BookMarketingBuzzBlog

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

The Conversations Authors Must Have

When promoting a book, an author will need to interact with many kinds of people, including booksellers, librarians, members of the news media, and others whom they need to impress in order to win book awards, network on social media, navigate places to speak, and develop markets to sell books. How a writer communicates with others will determine his or her fate.

Here are 20 pointers on how to successfully speak to those people whom you need to impress:

1. Develop greater rapport-building, audit your behavior that is visual (what people see), vocal (what they hear), and verbal (the content of your message).

2. When beginning a conversation always ask the other person if this is a good time to chat, even if the call or meeting was scheduled, and confirm how much time they have available. Respect their needs and wishes.

3. Find common ground on a personal and/or professional level. Relate to them.

4. Make every effort to listen far more than you talk. Seek to understand their needs, desires, challenges, obligations, and burdens - then help them understand how you can help them while you hope to help yourself.

5. Speak with metaphors - images of an idea in concrete form and with analogies - comparisons. Make a point that is then demolished by a story, whether real or hypothetical. Help them visualize the world in which you operate.

6. Sound encouraging. Help them cultivate success by showing support for their ideas. Show signs that you care, agree, and admire what they share.

7. Avoid interruptions but ask good questions. By being inquisitive it shows you have paid attention.

8. Provide positive feedback to what they say.

9. Don’t compete when you are in a conversation. Don’t try to one-up them or try to hijack their stories and experiences. Let them speak their unique truth.

10. Remember to think about your conversation before it begins. Be ready to answer these questions:

· What’s my goal with this conversation?

· What do I want him/her to think/feel/believe/know?

· What action steps do I want them to agree to?

· How do I ensure this will lead to another conversation?

· What does the other person likely want from me?

· What do I need to know about them ahead of time?

11. Summarize throughout the conversation:

· Acknowledge the key points they made

· Show appreciation for their situation

· Display an understanding of what motivates them

· Identify the challenges that they are facing

12. To be persuasive do the following:

· Make eye contact often

· Alter your pace of speech

· Change your voice to reflect emotion and passion

· Display body language consistent with your words

· Bring visual aids

· Tell short stories

· Show that you have shared values

· Indicate your commitment to them

· Appeal to their emotions, reasons, and pride.

13. Be sure to avoid controversy. There is no reason unless you seek to be controversial as a selling point, to go off-topic and discuss politics, religion, or sex. Your goal is to get people to like and identify with you - not to argue or cause friction.

14. Invite them to ask questions or seek clarification of anything you have said. You want them leaving with a clear understanding of who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.

15. Seek to tailor your communication style and content to different situations and types of people. Be aware of whom you are talking to. Is this person more driven by analytics, facts, and functions -- or by style, personality, and appearances - or both?

16. Assess what kind of personality you are dealing with. Is this person good-natured, friendly, and expressive of family, friends, and nature, and wildlife, or is this person talkative of adventure and physical extremes, or perhaps about power, money, and conflict, or maybe more intellectual, hypothetical, and debate-oriented, or some other kind of personality? Know whom you speak to.

17. Look at their energy level. Can you match their excitement? Can you raise their display of enthusiasm?

18. How caring and sensitive do you sound when you talk? Can you display empathy?

19. Is the person more positive or more negative? Do you sound inspiring and motivating - or will that rah-rah turn the person off?

20. Take a neat and methodical approach to befriending the person you speak to. You can’t go wrong by doing what you can to support them.

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!

Are You A Clickable Author?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/are-you-clickable-author.html

Should Authors Blame Anyone For Book Marketing Failures?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/should-authors-blame-anyone-for-book.html

How Do Authors Reel Readers In?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-reel-readers-in.html

Do You Really Know Why You Wrote Your Book?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/do-you-really-know-why-you-wrote-your.html

How Do Authors Fix Their Social Media?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-fix-their-social-media.html

How & Why Should Authors Guest-Blog?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-why-authors-should-guest-blog.html

A Book Award Authors Should Avoid!

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-book-award-authors-should-avoid.html

Book Marketer Brian Feinblum Interviewed By Book Shepherd Cathy Fyock

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/book-marketer-brian-feinblum.html

8 Ways to Market Your Book

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/8-ways-to-market-your-book.html

Can You Sell Books Through Laughter?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/sell-books-through-laughter.html

12 Habits of Highly Successful Authors

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/12-habits-of-highly-successful-authors.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.

Monday, July 3, 2023

Interview With Author Issa

Issa is a civil rights attorney, writer, researcher, and traveler. His work revolves around law, society, and spirituality, often learning to maneuver cultural intersections with different opinions and views of our world.

1. What inspired you to write this book?
I would say three main points. One, I wanted to write about a journey, because it feels like that’s what life is. I also wanted to explore the idea of conflicts… conflicts in our lives, on individual and global levels. It’s as if we just don’t know how to help each other, how to find solutions. And third, hope, making effort, persistence, because we have to keep at it, but I think too often we give up on ourselves and each other.

In large part, these ideas started out with my work. I work as an attorney on criminal defense and civil rights issues, and over the years I have come across cases that just don’t make sense – we are prone to punishing the ‘little guy’ over stupid misdemeanors, pushing people deeper into poverty, instead of looking for productive solutions. On the other end of the spectrum, we have violent conflicts in various parts of the world. I’m convinced that everybody – everybody – loses in a war. There is no winning. So, I wanted to write about a person who is pushed to help, and persists at it.

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?
From one perspective, it’s about that journey. The story is about Asant, and his decisions. It starts with him and a friend planning and then attempting a bank robbery.

From another perspective, it’s about desperation, fear, seeking redemption, and us humans looking for help.

Asant flees his country out of fear, but like many of us, he is also seeking to find his way, and to find redemption. So fear, and desperation, force him to take that step and to start thinking about doing good.

I would say it’s story written for those of us questioning our own lives, our own journeys, and the world around us.

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?
As a reader myself, I often find that I get something different from a given book than another reader might. So I think it’s hard to know what a story will deliver or how it will be received. That said, I hope Attempts encourages a few of us to acknowledge that it’s more beneficial to intend and do good, and to persist with that, than to resort to punishment and violence.

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?
The process of deciding on a title is interesting. With this book, at first it was Attempted Robbery. A couple of friends, however, expressed to me that although the story starts with that, it is not about that. Those friends also commented that a title like Attempted Robbery would build a different expectation for them as readers. One follow-up suggestion was Consequences. This was certainly closer to what the book is about – i.e. consequences of our actions. In the end, I decided on Attempts because I wanted to convey effort and persistence. I also wanted to contrast between the not-so-good attempts, such as theft, with that of attempts to do good.

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!?
I think that’s funny. I would say stick to it, if you enjoy it of course. I think writing is amazing. It can be fun if you allow yourself to have fun with it. It can be liberating, adventurous, scary, even therapeutic. But, make sure joy stays as the top priority.

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?
This is a tough question for me. I’m not sure. There are so many great books, so first thank you to the authors and the people helping authors along the way. It’s great that we have writing to exchange ideas, experiences, and facts about our world. By the same token, I think in part it is a tough industry to navigate; but, in a way it’s also a fun experience learning how to reach the readers who would enjoy your story. Where it’s heading, especially with AI coming into the picture, I don’t know. I would have to think about it a bit because there are so many factors and avenues involved today, such as the various social media apps, digital formats and outlets, and numerous marketers and marketing techniques. With all that said, I suspect, and this is coming from a new author, that the core will remain the same – that is finding and connecting with those readers who find your writing beneficial in some way, be it fiction or nonfiction.

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?
Absolutely. Some from my work, some from everyday encounters, some from travels. In one trip, for example, while visiting an oasis, I encountered a couple of members of a local tribe, wearing traditional garb. We spoke for a few minutes. They came across tremendously kind, wise, confident, and I felt lucky and honored to have met them. There are a couple of sections in Attempts where I tried to incorporate this encounter and experience.

To take it a bit further, I would add my experiences as an attorney and also in regards to conflicts, or even moments when I maybe angry at something or when I choose confrontation. I have a few lessons from those moments that I tried to include in the story. Moments, perhaps lucky moments, when I managed to reconsider my perspective and chose an alternative approach than what my initial reaction would have been.

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?
I like to think it’s simple and to the point. As to similarities, I dare only admire but not compare.

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
Imagination is a lot of fun, but it’s a challenge to put images and thoughts into words. Sometimes the mind is too fast and my fingers are too slow. Or when I find myself questioning where the story is heading. So, I would say a challenge has been to follow the motto of ‘just write’ and don’t think or question too much. Just write.

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?
Some of the feedback I received mentioned thought-provoking, journey, and captivating story. So I would say, do read it because it is a unique story with magical realism elements that delve into current social issues and questions. And it leaves us with hope.

Need Book Marketing Help?

Read This!

Are You A Clickable Author?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/are-you-clickable-author.html

Should Authors Blame Anyone For Book Marketing Failures?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/should-authors-blame-anyone-for-book.html

How Do Authors Reel Readers In?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-reel-readers-in.html

Do You Really Know Why You Wrote Your Book?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/do-you-really-know-why-you-wrote-your.html

How Do Authors Fix Their Social Media?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-fix-their-social-media.html

How & Why Should Authors Guest-Blog?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-why-authors-should-guest-blog.html

A Book Award Authors Should Avoid!

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-book-award-authors-should-avoid.html

Book Marketer Brian Feinblum Interviewed By Book Shepherd Cathy Fyock

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/book-marketer-brian-feinblum.html

8 Ways to Market Your Book

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/8-ways-to-market-your-book.html

Can You Sell Books Through Laughter?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/sell-books-through-laughter.html

12 Habits of Highly Successful Authors

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/12-habits-of-highly-successful-authors.html

About Brian Feinblum

Interview With Author Dr Albert H Yurvati

1. What inspired you to write this book?

I always wanted to share my life story, what triggered me to write the book was after I was diagnosed with non-curable multiple myeloma. As Part of the treatment scheme you receive monoclonal antibody chemo and high dose steroids. The steroids keep you “wired;” .

so I started to write during the night, one chapter afar another.

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?

Bio of my life and my transition form a medical provider (heart surgeon), to a caregiver after my wife’s stroke and my transition to being a patient.

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? Learn about resiliency, never give up, pursue your dreams.

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?

The “wet my hands” comes from my training days in the OR our chief would tell the tech to wet his hands, it helps the suture slide to get a more stable knot.

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!?

Sit down, concentrate, outline your book by theme, experience etc. and build each chapter.

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?

Concerned about a loss of creativity and reliance on Artificial Intelligence.

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?

Absolutely, they permeate throughout the book.

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?

Clear and concise like a surgical procedure, have not compared to other authors.

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?

None the process went extremely well for my first book.

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?

I will inspire them, they will see the love I have for my wife and my resiliency in fighting cancer.

Albert H. O-Yurvati, DO, PhD, FACOS, FICS, FAHA, is a 1986 graduate of the University of North Texas Health Science Center, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his Internship and General Surgery residency at Tulsa Regional Medical Center at Tulsa, Oklahoma, and served as Chief Resident his final year. He then completed a residency in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the Deborah Heart and Lung Center, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Browns Mills, New Jersey, where he also served as chief resident. He is AOA board certified in Cardiothoracic-Vascular and General Surgery, and he is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons as well as the International College of Surgeons. He completed a PhD in Education with a concentration of Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University. Other educational activities include a Graduate Certificate from the University of North Texas Toulouse School of Education in Teaching and Adult Learning.

Currently Dr. O-Yurvati is a tenured DSWOP Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Medical Education at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he is also Professor of Integrative Physiology in the Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease. In addition, he is Adjunct Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of North Texas at Denton. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. For more info, please see: https://fultonbooks.combooks/?book=wet-my-hamds

Need Book Marketing Help?

Read This!

Are You A Clickable Author?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/are-you-clickable-author.html

Should Authors Blame Anyone For Book Marketing Failures?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/should-authors-blame-anyone-for-book.html

How Do Authors Reel Readers In?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-reel-readers-in.html

Do You Really Know Why You Wrote Your Book?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/do-you-really-know-why-you-wrote-your.html

How Do Authors Fix Their Social Media?

https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-do-authors-fix-their-social-media.html