Authors Just Need One Sentence To Sell Books

 

If authors could summarize the essence of their brand, and do so with a one-line mantra, what would it say for you? 

Sure, some authors struggle to give an elevator speech, that 150-word, 30-second summary of what their book is about and identifying their strongest credentials, so asking them to nail it in a sentence is mega-challenging. But it’s needed. So, get to it!  

A tagline is a concise statement that clearly explains what you offer and how you differentiate from competitors. It’s a powerful tool that can draw customers to you and turn people into instant fans. At the very least it makes them curious and invites them in.   

An ideal one-liner addresses a problem, provides a result, and indicates a solution or that hope exists. It might sound funny or bold or inspiring. You need a hook, one that’s expressed with a personality. If it’s good, it’s memorable.  

So, the challenge here is to be effective, use clever language but be clear, and to provide a value proposition. Oh geeze, it seems like three meals and dessert need to be neatly packed into a handful of words, but don’t feel intimidated or overwhelmed. You got this.   

Before you start drafting potential one liners just make a list of various things. Start with these lists:  

-What do my readers want or need?

-What’s my book about?

-Who am I? 

Then, start thinking of really good words that say a lot. Find descriptive words that have many attached meanings to them. Will you use a pun, double entendre, or words that evoke feelings or conjure up images? Will you look to go big, smart, traditional, humorous, patriotic, or something else? 

Boil down the essence of what you offer. You may have written 50,000, 85,000, or 100,000 + words in your book. Now you are being asked to find five, eight, maybe 12 words that, when strung together and perhaps stated next to an image, are to perfectly sell your book.  

Some tips for stringing your one-liner together include:

• Keep it simple and obvious
• Don’t rely on people assuming what you intended
• Offer a benefit the reader can relate to
• Avoid over-promising but tap into the reader’s dreams 
• Focus on creating an image more so than stating a fact
• Be prepared to turn some people off if it guarantees others will love it  

So, once you bang your head against the wall and discover your mantra, what do you do with it?

 

• Put it on your website
• Stick it on your email signature
• Plop it into your social media profiles
• Place it at the bottom of you blog posts
• Add it to your business card
• Mention it on all ads, fliers, and marketing materials 
• Place it on your book cover 
• Splash it on signage 
• Incorporate it into your elevator speech
• Embrace it in how you approach all of your marketing.

One lifetime. Fit it on a one-page resume.

One book. Say it in a 30-second elevator speech.

One sentence. Wear your mantra proudly. 

Politicians have slogans, companies have taglines, and authors need a mantra. Find your sentence and use it often. It will be the backbone of your efforts.

Need Book Marketing Help?

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 over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

Read This!

The Book Marketplace Universe for Authors and Publishers

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/book-marketplace-universe-opportunities.html

 

What The Media Wants From Authors

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-media-wants-from-authors.html

 

How To Get Others To Sell Your Book

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-to-get-others-to-sell-your-book.html

 

Newspapers That Authors Should Contact

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/newspapers-authors-should-contact.html

 

Messages That Sell Books

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-messages-that-sell-books.html

 

An Author’s Attitude Is Their Biggest Asset

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/authors-attitude-is-biggest-asset.html

 

Sell Your Books Here & Now

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/sell-your-books-here-now.html

 

Which Radio Opportunities Should Authors Pursue?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/which-radio-opportunities-should.html

 

What Authors Need to Do

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-authors-need-to-do.html

 

How Can Writers Be Smooth Talkers?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-writers-can-be-smooth-talkers.html

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. 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 award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it 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 www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years 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, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, 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: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.  

 

 

Will Chat GPT Help Or Replace Writers?

 

Everyone loves, fears, and loathes technology. The latest incarnation, Chat GPT, is putting teachers, writers, artists, and creative types into a tizzy because the dawn of a new era is upon them that could, like all technology, spell doom for some while being a panacea for others. Will Chat GPT threaten or enhance the book industry? 

Yes. 

Let’s explore together. 

Right now, Chat GPT is still really in beta. It’s somewhere between an idea and an actual thing. It easily can get facts wrong, show bias, and render something you weren’t looking for. But, it can spit out complete, relevant, well-written paragraphs on all kinds of topics.  

Teachers worry that they will never get another essay or term paper written by a student. Companies wonder how soon robots can replace humans. Writers worry they will become marginalized, or worse, become mere editors than creative writers. Additionally, intellectual property is being used by machines to help program its abilities to churn out content. Publishers wonder if they will be able to sell book when machines can create them for free.  

Look at how one little invention can make everyone crazy. 

Chat GPT;s arrival is creating an arms race between Microsoft, Google, and the others to launch and perfect the next big thing. We will soon have an Internet that can truly interact with us, giving rise to age-old concerns about machines taking jobs away, machines learning to outthink us, and machines arming themselves to enslave humans.  

The Age of Artificial Intelligence is upon us and it will have a profound impact on everything good, bad, and both.  

I remember writing a term paper in college nearly four decades ago, about how computers will one day write books. All that is needed is for words to be loaded into a computer for programs to be written to show all combinations of words. Of course, trillions of calculations are needed to be done and computers are much faster now. Once you set up guidelines, such as length of sentences, the need for a verb and noun in each sentence that takes up two or more words, the processing of content gets better. Then, all that you need are human readers, or editors, who can dismiss the garbage and uncover the gold, Maybe it has already happened.  

It seems that a bigger burden is on readers today. They don’t trust what’s on social media. They question real journalists. And now they have to contend with AI--generated content that may sound legit but lacks veracity and accuracy. 

Of course, any computer is the product of humans, including incompetence and/or not well-intended individuals. Whatever complaint or praise we have for Chat GPT really should be aimed at its human programmers, unless computers are now training each other, the spawning of a second-hand world where no one really is in control. The dangers of technology are clear. 

What happens if we rely on them so much that we expose ourselves to losing our human abilities, where we allow computers to make decisions without taking into account feelings and relevant factors? Technology fails to give way to philosophy, religion, or a fairness that only humans can experience. In other words, is a computer able to practice morality? 

The New York Times recently decried this about the new technology: “The new chatbots do come with baggage. They often do not distinguish between fact and fiction. They can generate language that is biased against women and people of color. And experts worry that people will use them to spread lies at a speed they couldn’t in the past.” 

Time Magazine said this: “Proponents believe this is just the beginning: that generative AI will re-orient the way we work and engage with the world, unlock creativity and scientific discoveries, and allow humanity to achieve previously unimaginable feats.” 

But it also noted: “If humans come to rely on AI for information, it will be increasingly difficult to tell what is factual, what is an ad, and what is completely made up.” 

I do wonder if there will always be a lag between AI and human reality. AI needs constant inputting of data and reprograming, as it reacts to the real-world events, ideas, and people who create what actually happens in life. Will AI be something that both propels us forward with new concepts not yet seen by humans, while also keeping us in a pattern of past-life experiences and moments? 

Technology has no off button. 

There’s no turning back. What gets discovered gets used - and abused. Nothing is inherently good or bad, great or useless, but we make it so. We increasingly live hybrid lives, where some percentage is relying on computers, machines, and technology in hopes it will augment the human experience. But in the process, we may be coming less human. It might already be written into software DNA.  

Will AI help us become smarter, better, and as a result productive, wealthier, and happier? Will AI gain a rapid ability to function autonomously and improve itself independent of human touch? 

For now, keep writing and living as you are, but at the same time, start to think how you can prepare for, even exploit, the next generation of AI. It is coming and it will no doubt alter the world as we have known it to be. 

Need Book Marketing Help?

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 over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

Read This!

The Book Marketplace Universe for Authors and Publishers

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/book-marketplace-universe-opportunities.html

 

What The Media Wants From Authors

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-media-wants-from-authors.html

 

How To Get Others To Sell Your Book

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-to-get-others-to-sell-your-book.html

 

Newspapers That Authors Should Contact

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/newspapers-authors-should-contact.html

 

Messages That Sell Books

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-messages-that-sell-books.html

 

An Author’s Attitude Is Their Biggest Asset

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/authors-attitude-is-biggest-asset.html

 

Sell Your Books Here & Now

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/sell-your-books-here-now.html

 

Which Radio Opportunities Should Authors Pursue?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/which-radio-opportunities-should.html

 

What Authors Need to Do

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-authors-need-to-do.html

 

How Can Writers Be Smooth Talkers?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-writers-can-be-smooth-talkers.html

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. 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 award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it 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 www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years 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, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, 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: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.  

 

 

Book Marketplace Universe Opportunities

 

There are over 8,000,000,000 people living in 200+ countries. Who can you sell your book to? Where do they shop?  How do you reach that market? 

First, identify the demographics of your targeted reader. Please don’t tell me anyone could buy it or that everyone will like it.   

Then, look at the built-in marketplaces that already exist. See if you can find your intended reader at any of the places below:

Bookstores: chains like Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million; independent bookstores; and college bookstores

Specialty Bookstores: religious bookstores; graphic novel and comic bookstores; and architecture bookshops; airport

Big Box: Costco, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, and Big Lots

Other Retail: supermarkets; drug stores; health food stores; toy stores; pet shops

General Souvenir and Gift Shops: in hospitals, hotels

Specialty or Themed Gift Shops: museums, halls of fame, zoos, sports arenas, theaters

Libraries: public, private, K-12; pre-school, college; and specialty libraries like law or business

Direct Mail: postcards, letters, and brochures to your own mailing list or lists of others

Catalogs by Mail or Online

Bulk Sales To Specialties: trade associations, non-profits, corporations, small businesses, schools, and religious organizations 

Targeted Membership: such as lawyers, doctors, hobbyists, or veterinarians

Online Bookstores: Amazon, AbeBooks, BookShop.org, BookDepository, Alibris, BookOutlet. ThriftBooks, AppleBooks, Kobo, SmashWords and GooglePlayBooks

Big online retail sites: ebay, etsy, shopify, facebook marketplace, and CraigsList

Crowdfunding Platforms: gofundme, indiegogo, kickstarter, unbound, publishizer, patreon

Affiliates: people who sell on a commission basis, such as: clickbank, shareasale, hubspot, and cjaffiliate  

Your Author Website  

Events: trade shows, conventions, book fairs, conferences, and street fairs  

As you can see, there are a ton of places you can sell your book. This holds true for all 50 states, US territories, and many countries. Opportunities galore!  

Get to it!    

Need Book Marketing Help?

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 over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

Read This!

How To Get Others To Sell Your Book

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-to-get-others-to-sell-your-book.html

 

Newspapers That Authors Should Contact

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/newspapers-authors-should-contact.html

 

Messages That Sell Books

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-messages-that-sell-books.html

 

An Author’s Attitude Is Their Biggest Asset

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/authors-attitude-is-biggest-asset.html

 

Sell Your Books Here & Now

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/sell-your-books-here-now.html

 

Which Radio Opportunities Should Authors Pursue?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/which-radio-opportunities-should.html

 

What Authors Need to Do

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-authors-need-to-do.html

 

Which Writer Retreat Serves You Best?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/which-writer-retreat-serves-you-best.html

 

Is The Self-Publishing Book Boom Slowing Down?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/is-self-publishing-book-boom-slowing.html

 

How Can Writers Be Smooth Talkers?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-writers-can-be-smooth-talkers.html

 

Can Authors Rebound From A Bad Start?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/can-authors-rebound-from-bad-start.html

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. 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 award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it 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 www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years 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, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, 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: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.  

 

 

What The Media Wants From Authors

  

As someone in the book publicity industry since 1989, I have written thousands of media pitches and have seen thousands more from colleagues. As a book blogger of nearly a dozen years, I receive dozens of pitches every week. Folks, the media wants one thing.   

The news media wants to receive a pitch about something or someone that they feel his or her readers/listeners/viewers will want to hear about AND that the journalist has some interest in.  

That’s it.  

Fill their needs. Make their jobs easy.  

Keep the pitch short enough to feed their ADHD – but long enough to give the who-what-when-where-how-why substance.  

Ok, so how do you do that?  

Start with the structure. A good pitch has an inviting email subject line. When the email is opened, there should be no attachments. The email contents should have a headline that is catchy, a strong introductory paragraph, a powerful quote from the author, and a list of 6-8 topics that the author can discuss, then a concluding paragraph that’s followed by your contact information.  

The media also wants: 

·         To receive your pitch in a timely fashion. This means, if your book has a tie-in to say Mother’s Day, don’t send it two days before Mother’s Day.

·         The pitch to be undeniably clear and concise. They should not have to guess at what is appealing here – it should be boldly stated.

·         Something new and unique, not just more of the same.

·         A provocative personality to interview or write about.

·         Good visuals to accommodate a story.

·         Everything stated in the pitch to be relevant, factual, and honest.

·         To receive additional information upon request, which may include a press kit, web site link, links to your social media, photographs of yourself, or a jpeg of the book cover.

·         Authors to respond quickly when they have questions.  

If you can do these things, you greatly increase your chances of landing some news media coverage.

 

Need Book Marketing Help?

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 over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

Read This!

How To Get Others To Sell Your Book

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-to-get-others-to-sell-your-book.html

 

Newspapers That Authors Should Contact

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/newspapers-authors-should-contact.html

 

Messages That Sell Books

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-messages-that-sell-books.html

 

An Author’s Attitude Is Their Biggest Asset

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/authors-attitude-is-biggest-asset.html

 

Sell Your Books Here & Now

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/sell-your-books-here-now.html

 

Which Radio Opportunities Should Authors Pursue?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/which-radio-opportunities-should.html

 

What Authors Need to Do

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/what-authors-need-to-do.html

 

Which Writer Retreat Serves You Best?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/which-writer-retreat-serves-you-best.html

 

Is The Self-Publishing Book Boom Slowing Down?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/is-self-publishing-book-boom-slowing.html

 

How Can Writers Be Smooth Talkers?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-writers-can-be-smooth-talkers.html

 

Can Authors Rebound From A Bad Start?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/can-authors-rebound-from-bad-start.html

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. 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 award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it 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 www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years 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, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, 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: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.