Most tech books have trouble selling even a couple thousand copies, which makes it tough for a publisher to figure out how many to print at first. Print too many and they’ll just sit there, or worse. The publishing industry is a bitch because the book shops can returned unsold inventory and get money back. On every royalty statement, I have a “reserve withheld” and a “reserve returned”. The publisher reserves some of my royalty in case the book stores return books. After a certain period, they return that. But, they then withhold more. That’s just the way it is. Continue reading “The Alpaca gets a second printing”