Ash, no problem I do this all of the time.
How long has your book been up there?
I have three books actually in blurb at the moment. I did my first one last July. They are different sizes.
How many sales have you had on your book? and roughly how much profit do you get for each one?
I set my profit at $1 because I am not trying to make any profit on my book right now. I'm working with a publisher, so I don't want to profit through blurb. I have not sold anything through blurb and don't expect to, though I have had several hundred hits and I have sold prints though the book (showing it to people, ask for a print.)
Last year, I did a calendar through lulu and promoted that on my website. I have sold copies of that (it was selling well actually) but I did not like the print quality of lulu (the calendars were a horror) so I changed to make a few calendars with Apple (they are much more $$$ $26 vs. $12 but the quality was there.) I have since heard that zazzle makes good calendars but have not tried them.
A friend of mine who is promoting his book (though website, live appearances, direct sales, etc.) has sold over 600 copies of his blurb book. Sales can be made, you'd just have to sort of "pimp" the book a lot yourself with blurb or any of these services. (For various reasons, that's not something I'm willing to do right now, so I am not a good example for you to use. Think about it, my publisher would probably not like me very much if I started pimping my blurb book and then tried to sell the same book through him. But, I did a blurb book because he suggested it and I was thinking about doing one anyway, before the publisher got involved.)
Also, do the books cost you anything to produce? or do you just make them and they sell them, similar to the ImageKind system
I have bought two copies of my book so far. The way I did it with blurb is I set my price for the "bookstore price" to be $1 over what the cost to me was. I ordered one copy for myself and then, when I got that copy, changed a few things, uploaded a new book, and ordered another. Blurb is an on demand publisher so you don't have to order any set number of copies upfront, I think maybe just 1, to get it into the bookstore.
Another friend of mine (yes, I know, seems like all of my friends are photographers) uses a printer down in Mexico. He's selling his book for $20 and it sells briskly. I was just in a gallery show with him a few weeks ago, and the gallery sold out of his book in a few hours (maybe 20 copies.) I believe he has sold over 100 copies so far at something like $5-$10 profit. He is an excellent photographer, he's represented by a few very high end galleries (like Verve in Santa Fe.) The same gallery we were in last week wants to carry my book, if I ever get it printed.
Do you think an iphoto book inclusive of the biography and other notes, in the style of a folio would work?
Depends on the gallery. If you are just starting out and looking to get into a more local gallery, it might be enough. I always like to give them a packet though, because I want them to have a folder with all of my information. Books, like the blurb books or an Apple book used as a folio, tend to get "grabbed." If you are talking to a gallery, you want to give them a slim folder that they can put in their drawer (file cabinet) and store away. Galleries tend to remember who submitted work to them when and sometimes don't take anybody on their first attempt. The trick is, if you do this, even a rejection is positive, because they will remember your name or your work.
The gallery world is small and people tend to talk. Even though it seems like there are millions of photographers, there are really very few (surprisingly) who show their work on a regular basis. We all tend to know each other, and know what galleries are looking for what type of work. Much like the racing circuit, that's probably how everybody knows The Stig, right? I mean, at the end of the day, only so many drivers even though everybody has a car.
Another thing I like to do with galleries is send them an actual print. Have one print made that's the size you would display in the gallery. The visual impact of touching a physical print will often land you a show. People like to see and hold things, not to mention it shows them you know how to print. If you are not setup to print, use ImageKind and get stuff printed on some of the higher end papers. I can help you with paper selection if you are stuck (ImageKind uses high end Epson printers.)
A lot of galleries are now going "green" and want to see a website instead of a packet. You might want to setup a cheap website with tabs for each of the items in the packet (bio/statement, Exhibition record, books, etc.) If you want to see how I did mine
this should give you an idea. If you click on "Image Gallery" you'll see each of the bodies of work I'm working on and some of them have artist's statements when you click on a small photo to enter that gallery. I've also got a link for my bio and generic artist statement, along with my exhibition record (well, some of it. I only have about a third of the shows I've been in listed there.)
Hope that helps.