Charity joke book hot seller
Photo: Contributed
A Kelowna doctor who self-published a joke book to help raise money for the KGH Foundation says sales have gone so well he’s looking at doing a second run of books.
Dr. David Goldberg says he’s having a hard time keeping up with the demand for Jokes You’ll Love to Tell.
“As soon as I drop the books off they are selling out. Every time I order 100 books from Amazon, I deliver them to Mosaic and the (hospital) gift store, and before I can order the next 100, those ones are gone. That’s just a repeating pattern.”
Now the good doctor is trying to figure out a way to share his book across the country and add comments in a second edition on the power of laughter between the jokes.
“I’ve been in contact with a distributor who thinks they can distribute this book right across Canada. But in doing so you have to be able to produce a significantly large number of copies.”
Dr. Goldberg says he’s raised approximately $2,000 for the KGH Foundation so far, and he’s been paying to self-publish the book on Amazon out of his own pocket. If he moves to another publisher, he expects publishing costs to rise significantly.
“As a self-publisher, I’m entitled to print 1,000 books under that contract. After that, I have to pay the same amount anybody else does on Amazon to get them. The distributor needs more than 1,000 books before they will commit to a second print run.”
Dr. Goldberg says he’s been inspired by the success of his first effort but is struggling to navigate the publishing world.
“The second edition is going to have some additions that I believe will be useful. This book generated many questions that explore the connections between humour and health care. As I attempted to answer those questions, I realized that I use humour in my daily dispensing of medical advice.
“I’ve been in general practice for 35 years. Over that time, I’ve had enough humorous medical experiences to fill an entire book.”
Jokes You’ll Love to Tell is Dr. Goldberg’s first effort at writing and publishing a book. He wrote down jokes he’s used over the years and put them all in the 167-page book full of jokes. For the second edition, Dr. Goldberg says he could use some advice from someone with publishing experience.
“I’m a doctor, not a writer,” he said.
Despite that, as he gets closer to hanging up his stethoscope, Dr. Goldberg says he is interested in branching out and would like to talk to people who can help him navigate editing and publishing. Of course, he’s always ready to hear a joke.
The good doctor can be reached at [email protected].
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