The book vote is one of the most popular features on our site. In fact, whenever I forget to upload the new book vote at the start of a new month I am immediately inundated with emails asking me where it has gone and when it is going to be up again. Every month I sit down with one of our editors (usually Phil) and go through the 1000s of book suggestions that you send in on a monthly basis.
Choosing just 5 books to feature on the book vote, from the 1000s sent in is a truly Herculean task, not necessarily because of the great number of titles to choose from, but because of the depth of quality that these suggestions contain.
Once we have chosen 5 titles we sit back and watch the results roll in with interest. Sometimes the outcome is quite predictable. But sometimes we are blown out of the water by the response. In fact, March has been a good example of us being taken a bit by surprise. We picked a very competitive range of books, and judging from the number of requests we get to do the Swiss Guard and Modern Russian Special Forces we originally guessed that it was going to be a close run contest by those two titles. But along came Maori Wars, which stormed to victory, pulling in over half of the votes cast.
This month, the book vote has truly shown its worth. Way back in February 2009 I posted up The Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II as a book vote candidate. It promptly reeled in more votes than any other book had ever managed. In fact it got more votes than we often get across the whole book vote in an average month. Stunned we immediately set about trying to find an author for the book (an appeal that we even posted up on our forum and blog). A few months later and we were in touch with Ricardo Bonalume Neto and Cesar Campiani Maximiano - who were put to work on their first ever Men-at-Arms title. And this month, thanks to the book vote, Men-at-Arms 465 Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II has hit bookstores around the world!
But this is not the only book to have benefitted from a good showing on the book vote. In fact, sometimes a book doesn't even need to win the book vote to get us interested. October 2008 saw the Humber come a credible second in the book vote - a result that encouraged us to publish NVG 177 Humber Light Reconnaissance Car.
In total, over the last 2 and a half years, 15 books that featured on the book vote list have been published or commissioned - and here follows a list for you!
- Heinkel He 111 (Book vote July 08) coming in the Combat Aircraft series in 2012
- The Balkan Wars 1912-13 (Book vote August 08) Men-at-Arms 466 Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-13 - preorder it now!
- Humber (Book vote October 08) New Vanguard 177 Humber Light Reconnaissance Vehicle - out now!
- Tunnel Rats (Book vote November 08) - coming in the Warrior series in 2012.
- Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Book vote February 09) Men-at-Arms 465 Brazilian Expeditionary Force in World War II - out now!
- Varangian Guard (Book vote March 09) Men-at-Arms 459 the Varangian Guard - out now!
- Light Cavalry of the 30 Years War (Book vote March 09) Men-at-Arms 462 Imperial Armies of the 30 Years War: Cavalry - out now!
- The Chaco War (Book vote September 09) Men-at-Arms 474 The Chaco War - coming in November 2011
- The Spanish in North America (Book vote April 10) Men-at-Arms 475 Spanish Army in North America - coming November 2011
- Napoleonic Cavalry Tactics (Book vote August 10) Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry Tactics in the Elite series coming in 2012
- Australian Army of WW1 (Book vote September 10) Men-at-Arms 478 Australian Army in WW1 coming in 2012
- Swiss Napoleonic Troops (Book vote September 10) Men-at-Arms 476 Napoloeon's Swiss Army Troops - coming in 2012
- World War II Italian Naval Elite Forces (Book vote September 10) - a similar title has been commissioned - but no pub date yet!
- Italian Tanks (Book vote October 10) - keep your eyes peeled for a two book series (yep TWO books) in the New Vanguard series.
A number of the other winning titles are currently being considered as well, and authors sourced. As / when I know more, I will let you know! So do keep suggesting titles. Do keep voting in our book vote (a new one is up now) and we will keep trying to commission as many of your great ideas as possible!