As part of our 2015 resolutions, we are making it easier than ever for you to keep up with new site features, enhancements and bug fixes by sharing release information in both our community forums and our blog. To start off the new year, we are freshening up a page in the publishing wizard, update iBookstore revenue calculations, enhancing bookstore search, and advising users to upgrade their browsers.
Congratulations! Page Redesign
The Congratulations page of the publishing wizard previously included lots of text, 10 links, and five buttons. Some of the text was helpful and some was a little confusing or out of date.
To remove any doubts about the next steps you should take, we are introducing a redesigned version of this page with a delineated list of actions specific to your project. For example, if you created a printed book with an ISBN, there will be options to manage distribution, order a proof copy, create a spotlight page, create an eBook, etc.
iBookstore Revenue Calculator VAT Update
Author revenues for eBooks sold in the EU iBookstore are calculated on the amount remaining after VAT and the iBookstore’s commission is paid. Beginning January 1, 2015 VAT rates for eBooks will be based on the buyer’s country of residence rather than the blanket 3% rate previously charged. Since VAT rates now vary from 3-27%, authors selling eBooks in the EU iBookstore will see variations in the reported revenue based on the country in which the buyer lives.
To help authors better understand how these new tax rates affect revenues, we have updated the iBookstore revenue calculator to include the VAT rates for each EU country.
To view the iBookstore calculator, go to My Projects, click Manage next to your eBook project, and click the information button next to the iBookstore price.
Lulu Bookstore Search
To make it even easier for shoppers to find your book in the Lulu Bookstore, we have implemented exact match searching. When you place your search terms inside parentheses, only those books with titles containing the words in parentheses, in the same order, will be returned in the search results.
Supported Browser Alert
Lulu.com strives to make free, do-it-yourself publishing available to as many authors as possible by developing tools compatible for use on multiple devices and platforms. Our designers and engineers must therefore balance the functionality they wish to provide with the capabilities of the browsers and devices used by Lulu authors and their fans.
With this in mind, we designed our most recent site update to be equally accessible on desktops, laptops, and tablets. To ensure you can access all features and functions on Lulu.com, we recommend accessing our site using the current versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer 9 (or higher).
If you are using an older version of a browser, we will let you know by displaying an alert suggesting you switch browsers or upgrade to the latest version.