Baby Book Booms : Self-Publishers Dodge Bookstores on Path to Success

Conmar Publishing Inc. began with a dinner conversation between two sisters-in-law.

Obstetrics nurse Connie Marshall had written a book on prenatal care for her husband--an obstetrician then based in Sacramento--to present to his pregnant patients. The spiral-bound compilation of 180 photocopied pages deserved a better format, she decided.

Kathi Marshall had just left her travel-intensive job as a district manager in sales for McGraw/Hill publishing house to stay closer to home with her teen-age twin sons. Not one to sit still, she was scouting around for a project.

The Marshalls--who are married to brothers--decided to put their skills together and self-publish the book, “From Here to Maternity.” In 1986, they founded Conmar Publishing Inc., naming Kathi president and Connie vice president.

Six years later, the book would be picked up by a major publisher--but only after it sold half a million copies on its own and won a glowing endorsement from the March of Dimes.

“I always wanted my own Pet Rock--to make something out of nothing,” said Kathi Marshall, 44, who operates the self-publishing business out of her San Juan Capistrano home. The company’s other official recently moved with her husband to Little Rock, Ark., where she is writing her fourth book.

Kathi’s initial research into self-publishing was not encouraging. “I read everything I could about it at the library,” she said. “If you sell 500 self-published books, you’re considered a success, which was a depressing thought.”

But the Marshalls were sure the book had potential to take off--if only they could figure out the proper marketing approach. Most of the popular prenatal care books already out were written by lay people rather than by trained professionals, Connie, 52, said.

“Their only claim to fame is that they’ve had a baby,” she said. “A lot of their advice is based on isolated or outdated studies and is not clinically correct. Our book is professional yet fun to read, and we update it every two years.”

Rather than peddle their goods from bookstore to bookstore, the Marshalls sought an untraditional approach.

“Bookstore distribution was not an option for us,” Kathi said. “Bookstores usually go to big publishers that have a lot of titles. And bookstores can return unsold books at any time. We couldn’t afford to print 5,000 copies and then sit back hoping they’d eventually sell.”

She hit upon an idea. Many companies had started to offer wellness programs with topics such as stress relief, nutrition and, conveniently, prenatal care. Why not print specialized copies of the book, sporting a company’s name on the cover, to be handed out to employees who were expecting?

“I thought we could use the fact that the book wasn’t in bookstores as an appeal rather than a negative,” Kathi said.

Publicity in those early years was tough. “It’s a lot of work to take an unknown product and try to find a niche for it when you have no advertising budget,” she said. “We hired a public relations company, but they could only get us on radio shows at 5 o’clock in the morning.”

Their first coup was Kelly Services Inc., based in Troy, Mich., where Kathi’s husband is a regional vice president for Southern California. Over the years, Conmar has published more than 10,000 copies labeled “Compliments of Kelly Services.”

In 1989, Health Management Corp. in Richmond, Va., put the book on its employee reading list and has since purchased about 60,000 copies. Then last year, health care provider Cigna Corp. in Bloomington, Conn., “really pushed us over the top,” said Kathi, snapping up more than 150,000 copies.

Meanwhile, Connie wrote two additional books: “The Expectant Father” and “De Aqui a la Maternidad,” a Spanish version of “From Here to Maternity” adapted for the Latino culture by taking into account diet and other cultural differences. She also wrote a brochure, “Helping Moms Have Healthy Babies”--almost 50,000 of which have been provided to patients through public health agencies, including the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Two years ago, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, based in White Plains, N.Y., awarded all three books its seal of approval.

“They are the only books regarding prenatal care that we have endorsed, which is definitely an honor for Conmar,” said Dianna DeVane, community services director for the organization’s Orange County chapter. “We found the books to be very accurate, up to date and readable.”

It was a big year for Conmar. In late 1991, Prima Publishing, a division of St. Martin’s Press, picked up “From Here to Maternity” and “The Expectant Father” to retail in bookstores, where about 22,000 copies have sold. Conmar maintained its right to continue marketing the books through alternative routes.

Thanks largely to Cigna sales, last year marked the first Conmar annual profit--$190,000 on revenue of $650,000, six times its revenue for 1991.

Connie Marshall is writing a book for women planning to become pregnant. So far, she is Conmar’s only author, but the Marshalls don’t rule out an expansion.

For now, though, they are basking in their hard-won success. “We knew we had something special on our hands,” Kathi said. “But we never guessed we would be this lucky.”

Conmar Publishing

* Headquarters: San Juan Capistrano * Founded: 1986 by sisters-in-law Kathi Marshall and Connie Marshall * Titles: “From Here to Maternity” and “De Aqui a la Maternidad,” a similar book written in Spanish with emphasis on Latino culture and family life; “The Expectant Father,” available in Spanish; “Expectant Father Celebrity Video,” with actors Jason Alexander and Ed Asner and sports stars Andy Mill and Willie Gault * Future releases: Books on conception planning and high-risk pregnancy * Largest Seller: “From Here to Maternity” (half a million copies) * Donations: 5% of book proceeds to March of Dimes Source: Conmar Publishing

Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times