Book marketing

[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may disappear if I wait too long to order, (B) I view the content as rare or exceptional, or (C) they contain a lot of unpublished photos.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