OSPREY BLOGS

Mike

Choose which books to reprint

April 14, 2009 12:00 AM

One of the most regular comments that we receive from our online customers runs along the lines of "Why is this book out of print...and when are you going to reprint it?". Over the last couple of years we have been actively investigating ways that we can bring as many of our 1,500 books back into stock, from investigating short run printings to creating e-book versions of some of our titles.

But, all of this takes time, particularly with older titles that were published in the dark old days of publishing where everything was done on film instead of computers. Preparing each of these books for a reprint can take weeks, and with nearly 500 books out of stock, there is quite a big backlog.

So, in an effort to combat this, the web team have been 'given the OK' to run a series of experiments on the blog and website to see what books you would like us to reprint, and whether you will actually buy them once they have been reprinted.

Every month we will provide you with a list of possible books to choose from. If enough of you choose one of those titles we will have it added to a reprint batch. As soon as this book is reprinted we will let you know that it is available.

We only need to get 50 people to put themselves down for a book to get it onto a reprint batch - so if more than one of these books gets enough interest, we may even do more than 1 title every month!

If this system works, we will be able to expand it to more books every month - and we will be able to reprint more of the books. But, for this to work, we do need all the people voting to be sensible and honest - if 500 of you ask for a book to be reprinted and then only 50 actually buy the book, leaving us with a pile of unsold books, this system will be quite quickly canceled.

The list of books that we have chosen for the first series of votes is a little bit random - based on some popular titles as well as titles that have been out of stock for a long time. Going forward, lists will be more targeted, focusing on the books that appear in the most My Wishlist sections.

So, to vote for the book that you want, all you have to do is email us here - with the book title that you would like to reprint as the subject.

CAM 97 Bussaco 1810

CAM 17 Chickamauga 1863

MAA 235 The Army of Gustavus Aldolphus

MAA 444 Napoleon’s Mounted Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard

NVG 13 Scorpion Reconnaissance Vehicle

NVG 19 Sturmgeschutz III Assault Gun

WAR 24 Austrian Grenadiers and Infantry

WAR 69 Darby’s Rangers

ELI 63 German Mountain and Ski Troops

ELI 70 Elizabethan Sea Dogs

COM 13 Mosquito Photo Reconnaissance Units of World War 2

ACE 2 Bf 109 Aces of North Africa and the Mediterranean

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COMMENTS

Paul @ Warlord Games

14-Apr-2009 23:51

Great how you're asking for customer feedback on this - for me top of the list is the Mountain Troops book - can never have enough on Gebirgsjager!

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Mac1776

16-Apr-2009 07:12

How about bring back Osprey's Old School of The Old Vanguard and Airwar/Aircam series?

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Tomcatter

18-Apr-2009 11:48

Osprey team this is great initiative. 6 out of my wish list came up and I will buy them. Can I make a small suggestion? Since you have the website and peoples' wish lists, why don't you provide a score field next to each wish list item and allow people to score (e.g. High- Medium- Low) each of their own wish list items. Highest score accross the board wins, email the people (everbody is registered) to confirm and done.
Very Best,
Robert

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crimean

20-Apr-2009 19:20

This is a great idea by Osprey. I feel Robert De Belder has suggested a great idea in determining how maybe Osprey could better go about re-printing books.

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Bis

21-Apr-2009 15:07

Fine concept.

I vote for Chickamauga and the Army of Gustavus.

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xavierb

21-Apr-2009 16:04

Mike:
Well How about Flak jackets
Leopard I and Meddigo 1918

xavier

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Frido

21-Apr-2009 17:31

I would be easier if I could simply vote instead of posting a reply. Anyway, I will definitely take the NVG 19 Sturmgeschutz when it's available again.

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duck88

29-Apr-2009 06:37

German mountain ski troops.

Could you please add Aviation lite Units # 8 , 352nd Fighter Group to the next list? I can only find a few and they are about $60 a book. That is quite a bit for books you only charge $20-25 for.

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GonzaloCordoba

06-May-2009 16:17

I vote for Men-at-arms 235: The Armies of Gustavus Adolphus and Warrior 24: The Austrian Grenadiers and Infantry.

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lgracia

19-May-2009 15:55

Hi,

I vote for the Bf 109 Aces of North Africa.

I just registered here, because it was difficult to find in Madrid older numbers of Combat Aircraft and Aircraft of the Aces, but I realize that also here is difficult.

BTW the status of Bf. 109 Aces book is "out of stock" (which I understand is usually printed but temporaly out of stock) not "out of print". Which is the difference?

thanks

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Mike @ Osprey

19-May-2009 16:29

It is very rare for any of our books to be 'out of print' which implies that they will never be reprinted. So, any books listed on this site, but that are unavailable are essentially just "out of stock" and we are doing our best to reprint the book as soon as possible.

The overall response to this blog has been extremely encouraging, and hopefully within the next month or so I will be able to reveal which book has been selected for a reprint (and more importantly when you will be able to buy it!) So a massive thank you to everyone who took part - I intend to make this a regular feature!

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