(large image: 162 Kb)The reason for most facsimile-projects is to reproduce an original which is not available or only in a certain place and (very important for map-collections) to diminish the use of delicate, vulnerable and scarce copies. However this cannot have been the reason for the production of the modern topographic atlases as most sheets are available in the big map-collections, map-shops and other outlets of the TDN. In fact one cannot speak about true facsimiles as the atlases are created from original reproduction materials and cut into sheets of a different size than the original publication.
However the idea of publishing 1:50,000 atlases appealed to the TDN, but she couldn't bear the financial risk herself. But, to promote the publication she was prepared to sell the rights. This most times is a stumbling-block for a lot of enterprises. What normally happens is, that the publisher pays a lump-sum to the copyright-holder for re-publishing the maps. This can entail large sums of money, which makes the risk for the publisher overlarge, so they sometimes back off. An alternative however is to pay the copyright after publication, not as a lump-sum, but as a fee per copy sold. There is less risk for the partners and if the publication is a best-seller the copyright-holder usually gains more then when he would have taken a lump-sum. Sometimes a mix of the two systems is applied, as with CNES/SPOT Images, where a lumpsum is paid, but if the number of copies is higher than a certain amount a fee per copy has to be paid. In the case of the TDN atlases there has been made use of the right-per-copy model.
Except for the 1970's facsimiles all other atlases have been published by either Wolters-Noordhoff Atlasproductions (WN) or Robas. WN as well as Robas sell a lot of the TDN-atlases through direct-mail. (16F) When possible also single sheets of the facsimiles of older maps are offered for those who are not interested in the whole atlas. Usually one is directed to the TDN for single sheets of modern series or aerial photographs.
Wolters-Noordhoff Atlasproductions professed that once the 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 were published and established as standard publications they are intending to publish updated editions in future, as their aim is to produce 'evergreens' (Though there are contenders who say that if one possesses an atlas already it is seldomly replaced (1)).
The 1:50,000 atlases were their best sold publications in 1987, and had to be reprinted soon afterwards. Half of the impression of 5-10,000 copies of the first two provincial atlases (1:25,000) each were sold before the date of publishing.
Though the royalties play a fair part in the decision whether to create a certain publication the highest
costs are the
product-development, printing and promotion!
The sales successes depend on the properties of the provincial atlases themselves, but equally on
a very
professional
marketing campaign. First there is the direct-marketing. This means e.g. that for the first two provincial
atlases 425,000
glossy leaflets were distributed door-to-door in these provinces (12)
(Groningen and Drenthe with resp.
ca. 550,000
and 430,000 inhabitants). One week before the publication the press gets an extensive
documentation-package,
which
includes the introduction, some press-releases and a 16 page map-section of the province in question,
which is as
exemplary as possible. This will produce a good coverage in local newspapers. On D-day the press
is
invited to be
present at the presentation of the first copy to the Queen's Governor in the province (the modern
1:50,000
atlas was
first offered to the Chairman of the House of Representatives). During this presentation there are
introductions into
the matter of topographic mapping etc. by the Director of the TDN and into the matter of publishing
by the Publishing
Manager of Wolters-Noordhoff Atlas Productions. And this happens in all 11 provinces! (The atlas
of
the new province
of Flevoland will not be published due too lack of sales-possibilities)
(17)
(large image: 162 Kb)
Photo 10. Marketing materials Wolters Noordhoff Atlases.
Robas, a publishing firm which started by publishing remote-sensing images, has a slightly different approach. They mail every household in The Netherlands once or twice a year directly. From the responses they create a marketing-profile. These profiles are used for specific approaches for specific publications. Unlike Wolters-Noordhoff they hardly use traditional outlets like bookshops, department-stores etc. Neither do they have a big publishing-cam- paign. However this makes their publications not less sought after!
Wolters-Noordhoff has traced by whom and why these atlases are bought. Research showed that buyers start to search for areas which they know from experience, while they live there or because they were born there. They are looking for their roots, their origin, their decent etc. The map not only is a means to orientate themselves in their surroundings, but also to clarify their existence. So sales depend mainly on emotional values. The atlases therefore are best sold in provinces where people have the strongest ties with their direct surroundings: Friesland, Zeeland and Limburg, provinces which are situated marginally! In Zuid-Holland, where many people live who have been born in another province, 1 out of 5 orders were for an atlas from another province. It was also interesting that response in the country-side was higher than in cities. In villages there most times is a higher appreciation for one's own environments than in cities. (20) In a personal communication from Robas they affirmed that for their publications the same considerations are true. They also think that the relative small amount of topographic data (The Netherlands measures only appr. 40,000 km2) coupled with the dense population makes for the excellent sales.
In his article about two centuries of the historiography of cartography, Koeman list one of the reasons why publications like e.g. the topographic atlases are possible, by describing the groups which are interested in older maps or their facsimiles. He discerns three consecutive periods for the history of cartography by its users: 1. the period of the archivists, mapcurators and the initiators of the geographic societies; 2. the period of the (academic) professors and those who headed the topographic surveys; 3. the period of the democratic cooperation of historiographers: archaeologists, bibliographers, regional historians, pensioned private persons. He remarks also that The Netherlands counts momentarily some 600 regional and local historical/archaeological societies, of which some have more than 1,000 members. He adds that in the last period cartographers started also to be active in the history of cartography, which makes this science more interesting but also, which is even more important, more reliable. (14)
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