Catherine Williams

Catherine

That sounds like a good idea. No risk!

Cheers

Robyn

Hi David

I see - what I meant was that I wouldn't take on other people's books - things already published.

On setting up a publishing operation, that's not a terribly viable option in Australia - because of the small market. Very different situation from the UK.

Most publishing houses in Australia operate by selling 'adoption titles' - books imported from overseas which help them balance the cost of operations while selling local publications at a lesser profit margin. This is because the small population here means small runs. And you need sell the majority of the books you produce within your local market - they're relatively heavy, so it's hard to compete in other markets if home sales are low.

There are some exceptions of course - not so much among 'best-selling' authors of the traditional kind - but in the 'how to' category. There's no end to the demand for those - it's a worldwide phemonenon.

Thank you for all the replies - we have decided with the author that 50p from each book will go to charity and that we have no obligation to sell or distribute the book. We will do some soft marketing on our sites and in our shops and through our newsletter. Thank you again.

Which is what we do! We insert the flyers from `our` publisher with our newsletter and take a percentage (around a 1/3) from the sales...
I was simply saying if you were to go down the publishing route - spread the risk, which is what publishing houses do - after all not every book is a best seller!

David

I don't think offloading risk onto other activities is a good strategy. The only way I would consider selling books is if there was no upfront payment and no requirement to take on stock. And I didn't have to pay for the promotions (i.e. by confining them to the content of an existing newsletter distribution)!

RobynAllcock asked Would be interested to know whether this IS a worthwhile strategy in the UK.

With any venture you need to know the risk - for us we have a clear audience to market to and our focus ensures that we will sell what we produce.

You can use it as part of a strategy but it is expensive to get into and you would need to offload the risk on to other fundraising activities

David

I have seen many organisations trying to raise funds through book sales and it rarely works - the books don't sell and the margins are lousy. Maybe the smaller market in Australia is the problem. (I've worked in Publishing too and that makes a meagre living here.)

Would be interested to know whether this IS a worthwhile strategy in the UK.

While we do not just take a straight % we do help to market relevant books and our commission is around 30% of sale price...

However if you are not actively marketing, (just taking a percentage) we have another deal which gives us just 10p on a £6.99 book.

So you have everything to negotiate for!