Pathfinder supporters around the world might want to take a tip from Jill Fein, from Salt Lake City, who recently reported on sales trips to two new bookstores. "One store had a huge World War II section," she reported. "They were interested in The Truth about Yugoslavia and The Balkan Wars (1912-13) more than anything else. The other store also had a section on World War II. In addition to the Yugoslavia book, they were interested in several of the Spanish-language titles."
Fein also recently led a Pathfinder sales trip to Denver and reported, "The buyer at one of the largest bookstores there asked for posters and book reviews so she could make a display. She also requested an author come out for a book signing."
More bookstores are setting up sections of Spanish- language titles. "One buyer told me she likes Pathfinder's Spanish titles because `they're so different from the romance novels you usually get,' " Fein noted. One result of the Denver trip is that a Pathfinder supporter from that city has volunteered to be a sales representative.
Craig Honts from Los Angeles reports that sales of Pathfinder books increased dramatically in April, May, and June. For the three preceding months sales totaled $2,507. For April-June, however, they were $5,648, an increase of 125 percent. "We sold 91 copies of New International, grossing over $1,000," Honts said. "But as a result of that effort, we sold a lot of other titles as well, since we got out to more political meetings and campuses."
Mary Lipman, a Pathfinder representative who recently moved to Santa Cruz, California, has lost no time in promoting Pathfinder. Lipman visited four bookstores in July. Titles sold include: The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions by Jack Barnes, Rosa Luxemburg Speaks, Lenin's Final Fight, To Speak the Truth: Why Washington's `Cold War' against Cuba Doesn't End by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara, and New International no. 9, which includes the article "The Rise and Fall of the Nicaraguan Revolution."
"You can see by the selection of books how important it is to visit the stores," Lipman said.
Pathfinder supporters in Seattle recently participated in an Indigenous Environmental Network conference in Alaska. Conference participants bought copies of thirteen different titles, including The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara; FBI on Trial; New International no. 6, with the articles "The Second Assassination of Maurice Bishop" and "Washington's 50-year Domestic Contra Operation"; and New International no. 10, with the article "Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War." Six copies each were sold of Why Is Mark Curtis Still in Prison? The Political Frame- up of a Unionist and Socialist and the Campaign to Free Him and Genocide against the Indians.