The School Nurse and a Lulu Moan (Mostly the Latter)

I had intended to feature some links to a couple of stories I have been sent, some comments and some links to some varied and interesting sites today. I also intended to do some work on an article in which I plan to tell more about my true life experiences that I alluded to in my last posting. As it is I have spent most of this weekend (other than the time spent earning a crust - or trying to) attempting to contact and get some sense out of the people through whom I presently publish my stuff - Lulu.com. You see they have recently redesigned their virtual shopfront / website. All well and good, you might say - surely an improvement? Well, yes and no - mostly no from my, admittedly selfish point of view. The site / shopfront now has a slicker appearance, but now it is not at all obvious that the books are also available as electronic downloads in addition to print copies.

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Now for one reason or another, the folk who read our sort of material would often prefer not to receive hard copy through the post (and I am one) - it can go astray, or worse, fall into the wrong hands, perhaps coming under the disapproving scrutiny of one's spouse or significant other.

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Secondly there is the vexed question of price: Due to Lulu's print costs, my books have go at £8.95 for a print copy if I am to earn anything from it at all. To be honest with you, it's actually more to do with my still making a little something when sold through Amazon et al - who take their own cut on top! Lulu.com charges posting and packing on top of that and there can be a delay in receiving the book, as it has to be printed and worm its way through a postal system that, in the UK at least, is becoming increasingly uncertain! The electronic download price, on the other hand, is a mere £3.75 - and few seem to begrudge that. Add to that the fact that the purchase then becomes available practically instantly - and I for one appreciate a little instant gratification - and you can imagine the proportion of my readers that prefer this route. The trouble now is that, to any new would-be reader, the fact that an electronic download is available is all but hidden (a bit of very small text, hidden away to one side of the top of the page) and the download price is not mentioned at all unless one clicks on the appropriate (and minuscule) link. Consequently my sales figures have all but fallen to zero, but for an occasional print copy and one or two sold through online book stores. Volume 2 is not even available in that manner at present as I am holding back with appropriating for it an ISBN registration until such a time as I am sure and certain that it is in its final form - I have been messing about, inserting various keywords and combinations of keywords into section headings in an attempt to make it more visible to search engines.

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In addition to all this, other than two, the vast majority of the kind and positive reviews that had been posted on Lulu.com for INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1 (click to see what I mean)have disappeared - including some of the best and most erudite. Comments such as "...destined to become a classic of its genre" - which, as I am sure you can imagine, I treasured greatly -have just vanished forever!!!

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So what does all this imply? Well, I am presently searching around for other avenues through which to publish my scribblings, while trudging on with the shortly upcoming 'in-betweeny volume - prequel / sequel' thing (still needs a title) and also one or two parts for volume 3, as and when the ideas come - but as you might well imagine, my enthusiasm is becoming somewhat blunted. Meanwhile, in order to develop at least a little income between the extremely sparse desk research briefs I receive (I'm mostly unemployed) I am considering signing up to two more commercial affiliate schemes - bringing the total to three (and there it will stay - enough, already!). These I will want to be satisfied to be eminently suited to my readership and the subject matter presented on this site and - even more importantly - to offer good value and not be a rip-off. So... a little ad hoc survey:

If you have visited and purchased a subscription to the site I am presently affiliated to - Regulation School Knickers - from which the above images were taken (see sidebar banner or the banner at the foot of the page) - what did you think of their product? Any comments? Either post here as a comment or alternativly you are welcome to contact me direct at the following email adress (anonymously if you so require) toyntanen@googlemail.com .