Lulu.com Mishaps

I've been using Lulu.com to create beta-reader copies of my books, for people who wouldn't read a book onscreen, and don't want to print the whole thing out. It's been working pretty well; I upload the file, order a couple of copies, and then rinse, revise, repeat. I keep the projects "private," and didn't have a second thought about it. In fact, I wrote about it on this blog. Over the various projects I've been working on, I bought 30-40 Draft copies off Lulu.

I don't think I'll be doing this any more.

I've discovered that once you buy a copy, there is no way to delete the files from the Lulu server. Some people over-write their old projects with blank "revisions" but every file associated with the project remains on Lulu's server.

This in itself is worrisome.

What's devastating is the big old screw-up Lulu recently made, when it sent 100,000 Lulu books to Amazon - without asking the authors' permission. It was apparently some misguided attempt to give authors more publicity. Some of those were sent (mistakenly)  from the private area; others were never meant to be shared with anyone but friends and family. Some were drafts that had been superceded, early versions of books, or books never intended to be published. Most of the affected people only found out by accident.  Lulu explained it was all a mistake, and said they would rectify it.

Sure. But the damage is done.

It seems like Lulu can do whatever it wants with your files, because they sit on its server.