Your Clear Message: Get Your Potential Readers Curious Now by Beth Barany

Many authors think that book promotions are about giving away tchotchkes — like bookmarks, key rings, coffee mugs, and the like — to get attention for their books. But actually, book promotions start with one of the most powerful yet overlooked methods to promote your books to your potential readers: what you actually say.

Word of mouth still sells more books than any other promotional tool out there.

And aspiring authors: You can use this tool now because promotions for your author career begins now.

If you’re ready!

And you’re here so I’m guessing you’re ready to learn something new.

If you just state what you write in a way that generates curiosity, then you can get more people engaged with what you write. Ultimately they will become your avid fans and book buyers. Bonus: All on a zero budget!

What if you could you share what you write in one sentence and immediately know if your listener was curious, or not?

Once a potential reader is curious and wants to know more, then you can ask for her email for your newsletter list (you have one, right?), or if appropriate, invite her to your online home of choice (blog, website, Facebook page, etc.)

So, how do you generate curiosity?

You learn to talk about your story in a compelling and interesting way. You create a Clear Message, or Author Branding Statement.

There are four ingredients to constructing this concise, one-sentence description of your book.

The goal of this exercise is for you to design a statement that easily rolls off your tongue, and answers the questions we get at meetings, conferences, parties and even in the grocery store checkout line: “What do you write?”

Nail down the four ingredients to create your author branding statement:

• Your genre
• Your audience (potential readers)
• Your audience’s desired result or experience: what they want
• Your intended action upon your readers

DOWNLOAD YOUR WORKSHEET

Download this handout to write your answers as you go through this lesson on crafting your clear message or author branding statement.

Click to download.

(A google document. Click “Make a copy” to make a copy on your google drive.)

Your Genre

What is your genre? Stating that you write “romance” may be good enough for some of your listeners. For others, you may want to be more specific, like “paranormal romance” or “historical romance,” etc.

For example, I say, “I write paranormal and fantasy young adult novels.”

When choosing how to state your genre, think about where your potential readers would find your book in a brick and mortar or online bookstore. Ultimately, imagine about how your readers categorize what you write. Or ask them!

Since some authors I work with struggle to answer this question, here is an Action Step.

Action Step: I recommend you browse the bookstores and libraries to pinpoint exactly where your book would fit.

Q: What do you do if you write more than one genre? How do you create a Clear Message is that’s the case?

A: In today’s world of writing multiple genres, provided they are different enough, I recommend you create a Clear Message for each genre that you write.

Step 1: State you genre as specifically as you can.

Your Potential Readers + What They Want

When I present this part of the of the author branding statement to romance authors, they often struggle with it.

My audience is just women, right? They ask.

Well, yes, and let’s get more specific, because we know that not every novel appeals to every person.

Ask yourself: What kind of readers does your work appeal to the most?

Action Step: Describe your audience by specifying what they desire when they read they type of book you write.

For example, your readership could be “women who want an out-of-this-world adventure,” “middle-age Midwesterners looking for a sweet escape,” or “savvy women.”

What most readers want when they read fiction is an experience. It’s your job as the author to pinpoint and describe that experience as powerfully and succinctly as possible.

Remember: The goal of this exercise is to be able to easily say out loud your author branding statement.

Q: What do you experience when you read your favorite novelist?

A: I get the experience of a delicious escape and a thrilling ride. (That’s my answer. What’s yours?!)

Step 2 + 3: Describe the experience readers want from your kind of books.

Your Intended Action Upon Your Potential Readers

Once you know your genre, your audience and what they want, look at your intended action upon your readers and potential readers.

When I get to this part in workshops, I often get quizzical looks, so I’ll start with an example of how I answer the question: “What do you write?”

I write young adult paranormal romance to empower teen girls to be the heroes of their own lives.

My intended action upon my readers is to empower them. In fact, this desire to empower my readers permeates all of my writing—fiction and nonfiction.

What do you want to do for your readers?

Here are some verbs to get you going:

• Inspire
• Motivate
• Transport
• Challenge
• Help?
• Guide?
• Other?! The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

Step 4: Pick your verb. In your first draft, generate a handful of verbs that attract you. Then narrow it down to one, powerful verb.

Now that you have brainstormed these four pieces:

1. Your genre
2. Your audience
3. Their desired experience
4. Your impact upon the reader

… it’s time to put these parts together.

First draft time!

Your job is to scribble and draft and do a fabulous time making a mess. Because it’s your first draft, play, experiment, try something new.

Because when we try something new, we open up new possibilities and new opportunities and create new pathways in our brains.

There are no mistakes here.

Here are some examples to inspire you from my branding and marketing classes with authors:

For fiction:

I write romantic suspense novels that invite women to experience the heart pounding rush of danger, action and romance.

I write middle grades stories that develop kids’ self-acceptance and self-assurance through love of horses and country life.

I write suspense novels that thrill adults interested in Jewish themes to challenge their personal relationship with Judaism.

I write historical and contemporary romances to awaken the soul and ignite the imagination of women of all ages to realize their own potential.

I write erotic urban fantasy for savvy men and women to experience more vitality in their lives.

I write sensual paranormal romance that inspires women to feel rapture and the power of true love.

And for nonfiction:

I write inspired stress relief books that help attorneys and other overwhelmed professionals thrive purposefully 24-7.

I write about the history behind the mythology of original sin to inspire truth seekers.

My audio tutorials guide fantasy writers to draw on the wisdom of their extra-conscious resources to develop compelling, character-driven stories.

Are you curious about any of these?

Notice what grabs you and what doesn’t. Okay, authors, your turn!

Action Steps:

1. Put all four ingredients of the Clear Message together into one sentence.
2. Then say it a few times so it becomes natural, a part of you.
3. Then practice, practice, practice with friends, family, and colleagues. Aim for at least 10 new people.
4. Revise as needed.
5. Then practice some more.
6. Next, spring it on acquaintances and strangers. Aim for another 10 people. Online included.
7. Notice how people respond. Are they curious? Great!
8. When people express curiosity, ask them for permission to add them to your promotion lists or invite them to take some action. For example, invite them to connect with you online.
9. Optional: If they’re not curious, you can ask why.

What’s Next for Your Author Branding Statement, Your Clear Message

On Social Media

To attract potential readers, share your author branding statement as part of your online author bio on Twitter and Facebook and use as part of your bio when you’re a guest blogger.

In Email

Use it in your signature line of your email.

Author Newsletter

Create a tag line and use it in your author newsletter, so your readers remember what you write and what you stand for.

On Your Author Site

Use on your author site in multiple places:

• Your author bio
• Your home page
• Your site headline as a tag line

Your North Star

A workshop attendee and author, Sharon Hamilton (http://www.sharonhamiltonauthor.com), shared with me a unique way she uses her Clear Message. She said that she uses her Clear Message has a honing beacon to guide where she wants to go with her writing. “[My Clear Message] is the standard,” she added. “The personality of my writing.”

You can use your Clear Message to guide your writing as you write and to generate curiosity in your community and beyond. We’re all waiting for your stories. Spread the word!

c. 2010-2021 Beth Barany

First published in the Promotion Posse column in Heart of the Bay newsletter, spotlighting promotional strategies for authors, written by members of SFA-RWA with a knack for PR. Author, book coach and consultant, Beth Barany, raves about books, authors, and the ever-changing publishing and book marketing world at www.writersfunzone.com/blog.

---

Want more marketing support?

If so, then chat with a Book and Author Career Creativity Coach

Because you and your author career are worth it, schedule a complimentary Discovery Session with Beth Barany here.

***

Want to read more articles like this one Writer’s Fun Zone? Subscribe here.

***

More Articles Like This

Is Book Marketing Creative?

A Roadmap for Book Marketing for Novelists

Heart-Centered Book Marketing by Beth Barany

BOOK MARKETING FOR NOVELISTS: What is the most successful marketing I can do to sell my books?

Book Marketing with Newsletter Swaps by Ezra Barany