Harris axiom: SELL WHAT THE MARKET NEEDS, NOT WANT YOU WANT TO SELL TO THE MARKET
Simple stuff-Economics 101-but most of you will ignore it. Fine, but don't be disappointed when your book costs you a ton but returns only a fraction of what you spent because only a few copies sell. Just last week, a New York Times critic noted that since we all have a life a “memoir mountain [is] looming”. He thinks there are seven categories of self-indulgent books: “The retired-statesmen (or more likely bureaucrat) memoir, the traumatic-childhood memoir, the spiritual-journey memoir, the substance abuse memoir, the show-biz memoir, the spirit-of-place or vanished-era memoir, the illness memoir, and the sexual-exploit memoir”. If you have any of these waiting to be published, maybe you should reconsider. He looked at some 31 recent memoirs that seemed to be going nowhere no matter how well written. Remember we are involved in getting books published, not in getting praise for creative writing.
What, then, does the market want in the near term future?
Here are a few ideas I have found:
- Elex Media Komputindo, an Indonesian publisher of children's books, has an immediate need for science or technology books aimed at pre-schoolers. Red Bird Express, an English publisher, wants the same subjects covered for older kids. Management Books 2000 in England is looking for business ideas that can be absorbed in 90 minutes for a successful series they have in the market. Universiti Teknologi Petronas, in Malaysia, is looking for as many engineering and technology books as it can get.
- How do you find out about this. Pay attention to someone like me who spends more than a month a year working the big book shows as Executive Director of International Publishers Alliance and who is invited to talk to organizations such as this. Book fairs are the cheapest, most effective way to get your books in front of the book trade—if you know what you're doing and you know how to work the shows.
- Novels that are based on facts and where the facts or authorities for statements made are footnoted. Look at Michael Crichton's State of Fear for a very good example of how a novel form can be married to factual concerns. I used to think that poetry and cookbooks were tough sells; I am beginning to feel that novels from unknown authors are just as difficult.
- Cheap high quality books. No different from clothes. As many know, Barnes & Noble is selling classics for $4.95. Look at this edition of Rudyard Kipling-gilt edging, hardback, quality paper, illustrated. How much? Does $4.95 rock your boat? Let me make a point that is now a mantra of everyone in business today:
- Bundling is bigger than ever. Have you noticed the number of books on juggling that also provide the balls to juggle; we had a book at Frankfurt last year called Taming the Wild Pendulum-a way to find answers deep within the inner consciousness. Each book came with a real pendulum. We are working on a new project dealing with leadership as portrayed in films called Reel Heroes. We will be bundling the book with DVDs of the movies discussed. In yet another project that has come to us recently, we have recommended packaging the book as an added bonus with other products from other manufacturers; such as, clothes, packaged foods, etc.
- Don't think one book when starting a project, think at least three. SIMPLY STATED: SERIES SELL. Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? Recently, Dean Martin's heirs began a DVD series covering the best of his variety shows. To us, the interesting thing was not the shows themselves but the marketing. They sold the first DVD at a discount to get your name and e-mail address to attract people to additional DVDs in the series—at higher prices for them along with a lower marketing cost. Any publisher can do the same thing. How?
Anyone who fails to take China into account in his planning does so at great peril to his future.
I remember one author who criticized an entry in one of our show catalogs because in naming a string of animals featured in a book-the kitty, the puppy, the bunny, the squirrel, I failed to put in “the mouse”. What a horror! She complained, even insisted I add it. What nonsense! Did that word make a sale, make her book unique? Clearly not! But how many of you will actually heed this advice and look for ways to improve your marketing? Damn few!
- As noted before, Dan Poynter has preached alternative marketing outlets for years. In fact, alternative sites are expanding while publishers of America's annual 180,000 books are still thinking in traditional book stores despite the fact that there are actually less than 10 left in the U.S.: Barnes & Noble, Borders, Walden's, Powells, and a few others.
Why should you be surprised when someone like me advocates that gardening books be sold at nurseries; cook books at kitchen stores; sports books at sporting goods stores; gift books at party stores? You have known for years that novels sell at drug stores and car washes. The best place for an audio book, we believe, is gas stations. Name me a gas station in the LA area that sells or rents audio books? Why? Because people who publish audio books lack imagination to try to start something new! In the UK, publishers see supermarkets as the next bookstores and are working to support reading groups; not for just fiction, but in self-help and other areas. What are you doing in this environment?
So I come to the end of my rant . . . namely that publishers need to apply a little fresh imagination to their tasks and pine a whole lot less for tradition. If you look, the traditional way has long since gone the way of other extinct species; it's just that no one before me has bothered to tell you. So let me sum up the lessons on publishing I want you to take home with you tonight:
- Be proud to be involved in self-publishing. No more hanging your heads, no more sounding like a dentist who has doctor envy. Realize that you can innovate and be creative from such a position; publishing houses, inside giant corporations cannot.
- Figure out who will want to buy your book at every stage as you craft it.
- Think about the readability of your book-typography, page layout, paragraphing, color instead of italics, and underlining—before you worry about the words in the book.
This leads to the final Harris Axiom: PUBLISH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, NOT TO WIN SOMEONE'S ACCEPTANCE!
If you would like to have more information or want to contact the speaker and author of these "A Look at Publishing" pages for any reason, here is the contact information you can use:
Harris/Ragan Management Group,
9200 Sunset Blvd., Suite 404,
Los Angeles, CA 90069-3506 USA
Tel: + (1) 310 278 8037
Fax: + (1) 310 271 3649
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.harrisragan.com