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When the Going Gets Tough... |
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There’s no doubt about it. We’re in
financial hard times, here. The housing market is down the toilet. The
realty market is taking a dump. And the housing market--have I mentioned
the housing market before?--is off the charts…on the bad side of
town. Yeah, it’s the housing market that’s to blame. With problems in the mortgage arena, there are problems in the lending arena. With problems in the lending arena, there are problems in the banking arena. With problems in the banking arena, there are problems in the financial arena. With problems in the financial arena, there are a ton of 401k’s out there going belly up. No doubt about it. We have problems all over the place. No lending |
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means no income which means no mortgages or
loans of nearly any sort which means no new housing, no old housing, no
vacations, no time-shares, no cruises, no private schools, no college
funds, no discretionary spending, no new cars, no anything except for the
bare necessities. Yes, we have problems all over the place. Or do we? I was talking to an editor at a major publishing house the other day, inquiring about the problems created by Wall Street and the War on Terror and the Housing Bust and everything else associated with a faltering economy and wondering if the publisher was being affected. “Absolutely we are,” she said. “We can’t get the books out fast enough. Are you busy next week?” Of course, I wasn’t, and I think I’m going to get a book contract out of it. But the question comes up: with virtually every area of the economy hurting, why should book publishing--an area of the U.S. and even the world economy that has been steadily waning in profitability over the past several years--be doing so well? The answer: Nonfiction. How-to. Self-help. When the going gets tough, the tough get reading. And what better things to read than books purporting to show Mr. and Mrs. America how to make it on a shoestring? How to beat the odds and come out victorious? How to win in a no-win situation? Yes, I know, you’re right. Publishers are not idiots. They know that, by the time a book is signed to contract and makes its way into print, a whole year will have passed, minimum. By that time, of course, the financial crunch could be over. But even if it is, publishers realize, how-to books arming people with solid advice are still going to sell well. Perhaps not so well as during a genuine financial freeze, but well. Why, then, would a publisher not go looking for new how-to properties? My point in telling you all of this is simple. If you haven’t yet figured out that nonfiction is the hottest, most consistently selling type of book in the marketplace, you’re missing out on some book sales. Sure, we all want to be successful novelists. We all want to see our books turned into mega-blockbuster hits playing at the neighborhood Bijou. We all want to be rich. But until then, what’s wrong with taking a little time to polish one’s research and writing skills while making a few bucks in the process? Nothing, so far as I can tell. But, until that time… Smoke if you got ‘em.
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