Lou Rosenfeld's dashboard

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 17, 2008 14:24 to the problem "Again! ONE month passed and still no book" in Rosenfeld Media:

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.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 13, 2008 21:13 to the question "$15 shipping to Canada seems extreme" in Rosenfeld Media:

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.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 13, 2008 20:00 to the question "$15 shipping to Canada seems extreme" in Rosenfeld Media:

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

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 11, 2008 17:36 to the idea "No books on Amazon.co.uk?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Just posted some additional thoughts and questions regarding printer-friendly digital editions on our site: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announc...

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 10, 2008 17:54 to the idea "No books on Amazon.co.uk?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Aileenf, selling a PDF version designed especially for printing is a very interesting suggestion. We'd need to take the version we send to the printer and at least remove all the toner-hungry design elements (e.g,. dark backgrounds found on our chapters' first pages). But it's feasible.

But is it something that many people are clamoring for? I'd love to hear more thoughts on this idea. Anyone else struggling with the same issue?

Lou Rosenfeld marked one of aileenf's replies in Rosenfeld Media as useful. aileenf replied to the idea "No books on Amazon.co.uk?".

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 03, 2008 21:19 to the idea "No books on Amazon.co.uk?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Hi Philip, we'd love to be there. But... publishers are being crushed by middlemen and retailers, including Amazon, which require 55%-70% of the list price of the books you purchase. That's why we opt to sell through two chief channels: directly (where for the same price as the paperback you'd purchase on Amazon, we'll also provide you with the book's digital edition), and via Amazon's Marketplace program, which charges a much smaller commission to publishers (enabling us to stay in business).

Unfortunately, because we don't participate in Amazon's standard Advantage program (at a 55% clip), they won't list us in Amazon.uk or other non-US Amazon stores.

One reason we sell a digital edition (again, directly at http://rosenfeldmedia.com) is to cater to customers who understandably don't want to pay shipping fees. Our digital books have been designed and tested for on-screen use, but of course you can print them too.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. We're open to exploring different sales channels, but at this point, I have a hard time seeing how we can offer the value we do and be a viable business with a different approach.

A comment on the idea "More Kudos for Kompanies!" in Get Satisfaction:

(blushing) – Lou Rosenfeld, on June 02, 2008 00:34

Lou Rosenfeld replied on June 02, 2008 00:14 to the discussion "Who designs your oh-so-lovely book covers?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Thanks for the admiration! We really love them too. There are more on the way from the same family. And all credit goes to Jason Kernevich of The Heads of State (http://theheadsofstate.com), a design firm based in Philadelphia.

Lou Rosenfeld started following the idea "More Kudos for Kompanies!" in Get Satisfaction.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 31, 2008 01:32 to the idea "More Kudos for Kompanies!" in Get Satisfaction:

I'll second Victor's suggestion. I think the Netflix model is a good one. It's also what Amazon uses with its Marketplace third party vendors. The magic is in sending a quick and easy-to-respond-to email just after an interaction of some sort. With Get Satisfaction, that interaction would be the one with the company in question. Take the "How does this make you feel?", throw'em in an auto-generated email, and send them to the person who just had a (hopefully positive) interaction with a company.

Or (urk) do you already do this? Even if you do, at least the hopefully good stuff will be more prominent, rather than being buried in a comment (like this one).

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 27, 2008 11:57 to the question "Is there a way to track my order?" in Rosenfeld Media:

My pleasure!

We wish we could automate the shipping status process, but it doesn't seem technically feasible right now. We're hoping that might change as our software vendor improves the shopping cart's functionality, but we're not there yet...

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 26, 2008 15:58 to the question "Is there a way to track my order?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Hi James; we're glad to check on its status for you. Please send me (lou [at] rosenfeldmedia.com) the order number and we'll check it right away.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 23, 2008 02:14 to the question "RM account holder and its order history" in Rosenfeld Media:

Hi Mech, we're working on this now and it's not looking promising. Kryptronic CCP, our cart software, doesn't support it. We're mucking around in the database tables and not having much luck that way either. We'll keep trying, and I'll let you know if we figure out a way to do it. But in any case, if you ever do need help that our cart and account system aren't able to provide, please contact me directly and I'll get you what you need.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 21, 2008 14:45 to the discussion "Better body typeface?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Thanks Josh; I've heard this issue mentioned once before. I'd love to hear from more of our customers on the typeface. We like it, but if it's problematic, then we'll certainly need to reconsider our typeface choice for future titles.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 15, 2008 11:46 to the question "RM account holder and its order history" in Rosenfeld Media:

Mech, sorry about this! I can look at this over the weekend (I'm away right now). In the meantime, is there anything you need ASAP (say, another digital edition)?

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 15, 2008 11:38 to the question "Unable to download in Safari" in Rosenfeld Media:

Hi; I'm not sure why the HTML is downloading. Downloads have been working fine for all browsers, so I'm not sure what the problem might be here. In any case, if you email me at lou [at] rosenfeldmedia.com, I can email you the file right away.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 15, 2008 03:47 to the question "Can I upgrade to a print version of Mental Models?" in Rosenfeld Media:

It's a tough call. With our digital editions, we done many things to make them easier to use on-screen (in fact, we've opted in almost every case for on-screen utility over printing utility when we've had to make a choice). Thing is, most people would still prefer to use the digital edition for quick lookups and other reference needs rather than reading on-screen. There are exceptions, of course, like Kindle and Sony Reader users. And perhaps you? ;-) I'm curious: what type of device are you using to read? And what might we do to make it easier on you? Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed!

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 14, 2008 05:09 to the question "Can I upgrade to a print version of Mental Models?" in Rosenfeld Media:

Hi Geoff; unfortunately, we don't support upgrades of that nature. Of course, if you purchase the paperback/digital combination of Mental Models, you can give away the extra digital copy.

Lou Rosenfeld replied on May 14, 2008 04:52 to the problem "Can't download digital version of Web Form Design" in Rosenfeld Media:

Fantastic! Glad it worked.