Creating a Market for Union Books

Eric Lee included this item in a recent email

I don't know about you, but I find it odd that every time some billionaire decides to write a book it becomes a best-seller, but I can't remember the last time that a book by or about trade unionists got noticed.

Books by and for businessmen are so successful that there are publishing houses, bookshops and even book clubs that sell nothing but these kinds of books.

It's not because there aren't great books around for trade unionists. As I was searching through what people buy from our online bookstore, I was tempted myself by a whole lot of new and old titles. I mean, which trade unionist wouldn't want a copy of "Confessions of a Union Buster" by Martin Jay Levitt or "Labor's Untold Story" by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais? And then there's the brand new "Wobblies: A Graphic History," published to celebrate 100 years of the IWW. Click on this link for more about that book:

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?
partner_id=23921&cgi=product&isbn=1844675254

Anyway, I've been thinking about why it is that we trade unionists are not as successful as we could be in creating a huge market among our millions of members for books about our movement.

I did a bit of research and found one union selling a whole range of products on its website -- clocks, watches, glassware, hats -- but not a single book. Or another union which does sell books, and invites its members to purchase books from a unionized bookshop, but doesn't bother to recommend even a single title.

I've written a column about all this which you might find interesting -- and you're invited to post comments, too:

http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000114.html

Finally, don't forget: with May Day only a month away, you should be buying your gifts today for fellow workers at Labour's Online Bookstore:

http://www.labourstart.org/books.shtml