Pathfinder supporters in UK get sales campaign under way
BY TONY HUNT
LONDON--Promoters of Pathfinder in London and Manchester secured orders for nearly 100 books from visits to four bookshops in the opening days of a sales campaign here.
The goal of this effort is to increase sales of Pathfinder titles to commercial retail outlets and campus bookshops. Supporters of these books around the world are engaged in the same campaign.
The Pathfinder sales volunteers went to "High Street" shops, as they are referred to here, the main place in London where workers and young people buy their books. Sales included six copies of Che Guevara Talks to Young People, four of Capitalism's World Disorder by Jack Barnes, and five of The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara.
The buyer at a bookshop that serves Manchester University expressed interest in the newly published pamphlet The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning by Barnes. This buyer wanted to take time to study the catalog before placing an order.
Teams of Pathfinder sales volunteers have begun to visit 15-20 major outlets in order to reverse a decline in sales over recent months and relaunch consistent sales work. Further appointments have already been booked with several stores over the next week.
To prepare for this campaign, volunteers have organized refresher training sessions to ensure they meet Pathfinder's high professional standards as they carry out the work.
"We took advantage of the fact that so many titles were published or printed so far this year," said Pathfinder sales volunteer Paul Davies. He secured big orders from two major Central London stores that serve the University of London as well as working people in the area and tourists.
"The book buyers I saw were attracted by the quality of the new reprints," Davies noted. "It's another way of understanding the importance of Pathfinder's reprint program. I was also able to point out the difference in quality between Pathfinder's edition of The Bolivian Diary--with its glossary, maps, notes, and other explanatory material--and a recently published competing edition that is prominent in bookshops at the moment. Buyers were able to notice that the Pathfinder edition is much more useful, especially for those just learning about the subject."
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