No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice Cover

[jfk]

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$30 books are not part of the impulse buy market.

MM

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Mason,

Three years ago our local Barnes and Noble and other similarly large local independant bookstores would have anywhere from zero to six poker titles on the shelves.

Typically, these were books by Livingston and Scarne and possibly something by Brunson, Caro or a "Poker for Dummies".

Today my local B & N has a seperate poker section which covers roughly a 5' x 12' section. Thankfully they now carry a range of 2+2 titles as well as a host of other books. They even had Feeney (which sold).

While thumbing through the poker books, I'm somewhat regularly asked by strangers, typically women, what poker book they can buy for their brother, boyfriend, grandson, etc. After I couple of questions I'm normally handing them a 2+2 title. Typically, they give it the once over, politely smile and then wait for me to amble off before replacing it on the shelves and reaching for something with a different visual appeal.

While I'm very hesitant to question your judgement or consideration about these things, based on these semi-regular encounters it seems to me that there is at least some segment of the market who is willing to drop $30 on a poker book, but they aren't drawn viscerally to the 2+2 titles which I put in their hands.

While the readers here, myself incuded, don't care at all about the artwork, clearly there seems to be a segment of the market who does (which would explain how Ken Warren is still selling books). Consumers are often spending $30 on a bottle of wine based just on the design of the bottle or label. A gift poker book appears to be chosen the same way many times.

I'd love to wrap this up with a helpful suggestion as to what would appeal to these casual poker book shoppers, but really I have no idea. While you may not have the inclination to turn your cover art into a caricature of a Bodog ad, that may be more in the way of what draws in the causual buyer.

Looking forward to the reading the book in any cover.

[Matt Ruff]

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Who gives a crap what it looks like?

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I think the better question is, "Why are people who don't care about the cover reading a thread about the cover?"

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi jfk:

I don't think you're accurate. B&N has carried our books for almost ten years.

I have a lot of information, mostly from talking to the appropriate book buyers, and we simply dominate the market. Ken Warren isn't selling books. Titles like his are known as "wallpaper" in the business, and they just sit on the shelves looking pretty.

Part of the ambience of the big super stores is to have a ton of books that act as wallpaper which sell very little. In reality, only a very small number of books in the super stores actually sell. The rest just sit there, which is why you always see them.

Best wishes,
Mason

[CrayZee]

Yawn.. Shadows are so 1990s interweb design.

[burningyen]

The cover gives me a frisson of excitement because I don't yet know if I'm suited or not.

[CrayZee]

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The cover gives me a frisson of excitement because I don't yet know if I'm suited or not.

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It's def. a [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] if you're running bad.

[Beavis68]

Mason is correct, there is absolutely nothing 2+2 could be doing better, they are completely perfect and selling the maximum number of books possible - and it isn't even close.

[CrayZee]

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Mason is correct, there is absolutely nothing 2+2 could be doing better, they are completely perfect and selling the maximum number of books possible - and it isn't even close.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yawn.. Sarcasm is so OOT.

[CORed]

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I also use "they" as a singular neuter pronoun in many places throughout the book. I think it's a progressive, yet natural, solution to our pronoun gender problem.

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I prefer the traditional use of "he". This probably means I am a sexist male chauvinist defender of the patriarchy, and a potential rapist.

[CORed]

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The cover gives me a frisson of excitement because I don't yet know if I'm suited or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you're using a two color deck, you don't know. If it's a four color, you're suited.