[edwest2]

A few comments. English language books appear to be the best choice. That will not, of course, stop other people from publishing books in other languages. Next, of course, is the postage cost. For reasons unknown, the U.S. Postal Service dropped a relatively inexpensive category called Surface Mail in 2007 due to increased costs, they said. (I say 'reasons unknown' because they somehow managed to live with Surface Mail for decades until that year.) The replacement for Surface Mail shipping through the U.S. Postal Service meant we lost 98% of our foreign customers due to their increased costs almost overnight. This was a boon to the young ebook industry who wanted the money that would have been spent on physical books. In the case of Luftwaffe books that cover rare and highly desirable subjects, a publisher can be almost anywhere, his books sell out and then some copies appear on the so-called secondary market at prices much higher than the original price. So, for some things, people will get those books regardless of the current situation with postage and VAT.

In the U.S., sales of physical books have grown, year over year.

A word about marketing. There are various outlets where a new book can be announced at no cost to the author or publisher. But authors write books that they have spent years on and are not familiar with marketing. Or copyright, ISBNs and even permissions for photos and other things. But someone must do it. If no one (outside of friends, family and perhaps a small group of people on the internet) knows the book has been released, it remains invisible to others and sales are lost. My company has gone to trade shows where some retailers are unaware of our latest releases. I am regularly doing online promotions for our books. So independent authors should learn how it's done.