Do you think it is important for the corporate suits at publishing houses to walk the bourse and gau
Longacre
Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
Perhaps I am wrong on this point, but I view the numismatic publishing world to be first and foremost a general publishing business, and secondly as a subset of the publishing market, namely numismatic publishing. I look at numismatic publishers as any other publisher in that the corporate conglomerate needs to identify a subject matter of a book, and then "hit the spreadsheets" to see how much it costs to publish that book, how much it can charge, and whether the return on investment meets the internal hurdle rates that the guy in the corner office sets.
Because the corporation does not write the book (the author/numismatic expert does), do you think it is even necessary for a corporate suit at the publisher to get his or her hands dirty and actually walk a bourse and gauge collector sentiment? Or does the corporate publisher mainly rely on the author's views of which numismatic topic is relevant at any given time, and then again, simply looks at the financial return on that proposed book? Or is it almost a requirement for a publisher of such specialized books to have their own specialized knowledge to make a business determination to publish a book or not, regardless of what a numismatic author might think?
Because the corporation does not write the book (the author/numismatic expert does), do you think it is even necessary for a corporate suit at the publisher to get his or her hands dirty and actually walk a bourse and gauge collector sentiment? Or does the corporate publisher mainly rely on the author's views of which numismatic topic is relevant at any given time, and then again, simply looks at the financial return on that proposed book? Or is it almost a requirement for a publisher of such specialized books to have their own specialized knowledge to make a business determination to publish a book or not, regardless of what a numismatic author might think?
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
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And some knowledge of the market really is required, otherwise you are going to have authors pitching wacky ideas, with no capability to discriminate which ones have good potential.
My guess is that the numismatic book market is kind of "nichey" compared to the general book market and as a result may have some quirky rules which apply differently. The distribution channels are a lot more targeted, and the number of "thought leaders" in the industry is much, much smaller than for mass appeal books.
Walking the bourses and learning the trade to me is doing proper research.
The hobby also has its “stars” and some of these are associated with publishers and writers.