6 Reasons People Buy Books

 

 

Your message to market your book must speak to at least one of these six areas that a potential reader may have:

A want -- a desire for something.

A need -- something one believes they have to have.

A feeling — feeding an emotion or state of mind — from fear, pain, and anger to hope, inspiration, and love.

A curiosity -- somewhere between a need and a desire, but the reader is intrigued with exploring further. They want to contemplate, question, explore, challenge, and think.

A purpose or agenda -- your message resonates with the reader's beliefs, passions, identity, or values, or connects to an advocacy message that one cares about.

Information and facts — concrete data and established realities.

If you can’t think of how to present your book through the prism of any of the above six areas, you are dead meat.

What else could a book do that doesn’t overlap with one of these areas?

People will buy into a book if it sounds unique, is a first of its type, or is the best of its kind. They hope it is well written and gravitate towards books validated by best-seller lists, book awards, media exposure, social media influencers, and critical acclaim. But they need one of the above-mentioned six buttons pushed or the rest is immaterial.

Case in point: I don’t care about golf. So a best-selling, award-winning book with tons of great reviews that is written by a golfing phenom wouldn’t interest me.

But an erotic thriller, a book about books, self-help, or a good book provoking a philosophical debate will get me to take a look. Then I need something to close the deal.

Authors need to know which one or ones of the above six they can tap into to claim new readers with a powerful and inviting message.

 

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page views, 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!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ 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 director of publicity positions 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 hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, 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. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.