I've had a few weeks away from the blog, but wanted to summarise my results for the appearance of the test book, which was uploaded to the lulu.com site in February 2009. the lulu.com site says that a book published should be available through main bookseller websites in the 2-3 month timeframe.
I have been periodically checking a number of websites, and list below whether the test book has appeared on them:
amazon.com Yes- amazon.co.uk yes
- amazon.ca yes
- barnesandnoble.com no
- whsmith.co.uk yes
- waterstones.com yes
- blackwell.co.uk no
- borders.com no
- borders.co.uk no
A google search on the title had six hits - amazon.com, amazon.co.jp, along with two lulu.com hits and two reseller sites - one American and one Japanese.
Given the amount of time that has elapsed since the test book was posted on lulu.com, and the claims on that site, I find it hard to believe that any of the sites on which the test book isn't listed are actually going to list it. I think this may be an important lesson for those considering lulu.com - it's true that Amazon in all its international glory is the biggest bookseller in the world, but it does look like the other sites DON'T list all books as standard.
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