It looks as if Consumer Joe is jumping into the “third printing” waters.
I got a message from my editor over at Broadway Books today telling me that the powers-that-be had met, and that they were planning on moving into the next printing for the book but that their sales & marketing people had a suggestion that they felt would help sell even more books.
They wanted to change the name of the book.
Before you get all worked up over this, I’ll tell you where they’re coming from. Apparently, the current title of Consumer Joe does not communicate to the book buying public that this book is a book of crazy, wacky letters to companies. This is the one selling point that will supposedly get even more people to buy it. Yes, yes — so why don’t they get rid of Consumer Joe and replace it with something that screams “wacky letters?”
The new title is still under-wraps as I am not sure what their final decision is going to be. The book will say at the bottom, of course, “formerly Consumer Joe” but it will be interesting to see if a name change really does have a drastic effect on sales.
I’d be open to hearing any thoughts on a new title that must include the word “letters” in the title, and that still has a subtitle like “harassing corporate America one letter at a time” but without the word “letter” in the subtitle. You can only use the word “letter” once. Apparently.
So, to summarize. Third printing = good. New name = intriguing. Good new title = great.
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