Please help. I need your opinions and advice.

Hi Mary,

> Long post. Thank you for reading. I value
> your thoughts.

> I've broken my own rule not to cross-post,
> so if you see this elsewhere, please forgive
> my transgression. I value each and every one
> of your thoughts, suggestions and opinions
> on this matter. If you include your email
> address in your response, I will email you a
> Thank You gift later.

> The problem:

> Due to a change in health, I must give up my
> local work, tutoring immigrants. Local
> tutoring has been a top moneymaker for me.

> I do have a stream of income from related
> products I've developed over time. When I
> needed and couldn't find teaching materials,
> I made my own. Schools, libraries, and
> individuals do order some of my stuff.

> Question:
> Gordon, you suggested I prepare an
> information booklet for tutors. However an
> easy course would probably be needed for
> serious prospective tutors. A few times I've
> hinted or made suggestions on boards, but
> only one inquiry showed interest.

> Should I consider developing something for
> prospective tutors, or should I drop this
> for now? What do you think?

I think the nice thing about courses is you don't have to create the "product" before you collect payment... That is, for a regular course (where people are taught in person), you can collect payment BEFORE you have to give the course.

You could try advertising your course, and give yourself the right to cancel the course if not enough people show interest to make it worthwhile. You could also offer a discount if people paid (say) 2 weeks ahead - this would encourage early payments, as this will help you to know whether to go ahead with it or not.

Do you mean this kind of course (given in person), or a different kind (such as a correspondence course)?

You also have to think about where to find people who might be interested in this.... Does anyone else offer such a thing, to your knowledge? If someone does, you could find out where they are advertising, and advertise in the same place.... If they are succeeding in advertising their course there, you will probably have some success advertising a similar course there too.

> In a past life, among other things, I taught
> Foods, Nutrition, and Cooking. I have
> recipes!

> TONS OF RECIPES!!! All kinds of RECIPES.

> Recipes that others ask for. No, recipes
> that people BEG for.

> A few years ago, some were made into small
> recipe books, cookbooks, and cards. People
> bought them.

> I dare say, many of my recipes are older
> than most readers here.

> Some are on disk. Some are arranged as a
> recipe book, but more needs to be done to
> them. Something about HTML etc. Oh, and I
> don't have computerized pictures.

> What do you think? I have recipes for most
> anything, from making your own baby food
> using your own home grown garden vegetables,
> to scrumptious desserts full of calories.

> Right now, I have a Strawberry Lovers Recipe
> Book on disk. It's about 50 to 60 pages and
> needs a bit of fixing up, a cover, and
> converting to HTML, however that's done.

> Mike McGroarty thinks cookbooks are a
> difficult sell. I agree with him.

> What do you think? What would you advise me
> to do?

> Would some people pay for a monthly,
> bimonthly, holiday, or seasonal recipe
> collection, or not? If yes, what would you
> want to see included in such a series? How
> much would you pay?

> What ideas, suggestions, or questions do you
> have for me? Feel free to speak up. All
> comments, suggestions, criticisms,
> gratefully accepted.

I don't know much about cookbooks (my main method of cooking is heating food in the microwave!)....

However, I know Willie Crawford has his own "Soul Food" cookbook for sale at Chitterlings.com. He also runs his own business forum too... Because of this dual expertise, he might be a good person to ask about his experiences in selling his cookbook....

Hopefully, someone else here might have some experience with this too....

- Dien Rice