Regnery Publishing President and Publisher Marji Ross on how to put all of the pieces together to create a hit title.
Extra: The fact that it’s a presidential election year has created the right atmosphere to help generate interest in your titles. Are you planning to use that to your advantage?
Ross: Our expectation has been that this year, like all presidential election years, will be a good sales year for our books, because more people are interested in politics and political events. … The danger or the trap that a lot of publishers fall into is that they say, “Hey, why we don’t publish books by candidates?” Our beliefs and our experience with candidates is [that] most candidates’ books don’t sell particularly well, because most people feel they can hear it for free on TV. I think people know that candidates have to be careful what they say, too. Our strategy is: Publish books by interesting speakers who will be commenting on what the candidates have to say, or what the American people want out of their candidates and the issues that will drive the elections. That’s why the Newt Gingrich book, “Real Change,” has done so well this year. It is a very respected political thinker commenting on what this election means and what the American people are looking for.