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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Home Business, Startup, from concept to successful operation
  • Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 08:39:32 -0700


k. Keep control of customer orders and cash-flow.
m. Balance the books daily---you don't need any business-threatening surprises---

How to avoid surprises? We had a good business selling my book. Low overhead and good margin even with the 50-55-percent discounts demanded by distributors. Our CPA said it was good. What killed us was the bankruptcy of Pacific Pipeline, a major book distributor with years of solid track record. PP was our primary distributor to bookstores, including Barnes & Noble. PP hired someone to set up a new computer system for handling their business. Long story short, the system created chaos, they filed for Chapter 11, we got a few cents on the dollar for the thirty thousand-plus they owed us. (90-day pay is normal in publishing.) The lesson of the story for me is that if I do future publishing I will be my own distributor. That will restrict the number of retail outlets and increase the workload, but greatly decrease the odds of losing a critical accounts receivable. The best way to sell books is mail order, direct from writer-publisher to book buyer. The challenge is publicity. I did 104 radio interviews from the house, surrounded by blankets hung from clothesline to create good sound. After every interview there was a flood of orders. After the PP disaster I sold the rights to Warner Books, a big-time New York publisher. They really know the business, right? Oh, yeah. They got me two radio interviews, skimmed the cream and let the book die.





  • Re: [Homestead] Home Business, Startup, from concept to successful operation, Gene GeRue, 10/01/2004

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