Gordon Woolf's Blog

All those great unpublished books?

Having sold The Worsley Press to business consultant and fellow author Geoffrey Heard a few years ago, I've been slowly clearing out a lot of old paperwork.

Part of that was that I decided to rid myself of a stack of old manuscripts which I'd rejected, and not returned because they didn't come with a prepaid envelope or because return was not requested.

I decided to check a random sample by searching on Google for the authors' names.

Of about a dozen which produced some reference, only one was published (and by the larger publisher I suggested the author contact!) though it does not seem to have warranted a second edition in around 10 years.

Another came up with an author's site which featured her several successful novels but no mention of the book she submitted to me on how to run a low-cost wedding. Her novels have been published on three continents in several languages.

I was a just a little concerned that I might have rejected that major title which someone else picked up (after all I did listen to Brian Epstein extolling his new band which was to play at the Cavern club that night in Liverpool in the 1960s and did not take up the offer of a free ticket).

Fortunately, or unfortunately, according to your point of view, it seems that did not happen with these manuscripts.

A magazine title someone else has used?

It is among the more common questions I get: I am starting a magazine and I assume I need to make sure no one else is using the title I want and that it is not already copyrighted. How do I check that and how do I then copyright that name?

Titles as such can't be copyrighted, but it is normal for them to be registered either as a trading (business) name or as a trade mark.

However, it really depends on how important this is to you. The protection you may need is only really within the narrow field of the publication. It is not unusual for regional publications, for example, to have the same name with a suffix or prefix added in very small type on the cover and seldom used within the local area. Think of newspapers and particularly the many with News, Times, Chronicle etc as their name.

Registration as a business name/trade mark is more common in the US than in the UK or Australia, but I've previously mentioned the magazine known as the Musician which I published in the UK in the '60s. There was also a Musician published by the Salvation Army and one by the Brass Band Association. I recall only one mixup which was by an advertising agency which should have known better.

Consideration of potential confusion is more important than registration as you do need to make sure you cannot be accused of "passing off" your publication as one owned by someone else. Also, many titles are generic descriptions of the field and would be unlikely to be allowed for registration -- but may still be an ideal publication title.

Where is the best publicity?

Whatever you produce or sell -- books, magazines, or most other products -- you'll feel a need to get publicity for either your product or your business?

Do you aim for the top, the major newspapers or magazines and the bigname TV shows, or for something a little lower down the chain?

I'm not saying "Don't aim high", but you can do just as well from some very minor players. Publicity in specialist club, trade and craft journals can add up to a lot of sales. And those media are a lot more forgiving in the quality of what you submit.

You could try for years without getting on to Oprah, but be missing the sales of two, ten or more that come from a mention in those many publications which circulate to 200 members.

At the same time don't underestimate those readers. They know their subject. What they will want is hard edged details of why your book or product is better or has the answers to a need they can see.

I was prompted in this by seeing an ad for what is essentially a local restaurant in a national magazine. The restaurant is good, but not one that will persuade people to drive for an hour or two to get there. Even the local newspaper which circulates in several towns may be spreading the net too wide.

The book "Success in Store" which I co-authored, tells of a pizza store which "always" distributed 10,000 menus in order to get to the end of the next suburb. But the result of several thousand of those was a few price-taking delivery orders who'd go elsewhere the minute someone else made an offer. And each took half an hour to deliver.

By spending the same on fewer menus, he produced something which stood out, kept his deliveries within easy reach, so he could guarantee them being faster, and his profit went up.

Flyers you can deliver on a morning run (to keep fit) may not suit your market, but some trial promotion in those specialist publications, maybe for some businesses even on specialist web sites, could be the better answer.