Wander the aisles of a bookstore and you can’t miss them.
“French for Dummies.” “Dating for Dummies.” “Pit Bulls for Dummies.” “Digital Photography for Dummies.” Their yellow-and-black covers, each bearing the same pointy-chinned, wide-eyed cartoon figure, peer out from nearly every section.
“Kittens for Dummies.” “Catholicism for Dummies.” “Creating Web Pages for Dummies.” “Einstein for Dummies.” And when you realize they’ve got you surrounded, two conclusions seem inescapable: one, there are a whole lot of us dummies out there, and two, whoever came up with the idea of doing these books is no dummy.
If you had a penny for every “For Dummies” book printed since the series debuted in 1991, you would be sitting on $1.5 million. More than 900 titles are in print – the number may pass 1,000 this year – and the books have been translated into more than 30 languages.
“From pregnancy to estate planning, we have the whole life cycle covered,” said Marc Mikulich, a vice president at Wiley Publishing, which bought the “Dummies” franchise in 2001. “And there are always new topics that are coming up.” What started as a series of books to help computer users has become a marketing phenomenon, expanding into nonbook products such as “Sewing Patterns for Dummies,” “Romantic Massage Kit for Dummies,” even “Boxer Shorts for Dummies,” imprinted with the “Dummies Man” character saying, “Don’t forget to change your boxer shorts daily.”
Not everyone expected this.
“Some older booksellers turned up their nose at the ‘Dummies’ books when they first came out, but I think that passed,” said Jay Weaver, senior book buyer for Seattle’s University Book Store, which at any given moment may carry 600 different “Dummies” titles.
Weaver himself has used a couple of the more popular titles, “Personal Finance for Dummies” and “Home Buying for Dummies.” “They use simple language,” Weaver said. “They don’t go too far in depth, and they generally get good people to write them.”
In addition to looking alike, the books follow a format that calls for breezy writing, short chapters, easy-to-use tips and simple lists and charts.
Their appeal, however, is not universal.
The initial book, “DOS for Dummies,” covering a pre-Windows computer operating system, drew some resistance even inside the publishing company, Mikulich said.
“No one had published a computer book with a cartoony cover, cartoons in the book, jokes in the book. It was unheard of,” he said.
Working in the book’s favor was that the personal computer was rapidly becoming the centerpiece tool in the workplace, and early computer and software manuals were widely regarded as obtuse and unhelpful.
Initially, the company printed just 7,500 copies of “DOS for Dummies,” which were sold in a week. About a month into the book’s life came word that Costco wanted 50,000 – and the rest is publishing history.
In 1992, the company printed the first of its “Windows” books, which, in its various editions, has become the line’s best seller, with more than 10 million in print.
The biggest competitor to the “Dummies” series hit the scene in 1993, when Alpha Books, now part of the Penguin Group, released the first of its “Complete Idiot’s Guides.” That series now offers about 450 titles in 35 categories.
The Dummies books’ expansion beyond computer and software titles was solidified in 1995 when USA Today gave front-page coverage to the release of “Sex for Dummies,” by Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
Among the 14 titles dealing with world religions is “Judaism for Dummies,” co-written by Rabbi Ted Falcon and writer David Blatner.
“There still are people who don’t know about the series, and I still get asked, ‘Why did you title it that?’ ” Falcon said.
And even though some found the tone inappropriate, Falcon said, “I think the ‘Dummies’ title helped us produce a book which is far more accessible than it would have been if we had been writing for any other publisher.”
“Dummies” books create a brand loyalty, said Mikulich. Households that have any of the books average 3.25 of them, and half the people who bought a “Dummies” book last year purchased more than one title.
Hottest holiday sellers were three editions of “Su Doku for Dummies,” featuring the hot Japanese logic game. Meanwhile, “C.S. Lewis & Narnia for Dummies” is cashing in on the popularity of the “Narnia” movie.
This year, consumers can expect “Coaching Soccer for Dummies,” “Probability for Dummies” and a new edition of “Golf for Dummies,” along with outside-the-book products such as “Cocktail Kit for Dummies,” “Dog Grooming Kit for Dummies” and “Birdwatching Kit for Dummies.”
