Philadelphia-based military history publisher Casemate has announced its largest and most diverse list of spring titles to date, bolstered by this fall's addition of Richard Kane, former head of Presidio Press and Zenith Books, as commissioning editor. Kane already has six projects under development for Casemate, including four for this spring.
"Richard Kane is now full-time with us," said Tara Lichterman, publicity manager at Casemate, noting that Kane will be focused on "extending our "history" line into current military concerns given our ongoing wars in several countries." Editorial director Steve Smith says the addition of Kane, Casemate "has moved further not only to studies of America’s ongoing wars but to works of military philosophy and strategy of interest to our current planners and policymakers." The four titles under Kane's development for the spring are Arms of Little Value: The Challenge of Insurgency and Global Instability in the Twenty-First Century by G.L. Lamborn; Hearts and Mines: A Story of Psychological Warfare in Iraq by Russell Snyder; Kimberly's Flight: The Story of Captain Kimberly Hampton, America's First Woman Combat Pilot Killed in Battle by Anna Simon and Ann Hampton; Valor in Vietnam by Allen Clark. Kane joined Casemate in September.
Last year, PW reported on Casemate's foray into the digital space, and since then, Lichterman stated that "our e-books are selling quite well"--15% of sales are from e-books, and November will see Casemate's 50,000th download. Lichterman made particular mention of Vietnam memoirs, which "have sold disproportionately more copies as e-books than in print," she said. "Traditionally World War II memoirs are the highest sellers, so it's a safe assumption that e-books are reaching a new demographic of readers." Casemate is still "exploring our options with apps, as we have come to find out that the market for text only apps is virtually non-existent."
When asked to spotlight a title that was a particular success for Casemate, Lichterman brough up Shade it Black: Death and After in Iraq by Jess Goodell and John Hearn, "a slim memoir by a young Marine private in Iraq," which received "enormous national notice and has film rights afoot."
