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Doug Holder
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 25
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 Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:37 am Post subject: Chief Executive of LULU to New York Times Jan 28 2009 |
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" We have easily published the largest collection of bad poetry in the history of mankind" Robert Young Chief Executive of LULU
You can imagine how I felt after reading this in th New York Times. I mean even if the guy feels this way, doesn't it hurt folks like myself who published many worthwhile poets and spent a lot of money with LULU saying that? I mean how about LULU's credibility, and their loyal customers?
By the way, I am the founder of the Ibbetson St. Press. And for a long time we were publishing books the traditional way. But LULU is now our printer. Lulu does not edit, design, choose our poets...they print them...just like any publisher would send the finished book to the printer...
Our poets have been blurbed by the likes of Howard Zinn, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Afaa Michael Weaver ( Pushcart Prize winner), Martha Collins ( Editor of Field Magazine), Fred Marchant ( Director of Poetry Center Suffolk Univ.--Boston) and many more. Our poets are very accomplished for the most part and our books have been featured in respected literary journals like Rattle, Verse Daily, The Boston Globe, The Small Press Review, etc...
Mr. Young please read some of our books and you might change your tune. You are just adding to the prejudice against POD, which many of us try to address
Doug Holder/Ibbetson Street Press |
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Dawson Vosburg
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 474
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:44 am Post subject: |
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Bob was not saying that all the poetry on Lulu is horrible--it's just that they have a lot of bad poetry. It's just being honet.
Dawson |
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Doug Holder
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 25
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:04 pm Post subject: Is this best comment for promotion? |
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| The quote comes off very bad... I am sure Mr. Young knows the perception among the traditionalists out there and he should measure his words. How about "Not all our poetry is not top notch, but we also have a lot great stuff out there as well" Or something like that... |
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Julie Dawson
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 4460
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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I actually had to go find the original article, because I couldn't believe he would say that publically.
| Quote: | | Indeed, said Robert Young, chief executive of Lulu Enterprises, based in Raleigh, N.C., a majority of the company’s titles are of little interest to anybody other than the authors and their families. “We have easily published the largest collection of bad poetry in the history of mankind,” Mr. Young said. |
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28selfpub.html?pagewanted=2&_r=5&sq=%22Robert%20Young%22&st=cse&scp=1
NO WONDER Lulu has no interest in actually helping authors SELL BOOKS. Lulu doesn't see any real value in anything published here, and therefore simply wants to make it's money off of selling services to authors. Really, it's a damn shame that Bob would make this sort of comment in public. Because what he is really saying to each and every author here is "We know we aren't going to make any money off of the sale of your books, so we need to make all of our profits off of you."
So, Bob, if you really feel this way, why do you encourage authors to fork over $400 for a book review? Or $100 for an overpriced press release editing? $600 for web design?
That is the attitude at lulu. Nobody here is publishing anything the general public is interested in, so we just have to milk these writers for as much as we can get. |
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Carol Townsend
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Posts: 1334
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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It reminds me of the ex-chief of jewellery company Ratners, who infamously said once that much of their merchandise was "crap". Some people are very good at opening their mouths and putting their size eleven feet straight in!
Carol |
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Maggie
Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Posts: 4339
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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I'd listened to a radio interview with Bob Young a while back--and I could have sworn he had said the same thing then. And to think, the Lulu moderators went mad trying to tell me I hadn't heard what I'd heard.
If anyone has the inclination, do a search for live interviews; I'm sure it will come up. |
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Maggie
Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Posts: 4339
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Steven Doerfler
Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 2681
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Julie Dawson wrote: | | Lulu doesn't see any real value in anything published here, |
To be fair, Bob didn't say that. He said a majority (more than 50%) of the books aren't of interest to the general public. Not 100%. It's possible he thinks 49% of the books on Lulu are wonderful. Or 1%. Or none. But he didn't say none are of interest to the public, just less than half.
Plenty of folks write family histories and such that aren't really intended for the public. There are lots of books on Lulu using a generic cover, lots with basic problems of spelling and grammar right on the first page, and so forth. It's possible these outnumber the carefully created Lulu books that compare with those from major publishers.
Even if it's true, though, I agree it would have been better not to say it in an interview. |
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Doug Holder
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 25
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| But it is inexcusable what he said about poetry the largest collection of bad poetry!!!! |
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Kevin Lomas
Joined: 02 Aug 2008
Posts: 2455
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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There was once a massive jewellery company in the UK, a shop on every high-street. Huge turnover.
The CEO was speaking at a some big private meeting or other addressing 100s of other people in the industry and he stated that the success of the company was due to bulk buying cheap rubbish and selling it at a small discount.
The next day it was spread across the papers and on TV. The company's shares plummeted and people also stopped shoping there.
In the end the company shut down a few weeks later. Some competitor bought the shops for next to nothing.
CEOs beware of what you say. |
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