to expedite the whole process. It is against Lulu policy for anyone to email customers outside of that ticket system. I will personally send you an email to the one you provided with a new log-in password, but it will be through an existing ticket that I create for you which will provide an easy reference for myself and any other customer voice team members that may help you. I again apologize for any frustration, but please know that I want to help get you a solution.
AJ, Many thanks for your help!
Hi I need to know how to let friends & family know how to order. I want to make sure the inside white page, has Psalm 118:24 under This Is The Day The Lord Has Made Let Us Rejoice & Be Glad In It!
hi;
Do you provide Illustrations with your Children Books Imagination Pack? I am very interested in this package.I have many questions I wish I had an email or a # where I can talk to someone.
Thank you;
MM
Mirella,
I am thrilled to hear you are interested in writing! If you follow the link at the end of my blog post it will send you to an email form where you can ask any questions you may have. As far as illustrations go, all content that is published through Lulu must belong to, and be provided by the author, we do not provide illustrations. We are partnered with fotolia however, one of the internet’s largest stock photo companies. You may find some cool stuff to use for your book there. Once you launch a project, you can actually link directly to fotolia and pull any images you like. Hope this helps!
The former Live Help (using the IM method of emailing for Lulu assistence) option was tremendously helpful. It cut a LOT of corners for me and I was able to put my book together in half the time. It seems that it would be a much better option than time consuming telephone calls. Why was Live Help eliminated?
Thanks for your help, AJ!
AJ, thank you. In the meantime, I got an explanation from a colleague of yours here on Lulu blog. But I really appreciate your interest and the fact that you’ve offered to help!
I want to publish a series of books using the square format books, but it seems the spot where you drag your photo isn’t square, as it chops off my border on the top and bottom, leaving it on the sides. I e-mailed the help system but got no reply on this. Do I have to change all of my photos to get them to fit the box? Thanks for any help-
Mark
Mark,
I am sorry you haven’t heard a response from customer service yet, I looked up your name but couldn’t find your ticket. Either way, the photo book itself will be a square, the format of the pictures within depends on the theme you choose. You can choose which page layout you want in the Lulu Studio if you want, you can also drag and drop your photos in. The photos will “auto-snap” into the empty field box and depending on the size and shape of the photo in correlation to the field box, yes, some on the photo may be cropped off. You can move and resize the image within the studio to combat this formatting however. Otherwise, you will have to resize your photos to fit the drop zone. I hope this helps! Glad to hear you are interested in publishing!
I think LulU should seriously consider telephone support to the masses (not as some paid-for add-on). Even if the support number were a toll call, your buying customers and authors would feel better about TALKING to someone in person. It’s just good business…
Bet you guys who reply to the letters think that life is pretty depressing – but keep up the good work because Lulu does deliver and excellent product and the gain is ultimately worth the pain.
Dudley,
Thank you very much for your post – it was a nice pick-me-up!
AJ, you’ve been a great help. I finally got an email back today, and my book has been listed on Amazon! Great!
Just one more question, though, if you don’t mind? When I make sales via Amazon, do I still get revenue via Lulu, or will it be through Amazon?
Thanks,
Andy.
Andy,
Thank you! It was no problem, glad you got the help you deserve. In regards to your Amazon question, your revenue from that will be added to your Lulu revenue. Amazon reports sales numbers to us once a month and then we add that to your Lulu revenue figures. You should receive your Amazon revenues the following revenue period (or the following month).
I came into your world just this morning, and would like to say how happy I am, seeing that I can be guided through this new wonderland. I have a few questions of course, as all greenhorns have, but I will come back soon. For the time beeing, thanks for the mere fact that you exist!!!!
Hi I am just a few days away from publishing my first poetry book on lulu. It is 20 pages long hard cover landscape 9×7 is it possible I can order them in bulk? Possibly 50 or 100 copies? Also how would I go about getting an ISBN # do I need to purchase one of your packages to receive one? Thanks for your help.
Alicia,
You sure can buy in bulk. You’ll need to get in touch with a bulk services rep to do that though. You can reach them here: http://www.lulu.com/customerservice
In regards to an ISBN, you can get one for free from Lulu.com or bring one you already own. More information here: http://www.lulu.com/services/distribution
I have my book all ready to go and I have my own ISBN but I can’t find where to enter it to the project. When I revise and change the distribution the ISBN opportunbity appears but my book format is no longer offered. What to do?
Thank you for this article, but I am still concerned especially when it comes with support for shipping questions and issues. If an order is lost or fails to get delivered and a person did not have tracking because of the huge expense of shipping through Lulu, they are just lost. Sometimes, being able to talk with someone and get clear answers on what to do next can help.
Many people I work with are not web savvy. So I end up following up on their behalf when they buy books… and its frustrating.
Another article idea would be to address the high shipping costs associated with Lulu.com. If you’ve already done this, I haven’t found the answers. It would be great if the USPS or even UPS were independent options… as I know the rates are better than what we see when publishing books.
I need to have a book published but can not follow your web site for some reason, please help
How much does it cost to publish a paperback book, please help