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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> 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.