Surprisingly, many authors cannot answer a simple
question well: What is your book about?
They are on the defensive, answering in a way to get
rid of the question, rather than going on the offensive and seeing this as an
opportunity to take a softball question and turn it into a soliloquy to sell
your book.
What do authors tend to do when asked that single,
little question?
They freeze up, feeling they are on the spot. They get
a little nervous and anxious. Here’s what many do. They:
·
Talk
for too long and don’t quite get to the point.
·
Are
too brief and lack substance.
·
Tell
things out of a logical order and are hard to follow.
·
Miss
something and forget to highlight a key part.
·
Say
it with a lack of passion, conversation, or confidence.
·
Reveal
too much, almost spoiling the book.
·
Come
off as not being relatable.
·
Fail
to smile and sound friendly and likeable.
·
Leave
out a great review, testimonial, or accomplishment.
·
Fail
in their summary to fill a need, serve a desire, or address a concern.
·
Don’t
compare the book to a recognizable book, movie, or show.
·
Do
not connect to something identifiable or relatable such as an emotion,
experience, event, phase of life, or every day moment.
·
Lack
ties to what is in the news, trends, honorary days/holidays, seasons, or famous
people.
·
Don’t
create a tension: win-lose, hate-love, good-evil.
·
Share
facts without emotion.
·
Don’t
involve others into the conversation – pose a question, present a challenge,
survey them.
So, come up with a short but good answer to the question
you are bound to be asked. Practice your message. Test it on others and beg for
honest feedback.
Your answer must:
·
Speak
with clarity.
·
Sound
like you have a sense of the real world.
·
Be
literal but be descriptive.
·
Bring
into perspective your qualifying background for writing it.
·
Explain
why you wrote it and who it is for.
·
Show
connectivity – give people a reason to see a relevance to them.
·
Prioritize
what is interesting over what is chronological.
·
Avoid
the use of abrasive language and do not express views that can be perceived as
racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, or dumb.
So, what is your book about?
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning
blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available
to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He
has 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all
genres.
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2022. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This blog, with
over 4,000 posts over the past decade, was named one of the best book marketing
blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and
recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing
blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For
the past three decades, including 21 as the head of marketing for the nation’s
largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has
worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along
with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth,
Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey
Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne,
Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA,
Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers
Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors
and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published
in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News,
Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The
Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun
Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information,
please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
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