Every publisher worth his salt spends a significant amount of time on this question. And of course, given the life cycle of the book publishing process, “now” really means 8-18 months from now.
Looking into that crystal ball is never easy; perhaps it’s never been harder than it is today, when news events explode onto our screens, dominate the conversation, and are overtaken by a new bombshell on a weekly – if not daily – basis. The question remains. What are readers talking about, worrying about, fighting about, praying for — and how can we address that in books that will still be relevant many months from today?
In our acquisitions committee meetings at Regnery, we would regularly discuss book topics and debate how to find and match the right author with a given idea. We had two goals in mind, goals that every author must weigh and prioritize for himself. Are we defining “the right books” as those selling the most copies or having the biggest impact? While these are connected, they are not the same thing, and our choices and strategies must reflect which goal is #1.
Let’s say our goal is selling the most copies. I have four basic rules when it comes to that goal:
1. Don’t try to persuade the opposition. I have lost count of the number of would-be authors who have told me their target market is people who disagree with them, and their goal is to write a book to change their mind and persuade them to a new belief. STOP. When you write to your opposition, you ignore your base; you are trying to convince those least likely to buy your book at the expense of those most likely to buy your book. Go for the low-hanging fruit. This is not the same as pandering. I am not suggesting you tell people only what they want to hear; that’s neither interesting nor smart. What I am saying is that you write for readers who share your beliefs and values. Those people are the most receptive to your message, and they can them become ambassadors for your message, carrying it beyond your base, even into “enemy camp.” It also makes the sales job a lot easier.
Right now I’d be looking for books that are clearly targeted to very specific political niches – books that try to cross the aisle or bridge the divide will be a very tough putt in 2021. Maybe a book interviewing the crowd that packed the room for Trump’s speech at last month’s CPAC meeting – in their own words, telling who they are and why they were there.
2. Tap into people’s emotions. People don’t buy the books they need, they buy the books they want. Sometimes the two converge, but if a reader doesn’t want your book, it probably doesn’t matter how much they need it. (Think of all the times you wished someone would read something … “boy, they should really read this” is not an effective sales pitch.) To sell lots of copies, you have to connect with a reader on an emotional level, you have to make them want your help. If they are afraid, acknowlege the fear and then promise to assuage it. If they are angry, confirm their right to be upset and then explain how to channel it or diffuse it effectively. If they are joyful, celebrate their joy and show how you can help them expand and share it with others.
Right now I’d be looking for books that connect with a fear about the country unraveling, anger over Democrats’ high-handedness and hypocrisy, despair over social media’s silencing of conservatives.
3. Provide leadership. It sounds obvious, but it bears repeating: people read books because they think you know something they don’t. Or because they like the way you think and the way you paint a picture with your words. A quick look at any bestseller list ever reminds us that name-brand authors have more success than unknown authors. So, what does that mean for the vast majority of authors who are not celebrities? Demonstrate leadership and lean in to your authority. Make it clear to publishers and readers why you are an expert and why you are uniquely qualified to address your topic.
4. Confirm that a hope or fear is true. This is click-bait for books. Name the hope or fear that your audience is harboring, something they suspect might be true but don’t dare hope (or fear) is actually true – and proclaim it. (The opposite of this is to promise to solve a problem the reader doesn’t know they have. Bad idea.) By connecting with an idea the reader already has bubbling around in her brain, you make your book immediately relevant and appealing to them. Once you’ve got their attention, you can explain what it all means, and how to solve it or overcome it or capitalize on it.
Right now I’d be looking for books about the coming civil war, the Orwellian future of big tech (hello, Josh Hawley), the specter of China’s influence over our economy or our health, the question of whether or not Republicans can ever win back the White House.
Now let’s turn to a loftier goal: having the biggest impact. Again, this doesn’t mean you don’t care about selling books, but your focus is on impacting people, whether they buy the book or not. In that case, I recommend the following:
1. Provide historical context. Particularly when there are big trends shaping our world (think: pandemic. racial division. debate over election fraud. ) it can be very helpful to provide historical context. This helps frame what is currently happening in the world and makes it less threatening and more possible to navigate. It can also be very entertaining, especially if the author is a good storyteller. (Three of my favorites are Erik Larsen, Bill Bryson, and Michael Lewis.)
Right now I’d be looking for books about previous U.S. elections that were particularly divisive, about the evolution of capitalism, about Harper’s Ferry, about the civil war, about the French Revolution, about the fall of empires.
2. Expose a myth or paradox. This can be a very powerful model, but it also can take some explaining. In some ways, it asks people to rethink or re-examine what they believe. But if done well, it is a very effective way to introduce a new concept, a new paradigm, a new path forward. It is best applied when the reader feels stuck or frustrated – this provides a new solution. When the reader doesn’t want to choose Door #1 or Door #2, you provide Door #3.
Right now I’d be looking for books that take on free speech, mob rule, democracy vs. republics, free markets vs. capitalism, gun rights vs. gun violence, state’s rights vs. e pluribus unum.
3. Provide a new solution to something confusing or troubling. When readers are confused or worried, they seek help from someone who knows better or has been there before. But easy answers are not long-term solutions. We all know the authors who seem to write the same book over and over, providing the same advice or opinion time after time. And sometimes these franchise authors sell hundreds of thousands of copies of these retreads. That’s because people like repetition and reinforcement. (See #2 above, if your only goal is to sell lots of copies.) But to really make a difference in someone’s life, you need to provide them with something they don’t already have. It could be insight, it could be new information, it could be motivation. But it can’t be the same old thing.
Right now I’d be looking for fresh insights on how democracies can protect minorities (including political minorities), how we can reinvent higher education, how we can promote innovation and failure without punishing success.
We all spent much of 2020 holding our breaths, waiting for the pandemic – and the election – to be over. Now it seems obvious that the worry and fighting over both topics are far from over, and publishers will continue to face a wildly volatile landscape. With so much uncertainty, these principles provide an essential rudder, and we look forward to revisiting them as we chart a course for the months ahead.