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Vol. 74/No. 24      June 21, 2010

 
Store orders for Pathfinder up
 
BY MARY ELLEN MARUS  
After the International Center and Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina, sold most of the books from their first Pathfinder order, they placed a second order for 63 titles.

Pathfinder sales representatives obtained 94 orders for Pathfinder books between January 1 and May 1, surpassing their goal of 85. This was the most successful sales campaign in several years. The new book Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, by Jack Barnes, was central to the effort and gave the campaign a big boost. Salespeople are continuing visits to bookstores and libraries to follow up on all those who expressed interest in Pathfinder titles.

Through the course of the campaign, representatives visited numerous bookstores and libraries. A sales team from Washington, D.C., visited an important independent bookstore in Baltimore. During the visit an order of almost $400 was placed. Titles included Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, Lenin’s Final Fight, and many other Marxist classics.

In the Bay Area, salespersons got four orders after visiting bookstores in Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Berkeley, and a campus bookstore in Davis, California. All purchased Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power.

“The successful visit to San Diego was the highlight of the Los Angeles campaign. Pathfinder representatives met with nine buyers and have already garnered two orders, including from the city's Malcolm X Library,” said Nick Castle.

Upon looking through a wide selection of Pathfinder titles, two high school librarians in Vancouver, British Columbia, said that they needed the perspective of these books in their library. They asked the sales representative to return to the school next fall to present the books to the students.

More than 71 libraries from the United States to Canada to New Zealand now have Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power on their shelves.

Visits to public and campus libraries garnered sales of a broad range of Pathfinder books. In Victoria, British Columbia, the university librarian appreciated the marked-up catalogue highlighting books for his consideration. The 28 orders in Canada helped spark a sharp increase in Pathfinder sales there. Two-thirds of the orders include the Workers Power book.

Salespeople contacted bookstores located in Black neighborhoods. In Brooklyn, New York, they visited a number of independent bookstores, including Arab-language ones. In Miami buyers in Haitian bookstores are looking forward to the Workers Power book now available in French.

Plans are under way in Quebec, which is 80 percent French-speaking, and in U.S. cities, to show Malcolm X, la libération des Noirs et la voie vers le pouvoir ouvrier to the many French and bilingual bookstores and libraries.
 
 
Related articles:
Read, Sell, & Discuss: ‘Malcolm X, Black Liberation, & the Road to Workers Power’
French edition of ‘Workers Power’ book is out  
 
 
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