Self-publishing Aussie mums head to UK with bestselling cookbook

Two mothers who "shocked the Australian publishing world" by self-publishing and buying the print for more than 1m copies of their own cookbook now have their sights on the UK.

Queensland-based Rachael Bermingham and Kim McCosker originally printed 2000 copies of 4 Ingredients, which went on to be one of the country's bestselling books.

In 2008, 4 Ingredients was the number one bestseller in Australia shifting 288,250 copies, beating JK Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which sold 201,144 copies.

Bermingham said: "We were flying blind with no experience of either the print or publishing industries. No publisher in Australia would touch us so we had no choice but to produce the book ourselves."

She said 800 of the first 2,000 copies they printed "were dodgy".

"When you have to print 1.4m books, you learn some quick lessons," she added. "We scoured bookshops looking for books we liked, before researching who printed them and how and what grades were used."

The editions to be launched in the UK were printed in Singapore, but Bermingham said she would consider moving production to England: "If it makes production and distribution cheaper for us, then mate, we'll do it."

They are looking for a printer to help them grow the business. "If they do, it's more likely we'll stick with them. And in a case like ours, it can turn out to be quite big business," she added.

In 2008, the pair released a follow-up title called 4 Ingredients 2.

Read the original article at www.printweek.com.

Source: PrintWeek