Known for trading on weird science, outrageous promises and paranoia, self-styled health expert and infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau is hardly someone mainstream publishers are eager to be seen emulating. But the success of Trudeau's self-published book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About—sales have topped three million copies—has publishers looking for ways to tap into the desires that put the controversial title on bestsellers lists.
While Trudeau's success may say as much about the power of television (infomercials are his main source of marketing) as the content of his book, there's no question that his message is resonating with book buyers. Publishers are bringing out a number of books that hit on both of Trudeau's touchstones: alternative health and a medical establishment that's not to be trusted. "He has brought [alternative health] more to the forefront," says Diana Baroni, Warner Wellness editorial director. Rudy Shur, publisher of Square One, is even more blunt about the impact of Trudeau's book on the market: "With [Trudeau's] success, we have noticed an increase in the sales of books on alternative health."
Controversy: Good; Credentials: Better
Natural Cures was successful in part because of the perception that it revealed some suppressed information, letting consumers in on a big secret. Established publishers also using a conspiracy theory hook are careful to emphasize the expertise of their authors and the soundness of the research they rely on. Avery editor Lucia Watson agrees that "there is a feeling of distrust for pharmaceutical companies right now." But she says Avery's What Your Doctor Hasn't Told You and the Health Store Clerk Doesn't Know: The Truth About Alternative Treatments and What Works, "doesn't have an exposé feel." Written by an "incredibly well respected" researcher and clinician (Edward L. Schneider, M.D.), the book may be provocatively titled, but Watson believes the author's "trustworthy, unbiased" style will win readers over.
Warner has had tremendous success with its What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About series, which has sold more than 1.75 million copies; the books offer alternative treatments for everything from menopause to fibromyalgia and are written by respected doctors. Wiley executive editor Thomas W. Miller says he's prudent when considering publishing a book on any aspect of alternative health: "We publishers have to be careful of misleading information and uncredentialed authors."
One way publishers can get around having medical experts as authors is to position investigative writers with no apparent agenda as the unbiased third party. Take The Hundred-Year Lie: How Food and Medicine Are Destroying Your Health by Washington Postwriter Randall Fitzgerald, which Dutton is publishing this month. Editor Julie Doughty calls it "a responsible reader's Natural Cures." The book's press release compares it to Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation—a connection publishers are fond of making. The forthcoming Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Herbal Supplement Industry by New York Times reporter Dan Hurley is also in the Schlosser vein. Broadway publicist David Drake calls it a "Fast Food Nation-esque exposé." Broadway will publish in December.
Cracking the Market
Of course, before Natural Curesburst onto the scene, alternative health had been gaining momentum in the health book category for years. As Warner's Diana Baroni explains, "Alternative medicine has now become an accepted part of the health category." Patty Gift, Sterling Publishing v-p and editorial director, estimates that alternative health titles make up about 20% of her list, and, she says, Sterling is seeking to expand the program.
Wiley's Tom Miller notes that natural health isn't just an accepted part of the health category but an especially profitable one if you get the book into the right sales channels. His big book is Prescription for Natural Cures by James Balch, M.D., and Mark Stengler, a licensed naturopathic doctor. Again, "highly credentialed doctors" are behind the book, according to Miller, which debuted in 2004 and has been selling strongly at Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon, as well as in venues like the Vitamin Shoppe, where, Miller adds, "The numbers were a thing of beauty."
In fact, alternative health books do a booming business in nonbookstore venues, which works to the advantage of some publishers but strikes envy in others. Amy Hertz, v-p and publisher of Doubleday/Broadway's Morgan Road imprint, believes smaller, independent publishers with focused, targeted natural health programs have a better shot at reaching their target audience. Hertz says she feels stymied by the slow-moving systems and mainstream approach to bookselling that primarily puts Morgan Road's books in chain bookstores. That's not where readers who are serious about alternative health are looking for such titles, she says. Natural and organic grocery store chains like Whole Foods and Wild Oats are key. "When you get in those stores," she says, "you're golden."
The recent success of the alternative healing title Soul Mind Body Medicine, which New Age publisher New World Library released in April, demonstrates Hertz's point. Soul Mind Body has spent three weeks on the New York Times advice and how-to paperback bestseller list, and, according to NWL associate publisher Munro Magruder, already has 65,000 copies in print. Magruder attributes the book's success to an e-mail blast the author, Zhi Gang Sha, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, sent to 10,000 people, as well as events he hosted in independent bookstores that are dedicated to New Age and metaphysical books. The book also is selling at a California pharmacy chain with two stores (and a third in the works) called Elephant Pharmacy that offers free health and wellness classes and has an extensive alternative health book section.
Of course, there are always more ways to sell books—and publishers in the alternative health genre may soon be hearing that heavenly phrase "movie tie-in," as Michael Moore is reportedly releasing a documentary about health insurance companies and pharmaceuticals later this year or in early 2007. Here's hoping Sicko (Moore's film) does for cold remedies what Supersize Me did for hamburgers.
