OT: SCBBQ Cookbook (Pre-Orders - Sunday 8 am)

jroller · Sep 27, 2023

For those of you who are interested. If you'll forgive me, I just sent the following to folks on my email list and I don't have the energy to revise for length. Fortunately, it seems to copy over really well. Wonder if the images will come through???

EDIT: I have had a lot of messages asking to join the email list so as not to miss the announcements. Here is a link to join the newsletter via our Grow plugin on our newsletter page. If for some reason that doesn't work, here is the direct Mailchimp link.

It’s a Process

Unless you’re very new here, you know that I have been working on the long-awaited print edition of Going Whole Hog, our SC BBQ book full of recipes, histories, and traditions.

It is a book that has been over a decade in the making. Since starting Destination BBQ back in 2012, my wife (and kids) and I have been traveling all over the state sampling restaurants and getting familiar with the personalities and regular folk who create or simply love SC BBQ. We’ve gathered recipes, done research, written articles, and talked with restaurant owners, competition cooks, and backyard “barbecuers” alike.

What is always the tastiest morsel is the story behind the BBQ.

Like the story Ed Hartley tells in the photo above of his time spent working at Jackie Hite’s BBQ in Batesburg-Leesville. Ed shared the tale of Jackie’s hash-making process. On top of that, Lake High, founder of the SCBA, shared Jackie’s hash recipe to go along with Ed’s story.

That’s the kind of insight you’ll find in features throughout the book. Hopefully, you can get a copy of the book in your hand, but for that, I am going to need your help spreading the word so we have enough pre-orders.

Let’s Be Clear About Something

I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding, so let me cover a few important points.

I will be taking Pre-Orders, not orders. This book has not yet been printed and will not be printed unless there are enough pre-orders to justify publishing it. Sort of like Kickstarter, if there are enough people who invest in the idea, the project will go forward. If not, everyone who invested gets a refund.
Once opened, the cart will remain open only for a few days, maybe a week. Why? Well, either people want it or they don’t, but mainly because the window is closing quickly to get the books back in time for Christmas. As for that, I can't be sure; it will be close.
This book will be printed overseas. If being American-made is important to you, don’t pre-order. The reason I am undertaking this burden is because I know lots of people want this book (so I don’t think #1 will be a problem). But printing in the US is about twice as expensive, and running the numbers in every way I could, a 300-page book with premium color is absurdly expensive. The least expensive option appears to be Amazon, with a retail price in the $70 range, before shipping and taxes. I felt like this would keep the book out of too many folks’ hands, so this is what I had to do. If you want American-made, look for that Amazon edition by early 2024. Having seen proofs from the Chinese printer, Amazon, and Lulu, the truth is the overseas edition is the best quality because they use traditional offset printing instead of the type of printing used by print-on-demand companies.
The book will be sold through Etsy. The only reason is because I didn’t want to complicate my life by having to register to collect and then remit sales tax every month. If I use Etsy, they handle all that. They do take a commission, which increases the price I have to charge, but unlike Amazon’s 60% royalty fee on books, Etsy’s standard fee is around 6.5%.
What will the price be? The short answer is somewhere around $40 before shipping and taxes. Sorry, if I could order thousands of them, the price would come way down, but I can’t expect that kind of volume, so I have to price accordingly.

Stay Tuned

So, I’ll be sending a lot more emails over the next week or so prior to opening the cart, during the open period, and the day of close. I apologize ahead of time for that. They are designed to keep you updated and aware, given the short window for ordering.

When you pre-order a book, I’ll try to be sure to make sure you don’t receive additional emails about the book being on sale. And, of course, there is always an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email.

Today, I finished the sales page (not yet published). I have almost finished the Etsy listing as well. There are just a couple of more ducks to get in the row and you’ll be getting the open cart notice.

As it says above, stay tuned… I’m almost there.

Cheers,

Jim

PS: Do me a favor and be thinking about folks you know who might enjoy a copy of the book. Maybe you could share this email with them and let them know the day the cart opens. The more pre-orders that come in, the more likely I will be able to publish this hardcover edition. Thanks!

Stripey · Sep 27, 2023