Book marketing

[Jukka Juutinen]

Faulty message...

[Jukka Juutinen]

Just an interesting tidbit on book marketing: There is a forthcoming book on Finnish bomber pilots at war. Now, here is the interesting part: the book is part of a "grand books" series and is priced at 318 euros. The print run is about 1900 copies. The book is entirely in Finnish. A comparable book on Finnish fighters aces sold out in less than a year. The big question is: Why a book in a language spoken by some 5 million people and priced at 300 + euros outsells e.g. certain Belgian author's books in English and priced at far, far less while being niche books both?

By the way, here is a link to the book: http://www.suurteokset.com/pommituslentajat.html

[MW Giles]

I cannot answer for the Finnish interest/obsession with military history, but I do have an inkling why the English versions of certain books did not sell particularly well

One problem was that I had already bought the books in French on the understanding that there would never be an English translation. Having started a set in one language I wanted to see it through to the end, even though I only properly understand about 60% of the French text.

The other problem was the marketing, his books did not appear at the usual outlets for aviation books in English that I go to. I got mine in French from a book shop in Germany. I think I am unusual (though probably not on this board) for the places I go to buy books.

Martin

[edwest]

Having been in the book business for some years, I've noticed several trends:

1) A lack of mention of new titles here by publishers. I don't know about other forums but I think they should be found and a list kept and used for each new title as it comes out.

2) Some publishers of military history do not produce a steady number of books on aviation subjects. This means if I check on new releases at one source, I see nothing new or something that is months away, and it may not fall into my specific area of interest.

3) As most people, I can only spend so much on books, but I do tend to buy books that cover my area of interest because (A) they may disappear if I wait too long to order, (B) I view the content as rare or exceptional, or (C) they contain a lot of unpublished photos. Foreign language books can be a problem for non-English speakers. In the US, there are publishers who may be willing to negotiate for translation rights. However, it is up to buyers to alert foreign publishers to new titles or titles that may appeal to English language readers.

I think Luftwaffe im Focus does a wonderful service by providing German and English text, with detailed information. It has been a great help in advancing the knowledge base of Luftwaffe activities during the war.

My suggestion is to start a facebook page for each publisher at least. Consider English captions for photos. Tap into the modeling community, which is where, as I understand it, a good portion of researchers started. Also, there is a need to keep the readership growing. Do not assume every new reader understands what 2.(F)/123 means. And on other forums, a place to list/announce new titles. Add as much detail as you can. Just knowing the page count, number of photos and perhaps, maps is not enough. The more info the better the chance of a sale.


Ed

[kaki3152]

I've even bought books in Japanese just because of the photos

[Jayslater]

Here are just from Fonthill Media with more to come!

j.slater (at)

[Jayslater]

And some more...

Jay
j.slater (at) fonthillmedia.com

[edwest]

Thank you, Jay.




Ed

[Lagarto]

May I recommend mine? Available at Amazon.

[FalkeEins]

Jukka I don't think you can presume that Erik's books are being out-sold by a niche Finnish publisher at all! The JG 77 Luftwaffe Gallery has sold very well and is still selling! The JG 26 Luftwaffe Gallery sold out. The JG 4 and JG 5 books have had limited reprints. See Erik's thread elsewhere. I think he has done a fantastic job on these 4 bigger hardback volumes devoted to JG 2. The latest tome in the series covers 1943 and the increasingly ferocious large-scale combats against USAF B-17s over France..it would be interesting to hear exactly why you haven't bought this ( if you haven't that is..).

Contrary to Jukka's thoughts, I guess price is possibly an issue for some; although at the euro exchange rate it shouldn't be for UK readers. Perhaps the fact that you perhaps can't examine the contents prior to purchase puts some off. And I dare say most enthusiasts possibly think they already know enough about JG 2 - after all, they may well have the Osprey (!). All 96 small-format pages! Or the Nauroth from Motorbuch - which was very poor too. BTW Erik's books are readily available from select outlets eg in the south-east of England, the Aviation Bookshop and the Hawkinge Battle of Britain museum ..to name just two..







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