{"id":1002,"date":"2022-09-12T09:05:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-12T13:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/?p=1002"},"modified":"2023-01-08T01:16:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T06:16:07","slug":"were-not-there-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/2022\/09\/were-not-there-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re not there yet… and then we were."},"content":{"rendered":"

Everything involves testing and patience, especially<\/em> involving digital technologies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I ordered sample copies of A is for Art.<\/strong><\/em> One \u2013 to test the Online Store ordering and billing process.\u00a0 Two \u2013 well just to have some samples<\/em> to show people and promote the book. Both<\/em> orders turned up with the books bound backwards and the right-left pages reversed, and the page trims fraked-up. To say that I was NOT happy is something of an understatement.<\/p>\n

This is what Lulu had to say – \u201cWith regards to the pages having been set in the incorrect order, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Lulu strives to provide the best products and experiences possible for customers. Our defect rate is less than 1%, and although we wish we could guarantee that you will never experience a defective order, unfortunately, they do occur occasionally.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Lulu agreed to reprinting both orders, and I thought \u201cwe\u2019ll see if they get things sorted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth came from the same print facility, which means they were likely printed in the same batch and produced at the same time. I apologize for the inconvenience. In this case, because the orders were likely printed and manufactured together, resulting in the defects.\u201d <\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Apparently, they greatly appreciate my continued patience while they fulfill the reorders…<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Bindery<\/a>
Bindery errors with the first samples. What the WHAT???<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I took the book off the Online Shop till I got some answers from Lulu. Just FRAK me. NOT HAPPY. And of course this happened on a\u00a0 weekend, so the support ticket was not even seen till Monday morning.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

While Lulu said they would replace the defective copies – but it still felt kind of unacceptable. Even 1% is kind of high, that’s one in a hundred. What If I sell a bunch? What if I – or someone else – makes a bulk order and they’re ALL frakked? Urgh. And it also shows NO HUMAN was inspecting these coming off the press before they’re shipped. Bound the mutha-ruttin’ books gorram backwards<\/em>. That’s not a minor color variance.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was hopeful that the replacements will be printed correctly, but the two wrong in a row kind of eroded my confidence in Lulu’s Print on Demand model. It\u2019s Me and the Studio\u2019s reputation on the line if people get crappy books!\u00a0 But the idea of starting over with a new vendor was … not ideal.<\/p>\n

\n

After about a week and a half, we received both re-orders, and tank the gods of Press, they were both okay. I have my samples and verified my last tweaks. So I brought the product page back online and made the book available to the world again. Now to consider marketing initiatives.<\/p>\n

Whew!<\/p>\n

[ Updated 27 October 2022 for narrative clarity ]<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The Second set of Sample copies arrived looking right and proper!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everything involves testing and patience, especially involving digital technologies. So I ordered sample copies of A is for Art. One \u2013 to test the Online Store ordering and billing process.\u00a0 Two \u2013 well just to have some samples to show people and promote the book. Both orders turned up with the books bound backwards and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop.jpg",800,480,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop-300x180.jpg",300,180,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop-768x461.jpg",768,461,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop.jpg",800,480,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop.jpg",800,480,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop.jpg",800,480,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop-300x180.jpg",300,180,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop-600x360.jpg",600,360,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Replacement-AforArt-Sept2022-800crop-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kurt Griffith","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Everything involves testing and patience, especially involving digital technologies. So I ordered sample copies of A is for Art. One \u2013 to test the Online Store ordering and billing process.\u00a0 Two \u2013 well just to have some samples to show people and promote the book. Both orders turned up with the books bound backwards and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1002"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1085,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions\/1085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}