The Magnificent Seven--Kindle E-books on Sale!

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While we all have a love-hate relationship with Amazon. But what they do they do very well, and they are not going anywhere. As publishers and authors, we need to learn how to work with them to stay viable, relevant, and profitable.

Once a publisher reaches a respectable size and has good distribution, it becomes easier to work with Amazon, and by that I mean work together to market and sell books. One of their key promotions is Kindle sales.

The steep price drop is for a limited time (in the current case, just for two weeks), but Amazon supports this with email blasts, links, etc., and we do the same. The result is very strong sales, and in some cases eye-popping sales numbers.

(I have reproduced a photo/screenshot of one of our recent emails with seven of our titles currently available in this promotion.)

You do not need a Kindle to read at this price. Just Google and download the Kindle Ap for your reader. Yes, it is that easy.

How beneficial are these promotional activities?

Here is a good example: Steel Boat Iron Hearts: My Life Aboard U-505, by Hans Goebeler with John Vanzo is now in paperback and just a few short months had about 19 Amazon reviews. This is pretty strong for a U-boat book . Average e-book downloads each month were about 35 or so. (This is off the top of my head but I am sure right in the ballpark.) We offered the book for a one-month sales promotion for $2.99 and Amazon accepted our marketing proposal.

We sold well north of 6,000 units in a single month, and 2,000 more the following month at full price. I am the product of a public school education, but I do have a calculator and understand basic math. Even though Amazon takes a big cut, the numbers work.

In addition, we went from 19 reviews to . . .  334 reviews (average 4.4 stars) in just three or so months. It is now the highest rated U-boat book in the world. This exposure increased print sales as well. It is a win-win-win across the board for everyone--Publisher, author, and Amazon.

Click HERE for a link to the Kindle  version to see the reviews.

So please support our authors and publishing program by downloading one or more of these titles, sharing this information on Facebook, and emailing it to your friends and others.

Thanks, as always, for your support.

--tps

Gettysburg: The Best Single Volume Treatment? And the Winner is . . .

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That was the most recent poll question on this blog, and the results were interesting (to me), but not completely surprising:.

There were 61 unique votes. This is the breakdown:

The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command, by Edwin B. Coddington garnered 42 votes, which translated to 68% of the respondents.

Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, by Allen C. Guelzo, gathered 12 votes for 19%.

Gettysburg, by Stephen W. Sears, earned 6 votes, or 9%

and  Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage, by Noah Andre Trudeau, 1 vote for < 1%.

I am curious . . .If you voted and would like to share your choice and why, I would like to hear from you. If you didn't get a chance to vote, but have an opinion, I would also love to learn it.

My choice is Coddington, even though others have more information now that so much time has passed since EBC wrote his lasting and impactful tome. Perhaps my vote has something to do with the fact that I read it first, it deeply impressed me then, I have read it since (ditto), and I find it wears well with time.

Thanks.

--tps

(Off Topic) The Only Bass: The Rickenbacker 4003

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Well, it's not the only bass, but it is the only bass I could ever play.

I come from a musical family, and played classical piano from early childhood through two years of college. I also played bass, which I picked up in high school after seeing Rush in a small ballroom (about a month before they exploded and got huge). That Ric sound! That OMG voice! Wow! Here is the song that did it for me: Bastille Day. (Turn your volume up to 11, give it a listen, piss of your fellow co-workers, and then come on back and keep reading.)

Classic Rickenbacker 4001 (note darker brown tone compared
to replacement 4003 below)

Me with my 4001 in 1980 (l), and my brother Anthony
(r) on his beloved Les Paul. (He also had an SG), in a club.

I found a 4001 Ric in 1976 for $750 bucks (then), and snapped it up, taught myself, and played it in many bands around the Midwest, bus and all. After my last band broke up, some of our equipment was stolen, including my beloved bass. I didn't replace it. Like a heroin addict, if I had picked one up again I would have dropped out of graduate school and eventually left my family to go back out on the road and play.

Fast forward 35 or so years. I finally broke down and decided to buy a new Rickenbacker 4003 bass (the classic Ric bass that replaces the 4001). Black and maple are easier to find than Fireglo (like mine), which is almost always out of stock. Our local music store is on 12- to 18-month back order for Rick 4003s, and the company won't tell you when they will arrive. These basses are handmade (and they don't produce nearly enough to satisfy demand).

I checked American Musical Supply daily, but they were always on back order. And then, with one page refresh, a Fireglo popped up, with a notation that it was "hurt." The price was way below retail ($1,599 including expensive custom case instead of $2,399.) I used online chat and the person said it would be a tiny mar or scratch, would likely not be visible anywhere, shipping was free, and I had 60 days to return it (shipping free back, too). How could I lose?

I ordered it. When it got here, I opened the case and studied the bass. I could not find a thing wrong with it. Nothing. Then I noticed that the case had a small scratch/mar. I think that was the issue. (I have been told by people in the business who know more than me that someone who works in the warehouse combined the SKU numbers, scratched the case, posted it as "hurt" and someone else he knows was supposed to snatch it up and then sell it and pockets the money. I was offered $1,000 more than I paid a week after I got it. And it has only gone up in value.)

The finish is amazing. It feels like silk. If I could sleep comfortably with it, I would.

The new 4003 Rickenbacker bass.

As the online description notes, the 4003 is famous for its "ringing sustain, treble punch and solid underlying bass tones that made Rickenbacker a household name." Indeed. A subtle strip of binding graces the elegantly curved body and the Rosewood fingerboard. Deluxe triangular inlays and stereo capability are standard features. The 4003 has a Vintage Tone Selector, an additional control included standard.

(Prior to 1984, Rickenbacker basses utilized a capacitor in the treble pickup circuit to emphasize treble tones coming from that pickup. However, changes in tone preference and a call for higher output led RIC to discontinue the use of this capacitor in favor of a more balanced sound. Nevertheless many users added this capacitor back into the circuit, experimenting with and sometimes preferring the sound of the older configuration, despite the resulting drop in volume.).

I haven't put the capacitor back in, but with the classic tone selector, I really don't need to. With a simple pull of the treble tone control, the Vintage Tone Selector will allow a player to move between both sounds at the drop of a hat. Pressed in, you'll hear the familiar balanced tone of the 4003, while pulled out to engage the circuit, you'll appreciate the bite and crispness popularized by such artists as Chris Squire and Getty Lee.

Now, if I could only play like I used to. I am currently rehearsing with my brother (who played with me in my last two bands) and another great high school guitarist named Sasha to play this weekend at a recital. We are playing "Hotel California" with my brother's instructor Eddie--who can play well anything with strings. The song includes a great back and forth extended guitar solo session.

We might put a band together for some fun on the weekends, as there are several clubs out here where amateur bands play 4-5 songs each.

I have already named the group: The Hip Replacements.

--tps

Reviews and Critiques and Sharp Words (oh my)

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Well, I just watched the Wizard of OZ, so . . .

I think the words I used for the post about Dr. Emberton's review of our Hood book were ill-chosen. Going public on this is not my modus operandi in the publishing arena. 

I still think the review is unfair, but Professor Emberton has a right to write whatever she wishes and readers will make their own decisions by reading the book--or not.

I don't know Dr. Emberton, but I hear she is a fine lady and an outstanding instructor. I am sure that is true on both counts.

I hope all of my readers had a good, happy, and safe Thanksgiving.

Onward.

--tps

Did Professor Carole Emberton Read the Book She Just Reviewed?

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Some book reviews are positive, some are mixed, and some are negative. This is true for nearly all books, and that's the nature
of the beast and goes along with the territory.

All any publisher and author ask is that a reviewer actually read the book before reviewing it, and then assess it honestly for what it is, and what it is not.

John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General, by Stephen Hood, raises the hackles a lot of people because it calls out many academicians and general students of the war by name and produces one example after another of sloppy scholarship, reliance on secondary sources that are themselves incorrect in matters of fact, mistakes, misrepresentations--and in some cases, even worse.

Readers will decide whether the author makes his case or not. It is interesting to note that of the 60 or so reviews floating around thus far, not a single one alleges or points out that the author was wrong in how he cited a historian, or that a footnote (of which there are about 1,000) was wrong, or that a quote was wrong, etc. Not a single one.

Carole Emberton, an associate professor of history at the University of Buffalo (SUNY), recently reviewed John Bell Hood for The Civil War Monitor (an outstanding publication, by the way). Read her review here. It is a strange review brought to my attention by many readers. It made me wonder, "Did this reviewer even bother to read the book--or even the dust jacker?--before going out of her way to slam it?"

Is that a fair question? Here are two very troubling indicator:

1) She thinks it is a biography (all of you who have read this know it is clearly not a biography in any sense of the word), and she thinks the author is a biographer (ditto). 

2) More telling, however, is this little revealing gem:

"In his effort to resuscitate General Hood's reputation as a competent if not talented commander who did his best in impossible situations, the author spends far more time and energy skewering those historians than he does giving the reader a new or at least more nuanced interpretation of General Hood."

Why yes, Dr. Emberton, he does "spend far more time and energy" (note the italics above) on what others have written about Hood. As my teenage son might say, professor . . . DUH! In fact, that is the purpose of the entire book. and the book has absolutely NOTHING to do with the part that is in bold-italics above. Nothing. At. All. If she had read the Introduction, the author explains all this there in deep detail, and he mentions it again and again throughout the book.

She even criticizes the way the book is organized, when it fact, it is organized by topic to present how others have covered the topic in question. Again, discussed throughout.

Even the dust jacket explains it.

Now, I don't really give a damn if someone slams one of our books, so long as they have read it, and have legitimate complaints. Cites are wrong? Major collections not included? Too many typos and other mistakes? Incorrect maps? That is fair, and that is how it should be.

But I question whether this professor read this book, because she went out of her way to produce a hatchet job on a book that does not exist. Did she read it? I don't know with certainty either way. Why did she she write what she did (and I urge you to read the entire review) if she read the book. This book is replete with explanations addressing these very things--on the jacket, on the publisher's website, in the Introduction, and scattered throughout.

The author wrote his own rebuttal, which you can find in the same location below her "review." You will have to be the judge whether or not she read the book and whether or not this is fair review.

--tps

If You Like Independent Military History Publishing, You Can Keep Your Independent Military History Publishing. Period. Well . . .

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Amazon.
A love-hate relationship.
In that, I know I am not alone.

Unfortunately, many publishers large and small who were in business a decade ago are no longer in business. The reasons for their demise are legion. Some were poorly run. Others produced a sub par product. Some merged with other companies. For many others (most?), the economics of the marketplace, driven by rapid changes in technology, made it impossible for them to compete.

Most small publishers simply do not have a parachute when their plane takes flak and begins to lose altitude.

"Dude--I didn't see that digital tidal wave coming. Did you?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I did."

If at all possible, I try to purchase my books directly from publishers (especially smaller ones) because as a publisher I understand what that means: a larger proportion of every dollar goes directly to the publisher and the author. The margins in publishing are RAZOR thin, and it takes an outstanding product, coupled with vigorous marketing, to pay the bills and keep the lights on. And capable employees. And great authors. And the careful and judicious choosing of manuscripts. And good book design. And . . . luck. (Yeah, it's not easy.)

Amazon has made this much more difficult for many people. And I understand why: Raw economics. Do I save a few bucks, or support Small Company X.

The scenario that keeps me up at night every once in a while is what the Civil War book-reading world will look like if and when the quality small publishers are driven out of the marketplace. So many good smaller military houses are simply . . . no longer. (The two that always jump into my mind that I enjoyed the most are Morningside and Sarpedon. There are dozens more.)

Relying on Simon and Schuster for our quality Civil War books doesn't sit well with me. I like my maps plentiful and my footnotes down at foot level. University presses turn out great books, but fewer U presses focus on quality military studies, and then only a handful each season. One or two other publishers I am aware of publish just about anything they can get their hands on (many are Savas Beatie rejects), format the (largely) unedited text, slap on a generic cover, attach a steep price, and push it out there.

I am sure some of you think, "Well, self-publishing is the wave of the future and so there will always be lots of books to choose from." Perhaps. But just because you can turn on a stove top and sprinkle herbs and spices on a steak doesn't make you Ruth's Chris. I regularly get self-published books in the mail. Few, sadly, pass muster. Invariably, after flipping through and looking at the design, leading, type-face, paper, binding, etc. I am disappointed. There is no substitute for knowing what you are doing from the bottom up in ANY business.

My friend John Fox, who runs Angle Valley Press, just wrote an interesting blog post on all this. I encourage you to read it. His books are among the best, too.

--tps

A Little Personal History, A LOT of Fun.

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David (left), and your truly (right)

My old friend, former publishing partner, and fellow Civil War enthusiast David Woodbury wrote a piece recently about, well, about a lot of things past and present. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip down memory lane, and I thought some of you might enjoy it. 

So I stole it from his blog. :) And by the way, his blog Of Battlefields and Bibliophiles is outstanding and one you should bookmark and visit often. 

Thanks DW.

--tps

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Strolling Down Memory Lane: The South Bay Civil War Round Table

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Way back in 1988, my wife and I flew from San Francisco to San Diego where I was excited to attend the Annual West Coast Civil War Conference, then organized by Jerry Russell of Civil War Round Table Associates. I had just finished reading McPherson’s, Battle Cry of Freedom, and relished the prospects of listening to some authors hold forth on a variety of subjects. The featured historian was William C. “Jack” Davis, a tremendously knowledgeable and entertaining speaker. He told a story that had the audience laughing so hard, I remember it to this day (maybe some of you have heard it at other events – it involved him traipsing around his house with a Civil War saber, looking for a possible intruder). Bob Younger of Morningside Books was also there, and so I dropped a lot of cash on new reading material.

That conference was also where I met Ted Savas, who was then living in San Jose. He and his wife Carol, and Anne and I, gravitated together -- some of the only people in attendance who were still in their 20’s -- and the only four who had come down from Northern California (or so it seems to me now). We soon learned we had other things in common, such as Ted and I both hailing from Iowa (my mother grew up in his home town, and my father grew up nearby).

Not long after returning to the Bay Area, we got together at the Winchester Brewpub – just down the street from the legendary Winchester Mystery House – and started planning the creation of the South Bay Civil War Roundtable (at that time, there were roundtables in San Francisco, and on the Peninsula, one in the East Bay, but nothing in the area of San Jose, the most populous city in the area).

Our first meeting was held at Ted’s house with about 14 people in attendance. Ted became the first president, and I took up duties as the newsletter editor (and eventually became the 2^nd president). At the first meeting, Zoyd Luce spoke on Benjamin “The Beast” Butler. Ted spoke the following month on Longstreet’s Suffolk Campaign, and I spoke at the third meeting on John Hunt Morgan’s Indiana/Ohio Raid. And just like that, we were off to the races, eventually finding a regular meeting place and steadily increasing the membership.

Within the next couple years, our group hosted the West Coast Conference after it had devolved into a moribund affair, and Jerry Russell was imploring the round tables themselves to take turns organizing it. The year after San Diego it was held in a dingy motel in Burbank, with very low attendance. It was in its death throes, and Russell was ready to give up. The following year we hosted the event near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, got the word out far and wide, and saw a great crowd turn out to hear a roster of speakers topped by Robert K. Krick, whose compensation included two tickets to the next 49ers game. That San Francisco conference was also where Ted and I debuted volume 1, number 1 of Civil War Regiments journal, which, along with a number of stand-alone campaign studies, would consume so much of our lives for years to come. After San Francisco, the Long Beach CWRT held a large, well-attended conference with James McPherson, and the meeting has been a rollicking success ever since.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the South Bay CWRT revived and re-energized the West Coast Conference, which today routinely sees 100+ in attendance, in nice venues, and with top-flight historians and authors (Richard Hatcher and Craig Symonds will be on hand next month).

At some point, I don’t remember when exactly, I stopped attending meetings of the South Bay CWRT in favor of the CompuServe forum I have administered for nearly 20 years, effectively an online CWRT whose members discuss the Civil War era all year long, and meet in person every spring to tour a battlefield. I eventually moved on to work at Stanford University Press, and Savas Woodbury Publishers became Savas Publishing, then Savas Beatie, and anyone who loves books on the Civil War knows what a strong presence Savas has been in that arena all these years later.

I’m pleased to say the South Bay CWRT is still going strong as well, compiling over the years a long record of generous donations to Civil War preservation organizations. When I saw that they were celebrating their 25^th anniversary (which I calculate to be March of 2014), and that Ted was the guest speaker at the annual summer picnic, I decided to surprise him. We had not seen each other in over 10 years. I wish I could describe the look on his face when he glanced my way for the first time after arriving.

It was a lot of fun, and many memories were refreshed. Ted gave a masterful, no-notes talk on “The Battle of Payne’s Farm, November 27, 1863: Command & Competency During the Mine Run Campaign.” That, in itself, caused many more memories to surface, as I was with Ted at Payne’s Farm when he first began researching that fight, and when, using metal detectors, he established an artillery position by finding canister balls in the woods right where he surmised they would be found. He found the remnants of canister. My metal detector was so poor it literally could not detect a quarter sitting on the surface. I know because I tried.