Some thoughts and questions...

> I am not afraid of the time commitment, as much as I am leary of trying
> to understand and learn NEW things.,website building, ebay postings, etc.

Eh, it's not that hard. I'm older than you are, and I learned. :)

> The books being planned are each between 100-200 pages. (6x9)

Mmmmkay... now... do they NEED to be that long?

What I found was that for my help manuals, people needed specific things (how to do this type of program or that type of action in an online game) but they didn't need the whole manual. The craft books that I've seen generally run about 16-24 pages. I've seen some whopper-sized ones, but the little ones sell equally well. I think customers like a *few* projects that are targeted to what they do rather than a big bunch of them.

I found out that I could make a LOT more money with my books by specializing (breaking the big manual into $2.00 booklets) and I was wondering if this might work for you.

BTW, you'll make printing jobs easier (and save yourself hassles) if the page count is some multiple of 4.

> At Lulu.com, a
> book is $4.58 plus 2 cents per page, no matter
> how many pages or what binding you choose.

In other words, it's more cost effective to print locally IF your books are under 44 pages.

> your royalty, and they take 25 percent of the PROFIT of the book. They
> handle the orders and shipping charges.

I looked into this service but haven't got anything that's in the 50 page plus length. I keep planning on doing something like that, but am too busy with other things right now. It's a good deal, though, and for you it's going to be ideal if you hit a bad patch with your MS and are limited in activity for a few days.

> place to list your other selections and speak about yourself. They also
> provide you with an ISBN number and put you on bookstore lists if you
> desire.

Yes, DO take that service. That means you can also list it on Amazon.com. I've sold books through them as well.

> Do you think that a print store could do better price wise for the books?
> Again, I proably would have some here for occasional shows I might do,
> or for local folks who request it...(once I contact the local paper)
> but I don't need to have hundreds.

Again, only if it's under 44 pages.

Y'know, if you needed seed money, you can do a riff on what the comic book creators do... they create an "ash can" edition. This is basically a folded 20 page xerox copy booklet. I've seen artists sell patterns and instructions (for cross stitch patterns) as xeroxed sheets that they put in a plain old manilla envelope with a pictue of the finished result on the front of the envelope. Total cost of materials is less than $1.00 and it sells for $3.00 - $7.00

So if you needed an inexpensive boost for your product line, you can release an upcoming pattern that will be in your NEXT book in a similar fashion. If you liked, that is.

> I do have a huge mailing list of past customers to refer to a website.
Excellent! You have all the tools for a successful business right there!

> The binding I am leaning to is PERFECT.
Good stuff. Saddle stitch is also good but only for 30 pages or less.

> Ebay scares the beejeebees out of me.

Actually, THIS is where you an the daughter might collaborate. She might be able to do sell some jewelry there, and she might have the patience to go through the initial setup. She could market both.

> understand, Ebay has gotten greedy and ebayers are now adding a lot to
> postage to avoid paying the additional percentage to ebay for the

Neh. I don't think it's Ebay as much as it is some greedy sellers. I've seen stuff with reasonable shipping there.