Designing your book to sell!

Every part of your book should be a compelling part of your message. Every part should be written passionately and designed to be a sales tool. Touch your readers' emotion with passion for your topic and you'll sell more books. In fact, when you design your book to include the passion points below, you'll sell more books than you ever imagined.

Passion Point #1 Write to help one targeted audience.

It's true not everyone wants your book. But there is a community of people in your field waiting for you to solve their problem. What problems does your message solve for them? Develop an audience profile (picture) and keep it in front of you as you write. That way you
can visualize a real person to solve problems for. Though 78%
market is women who buy books, choosing an audience of women is not narrow enough. Chicken Soup for Mothers, Chicken Soup For The
Teenager, For The Prisoner and other specific groups sold way more
copies than the original Chicken Soup.

Passion Point #2 Sizzle Your Title and Book Cover.

Your title may well be 90% of the pulling power for your book. Researchers say you have 4 seconds to hook your potential buyer. An excellent title is short. The top titles are benefit driven. Don't forget to heat them up with emotion. Use terms your audience can relate to. Use action words and verbs. Quantify change with ways and time limits. Use one or two word ideas to tell a story. Pledge change. Spark interest. Instead of "How to Write an E-book" the author chose the title "Ten Secrets to Write Your E-book Like a Winner." She
quantified change, sparked interest and branded her title.

Passion Point #3 Design a 30 second "Billboard."

Sprinkle this billboard throughout your book, your speeches, elevator
conversation, radio spots. Let your passion for your topic shine
for a few seconds in this billboard. After all, you only have a few
seconds to make an impression on the media, the agent, the
bookseller, the individual buyer. Incorporate your title, a few
benefits, and the audience. Write this billboard with sound bites
that capture attention. Don't be afraid to compare your book with a
successful one. "Women With Passion, Purpose & Power" is the
"Purpose Driven Life" for women.

Passion Point #4 Write Your Back Cover Before You Write Your
Book.

This is ranked the second most important "Passion Point" for
your book. Think about it in choosing a book to read for yourself,
how many times the title has hooked your interest enough to pick it
up. Then usually you turn it over to see if you really want to read
it. On the back cover, you put the most compelling ad copy,
benefits, testimonials, and a small blurb (bio) about yourself. If
your prospective buyer likes it they will buy instantly. If they
need more information to make the decision they will preview your
introduction and table of contents.

Passion Point #5 Develop your book introduction.

State the problem your reader has, why you wrote the book, and its purpose. In a few paragraphs include specific benefits and explain your format (how you will present it.) Make sure it's one page or less.
Your sales message will be more subtle here. Nevertheless pinpoint
and emphasize the benefits to your reader for you may still be
convincing them your book is the book to buy.

Passion Point #6 Make a table of contents.

Each chapter should have a sizzling title. If the chapter titles are not obvious, then annotate them. Add some benefits or a sub-title explaining. In "Women's Passion, Purpose & Power," the author put the word "women" in each title. Which creates more synergy? Image, Worth, Name or "A Woman's Image" "A Woman's Worth" "A Woman's Name."

Passion Point #7 Contact influencers in your field.

Don't just fill your book's back cover with a wall of text explaining your book. Instead fill it with some bulleted benefits and testimonies. Find experts and normal people that will refer your book to your potential reader through a testimonial. After an initial contact of asking for feedback, resend them the same chapter and the table of contents of your book. Ask for a testimonial then. These experienced contacts' testimonials will lend influence to your back cover making it a powerful sales tool.

No matter how good your book is, if you don't incorporate these
passion points in the makeup of your book you may never sell as
many books as your message deserves. Infusing every part of your
book with passion will create a powerful sales tool. Hooking and
stirring your potential customers to the action of buying your book for
themselves and all their friends.

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© Earma Brown, 13 year author and business owner
helps small business owners and writers who want to write their best book now! Author of “Write Your Best Book Now”, she mentors other writers and business professionals through her monthly ezine “iScribe” at http://www.writetowin.org Subscribe now at
iscribe@writetowin.org