USA
Today celebrated its 33rd year of existence in September. When it entered the newspaper business it was
given very little chance to succeed. It
aimed to become the nation’s very first general interest newspaper. But it did several unconventional things,
including publishing only five times a week and not on holidays. It didn’t cover a specific city or
region. It published in color.
Authors
and publishers should learn from what USA Today did when it launched its newly
styled publication. It is important to
find a niche or an underserved market – and to go where little competition
exists. The NY Times acted as a national
paper but it couldn’t really cover the nation the way USA Today approached
it. Plus The Times was viewed as “too
smart” or “too New York” by some parts of the country. USA Today shared things in a simple way,
highlighting more features and lifestyle pieces, rather than hard news.
As
an author, where can you make your mark?
Is there a genre that’s underserved?
Is there a writing style that can be introduced – or a unique way of packaging a book that will draw attention to itself?
USA
Today took a chance – and won. It
essentially had to compete with every local paper in the country. It was like a daily magazine. But people came to see it not as a competitor
to their local paper, but as a complement to it.
USA
Today also made deals early on to get it out to hotels and the travel
community. It has made itself a strong
following by being available everywhere – newsstands, hotels, vending machines,
and supermarkets.
Authors
and publishers can discover their own USA Today. They can put out a new product that hasn’t
been done before or that hasn’t yet received wide distribution. It just takes some creative thought to figure
out what the next new thing is.
Over
the years publishing has tried many things, including:
·
Annual
editions of books
·
Connecting
adult books into children’s versions
·
Creating
sequels, prequels, trilogies, series, aerials, novellas
·
Publishing
“best of” books of essays, poems, etc.
·
Releasing
books with CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and supplements
·
Issuing
a book with multiple cover variations
·
Reissuing
an old, out-of-print book
·
Publishing
incomplete manuscripts from dead authors
·
Printing
oversized books, large-print books, books with shiny and glossy paper, and
special collector editions
·
Releasing
spoofs and satires of famous books
So
what’s the next trick?
·
How
about revising classics that take place in another time period?
·
Issuing
an “opposites” version of a book, where the opposite takes place in the
story? Imagine if the woman does the
spanking of a man in 50 Shades?
·
Writing
books about professions, cities, or lifestyles that haven’t received much
coverage in books, such as the job of someone who inspects the quality control
for producing garbage bags or the sex lives of octogenarian epileptics or life
in the town of a place that hasn’t seen a new birth in 15 years?
What’s new, unique or better is what will
sell well. Find out what people could want
but just haven’t seen yet. Be the one to produce it first. Be the USA Today of books.
DON'T MISS THESE POSTS
The 7 Tenets of Author Branding
Promote your book to the selfie culture of today
How to make a blog post go viral – or at least get opened
How to connect your book to the news
Explore a guided tour through the English language
Get The Writer’s Legal Guide – Very Helpful
Don’t say this to the media when promoting your book
Free newswires can help promote books and author brands
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.