This question is not intended to be self-promotional, so please
forgive me in advance. This is a question about a problem I had when
I wrote a book that turned into a best-seller. I won't reveal the 
book's title.

I self-published a tiny, 20-page book on highly unconventional ways 
of landing a job in 2001. This was around the time that the tech bubble 
burst, and my book was originally targeted to tech workers. The book turned into
a best-seller, and I became an instant B-List media celebrity in my 
home state.  My wife and I published the book using the money in 
our savings account and were immediately blown away when a local 
paper's story on the book generated TV cameras at our door: CBS 
News, NBC News as well as CBS radio, the SF Chronicle, and finally 
USA Today. Over time, my wife and I sold over 250,000 copies of
the book. Indeed, at one point, the book outsold "What Color is 
Your Parachute?" on Amazon.com.

Finally, my wife and I tired of pouring our days, nights, and weekends
(not to mention our savings account) into self-publishing the book. 
The book publishing venture was insanely laborious, despite its profitability.
So, we stopped publishing it, yanked the Web site, and effectively
retired it.

Recently, I was looking through my bookshelf and I saw a few copies of it.
Then I thought, "Where do good books go to die?" Wouldn't some
publisher or institution like something like this? I feel like the book
has important information for people who have been laid off or 
are looking for work--that can't be found elsewhere. Moreover, 
I think this could truly be a win for a publisher, since it's an important
book with a big audience. It's one of those times where a publisher 
could really "do well by doing good." 

Anything you could suggest to get this in more hands? I still get emails for it, 
and I tell people that it's been retired. I'm not trying to buy a Porsche with the 
proceeds. Thanks.

p.s. Please don't send me a long list of publishers or agents. They are so
tired of hearing from un-published writers, that you can't get anywhere with 
them on the phone. I'd actually like to talk to someone who's interested
in a partnership. Thanks.

why not connect up with one of the bigger used book sellers on amazon?

or Abe Books, Alibris, etc, etc

how many do you have left?

is it still being offerred on amazon?  i.e. can it also be sold there as 'used'?

(I think it's safe to mention the title - we won't judge you self
promoting -- but I don't know what Google thinks of this practice)

ts

p.s. I just this morning posted a question at:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=458270
(maybe I should buy a copy . . .)

Thanks for your input. 

My book is called "The High-Tech Survival Guide."

Yes, it was sold on Amazon.com. See here:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0971233306/qid=1105991387/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-1708702-4386257?v=glance&s=books&n=507846>

I've sold a lot of copies through Amazon. Selling it is not the
problem. It's never had a problem selling.  Finding a partner is the
problem. I'm less interested in "pitching" my title to an existing
publisher/used book seller, etc. It's in many countries throughout the
world already. What I want is someone who's actually interested in
making it available to the larger public, where I don't have to print
5,000 copies at a time, pick them up in my minivan, and pack and ship
all of them from my living room using a magic marker. Self-publishing
is the literary definiition of "exhaustion!" ;-)

Appreciate your input.

Thanks.

If the book has sold as you say, and has established itself
nationally, you are no longer a "mere unpublished writer." You should
be able to get a publisher's attention pretty easily. But you can't
call publishers and editors on the phone; this is a major no-no,
unless you already have a relationship with them. You need to send a
query letter first, and proceed from there. The book "Shortest
Distance Between You and a Published Book" is an excellent how-to book
on how to sell a book to a publisher.

You may have one marketing problem, though. How can you convince a
publisher that the book hasn't already run its course? You've sold a
lot of copies; the question is now, "Can you sell more?" This is
something you'll have to ponder and find answers to, as only you know
your book and your market.

Hope this helps,
Kriswrite

warmcornbread,

From what you've written above, I think you want a publisher, rather
than a distributor or fulfillment house.  Can you clarify?

So, what do you do now?  Some of it depends how much more work you want to do. 

Your options run along a continuum, and the publishing industry breaks
it down like this:
You write the book; somebody else does everything else.
You write, produce, and market the book; somebody else handles sales,
shipping, billing.
You write, produce, market, and sell the book; somebody else does
shipping and billing.
You do everything, including stuffing jiffy bags and schlepping them
to the post office.
Somebody else does very little and charges you a lot for the service.  
It sounds like stuffing jiffy bags lost its glamor for you a long time ago. ;)

Publishers
They pay you money and publish your book.  You may need to revise your
book.  And expand it -- 20 pages is too slim to display spine-out on
bookshelves.  They handle design, production; catalogs, marketing,
advertising, promotion; sales, billing, and shipping.  Kriswrite is
right, your previous success gives you a BIG head start.  Off the top
of my head, Ten Speed Press would be ideal.

Distributors
They sell to wholesalers, bookstores, and most non-booktrade outlets. 
They deal with all the billing and shipping.   You handle book design
and production, marketing and promotion.

Fullfilment Houses
They handle order fulfilment and (usually) billing.  You handle
selling, design and production, marketing and promotion.

Classic Self-Publishing
All of the above.  You've been been there and done that.

Vanity Publishers
Yog's Law: "Money Flows Toward the Writer"
(http://www.sff.net/people/yog/).  If you pay money to a publisher, it
is a vanity publisher and you should avoid it.  Vanity publishers make
their money selling themselves to you, not selling your books to the
world.  I'm sure Brian knows this, but egad, a g-ad above is from one
of the the biggest vanity publishers in America.  (The "sham" in its
name ... is that truth in advertising?)  More info at
http://tinyurl.com/6hf7c , http://tinyurl.com/4t6sm ,
http://tinyurl.com/4gtlj , http://tinyurl.com/6zg7v.

I highly recommend Dan Poynter's "The Self-Publishing Manual: How to
Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book, 14th Edition" ( ISBN
1-56860-088-7,  $19.95) -- for any of your options, not just
self-publishing.  It's packed with useful info.  His website,
www.parapublishing.com has lots of good resources, too.

Hope this helps,

sjlewis

I think you have something that will really interest publishers in
this area - especially if you can offer an updated "2005 edition" of
your book. Maybe there are some changes and updates you've thought of
making since first edition?

So, draw up a list of publishers in this area that may have a gap in
their list for your book. Send them a polite query letter explaining
how great your book is and how well it did originally. Offer to send a
copy of the book and outline the updates you'd like to make.

Good luck, I really think you could be onto a winner here.

I work in publishing, but I'm not sure if this answers your question.
There are various "fulfillment houses" that will take care of all the
exhaustive stocking and shipping. Your books can be trucked there
directly from the printer (you don't even have to look at your books)
and they take care of all the inventory, packing and shipping. This
leaves you with the job of printing the book. If it's cost effective,
you can hire a production editor and/or book designer to handle
working with the printer, e.g. getting price quotes and sending the
files. This would now leave you with the sole job of signing the
checks for these services.

If I may go on a tangent, the topic of your book may sound a bit dated
to publishers, considering that the wake of the tech book has pretty
much passed. But considering that you sold a quarter of a million
copies of this book, it should be relatively easy for you to strike a
deal with a major publishing house for a new or updatated version of
your title.