Bold Book Predictions For 2015

Sometimes, to look forward in book publishing means to look backward.  Books that will come out in 2015 will reflect the past or something cynical.  For instance:

Anniversaries – For instance, it’ll be the 70^th anniversary to the conclusion of World War II or the 40^th anniversary since Carlton Fisk’s iconic home run moment in the 1975 World Series.  Expect books on both events.

Seasonal – January will deluge us with personal finance, diet, and self-improvement books; March is baseball books and spring cleaning; April gives us gift books for graduations.

Honorary – February is Black History Month.  November is Diabetes Awareness Month.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Holiday – Books centered around Memorial Day (BBQ, veterans, travel), Valentine’s Day (romance, sex, dating, marriage), Election Day (politics, civics, policy), Mother’s and Father’s Day, etc.

We’ll also see annual guides updated, such as The Guinness Book of World Records, Farmer’s Almanac, and Writer’s Market.

We’ll see revised editions of older but still relevant books.  We’ll see sequels and series develop from books that had sold decently.  We’ll see knockoffs of books that broke new ground.  We’ll see parodies of them as well.  We’ll certainly see compilation books of things that happened last year or based on a theme such as a book on the wars of the last 100 years.

We’ll see books capitalizing on the latest trends, writing about 3-D-printers or the latest technology.

No doubt we’ll see a heavy dose of political tomes by wannabe presidential candidates and members of the new right-wing Congress.  We’ll see fewer books about President Obama but we’ll likely see more about him in four to six years.

A lot of what I mention is more predictable than visionary because much of book publishing likes to write about what people want to read, what will sell, and what authors are interested in writing about.

There will be a revealing celebrity confessional and an expose biography on some big-name individual.  There will be books that criticize, praise, advise, inspire, guide, and inform – on every aspect of our world and lives. 2015 will not be very different from 2014 if past patterns hold true, but we know that something explosive and different will be given to us – we just don’t know by whom, when or on what.  Fifty Shades of Grey came out of nowhere – as did every other book that jumped to the bestseller charts.

The books that could make headlines will be ones that:

·         Disprove an accepted belief or truth

·         Confirm or deny things like the Cosby allegations

·         Admit an error by someone important

·         Unveil addiction, abuse or a disorder of someone famous

·         Provide greater understanding of a social issue, scientific phenomenon, investment principle or political policy

·         Make us laugh our asses off

·         Claim a whole new way to do something – diet, finance, parent, relationships

·         Publish an in-depth look at something in recent headlines

·         Make us question our values

·         Share visionary ideas on the future

·         Show us how to change some aspect of our lives with little pain or cost

The saying, “What’s old is new” is true with fashion, kid names, and books.  Much of what you will see come out this year has already been done – but there’ll be a few surprises mixed in.  Perhaps you’ll pen that breakthrough book?

May 2015 be a great year for books, and if it copies what it’s done in the past, it will be.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014.