Lou Rosenfeld's dashboard

Jennie, we're on it! In fact, we've enlisted our readers to help us figure out the ins and outs of EPUB:

http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announc...

We need a consultant to work with our designer on this, as we're pretty clueless about EPUB. Any suggestions?

Thanks Jennie; we're going to take a second look at typeface as we start producing our next round

Hi Jason, thanks for the note. I'm not a typographer either, and I'm not even sure I remember which typeface it is (Gotham perhaps? that's either the serif or sans serif typeface we're using; not sure which one). But I'll pass this on to the person who lays out the interiors of our books; obviously more than a few of you share this same concern. Thanks; keep'em coming!

Alright! Happy modellin'!

Hi Jason, apparently your order fell through the cracks at our fulfillment center. We've requested that they rush ship your order. So sorry for the delay! Please let me know when it arrives--or, if for some reason, it doesn't. Thanks for your patience!

Hi Jason, we're on it! Hope to have a response to you in the morning. Thanks for your patience. – Lou Rosenfeld, on November 05, 2008 03:28

Kyle, don't be sad! We're reasonable people. ;-)

We've encountered similar requests a few times, and what we do is this: you buy the package version (including the paperback book). Then pop me an email (lou at rosenfeldmedia.com) to let me know. I'll then issue a full credit for your original purchase.

Sound good?

It's extremely difficult to sell through overseas Amazon stores (unless you're a member of Amazon Advantage, which doesn't make business sense for us). You need a local bank account, address, incorporation, taxes...

That's a little different; we worked that out with the organizers (Clearleft) specifically for that event. We try to do those when we can, but it's not always possible; every event is a little different.

That's probably because our system--until this summer--didn't require account creation. But, because you provide most of the information to complete an account-less order, many thought they'd indeed created an account. I'll bet dollars to donuts that's what happened for you ifenn; we've since changed things so that account creation is required. Anyway, we're glad to send files manually if that's what it takes.

Hah! I love the idea; if only it was so simple...

Hi Vanessa, my apologies for this problem. We are recovering from a server migration this past weekend, and one of the remaining problems is with our download application. We're emailing all customers their digital purchases as a backup, and I believe you should have received such an email moments ago.

We hope to have this fixed later today; thanks for your patience, and for your business! Please let me know if I can help with anything else.

It's amazing how quickly an item can travel thousands of miles and how slowly it can travel hundreds. ;-) Glad it arrived; I hope you enjoy it!

Sounds good; thanks.

Hello again; the book shipped on Monday 9/15 (the day after your order) via UPS (tracking #1Z 424 851 67 1321 639 3 ). According to UPS, it arrived in Bucharest during the morning of Friday 9/19. Current status is "PACKAGE DATA PROCESSED BY BROKERAGE. WAITING FOR CLEARANCE". So, the good news is that your order is at least geographically close; the bad news is that UPS has left us with the cryptic status message "WAITING FOR CLEARANCE". Perhaps there are customs issues with shipments to Romania (none have come up for us before)?

I'd suggest we wait to see what happens Monday. After that, if you'd consider it, it might make sense for you to call the UPS office in Bucharest to see if you can get more information and we can do the same with our UPS representative.

I'm sorry again that we didn't respond. Long story short: your email was a response to our email confirmation; due to the way Gmail and its filters work, your response was automatically filed away rather than showing up in our customer service representative's inbox. We're taking measures to fix this problem. Thanks again for your patience and our apologies for the hassle!

This is both atypical for us and, more importantly, inexcusable; I'm very sorry about this. It's the weekend here, so we can't ship until Monday, but we're working on this. Were you able to receive the digital download when you made your purchase? If not, please let me know and we'll resend it to you. More soon on your order's status as we learn what happened.

Hi Mech, I totally understand the need to rant. I'm frustrated as well that we can't seem to have books delivered to your specific address. And I don't like wasting books either; it's not good business, especially if it doesn't result in a happy customer.

We'd be glad to ship via UPS/Fedex overseas (and make this option available). But we then get criticized by customers for charging too much, when in fact we are actually undercharging for almost all overseas deliveries (Singapore for certain). Most customers opt for the lower cost shipping option, via USPS and local postal services, which don't typically offer tracking numbers. So we end up in this no-win situation.

I'm sure Singapore's postal service is excellent, as is the USPS. However, they do make mistakes, and they have repeatedly in shipping to your particular address (we've successfully shipped to other addresses in Singapore, I might add). I keep wondering if there isn't a problem at your mail room, rather than with the postal service; is this something you can investigate? Books often "disappear" in the black hole of buildings' mail rooms.

While you may see it as the "easy way out," I see crediting you (and not charging you for the digital edition) as the only way to ethically serve you here unless you wish to opt for a higher priced shipping option. I'm not sure how else we can assist you, but I'm open to suggestions.

Finally, your order via Amazon will unfortunately be no different. Amazon presently does not fulfill Rosenfeld Media orders; they simply send them to us and we fulfill them the same way we would if you purchased from us directly. We're exploring new overseas distribution options, but until then, we can at least provide our overseas customers with our digital editions, which arrive immediately and have no shipping charges.

I appreciate your input, even if it is a rant, and I look forward to your suggestions on how a small US-based publisher like us can serve you better.

Mech: the delay has absolutely nothing to do with our store's design, although we would gratefully welcome your constructive feedback on how we can improve it. (It's far better now than it was two months ago, thanks to our customers' input.)

The delivery problem also has nothing to do with our pricing, which, at US$15, is by no means extreme. It is lower than what other publishers like O'Reilly and Peachpit charge and lower, I might add, than our costs.

While I understand your frustration, you have ordered the book with full knowledge that, as with any item that is shipped overseas, there is the possibility of a delay. And I'm sure you realize that this delay is out of our hands; we shipped your book less than 24 hours after your order. At that point, the shipping service either does its job properly or, occasionally, doesn't. There also can be problems with the book not being properly forwarded once it arrives at the customer's building or mailroom.

Even though these problems are completely outside Rosenfeld Media's control, we almost always send out new copies to our customers in such circumstances. But it sounds like delivering to your location is exceedingly difficult; we simply can't afford to send additional copies to your address. So I will issue a full credit to you later today with the expectation that, if the book does arrive, you will do the honorable thing and inform us so that we can reissue the charge.

Right, but Amazon has a Canadian web store (with, I'd guess, a fulfillment center located in Canada).

In any case: agreed (and it's one reason we sell immediate-gratification zero-postage digital editions too). In fact, we're exploring creating a print-optimized digital edition (currently our digital books are designed for on-screen use, not printing, though you can certainly print them too).

We're also starting to explore reasonable means for getting our book into non-US Amazon stores. One reason we don't right now is that the economics of dealing with what is essentially the Web-based bookselling monopoly aren't good for any publishers, much less small ones in start-up mode. Amazon is becoming increasingly predatory, so while we can't avoid them, we do try our best to survive on direct sales.

Not extreme at all, unfortunately; shipping costs--which are out of our control, obviously--are going up with all carriers. We are actually subsidizing all overseas shipments at US$15.

For comparison's sake:
* O'Reilly: $19.74
* Peachpit: $18.00