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I posted a suggestion yesterday (mainly discussed using local television appearances as a promotional outlet) -- I can't imagine what might have been considered "inappropriate," but the post is gone now. So if I offended someone, it was certainly not intentional and I apologize -- and CinagroFarms, if you missed the post and want a recap, feel free to e-mail me via the website in my profile and I'll send it to you.

Hi there, I'm sorry to hear that. No I never received the post. I'll email you. Thanks.

Excellent information!! Thanks so much!! I'll look into it.

Muffin, you seem to have great first-hand experience with this. Welcome to the community and thanks for the contribution. Personally, I'd caution self-publishers on #3. A lot of them turn nice revenue streams into huge losses when they get involved with wholesalers and bookstores, and returns are the reason.

With POD, a self-publisher can sell on-line at a deep discount because nothing is actually printed until someone buys it. The author/publisher can also order small quantities to sell directly for full price (no discount) at fairs and other events. Both of those methods are profitable.

Bookstores, on the other hand, expect a deep discount and need physical product to put on the shelf -- so the author/publisher pays to print a thousand copies, pays to have them shipped from the printer to his/her home, and then pays to have them shipped to various bookstores. The bookstores sell three of them and give the author/publisher his or her tiny cut of the profit, and then the author pays to have the other 997 shipped back to him/her. In the end, the author has spent $18,000 on printing and shipping costs, made about $9, and has a garage full of books.

Honestly, if a book is generating the kind of mass appeal through on-line orders or direct sales that would make it profitable in bookstores, I'd shop it to a literary agent or regular publisher (in fact, one would probably find the author when the on-line orders started tracking).

The exception to this would be books on local history or other subjects of strictly regional interest (including cookbooks that have regional ties) -- I've seen these placed in and sold through just one or two local bookstores with great success. So I'm not contradicting or arguing with your point #3 at all, but rather adding a word of caution on the subject for other self-publishing authors who might read this thread. Best wishes.

5,000 is a LOT of books for most self-publishers -- I'm impressed (really!). I'm sure you know this already, so the following comment is more for others who might be following this thread. Of the 150,000 or so new books published each year, only about one in thirty ever sells that many copies. Only about one in six self-published books ever sells more than 70 copies. So congratulations, Muffin, on the great results you're getting with your cookbooks! Again, I'm very impressed, and I wish you continued success.