Wildsam Books! Small size book that's big on content!

The Florida Keys Edition

Our topic today is a book series where they dialed in their vibe and have been super successful at expanding it. There are certain books you run across that have a great look and feel to them. The Wildsam books are no exception. They feel like a classic as soon as you see them. The choices that went into how these books are made are crucial to their appeal and how they work. Those choices are what I want to dig into! 

Wildsam, I’m guessing, started as an internet antidote. You can get on line and find a thousand hits on a city but do you walk away feeling like you learned anything? Here comes Wildsam to the rescue.  They get locals, the writers, the artists, the cooks, the makers and ask them their perspective on the city. 

Once you are done with the small book you have a nice scoop on the area. Ironically, you have a lovely little Instagram shot ready too because they look so good. Yes, I’m sure there are detractors who bemoan what the books leave out or gloss over but let’s be reasonable! They give you a take, not THE take but a take, and that is something! How do they pack so much into these little books?

First off, size. The key to it all is it has to be ready to travel. You aren't taking a coffee table book with you on a plane. Other books are competing for space in your luggage. As it is, the Wildsam book coming in at 4 x 6.5 is about the size of an iPhone and I bet you that's intentional. 

Second, The small size presents the beauty of limitations. You can’t write to your heart's content, you have to get in and get out. Thus the articles, run downs and lists are economic with a constant eye on the page size and count. 

Third, They extend this to the interior color palette. It’s a three color interior on 70lb paper. Really nice. They get a little saving by printing colors and not going full color but really full color is taxing. It requires something of the mind. This book is a respite from online. That’s part of the approach. 

Fourth The MSRP on these is $20 on their website except for one that is $12 and one that is $24. I’m guessing those are page count variations. I bet they really work hard to make that $20 profitable. This is the big detail in this product.

That $20 a unit has to pay for art, printing, and editorial, but at the same time, it has to stay in line with the perceived value of the book.  You don’t want to pick it up and see a $30 price tag. That’s a no go for most of your consumers. You’d have to make the book bigger to hit that perceived value, once you do that, then it’s no longer the size of an iPhone. It’s no longer an easy travel companion. It’s no longer this perfect little package.  I bet the paper cost crunch of 2021 and 2022 caused them a-lot of stress. 

One great little rabbit in the hat trick they pull is using the french flaps to full effect. On the front one they grab their back cover copy so the back flap can handle more copy but viola you unfold it and you have a map of the area. They do this in every book of theirs I’ve seen and I love it. 

Last thing to note and it’s a bit of good news for them is that these books are perfect bound soft covers so, they flytrap at their small size but the decision is cost effective. Maybe when they first planned the line they considered other options but that would not have scaled well. They’ve taken this wise move as the pill to swallow. That binding style protects their margin and that MSRP when things like authors and paper fluctuate in cost.  

What is a book series that you like the look and feel of at the moment? Maybe I’ll do a run down on it in the next installment. 

Special shout out to Nashville Food Writer Jennifer Justice for putting the Florida Keys book from Wildsam together. You can buy it here!