How many times have we said, “Wow, I wish I had written that,” or “I wish I had said that?” We are all a little envious of people who are quick and witty without any effort at all. Their brains are just wired that way. They are the kind of people who become comedians, and their success is based on their performances, whether they are on the stage, in TV show, or movies. For authors, it is a bit different. We write a book, but we have no live audience. We must convince our audiences to make a purchase and engage in a solo mental activity – reading. And convincing that audience will take marketing – content marketing that must engage and hook readers every bit as much as we hope our books will. This may take a very different style and certainly a different type of writing. Marketing content must be catchy and appealing to the audience for which the book was written. Here are a few tips to get that catchy content.
- What you say is, of course, important.
You have to guide an audience into thinking the way your think, so the “picture” they have of your book is the picture you want it to have. This is accomplished by intriguing “teasers” – little snippets of the story or characters that have them hungry for more. Pick those little snippets carefully and tell just enough to entice.
- Eliminate unnecessary words – the KISS principle
Readers of marketing content, especially on the web, do not want lots of adverbs and descriptive phrases. This is very different from writing a story or essay. They want short pieces of content that they can absorb quickly and simply. Use short shocking or compelling sentences and a simply vocabulary. Drawings rendered by artists have no unnecessary lines – your marketing content should take this analogy to heart.
- Show passion for your book
You already know this as an author. If your passion for your plot and your characters does not come through in your writing, the whole piece is flat. The same holds true for the content you write for marketing that plot and characters.
- Try to Paint a Picture
You want an emotional response from the reader. In your marketing content, the reader must see and sense just what you do about the story you have told.
- Use images
Catchy content includes images, and readers are about 3 times more likely to share content when an image is present. Obviously, if you have an intriguing book cover, that’s the image you want. This gives the reader a visual to remember when s/he goes to Amazon to buy it.
Your book title should probably not be the title or headline of your marketing content. It can come later. Instead, try to catch your reader a bit off guard. Ask a question or make a shocking or humorous short statement.
Here’s an example of a piece of marketing content.
Be Careful What You Wish For (Not the title of the book. Reading audience intrigued – they know this phrase and they know that something bad or scary is about to happen.)
She is a secret witness to the murder of a prominent school board member. And in that moment, Jill Birmingham decides to make her wish come true – to be something more than just the education reporter for her newspaper. As she stakes her claim to investigative reporting, Jill comes to question the wisdom of that decision many times. Through harrowing encounters with the bad guys (and some comic relief, like a visit to the “no mouth lady” at a freak show), life for Jill races down a path of danger, intrigue, and hilarity. A page turner to the end. But that end may be just the beginning.
(The reader gets the gist – a murder mystery, female protagonist, some very strange and seemingly unrelated scenarios, and an end that may be a cliff hanger. Also some obvious humor. Sounds like a good read).
You write a book because you have a passion for doing that. But you didn’t write it for yourself. You want others to enjoy it, and you want to make some money. The point of marketing a book is clear: Introduce the concept (title of article), establish that connection with the readers’ emotions (fear, humor), and give just enough information to “hook” them.
John Unger is a UK native writer, entrepreneur and idea guy. He’s interested in business and marketing, so he covers these topics in his articles. You can find more of his articles on his blog at TopWritersReviews. Follow him on Twitter here.