ABSTRACT
Segmentation is the very essence of marketing–giving people what they want. A popular definition of segmentation is that it is ‘the act of dividing a market into distinct and meaningful groups of buyers who might merit separate products or marketing mixes’. Richard Tedlow’s book-length study focuses upon the United States after about 1880. The bulk of it consists of excellent paired case studies, e.g. General Motors and Ford, framed by a disappointing attempt to generalize about US segmentation history. The key to understanding the book trade as a business is to recognize the central role of publishers, not only in promoting and distributing, but also in creating books. Most books–especially popular ones–came into being because a publisher had an idea and commissioned others to develop it into a book. By the 1850s, publishers were tending to specialize, hoping thereby to get to know their markets well in the face of increased competition.
