The Tail End of My Trend Insights

I promised a two-part post on my insights on management book trends. But I realize that I don't have much left over after yesterday's post. I did, however, have two trends pegged to mention to the reporter:

• The trend toward books with amusing and clever "hooks" that are backed up by (hopefully) solid business principles. Examples would include The Starfish and the Spider, Who Moved My Cheese?, Fish!, and The Dip. Oh, and The PITA Principle, of course. Kind of a food and animal thing going on there.
• Personality-driven books that focus on one prominent person's insights and how they can be applied to the reader's own career or business. Examples include Basic Black (Cathie Black), Tough Choices (Carly Fiorina), and Winning (Jack Welch). Joe Blow on the street couldn't write one of these because nobody would care. But someone with a national profile and reputation has the marketing clout to pull it off. We are a nation still obsessed with the cult of personality, so we're all ears when someone famous wants to sell us their inside scoop. So this is why I hope people will also like our upcoming title Be Your Own Agent by Molly Fletcher, America's top female sports agent.

I'm probably a day late and a dollar short on these, but they're what came to my mind first when I was asked about trends.