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Putting the Book Puzzle Together
I think of each of my books as a puzzle, because if you have all the right pieces, and you put them all together properly, you end up with a masterpiece.
But, just like any puzzle, if you just randomly force the pieces into place you’re left with a mess. In this case you’re left with a mess that wasted a lot of your time and will never make you much money.
So, when designing, marketing, or pitching your book your main focus needs to be in showing the end user (the buyer) what benefits they’ll attain from investing their hard earned money and time into your book AND what sets your system apart from all the others.
Watch the words I’m using – when you were writing your book, your ONLY focus should have been to create a book that would help the “reader” to get specific results and to give them that information in an easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement fashion.
But now, your focus is no longer on the “reader” but on the “potential buyer”.
Here’s a completely different mindset that a person has when they’re deciding whether or not they’ll be buying your book as oppose to whether or not they’ll be reading your book.
Tailor your book design to the “buyer” and the contents to the “reader”
Now the buyer could be an individual, a group of people, a company buying books for their employees, a publisher, or a book store purchasing agent … but remember what we spoke about in previous lessons on marketing …
…No matter how large the group you’re selling to – you’re really only selling to the 1 decision maker in that group. Solve their problem, or give them an easy solution that works, and you’ll seal the deal.
For our purposes here, we’re going to call that uniqueness, your ‘USP’.
The letters ‘USP’, for those of you who have never heard of this term stand for ‘unique selling proposition’.
In other words, what’s differentiates your book from the rest of the pack?
Why should someone buy your book, or product, or service, or hire you, instead of any of the others in your industry?
Here’s a little exercise that will help you create your USP.
The single biggest benefit your reader will get if they buy, read, and implement any of the applicable techniques in your book?
Now condense the wording you used to describe that benefit, into one small sentence – or better yet, try to condense the benefit into just a few words…
List the top 3 attributes that set you apart from any of the others in your industry…
1.
2.
3.
Now combine your condensed (yet powerful and descriptive) sentence with your top 1 or 2 unique attributes.
That’s Your USP!
Now after you have a good UPS … and a good USP is something that’s normally very hard to decide on for a business, but after you do a survey and a teleseminar with a Q&A session – your USP is going to materialize from all the amazing content that your listeners gave you.
The value of surveying your list, no matter how small of large it is, and the value of staying in touch with them using teleseminars and free Q&As is ongoing.
Unless I find an even better way to reach out and touch my list from the privacy of my own home, with even less effort on my part and more convenient for all those involved, I just don’t see me stopping my survey’s and teleseminars any time in the near future. Each time I survey my list or do a teleseminar with Q&As the list of benefits I get grows.
…in fact, I was a guest on a call last week where I was introduced with a quick 2 or 3 minute introduction. Then I was handed the call and I did a full 70 minute educational teleseminar. During that call I pitched and filled up my next e-class, and then I stayed on the call for nearly 2 additional hours answering questions…
…one of the callers came on and before she asked her question she thanked me – she thanked me for about 3 full minutes – for being so generous with my time and staying on the call for so long. She said she’s been on loads of other teleseminars and has never seen a host or a guest willing to devote so much time for free…
…now that made me feel real good – and I’m always willing to stay on as long as my time permits because with every question a person asks me I’m learning more about how I can better service them in the future – with my books, audio’s, seminars, sales letters, newsletters, blogs, etc, etc, etc…
…and that’s worth more to me for the few hours I devoted to those listeners!!!
April 8th, 2008 at 4:37 am
A USP is essential to the effectively marketing a book but an USP can only come from good content. Content is king and if no content, then no USP and no sales. One cannot forget the basics in trying to be bestseller without the right content!
April 9th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Amen to that Chris.
Creating your USP is equivalent to cracking the code to what makes your product better than the rest.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Thanks for the fantastic content here on your blog.
I have listened to Chris’s presentation already at two seminars… that man really knows what he is talking about!
Now it’s time to take action.
Best regards,
Frank Bauer
April 10th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Hi Chris,
Creating my USP was without doubt one of the hardest tasks for, given that I was a newbie.
ONce again, you take the most complicated things, and break them down into simple steps.
All power to you, and to those who’s lives you have changed!
April 10th, 2008 at 9:52 am
It all comes down to the USP - I’ve known it, but I never did anything about it because I thought it was too complicated.
Thanks!
April 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I’ve heard Christopher talk about that before, but it helps to hear it again. I love the way he lays it out here.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hi,
I just started to read your blog. I love all the information you have on here. I have honestly never heard of half of the stuff that you talk about it, but I’m definitely soaking up all the information. I wouldn’t mind hearing you speak about all of this eventually.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
This is awesome advice right here. USP is the backbone of everything, and it separate your book from the rest and what will ultimately sell your book. Thanks for the wonderful advice. I will bookmark this and read it over and over.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I liked the point you made about no matter what size group you are selling to — a company, a school, or a city library — you have to catch the attention of the primary decision maker in that group. I used to process book orders at a university and it was always the professors who found some new title because they happened to meet the author or hear about him — and they insisted the library buy it.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Yep, exactly Alpha. If you can get the attention of the primary decision maker, then the rest follow. This is just golden information. I just read it again, and the more and more I read the more sense it makes to me.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I really like the way you explain things in a simple, clear manner Chris! It really is helpful and defining a USP is something I’ve always found hard to do when I worked in sales. I like your methodology! Thanks for sharing it.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
When I was a ghostwriter for a person who wanted to beat J.K. Rowling at her game, so to speak, I knew I was working for someone who had a laudable goal but no real idea of how to attain it. She thought blind faith in her concept and stories would get her through the various obstacles to getting her books published and sold, and even though at the time I had no idea of what USPs are all about, I instinctively knew she had no real plan or business-savvy vision.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
To me having to create a USP is a lesson in itself about your own faith in your writing ability and ultimately your book(s). If you’re left scratching your head trying to find reasons why someone should buy your book over another author’s, what does that tell you?
I think it says one of two things. You may need to refine your book more (because how can you sell it if you can’t even pitch it to yourself!). Also maybe you need to clarify in your own mind how committed and confident you really feel about its chances of publication, its quality and being a writer. You have to have faith as well as a plan.
However you look at it, defining your USP could well teach you something valuable about yourself along the way.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
That’s one of the things I always tried to tell my now-former client. She needed to refine her stories more to make them more appealing to all readers, not just herself, and she never thought of writing as a craft….more like just sitting at a keyboard and typing away like mad till she got to what she thought was the end. Fine for brainstorming and rough drafts, I think, but not for a finished product.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Amazing blog and wonderful information. I think that I will be sending other writers over here to read this information, watch videos and be in touch with the seminars. It is a great place to improve you skills, or learn how to really write a great piece of work.
May 20th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
This is an interesting way of looking at how to write a book. A lot of times people have trouble knowing where to start. Taking this approach can cater to this difficulty as you can try attempting different parts of the puzzle. This can also avoid frustration if you get stuck somewhere. But you should be careful not to stick too strictly to this method as it may take out your creativity. Stop and evaluate what you are doing every now and then and try to put your own touch to the work.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 am
Now I understand that we must prepare our book not only for the reader, but also the buyer. And you are completely right about the decision maker group. It can be the decision maker of a bookstore network, online bookstore site, or maybe individual who are looking for another product to sell. UPS is crucial to make us(and the book) stand out.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:39 am
This is very good information. A lot of authors miss out on the fact that their book should be helpful to the reader. I like the point about tailoring your book design to the buyer and the contents to the buyer. I never thought about that.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:40 am
See that’s why you should proofread your comments before you post them. What I meant to say was I like the point about tailoring your book design to the buyer and the contents to the reader. My bad…