Using AIDA To Sell Your Books By Ines Johnson

Let’s welcome back Ines Johnson as she shares with us “Using AIDA To Sell Your Books.” Enjoy!

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Book trailers are visual depictions of a book’s storyline, sometimes made by fans, which are a great way to get readers enthused. But have you ever considered making a book commercial?

The purpose of a commercial advertisement is to persuade a potential buyer, or in an author’s case a reader, to purchase their product. Writing a commercial is a simple four step process known as AIDA.

Start by grabbing the audience’s ATTENTION with a startling statement and a provocative image. For my book commercial, I showed this image, while a male narrator said, “Women, are you tired of being responsible for your own orgasm?”

Did that get your attention? Other ways of gaining the audience’s attention is to use humor, introduce a conflict, or use sound effects.

Next, you have to hold the audience’s INTEREST by giving them more information. Luckily, one of the most effective techniques for holding interest is one all fiction writers are familiar with: establishing conflict.

For my commercial, I went with, “Want a man who knows his way around a woman’s body? Then hire a Pleasure Hound.”

Other techniques of holding interest are to use anecdotes, testimonials, statistics, or examples.

Now comes the tricky part: playing on the audience’s DESIRES. There are three types of desires: intellectual, moral, and emotional. As authors we most prevalently care about our reader’s emotional desires like love, belonging, and success.

For my commercial, I played on the desire of love and pleasure. My narrator makes some promises to women seeking out this product. “Our hounds are highly trained in the art of the elusive female orgasm. Using ancient techniques and rituals, a hound will bring you to heights of pleasure you’ve only dreamed about.”

Pinpoint a plot point or theme of your story with a great emotional impact. Target the way your readers think, behave, and make decisions. Playing on this will give them a reason to buy your book.

And finally, tell them what to do. Give them an ACTION, which of course would be to go buy your book! My book ad ends with my narrator telling readers to do just this. “To learn more about our services, pick up the book, The Pleasure Hound, out on sale December 9th. Hurry! Your climax is waiting for you.”

Once you’ve got got the four steps of AIDA ready, you can start to storyboard your idea. A storyboard is a graphic depiction of what the audience will see and hear on the screen, using a series of panels much like a cartoon strip.

Most commercials are 30 – 60 seconds long. The rule of thumb in the media world is to use one frame for every five seconds of ad time. So plan to use 6-12 frames of the storyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now its your turn.

1. Think up a way to get the audience’s Attention.
2. How will you hold their Interest?
3. What would motivate someone to do what you are requesting? Play to their desires.
4. Now tell them what to do next in order to get what you’re “selling.” Make them Act.
5. Storyboard your ad by selecting visuals to go with your AIDA steps.
6. Put it all together using a video or image editor.
7. Upload it to your social media outlets.

Stock Images

Below are a few places you can visit for royalty free stock images. I used Free Digital Photos.

• net
• com
• com
• coom
• com
• com
• com
• com

Stock Music and Sound

I found free sound clips at Partners in Rhyme. You can try these other sites too.

• com
• com
• com
• Brainy Betty
• org
• org
• org
• com

“Pleasure Hound” Youtube video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbU9r0ArEkY

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ines writes books for strong women who suck at love. If you rocked out to the twisted triangle of Jem, Jericha, and Rio as a girl; if you were slayed by vampires with souls alongside Buffy; if you need your scandalous fix from Olivia Pope each week, then you’ll love her books!