We are cautiously promoting the AWW Slow Cooker 3 cookbook. I say cautiously because Slow Cooker 2 was a dud for us – on the back of Slow Cooker 1 being an amazing success selling between 200 and 300 copies.
Others flocked to the slow cooker space once they saw the success AWW had with their first slow cooker title and this segment saturation, in my view, diluted interest in Slow Cooker 2.
We are promoting Slow Cooker 3 in three locations this launch week including the location in the photo – with our range of AWW cookbook titles.
Great mag, we promoted this and perfect roasts with our mothers display, sold well we had a little sign COOK MUM LUNCH. Worked well, we even cooked a recipe from Slow Cooker 3, Lamb with sage and proscitto. YUM YUM
AWW cook books are brilliant, unfortunately they just don’t sell like they used to. I guess now that there are so many good food magazines and celebrity cook books they seem a bit old fashioned.
But they are one of very few publications that are still recipe tested. For a while a couple of years ago we often had customers requesting the earlier books, they probably would outsell the newer ones if they were available today.
I would love to see them reprint the very early ($3.98) AWW Cooking Class Cookbook, it’s one of their best and it’s a must for any teenager when they leave home. I still have mine and wouldn’t sell it for any price!
The biggest barrier facing cookbooks is online.
There are so many recipe sites and forums that house a huge variety of recipes far beyond what is found in a cookbook.
The beauty of many of these sites is that the recipes can be searched, rated and commented on (where people often put hints, tips and variations).
That said the foodie culture that has permeated Australia over the past few years has no doubt helped the cookbook segment. How long that boost helps starve off the inevitable decline remains to be seen.
We’ve happy with how Slow Cooker 3 is performing. 25 copies sold.
I agree with Jarryd. My granddaughter was cooking at my place last weekend and
wanted a recipe. Instead of asking me for it she hopped online and got it there.
The paucity of sales of AWW cookbooks is
directly connected with this and will only get worse. I have reduced this genre (partly because I was forced into smaller premises by my landlord and partly because I thought it was time to do so).
Because of my move I have reduced my supplies of lots of mags (not cancelled, but reduced) and I must say that Network has simply added other product to my account to ensure that they keep their cashflow intact.
It riles me no end when I have done the requisite work to ensure that my account
is approximately what I CHOOSE IT TO BE and not what Network would like it to be.
It surely cannot go on forever – the push
model must become extinct or none of us
(including Network and GG) will survive.
Newsagents should be able to ask for whatever product they require and that is
all that should be sent. If something new
comes out we can find it online and request copies but we should NOT just get
everything that the distribution companies
believe we will sell (they don’t really believe that of course but they send it anyway).
Oh! perchance to dream!