CONSUMERS : Books Offer All the Information, Advice You Can Buy
Read a little, save a lot.
Considering the proliferation of consumer advice books on the market, you can find out something about almost anything: how to avoid buying a lemon of a car, how to select a plumber, how to get a good night’s sleep.
“Consumers are desperate for information,” said Jack Gillis, author of many consumer product books--”The Car Book,” “The Used Car Book,” “The Bank Book,” “How to Make Your Car Last Almost Forever”--and president of a marketing, public affairs and consumer information firm in Washington.
“The bottom line is that products and services have become so complicated and the technology so sophisticated that the average consumer has lost the ability to make choices on his or her own,” Gillis said. “We can’t make decisions, and we’re crying out for information.”
Gillis chose electronic gadgetry as an illustration.
“You can’t look at a CD and decide what you want. The technology is too complicated for most people. It’s so sophisticated, we can’t understand it. It’s not like buying a turntable 15 years ago,” he said.
Today’s consumers, Gillis believes, are turning to consumer advice books for help. “They are changing the way they buy, doing more research and educating themselves more.”
Just published for consumers is the 1990 “Lemon Book” by consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, an independent consumer group founded in Washington in 1970. This is the third edition of the book, which is published every 10 years.
Already in its second printing, the 1990 “Lemon Book” tells consumers how to fight auto manufacturers, what consumers’ legal rights are regarding car problems, and how to use state “lemon laws” to get a vehicle replaced or repaired by the manufacturer.
Since the 1980 “Lemon Book” was published, 46 states, led by California and Connecticut, have passed laws to protect car buyers from bad cars.
“People are more assertive of their rights now,” said Laura Polacheck of the Center for Auto Safety. “People realize there’s something they can do--a lot of basic things that wouldn’t require them to hire a lawyer. Consumers are demanding more now, when they just accepted it before.
“Now consumers have a more jaundiced eye toward auto makers and are more insistent on being treated fairly as customers.
“The people’s consciousness has been raised. If they spend $15,000 on a car, they feel it shouldn’t have major engine failure after 50,000 miles. A book like the ‘Lemon Book’ is an inexpensive investment,” Polacheck added.
Most consumer advice books stick to a single subject, such as cars, law, money management or home buying. One book that offers across-the-board information is Reader’s Digest’s “Consumer Adviser: An Action Guide to Your Rights,” which helps readers on a range of topics--from choosing a plumber or doctor to reading food labels. The original “Consumer Adviser,” published in 1984, was so well received that the company offered a revised version last year.
“We publish books people ask for, books they want to read,” said Martha Molnar of Reader’s Digest in Pleasantville, N.Y.
“We do extensive market research before we publish a book, and we don’t publish a book unless we can sell hundreds of thousands of copies. We want our books to have what we call ‘lasting interest.’ ”
Another Reader’s Digest offering is the “Legal Question & Answer Book,” published in 1988. Attorneys from Hyatt Legal Services, which employs more than 600 lawyers in 182 offices across the country, worked with Reader’s Digest editors in developing and writing the volume. The book offers “jargon-free answers to 2,000 of the most frequently asked questions about the law.” Consumers can learn, for example, about a jury trial in divorce proceedings, a child’s rights regarding adoption, and how to present a case in small claims court.
“The Civil War on Consumer Rights” by California attorney Laurence E. Drivon is not an advice book, but a volume of case histories of people fighting the system--specifically, big business and insurance companies. Drivon, president of the California Trial Lawyers, contends big business is waging a well-financed campaign “to beat back the emerging wave of consumer and victim rights.”
Consumer Reports Books, a division of Consumer Union and a mainstay of the consumer world, publishes 30 to 35 books a year on different subjects. In February, it released “Sleep: Problems and Solutions,” a 224-page volume that offers consumers “practical, drug-free, self-help methods to help you get a good night’s sleep.”
And just out are Consumer Reports’ revised edition of “How to Buy House, Condo or Co-op” (originally released in 1987) and “Preventive Home Maintenance.” By late summer, the organization plans to publish “How to Sell a House.” A portion of proceeds from Consumer Reports Books supports the nonprofit Consumer Union.
Ken McEldowney, of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Consumer Action group, said he prefers publications from national consumer groups. “They have a wide range of books on different issues that provide information, education and protection for consumers,” he said. “Plus, they also have the advantage of helping to support the consumer groups themselves.”
Berkeley’s Nolo Press, which specializes in books on legal issues, has broadened its offerings with a consumer book titled “Elder Care.” Released just 10 days ago, the book guides consumers in choosing and financing long-term care for the elderly.
“We’re very excited about it because it is an issue whose time has come,” said Nolo Press spokeswoman Leili Eghbal.
“Consumer books sell very well,” said Judi Capron, book buyer for Vromans in Pasadena. “Particularly the consumer books related to the elderly--on aging, finding places to live. People look for them from year to year.
“And certainly consumers check things out a lot more,” she said. “Mr. and Mrs. and Miss America shop here, and they do check things out. They’re more educated now. And I think the consumer guides have a lot to do with that.”
