The top-selling title was Capitalism's World Disorder by Jack Barnes, with 35 copies ordered. At all the visits the reps showed a copy of this book to buyers and explained how it covered the economic crisis in the world today, and pointed to sections on Ireland, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and India. Eight bookstores placed orders.

Buyers at stores also placed orders for 14 copies of Pathfinder's newest title From the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution by Víctor Dreke.

Indeed, just under 40 percent of all the orders--some 130 books and pamphlets--were for Pathfinder books on the Cuban Revolution. These included 23 copies of Che Guevara Talks to Young People and 9 copies of Playa Girón/Bay of Pigs: Washington's First Military Defeat in the Americas by José Ramón Fernández and Fidel Castro.

In 10 of the 19 stores visited buyers placed orders immediately. Two promised to send in orders, three took suggested orders, and four asked for catalogs to be left with them. The sales team drew its list of stores to target from previous contacts, Internet searches, and a directory of bookstores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Bookstores visited included those in the city centers, at airports, and at campus commercial stores, as well as outlets run by political organizations.

The team's first sales appointment in Dublin was at a store outside the city center that has a high volume of sales. Over coffee, the buyer was happy to take time to discuss Pathfinder's list, look over samples, and study the catalog. This buyer decided to order 20 of each of four titles: Capitalism's World Disorder, Che Guevara Talks to Young People, The Assassination of Malcolm X, and Nelson Mandela Speaks.

A few buyers, when contacted by phone before the trip, were not willing to make appointments but nevertheless asked the sales reps to visit their stores to leave catalogs and a suggested order. The team made sure to do this to lay the basis for orders in the future.

In fact, in two such stores the buyers came out to meet the representative and look over the suggested order. At another, the volunteers had mailed the catalog to the buyer in advance. She studied it and then asked a colleague to look at the books. He ordered seven books, including Black Music, White Business and John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s, both by Frank Kofsky, and Nelson Mandela Speaks and How Far We Slaves Have Come, by Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro.

The reps found noticeable interest in Pathfinder's titles by South African leader Nelson Mandela on the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the apartheid regime. A total of 42 books and pamphlets by Mandela were ordered. Forty-eight books of speeches by U.S. revolutionary leader Malcolm X were also placed and six titles on the struggle for women's liberation. In one city center store, a buyer said he wanted a range of books for his philosophy section. He ordered one of each title by George Novack listed in the catalogue.

A number of buyers said they liked Pathfinder's books. One who placed a small order for a city center store noted the high quality of the books. At a campus store the manager said he was impressed with the quality of the archive photographs, calling them "really lovely." He listened to a brief explanation of the international project of Pathfinder volunteers to turn the entire backlist of the publishing house into ready-to-print digital files. Having begun by saying he would not order any books, he held up Che Guevara Talks to Young People to look at. He decided to order two, "if only because of the quality of the front cover."

The sales team visited four university campuses to meet bookstore buyers and do some initial work promoting Pathfinder's list among academic staff. One visit was to a large campus library where the acquisitions librarian spent considerable time going through the catalog and showing the team around the facility. He offered to pass the catalog, together with an order form, to the political sciences librarian.

Following up on suggestions from bookstore buyers, the volunteer reps met with the head of the politics department at one university who looked through the catalog. He made further suggestions for the team about who to contact among his colleagues in Ireland and England about ordering Pathfinder titles. He invited the team to leave catalogs for the other members of the department.

"Pathfinder was taken seriously and treated with a lot of respect by buyers and academics we met," commented sales team member Debbie Delange shortly after returning from Ireland. She illustrated this point with a comment from a campus bookstore buyer who ordered History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky, among other titles. He said that "no self-respecting bookstore should be without this book."
 
 
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