Best known for their iconic, in-depth auto repair manuals, Haynes of Somerset, England, also offers a series of books which delve into the design, construction, and operation of famous military aircraft. Their titles on the Spitfire, Mosquito, Typhoon, Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird are all available cheaply at the time of writing in British high street discount retailer 'The Works'. And when I say 'cheaply' - I mean 'cheaply'!
The familiar red and yellow Haynes logo on the front of the company’s hardback books has been around for more than 50 years. The Somerset-based company still makes a lot of money on a format that is relatively unchanged since it first appeared. With a live catalogue of more than 1,700 manuals, the company has a presence in 80 countries and 24 languages. Few people could realistically expect to take apart a Spitfire, for which the company produced a manual when it became official publisher to the RAF in 2007 but the company line still applies; “It is a manual, not a coffee table book that happens to contain technical instruction. Well, maybe it’s a combination. You are not going to go out and repair a Spitfire, obviously, but you could with this. It retains that trusted explanation." The Spitfire volume is just one of a hugely successful line of similar publications from the Haynes stable.Equipped with them you could feasibly service Lancaster or Vulcan bombers, Concorde or Apollo 11, to name a few. The aviation titles in the Haynes range are mostly excellent. And now more than ever these manuals are available in retail outlets all over Britain at discounted prices - many aviation titles can be purchased in 'The Works' for just £6. Although these are not discounted books.
According to Haynes Commissioning Editor Jonathan Falconer posting in the FB Aviation Book Enthusiast page they are special print-runs produced exclusively for 'The Works'. Falconer himself however is apparently not a 'fan', believing that they undermine future book production and diminish the 'rewards' available to authors. His friend Lee Howard, who compiled Haynes' Lynx and Wessex manuals which are also available cheaply in 'The Works' (currently only £6 per hardback volume) agrees with him. ....aahh..
To be honest, though - and let's do a bit of straight talking here - I don't know what Jonathan Falconer's problem is. He presumably still gets his salary/contract payment whomever the Haynes Manuals are printed for and at whatever price point they are sold at. Most print runs these days are either Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China or Taiwan and this has been the case for a long time. It must be certainly a big factor in Haynes profit margins (£3 million in 2017 on revenues of £30 million), it's been like that for decades, so one assumes Haynes still makes money on these titles - the 'Buccaneer' book produced by Keith Wilson (yes, at the time of writing available for just £6 in 'The Works') was only released in August 2018. These sort of discounts do probably pose a threat to the independent book retailers, who, even as a collective, do not have the buying power to order the numbers and thereby get the discount that 'The Works' gets.
According to one insider, who worked in book sales for ten years, " ..my understanding is the print runs of the Haynes titles that 'The Works' order are around the 20,000 copies mark, that's a massive inducement to ANY company..."
also on this blog;
UK aviation magazines - why does Key Publishing (have to) own everything ? https://falkeeinsgreatplanes.blogspot.com/2015/03/uk-aviation-magazines-currently-on.html
