Saturday, February 1, 2014

What’s Really New About Your Book?


Publishers, literary agents, consumers, and the media will ask you this question. How will you answer them?

The vast majority of books lack saying something revolutionary and many can present something evolutionary. Whereas few books, especially non-fiction ones, offer anything wildly and dramatically new, many can take an existing concept and present it in a new way.

Here are some ways for your content to be fresh and truly new:
-         
      **Actually discover or create something new and write about it.
-         **Revise or refresh outdated content.
-          **Retool old content so it ties into current events.
-          **Crossover industries -- maybe your prior book on leadership in business can be applied to coaching Little League.

Many books get sold on a promise, on the notion that a book will deliver something of value to the reader. It is sold on perception -- the market’s goal is to paint a picture of consumer need or desire and to show how the book leads you to fulfillment. Sounding as if your book’s new is important to many.

What makes something sound new?
·         Includes the latest data on…
·         Based on a recent study….
·         For the first time (ever, in a decade, in our lifetime)…
·         Never before published materials…
·         Cutting-edge science…
·         From behind the doors of Corporate America…
·         Confessions from...
·         Learn the revealing insights of an expert in…
·         A look into the future…
·         What’s trending…
·         Breakthrough solution to…

The media and book publishing industries are jaded. They are skeptical about results, truth, something being new, and the words coming out of an author’s mouth. But if you do your research and see how you can honestly position yourself and show how you bring a new approach to things, you’ll be in demand. You can’t just claim you are unique or new -- you must demonstrate it -- and quickly.

And if you can accurately claim you are saying something new you must be prepared to support or prove these claims or theories. How does that diet really work? Who did that business strategy prove successful for? How did your approach to selling, relationships, parenting -- whatever -- change the bottom line or lives of others and can that performance be replicated by others?

Other ways to be :"new" :
      -          Merge two different ideas, from two different disciplines, and create a new approach to something
-          Dress up or mask the fact you content is not so new by using humor, stories, or words of enlightenment/inspiration to inspire readers
-          Be comprehensive and aggregate existing ideas or information in ways other books have not

Whether you truly have something new to say, seek to say it in a new way. In order to get people interested in you or your book, you want to seduce them with a short pitch. We use an email or Tweet to incite curiosity. For the media, we use a press release. For consumers, we use book jacket copy. For sales, we have a tip sheet with key information.

So before you get to have your book read, bought, or reviewed, you must lure someone in with the hope and hype that you have something timely, relevant, unique…and new.


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014.



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