Usually, before a book hits the mass public, the author can take advantage of a niche (perfect for this hobby) market, meaning that before the book hits streets, he can get 'x' number of books for those in the hobby and sell them himself, to 'promote' the book and himself. Now I don't know what deal he got with his publisher or even if this was a possibility, but I would think he could have said "hey guys, I bought 'x' amount of books, please help me sell them before they hit amazon and you'll get them a week before the general public." I could be wrong there, but that is how vanity press' and some other publishers work.