After reading about and discussing consumer wisdom in class, I definitely think there is a market potential for a book about consumer wisdom for our age cohort. Personally, as I am about to graduate, move to a new city, and start a new job, I am gearing up for having to make big purchase decisions, most notably an apartment. I honestly have no idea where to begin, what I should be looking for, or what I should avoid. I’m still about six months away from “adulthood”, but I’m already a bit overwhelmed. A book that helps explain consumer wisdom and how it applies to our daily lives would be beneficial for those who are looking to buy products in a smarter way and that will last them for a longer period of time. Books about personal finance have always seemed very daunting, and as many times as people have tried to tell me how to budget my money, it was always so early in life that I never felt it related to me. The idea of consumer wisdom and how to purchase products more sustainably, if done in the right way, will attract 20-somethings by helping them purchase products that will save them money in the long run without sacrificing quality and longevity of products.
What’s important to stress is that most 20-somethings work full-time, are always on the go, and aren’t interested in reading a long book that focuses on academic research. This book on consumer wisdom needs to be succinct and to the point (so pretty short), but still able to explain why consumer wisdom is important and how it can useful for 20-somethings to apply to their everyday lives. While I think it’s important to understand the psychology and understanding behind consumer wisdom, it shouldn’t take up a big part of the book. The majority of the book should focus on the practical usages of consumer wisdom. I don’t think there should be a lot of visuals besides maybe a table or two that helps lay out the specific characteristics of consumer wisdom for readers to understand.
When it comes to self-help books, I personally find that it’s hard to find a balance when trying to explain why a book will be beneficial to the reader. While people who read self-help books usually seek them out for a reason, I think it’s important to not patronize readers about what they’re doing so wrong in their lives that they need to a read a book to fix it. However, I don’t think a book on consumer wisdom should be considered a “self-help” book–it’s a new way of thinking that I think can be approached from a “this will be a useful new tool for 20-somethings to use” angle.
As for a name, “Consumer Wisdom” itself sounds too formal to catch the reader’s attention. I think finding a catchy title that talks about wisdom and decision-making would be more attention-grabbing, but also isn’t too long. I am terrible at coming up with catchy titles, but maybe something along the lines of “Wising Up to Consumer Wisdom”–it just has to be clever and not too self-helpy.