The
words we use matter.
They
express a certain mode of thought. They
mean something specific, but can have different connotations for certain
recipients or speakers. Choose your
words wisely when promoting your book and marketing your brand.
For
instance, how do you position yourself when sharing your area of expertise and
background? Are you trying to sound
like a thought leader? An intellectual? A get-it-done type of person? Do you lead with your years of experience –
or will this indicate youthful inexperience or outdated thinking as an older
person? Do you highlight a particular
job you had, a personal experience, or samples of your wisdom and insights?
Are
you a “veteran” of hundreds of lawsuits (if a lawyer) or have you been an
advocate on behalf of hundreds of victimized individuals?
Do
you help others lose weight, live longer, feel better, and look great (if a
nutritionist) – or do you enhance one’s wellness and overall health?
The
specific words, their order, their timeliness, and their relevance conspire to
play a key role in how people come do see you.
Do you speak with confidence but not hype? Do you guide, but not dictate? Are you optimistic, but grounded?
How
do you discuss the price of your book?
Is
it a good value or merely inexpensive – or is it dirt cheap? Is it competitively priced but advantageous
in its content offerings?
Talking
about your book is similar to speaking about yourself on a job interview or
first date. You want to put your best
food toward and leave a positive impression – but you don’t want to lie or
oversell yourself.
Often,
when promoting an author or advertising a book, you don’t have to make outrageous
claims, issue ultimatums, or make a dare.
You merely need to engage others on a certain level, using the spice of
particular words to whet their appetites for more.
People
have good bullshit radars. They don’t
want to hear nonsense, fluff, or unproven claims. But they do like to hear about ideal outcomes,
as if listening to a self-improvement seminar or a clergy’s sermon. We want to
feel that we can achieve the things we’ve failed to do, that something or
someone can help solve our problems, and that we deserve good things to come our
way. Sell them hope and optimism, and possibility but not probability.
Words
are the valuable asset of book marketers. They cost you nothing to use, but can
make you a fortune.
If
you think about it, people don’t know the value of your book – because they
didn’t read it – so in order for them to agree to invest their time and money
into it, you need to give them the perception that it’s worth buying. You have to appeal to their needs and desires
by using the right adjectives, verbs, and nouns, by dressing up the basics by
shaping a vision, by helping the potential reader feel the uniqueness of
something they have not yet experienced.
Here
are some guidelines on how to sell people:
·
Don’t repeat the same words, but find
synonyms.
·
State the obvious emphatically – take ownership
of it.
·
Share a surprise.
·
Use colorful words that empower others –
make them feel, think, and experience.
·
Share examples or tell stories that are
not open to interpretation.
·
Always provide the benefits of what one
will receive as a result of reading your book.
·
Answer the questions or doubts that you
can assume others may have about you or your book.
·
Make proclamations, sound confident, tell
a joke, and most of all, sound like you understand their needs.
Your
words will need to appeal to your targeted reader demographic. If your book is for women or children or
seniors or Jews or Blacks or some specific group, always cater to their needs
and viewpoints.
Lastly,
realize that people could be reading any book, so why yours? They could be doing anything, why read a
book? They could be in the middle of a busy life, why take a break to include your book?
Whichever words you choose to use, make sure they answer the assumptions, curiosities, needs, and opinio that they operate under.
Whichever words you choose to use, make sure they answer the assumptions, curiosities, needs, and opinio that they operate under.
Excerpts From: The
Prodigal Tongue: The Love Hate Relationship Between American and British
English by
Lynne Murphy
“Americans
are ruining the English language. I know
this because people go out of their way to tell me so. I am a magnet for such comments – an American
who dares to teach English Language and linguistics at a British university and
who has the chutzpah to write about American and British language differences
on the internet. But you don’t need me
to tell you about the wrecking ball that is American English – the talking
heads of Britain have been pointing it out for years. English is under attack from American words
that are “mindless” (the Mail on Sunday),
“ugly and pointless” (BBC Magazine),
“infectious, destructive and virulent” (the Daily
Mail). American words “infect,
invade, and pollute” (The Times). Even Prince Charles has assessed the
situation, warning that American English is “very corrupting.” …
“Maybe
it’s inarticulate young people, bent on creating a future English that consists
of little more than strings of so like
kinda this and stuff. Or is
technology responsible? BBC journalist
John Humphrys likens text-messagers to Genghis Khan; they are vandals who are
“pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary.” …
“This
increasingly technologized, globalized world brings us business jargon, the
language of optimism and obfuscation.
Surely going forward, reaching
out, and leveraging our real-time
client synergy is the fault of
go-getting, pop-psychologizing American suits. …
“Is
American English really a disease that infects other languages, particularly
the mother tongue of England? Or are we
seeing the influence of linguistic hypochondriacs, diagnosing idiocy and
destruction where there is none? Are
Americanisms evil pollutants that disintegrate minds? Or do they inoculate English against a
wasting atrophy?”
“English? Who needs that? I’m never going to England!” --Homer Simpson
DON”T MISS THESE!!!
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more book reviewers?
Shameful! American
Library Association Changes Its Children’s Book Award, sparking Fears Of
Censorship
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author to actively promote his book?
Valuable Info On
Book Marketing Landscape For First-Time Authors
How Do We Make
America A Book Nation?
Which messages
should authors convey to the news media?
Do authors really
promote the benefits of their books?
Scores of
Best-Selling Book PR Tips from Book Expo PR Panel
What is the
payoff for authors to getting a million clicks?
How should authors
sell themselves?
The keys to great
book marketing
Enjoy New 2018
Author Book Marketing & PR Toolkit -- 7th annual edition just released
Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative
opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone
and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him
on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in
Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of the best book
marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the
top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best
resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America
and participated in a PR panel at the Sarah Lawrence College Writers Institute
Conference.
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