BOOK TANGO - Dreams of Happy Endings - Are You Ready To Take The Plunge?

Over the summer, I'd been working on a 5 book series titled, Layers of Veronica for Emilia Rutigliano and came up with this video for her 4th book, GAJAH.

I love the music she chose, and looking back, I would have liked to show more Tango scenes with flashier image cuts, but either way, I think we pulled off an interesting video that showcases elements of her story in a memorable way that appeals to readers. And once you get readers hooked on a video, you're much closer to a sale.

The trick is to hint, but not to give away the most important parts of your story. That's where the tease comes in and where the sale really begins. And sales is what it's all about for the most part. Because aside from telling part of a story, good book videos also enhance an author's platform, can lead to more exposure, and boost credibility. All that in about 90 seconds.

Book videos, when done right, offer plenty of advantages to authors, but the video's main goal of course, is to sell your book, although, that's something that no one has complete control over. Many obstacles inhibit sales and so the objective of the video is to flick on as many green lights as possible and eliminate all the red lights along the way.

Dreams are inspiring, but you have to take action too!

I like this analogy because a sale that comes full-circle begins with a series of green lights, starting with reader's initial contact with your book, right down to when they click the Buy Now button and become a bona-fide customer, no red lights that stop a sale dead in its tracks. Red lights include, poor cover design, price points that are too high or too low, too many bad reviews, vague opening chapter, boring lead character, etc.

All this, providing that quick shipping and customer satisfaction with the story is also in place. Now those are two factors that are certainly beyond your control, although some book reviews could make mention of them.

And you thought a sale was all good news, but not all sales have happy endings. Although, most sales are final and end happily, you must do everything within your power up front to make sure customers are happy with their purchase so they can purchase again, recommend your book, or even better, look forward to your next book.

So you see, the sales cycle is never-ending. It's like that commercial, "Put good in, get good out." Then again, the "good" you put in is subjective, so you never really know what to expect.

So, is there a silver lining to anything about writing and selling books?

Take The Plunge!

 Yes and Maybe. Everything depends on everything else. It's a Tango, after all. A crap shoot. What can you expect? No one really knows. Isn't that what Hollywood executives say about making movies?

Which is why Hollywood relies on bestselling books for the most part. They don't take any chances on their 50 to 100 million dollar film investments and scout for bestselling books that gauge mass appeal and predict ticket sales.

That's great motivation for novelists. Write a bestselling book, and reap the rewards of hopefully optioning your story for a movie script, which actually gets made, which in turn will sell even more books.

Dream on, folks. Really, dream on, because it's happened to many authors, and it certainly can happen to you.

New Book Teasers, Special Effects, and more

I've posted several new Book Teasers on the right column. One (Dawn of Ages) is based on an interesting Sci-Fi story and the other (Then Like The Blind Man) tells about a young boy's turbulent times with his troubled stepfather. Two good books worth checking out.

The book about the boy is deftly narrated by its author, Freddie Owens, but if you're ever in the market for good Voiceover talent, check out VoiceJungle.com. Their site is easy to use and they offer fair prices.

I've got another trailer coming up, actually a series of 5 trailers I'm working on so I've been busy with those. I'll post some of those here later to give you a sense of more approaches for what your own trailers might include by way of special effects.

As you know, I use special effects sparingly and focus on your story and weave a snapshot of its metaphor in your trailer. That's the juicy part without giving away crucial events. It is a tease, after all. Check them out.

You might have noticed my new logo for Starship Grafix. This is still part of Book Teasers Pub(licity) or vice versa since it's an expansion of graphic design services and not just book trailers. Now all I need is more than 24 hours a day to make it all work. Actually 24 hours are plenty as long as I sleep only 4 and "work" the 20.

Hey, it beats giving someone else 8 to 12 hours of your day for measly benefits and long commutes.

Okay folks ...I'm due for a nap.

Impulse Purchases - The Nasty Little Secrets

I love the cheddar!

OK folks, as promised, here's some of my spiel about impulse buying. You've heard me say it before and it's worth repeating because it's important. Selling is easy. Whaaat? Okay, let me explain. Selling the right product to the right people at the right time is easy. Fair enough. You know what I mean. Let's get to it.

BTW, here's my disclaimer for those who feel impulse buying is trapping, conning or otherwise taking advantage of a customer. A consumer's weakness or lack of buying discipline is their own fault, not the advertiser's. Whenever I get caught up in the hype of an impulse purchase, I blame myself, then I enjoy the product. Hey look at this way, if you don't make the irresistible offer, someone else will. Case closed. No guilt, no shame. Here goes.

Since the beginning of time. Take your pick: (Adam and Eve or the dawn of cave people.) Human beings needed things and wanted things. And guess what? At no other time in history has this been a fact more than it is now. Heck, just take a look at all those storage warehouses popping up all over the place. People just can't find enough room to store all their worldly possessions. Come on folks, there are hundreds of different cereals out there and counting. The proliferation of products is massive, and so is the purchase of these millions of products every day. Including books!

America especially is a consumerist society without bounds or limits it seems. People buy all sorts of stuff, especially online. The internet grows every year with no signs of slowing down any time soon. A tough economy? Not for everyone. There are plenty of people with deep pockets and just as many with not so deep pockets with the same desires. Guess what wins every time? Yes, the desire to want something always outweighs the sensibility of owning it. Let's face it, affording something and buying it does not always align. Does the word foreclosure sound familiar? (Sorry if I hit a sore spot. You knew it was coming.) Enough said, you get the point.

"The desire to want something always 

outweighs the sensibility of owning it."

Fact is, that most people want just about everything they see. There's no shortage of wanting and desiring. There's only a shortage of money, or in this case, the right offer. Here's something you don't hear every day.

People don't buy products or services, they buy offers.

WTF? Who the heck says that? What does it mean? Hey, it's simple. If money were no object, you'd probably own the Brooklyn Bridge, and so would I. Not to mention all the con men out to sell it to us. For example, if you could buy the Brooklyn Bridge for $50 a month, ($1.67 a day) you probably would, if for no other reason than to brag about it. Silly example, but you get the point. You'd buy because of the offer. Irresistible offers are what people buy into. How do you structure an offer in your book trailer?

Great question. Make them an offer they can't refuse. Remember that line from the Godfather? That's the basis of all impulse buying propositions. Don't give customers a way out. Make them an offer they can't refuse. Okay, we're not selling cars or bridges, we're selling books. Big difference. But are you really selling books? Well, yeah, they're not steaks. Right, if they were steaks, you'd sell the sizzle. But since they're books, you sell...the story. Specifically, the emotion of the story. Still with me?

A book is mere paper and ink. That's only part of what you're selling. People do buy and collect books because of their beautiful covers. (I'm guilty of this.) But what you're really selling is the contents of your book, or its emotional story. What if it's non-fiction? Same thing. Just because you're selling a bullet list of benefits, doesn't mean you can't attach emotion to it. Aha, now we're getting somewhere. Okay, somewhere deep inside you, you already knew this, but the difference is this time your focus on marketing will be fresh and laser-like.

Great, how do you sell the emotion in your story? Assuming you've written a killer story with plenty of twists and turns, intrigue, suspense, a surprise ending, there you have it. What's all that about? How about emotional connections? Ring a bell? Nothing new here folks. This never changes. Not now, not a million years from now. You're always selling an emotion. End of story. Readers thrive on emotional content. It's the only reason they read or watch movies or go to plays, etc. They want to experience an emotional high of some kind. It's like an addiction.

If merchants could only remember that little piece of information, their advertising and marketing would improve exponentially. But most of them don't have a clue and all they talk about is themselves and how important they are or how big their company is and so on. It's pathetic. Selling is never about the seller. It's all about the buyer. What's in it for them? Nothing else matters, except, how soon can they get your product, assuming you've presented it in such a way that readers must want it.

Okay, this is a mouthful, I'm sure. You've probably never heard any of this before, except right here because many advertisers and copywriters would like to keep this a big, fat secret. Who cares? I've told you everything and nothing at all because there's so much more it would take volumes and years to divulge. Yes, sales and marketing is a science and an art. You're not going to learn everything you need to know over night.

Let's break Impulse buying into bite-sized, digestible chunks. This may not sound appetizing yet, but it will when we're done. There's so much more to talk about, so much more to learn, and like advertising, it takes plenty of repetition before any of this sinks in.

Three Golden Rules:
1. You're Selling an Emotion
2. You Need a Special Offer
3. You Need To Create a Sense of Urgency

As I've said folks. Selling is a step-by-step process. Yet all those processes must happen simultaneously and decisively within a parameter of time in order to be effective. Stay with me and come back for more of this ongoing tutorial on Impulse Buying, The Ultimate Sales Tool.

Here's what we'll cover in my next Post: Impulse Triggers
Okay, it's all about emotion. Great, you've got that. But how do you market an emotion? How do you approach it from a sales POV? Easy, you set things up so the reader feels it. The emotional set-up, the question, or the statement that hooks readers at first sight and never lets them go.

That's our mission and what kicks off our marketing campaign in the right direction. The three Golden Rules. Without this, all is lost before we even begin. Here's where most marketing comes to a screeching halt, right out of the gate. We'll review how to come up with the best opening lines, triggers that set-off your marketing, your "sales pitch" in the most curious form that will not only hook readers, but send them scrambling for more about your story.

I'm on a roll and holding nothing back. Don't miss this!

Do Book Teasers Really Work?

The best way to answer a silly question is with another silly question.

Uh, Does marketing work?

WOW! I gotta have that!

Hmm...well, yes and no. It all depends on a multitude of reasons or obstacles. While many potential customers might receive your sales message, interested buyers could be prevented from placing an order for a number of reasons beyond your control. Anything from a lost internet connection, severe weather, lack of money, technical shopping cart problems, shipping price objections, nature calls, and so on. The list of obstacles can be endless.

The solution to that is simple. Repeat your message. Hence, all those damn Geico commercials every 5 minutes. Funny and annoying but in the world of advertising, essential to success. The good news is that Book Trailers are like perpetual marketing machines that never quit spreading your sales message. They're always on.

(Just like all those car insurance commercials. Personally, Flo is my favorite.)

Now for the not so good news. Bad marketing can work against you and have a negative effect on your sales. Obviously this is not what you want. So how do you know when your sales message, your advertising and marketing is missing its mark? Three reasons. Not enough repetition or market saturation, or if you know that not to be the case, then something's wrong with your sales approach or you're simply addressing the wrong audience, the wrong demographics.

In other words, Book Trailers, like any marketing piece, can and do work, but only if all the conditions are right. Aside from those conditions, what other factors influence a potential customer's buying decision? Glad you asked because that one question is the subject of this entire blog and what we've been distilling here for the past several months.

How do you write, design, and produce a book trailer that will inspire, encourage, and motivate readers to click for more and eventually buy your books? Or better yet, how about a killer trailer that propels interested buyers into placing an order right now, before they forget or change their minds for whatever reason (obstacle) known to humankind.

Impulse Purchases. You've heard of them, you've seen them advertised, and heck, you've certainly been a victim, uh excuse me, a customer on the "wrong end" of one of these late night infomercials. Want to be on the dealing end of an impulse purchase? Sure you do. Stay tuned for my next Post where I lay down all the golden rules to setting up and reaping the rewards of the ultimate buying scenario: Part I: The Amazing Impulse Purchase and how to Set it Off. Right here, next time.

Don't miss this jaw-dropping Post, coming soon, I promise.

Everything I know About Marketing, I learned From Tina Turner

“What’s love got to do with it?” asked Tina Turner in the sixties. 

Today, they’re still asking the same old question and I’m sure it’s a question we’ll be asking for generations to come. “What’s love, but a second hand emotion,” is the answer.

Ahh, emotion. What would the world be without it? How can you distill that emotion, bottle it up and cork it tightly? And when you’re ready to play, pop the cork, and unleash the genie inside. But what really are the bottle’s magical contents? What exactly evokes all those emotions? What inspires people to stop, watch and listen to your book trailer? More importantly, what motivates them to click and buy? Meaningful stories, filled with conflict. 

Problems, problems, problems. In real life, we try to avoid problems at all costs, but in literature, problems, better known as conflicts, are front and center stage at all times. Without conflict, there are no meaningful stories to tell. But how much should you tell? How much of the story do you give away in your book trailer?

The case for making long book trailers revolves around this idea, “The more you tell, the more you sell" mentality. Based on a tried and true advertising model, particularly ideal in the seventies and eighties, but not as relevant or as effective today, at least not on the internet.  Remember, the internet is quite unlike print publications. The internet is limitless and forever growing and expanding like some kind of universe―super fast and far-reaching. It demands speed even as it instills a speedy, almost anxious mindset on its users. Click, scan, click, from here to infinity.

This is not your Daddy's Internet:

The days of slow modems are long gone. Today, most people have high-speed fiber optic connections that are always on and lightning fast. Page loading times are virtually no longer an issue. When you click on a link, there it is, in a flash. For the most part, as long as your computer isn’t bogged down by registry errors, bloated browser caches or software-developer’s anti-virus, viruses, (hint, clue, wink) your pages load almost instantly.

Readers see the internet as a prime source of an immediate, speedy way of getting relevant information. Today’s readers and web surfers (largely, a younger generation) search for and consume huge amounts of digital information, seemingly as fast as it loads, and just as fast, they move on to something else.

This sense of immediacy and instant gratification has bred a whole new generation of web surfers that not only rely on high-speed internet access , but they thrive on its ability to deliver information faster than they can process it. In turn, that prompts them to stop only when something is meaningful enough to get their attention. And that means attention spans are cut drastically, to mere seconds per page sometimes. 

With billions of pages at their fingertips, it’s no wonder users are so finicky about what they read. So the obvious question is: What stops readers dead in their tracks? What keeps them riveted and glued to a particular page?

What's the Answer?

The answer is simple: An emotional connection. A speed bump on the lightning fast information super highway. Period. End of story. There’s no other reason because emotion is the only reason. What kind of emotion? How about curiosity? What about fear, anger, or longing? Do you think the search for love can stop a person dead in their tracks? Love of what? Love of a particular thing, a certain subject matter, a kind of personality or a particular image that speaks volumes to them. Anything that tells a meaningful story, in a flash.

Ever since the beginning of time, human beings have been searching for happiness through love and relationships, through friendships, through an understanding of something else. Anything that promises or suggests meaning. People are forever curious and searching for happiness or anything that even looks like the semblance of a good time. Something that really matters to them.

"Good ole emotion, folks. Take it or leave it,  it’s here to stay—forever and ever."

So what does emotion have to do with book teasers? Everything, of course. Problem is, most people don’t realize that emotion makes the world go round and round, and even more people don’t know how to define or present an emotional story on video. Wow. Houston, we definitely have a problem.

Luckily, I know a little about emotion. After all, I died once for 45 minutes, and then I died again when I got divorced after 13 years of an impossible marriage. (Yes, that’s precisely when I regretted not dying for an eternity the first time.) But that’s just the tip of the emotional iceberg, folks. Can you feel my pain? “Right, we’ve got it,” they said.

Forget you!

But what about book teasers? What’s up with that? Why is 30 seconds so much better than a long, 2 minute trailer? You’re right about one thing. Thirty seconds is not long enough. Whaat?

That’s the whole point, my friend. If a short 30 second book teaser doesn’t show enough, that means the viewer is left wanting more, and that’s exactly what you want. Long trailers tell way too much of the story and leave very little to the imagination, draining the story of its very essence―its mystery. If you seemingly tell everything, then there’s no reason for the viewer to search for more. You’ve given away too much, and possibly the best parts of your story.

That’s where the 30 second teaser works its magic. A very short story that engages the viewer in a meaningful way, but piques their curiosity to the point where they must click to find out more about the book and how your story ends.

Piece of cake, folks. All you have to do is find the emotional thread that drives your story. But that’s only half the job. You’ll then have to write the emotional words, find the right images and the heartfelt soundtrack, and then put that all together into an intense 30 second video presentation. Nothing to it.

The Hard Truth:

It’s a lot like watching someone play Mozart on piano. Looks like nothing more than someone hitting a bunch of keys, big deal. Seemingly, anyone can do it. You have two hands and two feet, what more do you need? Right.

Listen, if you want a powerful book teaser that represents you and your books in a meaningful way, I can play the piano. Heck, I can especially play some Tina Turner. So, if you have something in mind for your first or your next book trailer, run the concept by me and I’ll be happy to take a look at it and offer you suggestions on how to make it even better. No strings; just solid advice on how to make your book trailer more than just catchy music―but an effective marketing and sales tool instead.

Email me today with any questions and if you missed any part of my 3-part Book Trailer Tutorial, check it out here from the beginning. It’s filled with eye-opening stuff you can use to design your next book trailer that will save you time, money, and plenty of headaches.


Learn more here:
http://bookteaserspub.blogspot.com/2011/03/book-trailer-tutorials-how-to-improve.html

Do Book Teasers Really Help Sell Your Books?

The short answer is YES and NO. Sure they work, when done right, and no they don't work, when they're poorly done. So what's "done right" and what's "poorly done"? Glad you asked because I have plenty to say about it.

Here's a fact of life: Selling is easy! You read that right. Selling is easy because people's desires and needs are built in. People will always want things; things they like, things they need, they even buy things they never use. We're all alike when it comes to wanting things. Most of us want a beautiful house or a fast car, a big screen TV, nice clothes, great furniture, like a Lazyboy recliner where you can read a good book. So what makes selling your book so difficult? How about the wrong approach, the wrong words, the wrong sound, a vague platform, the wrong venue. You want to make selling your book easy? Then make buying your book easy. Everything must be in place--all green lights.

Human beings need instant gratification, all the time. We're always searching for something that will make us happy and make us feel good or feel better about ourselves, even if it's just for a brief moment in time. Don't derail that blessing with horrible advertising.

Desires are a natural human condition, an addiction we can't live without. In this digital age, do you wonder why so many people still read books? The competition for your attention (your dollars) is ferocious. With hundreds of channels on TV, cell phones that can do just about anything you can imagine, movie theaters, and tons of electronic gadgets, it's a miracle we find time for our wanting spouses and children.

Last time I checked, my family had been missing for 3 days before the annoying chime of my doorbell woke me from my electronic stupor. It was my wife and 3 kids, and I didn't let them in. Heck, after months of trying, I was just about to finish Norman Mailer's "Oswald's Tale."

* * *

 "You want to make selling your book easy? Then make buying your book easy."

* * *

Okay, you get my drift. Some of us love books. We love the control we have over books. We pick them up, read a little, get sleepy, toss them aside, sometimes we fling them across the room or tear them from limb to limb when we come across something we don't like. But for the most part, we love stories and we like to indulge in all the pleasures reading offers.

Point is, sometimes, people must have something, whatever that might be is personal, but hopefully, it's your book. Your book? Why would anyone want to read your book? Who the heck are you that anyone would take interest in what you have to say? Got you, didn't I? There you have it. A big part of selling your book is selling yourself, as a person, as an author, as a writer. And of course, that's where, among many different advertising and promotional efforts, book teasers come in. Holy crap, Lindsay Lohan just did what? You’ll have to excuse me, Showbiz Tonight is on and I digress. See what I mean?

Okay, let’s get to it. You’re an author, probably self-published, which is a good way to publish books these days. But let’s face it, nothing beats being backed by a major publishing house, when they champion your book to stardom, that is. Let’s not forget the thousands of Random House titles that go unnoticed because their authors don’t have enough clout, or literary cache, if you will. I recently came across a good book that frankly, I was surprised to see in a bargain bin for a buck. But there it was, a mid-list offering drowning in a sea of misfit bargain books. Well, I rescued it and I love that book. God only knows my own novel will wind up right next to it some day. (someone hug me)

Isn’t it refreshing when we put things into perspective? Are big house publishers a better deal than self-publishing? Not if you’re the author of the next “The Shack.” I’m sure William P. Young doesn’t miss the paltry advances and penny royalties the big publishers offer these days. He’s one of the many self-published, self-made millionaires and loving the huge profits that go with it. Why not you? What’s the big fu*#!&@! secret?

Here’s what you really need to know:

First and foremost, you must write a killer book. Nobody will buy a book that apparently, its author put little effort into. Here’s the short of it. If you’ve written a non-fiction book, you’re selling solutions. If you’ve written a fiction book, you’re selling a story. Stories offer many things people crave: an escape, a journey, learning about other cultures, a reflection of their own life, a hero to root for and commiserate with, a different way to look at things, anything that will make them forget about their next mortgage payment. Come on, it’s entertainment first, facts second.

* * * 


What a shame, but that’s life in the big city, folks. Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug."


* * *

Next, you need to show and tell people who you are and what you stand for in this world. What’s your thing? What moves you? What drives you to write about dogs, cats, houses, relationships, your lovely mother-in-law? Whatever. You have something unique to tell the world in a way that only you can tell it. People want to know the story behind the story too. This is where press releases, publicity, and media kits come in. Don’t have any of that? It’s all easy to get. If you look hard enough, you can find most of it for free on the internet. Might not be the best, but it’s a start and it’s better than nothing.

Next, you must introduce your book to prospects. As you read this, people are searching for books online (get back here). They’re looking for all kinds of books, maybe a book like yours. Is your book, your author website searchable in Google, Bing and Yahoo? If not, get it there. It only takes a few minutes to list. Your book is the star, even if you’re John Grisham. 

Stories are why people buy books, and not because a famous author wrote it. Remember, even famous authors often write lousy books that nobody buys. Your book (its story) is front and center at all times. Your book is the main product. People want the product and everything that product has to offer that can make them smile or laugh or reflect. If your book can offer a life-changing experience, then you’re way ahead of the game.

To successfully advertise and promote your book, you must spend some money, but some marketing can be had for a song. Last time I checked, YouTube wasn’t charging to display your book teaser. You can pay for positioning if you want, of course, but start by uploading it for free in their massive database and test the waters. There are dozens of other sites where you can upload your book videos. Google it!

Don’t have a book teaser? Uh, what are you waiting for? You need one. Don’t have enough to make a really good one? Make one yourself with Windows Movie Maker. With a little practice (about 3 weeks) you’ll come up with something horrible, hard to watch. 

Newsflash: It’s not about the snazzy photos, it’s about how to sell a product. Don’t know enough about sales and marketing? That’s no excuse. Got a few thousand bucks handy and a few months with nothing to do? Take a marketing course. You know, I don’t intend for this to come off sarcastically, but it’s turning out that way. It’s the hard truth. There’s so much more to making great book videos than you think.

* * * 


"People are not like dogs that you can train with Pavlovian tricks."


* * * 

Take a look at all the big production companies that make book trailers and see if you like any of them. Honestly, they’re laughable and embarrassing. Sad part is, authors are paying thousands of dollars for these atrocities and thinking they’re getting the best.  What a shame, but that’s life in the big city, folks. Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.

Well, if you don’t like being splattered across the highway of life by big production companies, listen up. The purpose of a good book teaser is two-fold. The main goal of a book teaser is to inspire you, and then to motivate you to buy the book. Inspiration is artistic, emotional. Motivation is psychological. Both are triggered by strong writing concepts. Notice the key words here. Emotional triggers. People are not like dogs that you can train with Pavlovian tricks. Human beings feed off and respond to emotional events. It’s what makes us human above all other animals in our known universe.

Aside from intuition, we have a cosmic understanding that keeps us in tune with all the things we like. Things that make sense to us. Must be why I cringe whenever I see the so-called book trailers these big production companies have to offer. I call them anti sales tools. They’re big on flashy production and very short on creativity and value. When was the last time you heard anyone praise a movie for its production values? There it is.

Good marketing concepts, with the right images and the proper soundtrack, make for great book teasers. Anything less is a waste of your time and money. If I were to charge separately for writing, designing, and producing your book teaser, it would cost you thousands, yet it would still be worth it. Take a look at some of my teasers and see for yourself.

The good news is you won’t pay thousands of dollars for your book teaser at Book Teasers Pub! In fact, you can get a 30 second book teaser for as little as $399 complete. That includes the marketing concept, all the images enhanced on Photoshop, special effects filters and the best soundtrack for your particular teaser, all for one low price. Film footage and voice-overs are available for additional fees since these can drive up the cost considerably.

I encourage you to shop around. Check out all the other production companies out there that claim to be the best. I have yet to come across one that can match what I can offer.  You simply get much more for one low price with Book Teasers Pub, and the best part is that you’ll have more than a great looking and awesome sounding book teaser. You’ll have a marketing concept that works for you as an author--a marketing tool that helps you sell more books.

Let’s discuss promotional ideas for your book and ask me how I can help you put together an amazing book teaser that represents you and your books in the best possible light. I promise to make it great and make it functional or your money back.

Get an instant Discount!

Ask me a question here or email me and if we do business, I’ll discount $50 off your Book Teaser. Email me right now before this offer fizzles into obscurity.

arios316@gmail.com

Don’t miss this discount. It won’t last forever!


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Next Post: Book Covers: The Doorstop Effect
Having trouble getting a good cover design in place? Don't miss this Post next Monday.


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This article was swiped from Alberto's upcoming book, "Don't Freak - Secrets of a Marketing Guru"

Projected Publication August 2012

Your moment of Zen: Not giving up is your best revenge.

What Motivates People to Buy? (Part II)

Continued...

What are the variables? An interruption, a lost internet connection, a distraction, sleepiness, pain, nature calls, a black-out, your favorite show is on, you name it. There are numerous reasons why a perfectly good sale might be abandoned by an interested buyer. But these variables are not set in stone and account for only a small percentage of lost sales.

Because of the many potential variables that can deter sales, however, all the more reason to design your advertising for impulse buying. Impulse buying is when a prospective buyer turns into a paying customer without too much reasoning behind the purchase. Simply put: the purchase is based on desire over affordability or accommodation of the product. That’s just a fancy way of saying that someone will buy your product (book) without worrying about its consequences. (For example: Where will I fit this new exercise machine? (or) Do I still have enough shelf space for more books? I’m about to move out of this house, shouldn’t I wait to move into the new house and avoid moving more stuff?

The reasons (objections) can go on forever. The point is that your goal is to make the sale right now, not later, because later might be too late.  Okay, so how do you go about designing an impulse sale? Glad you asked, because we’ve already reviewed most of it.

Buying on impulse (coming soon, article on impulse purchases) is like having all green traffic lights. It’s like hitting not just a home run, but a grand slam. Everything must be in place. The right product at the right price with the right offer at the right time in the right venue, just when the moon and all the stars are perfectly aligned: Boom! They hit the PAY NOW button and you get paid, out of the blue, on impulse.

This is the event you want repeated on an ongoing basis. Over and over, plus you want everyone who has bought your book to buy more of your books and to spread the word so others can buy it as well, and so on, and so on. Repeat business, which is to say that your book might sell to millions of people, maybe more than once. (As a hardcover, eBook, mass market paperback, a gift, etc.)

Although, in order for your book to make such an impression on buyers (potential readers) YOU MUST WRITE AN AMAZING BOOK TO BEGIN WITH. Yes, your book (product) must be a winner. What makes books great? If it’s a non-fiction title, it must offer many tangible benefits (solutions) to readers in an entertaining manner. It must have a commercial hook.

A book of fiction, a novel for instance must offer an amazing story that is familiar but notably different from everything else. It must promise to entertain you, dazzle you, and most importantly, it should surprise you somewhere along the line or at least by the end. Literature is very subjective and therefore everyone’s response to any particular story is different, personal and unique, although, there will be a majority of similar opinions and vice versa.

Once you have written your masterpiece, you must make it available to the general public, which means you must advertise in mass media outlets (the largest book related venues) for optimum exposure. But exposure is just the beginning, the sharp tip. Your marketing must go beyond the obvious. Beyond presentation. It must reach out and penetrate into the psyche of potential buyers. You must seek common ground with readers, common experiences through metaphor, quotes, graphics and music. These are the things that move, stir and motivate people to make impulsive buying decisions.

Book Teasers are a big part of that formula because they provide all the magic elements of setting off emotional triggers in reader’s minds.  Visuals are powerful and effective tools for inspiring and motivating people to take action. To stir their desires and reach for something they believe will enrich their lives in some way. You must make sure your book does all those things and position it in such a way that readers will feel that they must get your book because if they don’t, they will be missing out on something very useful and beneficial to their lives. Something that will bring them happiness.

When you really break it down, it all comes to one thing. The search for happiness is a constant need for every human being on earth. The search for happiness is global, which means your book can have a global audience in search of a story like yours.

Does your novel offer a story that promises to intrigue readers with the unexpected? Does your marketing play-up your story’s themes, its emotional aspects that connect with readers? If not, it’s never too late to tweak in all the elements that can take your story to another level. A level where emotion is at its epicenter, because without an emotional connection, your book has very little chance to make a difference and very little chance to make any money.

My next Post will continue with this discussion about building that all-important emotional content within your story and how to include it in your Book Teaser by way of strong imagery and powerful music. Two necessary components that motivate people to click, and buy.

This article was swiped from Alberto’s upcoming book, tentatively titled, “Don’t Freak Out” Fearless Marketing: Proven Techniques For Promoting Your Novel