In addition to being a partner with History Press in the publication of my book, I am also a customer. I ordered copies of my book from them recently, after refusing several earlier sales pitches.

Their first sales offer arrived a few days after I signed their contract.  ‘I’m excited to share some information with you about a preferred discount for authors only,” said the email from one of the sales managers. For a limited time only, I was eligible for a special discount of 54 percent off the cover price if I bought at least 200 copies. The discount was greater than their standard author discount. The company repeated the offer two weeks ago, again for a limited time only, and again if I bought at least 200 copies. This time, however, the discount was not quite as generous as the first one. I declined both offers.

I am very proud of my book and absolutely thrilled that History Press is publishing it. But 200 copies? I imagined boxes of books stored in my trunk and stashed in the closet. I planned to buy books to give to family and sell at book signings but not that many. Last week a sales person at the company assured me that, once the book was released next month, I could get delivery of any quantity within a week. So I placed an order for 40 copies and paid $457, or about $11.40 per book. It felt odd to send them so much money. Perhaps someday soon the money will flow in the other direction, from them to me.