WJ Book

Rob Johnstone · 2005-05-25T22:39:38+00:00

The Woodworker's Journal bookIt is disturbing for me to read the thread about the Woodworker'sJournal book. I can assure you that there was no intention of causingaggravation and for that I apologize.Most of the people getting the book offer in the mail are on (or havebeen on) our subscriber list. The book project was created for acouple of reasons. First off, we have 29 years of woodworking content,the majority of which is now out of print. We get hundreds of queriesasking for these plans every year. Our only recourse at this time isto photocopy the plans, which is not a great solution for ourcustomers or for us. After thinking about it for a while, we thought agood way to put those projects back in print would be to put them intoa book series. The problem was that, while we know how to make andsell magazines ? we don't know much about selling books. (And aspedestrian as it sounds, we are a "for profit" organization. That isthe second reason.) So we hired a marketing company to help us dothat. Their suggestion was a continuity series sent through the mail.We tested the concept (10,000 books on the first mailing), and got afavorable response.The first book in a series like this always contains a "no stringsattached" offer. If you like it, and would like to see more, you canbuy it. If you don't like it, there are two choices. You can returnit, at our expense (return label is included), or simply consider it afree gift and do with it as you will. That's all clearly stated in theletter that comes with the book. As a side point, we have recentlyadded a good-sized "bubble" on the outside of the book packagingthat says "No obligation opportunity. Please read enclosed letter"just to be very clear. Again, I apologize for the aggravation.Rob Johnstone,Editor, Woodworker's Journal

WJ Book

May 25, 2005 83 Replies

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Lobby Dosser 21 years ago

I'd be interested in seeing a scan of the alleged 'Invoice' or the alleged 'Not An Invoice'. Any takers?

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Edwin Pawlowski 21 years ago

Agree. I sent mine back. I don't recall the wording, but it sure had the 'look and feel" of a bill. Someone has to have one.

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Robert Bonomi 21 years ago

Your estimates of the 'hit' percentages are high, for both methods. The _relative_ difference is much larger than your estimates, however.

*Very* few people buy 'reference'-type books 'sight unseen', with the exception of 'standard' works -- e.g. the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary.

Getting the sample into the prospect's hands increases the sale rate by a factor of somewhere 25 to 40 times.

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Glen 21 years ago

It didn't come with a prepaid envelope, and I wasn't going to waste my $0.37.

Glen

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