Perhaps this is indicative of the difference between the two of us. My family and I were at the VIP Preview for the Orange County Fair last night and we ran into Weird Al Yankovic.

What was really neat about this event is the ribbing my daughters gave my son and me... Like father, like son. Both of us like Weird Al's music... often better than the original artist's rendition!

Now the two of us have another something together we can fall back on when growing up gets rough.

Too bad he forgot his camera at home. He has now applied his Corollary to his Camera Axiom: Your wife’s lousy cell phone is a darn fine camera 
when you forgot your real camera at home and you unexpectedly run into Weird Al Yankovic at the VIP Preview at the
Orange County Fair.

Day 2 is off and running at the SCGS Jamboree. Among the book I publish are coffee-table books. My company has actually started making a speciality of these book. At the show we are highlighting these books in our booth. Tom and I decided you cannot show coffee-table books without a coffee-table. You, also, cannot have a coffee-table without a couch.

If nothing else, attendees are glad to have a soft place to sit for a few minutes.

Last time we looked at risk vs reward from the royalty publishers' point of view. Today, let's move over to our side of the market: subsidy publishing.

When dealing with a royalty publisher, they typically need to print in large runs to meet the economies of scale. Large corporations have large cost basis. Limited Edition Publishers is a small and nimble publishing firm with limited overhead and the ability to take the time and do a project right. Someone once said, "If you want it badly we'll do it badly!" That attitude does not exist here.

Conventions are often tiring and boring? Not the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree. There is one thing you will hear a lot of when a bunch of genealogists get together—family stories.

Maybe because I am here as a publisher or maybe because genealogists cannot help but talk about their families, but people stop by my booth all day long and share some of the most interesting personal stories I have ever heard. And, these stories sure help pass the time.

I will share more on these stories as the show continues...

I'm currently co-authoring a book on virtual world addictions with a pair of psychologists and recently attended an addiction seminar in Las Vegas (of all places--no triggers there!).

After speaking with a number of professionals, I learned I what I had been telling people regarding royalties was wrong. For years I had stated new authors could expect royalties around 50 cents per book. "Fifty cents a book! Who are you kidding?" exclaimed one published author and psychologist. "I'm lucky to see FIFTEEN cents per book!"

You do all the work. They take all the risk. They make all the money.