Need / Want to Know

Need to Know Vs. Want to Know
Economics and the Business of Publishing
By Stephen J. Kerr

Do you ever stop and ask yourself, "Does the world really need this book?" So many publishers get caught up in the whirlwind of manuscripts, editing and press dates that they may loose the rationale behind what they do. A publisher is an information gatekeeper who must be discriminating about who he or she sends through the toll gate. The most successful publishers are those who disseminate information that the world needs. A really good novel or fine poetry does fit into that category because we are all bettered by its presence. But, by in large, the most profitable and enduring publishers disseminate information that people need to have for their education, careers, avocations and spiritual sustenance.

You may have noticed that there is a direct economic correlation between what we call "Need to Know" information versus "Want to Know" information. Information that could be considered Need to Know are textbooks, scientific, medical & industrial research, government economic studies and professional information. These are books that you must have to get through school, do your job or compete in the marketplace. They are not optional - they are mandatory. One of our clients publishes books that help fund managers chart stock performance and hence make better buying decisions. Millions of dollars are riding on their decisions daily. You've never heard of them and they've never sold a single book in a bookstore, but their books sell for $250 to $500 per copy and brokers around the world buy up every issue. To their audience, these books are absolutely Need to Know. On the other extreme is the umpteenth book on low-fat cooking by Suzy Homemaker in Spokane, Washington. This is a Want to Know book that people probably could live without. There are literally hundreds of low-fat cookbooks on the market and Ms. Homemaker will have to be very lucky to find an audience. Need To Know books always sell for much higher prices and more consistently than Want To Know books. The marketplace votes with its dollars…and it will judge whether this book or that book fulfills a "need" in the marketplace. Want to Know books are read mostly for their entertainment value.

Most Want to Know books contain information that was not difficult, expensive or dangerous to obtain. These books mostly spring forth from the fertile minds of their authors and contain information that is more opinion than fact. Want to Know books go out looking for a market. Need To Know books have a ready market that is anxiously awaiting their arrival. A good Need to Know book might be an exposé on a high profile government corruption case, cracked by the FBI and written by the agent who was in charge of the investigation. The public needs and wants to know what goes on in their society and need to hear about it from a credible source.

Make no mistake, E-Books, Books-on-Tape and even the Internet works on the same principle. The only two e-magazine Web sites that are consistently profitable for their founders are Consumer Reports and The Wall Street Journal. These sites are subscription based and provide their readers with vital information that they can use in their work and daily lives. Our firm has been helping publishers market their content to Internet Web portals in a new business we call RightsPower. The content that has the largest paying market is scientific, technical, financial, medical and economic research. This is the kind of information that the Web cannot get enough of. By and large, it is not the consumers that buy digital content off of the Web, it's the business professionals and scientists. Their jobs and their companies depend on the timely, critical information that publishers provide. For the most part, e-books and Web sites with general information, common knowledge or low value content have been a commercial failure.

As business brokers we know that Need To Know publishers sell faster and for much higher values than Want To Know publishers. Professional and educational publishers are consistently more profitable and business-wise, more stable than their trade counterparts. Trade publishers that occupy a specific niche or use direct or target marketing are consistently more profitable and stable than general trade publishers selling books to Barnes & Noble and Waldenbooks.

No publisher wants to think that their books have little economic chance for success.

However, if your publishing company is producing books with a very low Need To Know quotient, there is little chance that you are going to be a long term survivor of the publishing wars.

The secret to success for small press publishers, who have limited means to create a market for their authors' works is to concentrate on titles with the highest possible public need. Publishers are often faced with a dilemma when they are presented with a really well written manuscript about a subject that may, or may not have any real market appeal. On one hand you have two or three years of the author's life sitting on your desk -- a good if not Pulitzer Prize winning work -- and on the other hand, you have to stay in business. If this book fits squarely into the mission of your publishing program, you have the funds to promote it properly and support it while it finds its audience -- by all means take the plunge. If it does not meet these criteria, then you must pass.

I am convinced that many people are attracted to the publishing business for the same reason that people are attracted to the movie business. There is a little bit of immortality in creating works of literary or cinematic art that will live on long after we are gone. It is a creative and exciting business that promises great personal, if not financial rewards. I think that we can all agree that there have been a whole lot of movies made that cannot possibly justify the celluloid that they used up. Few publishers are willing to admit that many of their books are looked on the same way. Some definitely do not justify the paper and ink used to make them. With 50,000 to 60,000 new titles being marketed every year, they can't all be Hunt For The Red October or To Kill A Mockingbird.

Before you call to remind me that To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee took many years to become a commercial success and recognized as a classic American novel, I want to clarify that works of great fiction are DEFINITELY Need to Know publishing, in my book. It is hard to evaluate fiction along a strict Want To Know -- Need To Know continuum. People buy and read fiction mostly for its personal entertainment value. Many of us value highly our time, sitting with a good book by the fire. Others like to listen to an enlightening or entertaining book-on-tape while driving long distances for work or pleasure. Great fiction makes us all better people. Like going to plays, fiction is a mirror that we all need to look into now and again.

Publishers can get trapped, publishing low value Want To Know books for years and years as they watch their family fortunes drain away. Never knowing why their publishing company is not making money and not growing. Publishers, like impresarios need to remember that business is the first word in "show business". Publishing is another form of show business. Yes, it is education and enlightenment as well. But, first we entertain and then we educate and enlighten.

Audio publishers, video publishers, game publishers, CD-ROM, Internet and software publishers must all keep their eye on the bottom line if they wish to remain publishers for long. If you have a choice, publishing highly targeted Need To Know information is the surest way to keep in the game.