Whether you are an established or emerging author, self-published or under contract with a major publisher, writer of non-fiction or fantasy, every author benefits from having an arsenal of talking points about their book in tow. Last week on the blog, we discussed how PR campaigns could benefit authors. Today, we’re diving into why consistent talking points about your book that are communicated throughout your PR campaign can be one of your most potent tools to reaching your book’s target readership.
On average, most books are tens of thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of words long. There is no way to effectively communicate all of the information contained in a book to your audience in any one interaction. The best way to ensure that you reach your audience and capture their attention concerning your latest work is by honing in on a few key talking points about your book that are consistently communicated, whether through social media, word-of-mouth or traditional media appearances such as podcasts or TV interviews.
These talking points are the messages of your book that reveal why audiences can benefit from reading it. The positions should answer questions like, “What is the book about?” “What makes the book unique?” and “What will I learn or gain from reading this book?”
Although perhaps not as short, book talking points can be compared to an elevator speech. If you had your audience’s attention for only 30 seconds (and most are projected to have attention spans even shorter than that,) what would you say? Interviewers often ask their interviewees at the end, “If you could communicate one message to everyone listening, what would it be?” This is often the most important answer the interviewee can provide because it’s the takeaway that audiences will remember. In the same way, talking points must be brief yet descriptive, efficient, but impactful.
A helpful perspective to keep front of mind when creating your talking points is that the “why” is more important than the “what.” For instance, your “whats” may entail that writing this book has meant a lot to you, that you began writing it during a difficult time in your life, hoping it will change the lives of its readers, etc. While this type of information may be valuable to you, it does not necessarily hold much weight for the average audience member who may not know you. t’s crucial to communicate “why” your audience should consider reading and purchasing your book rather than merely stating what the book is about, especially for new authors who do not yet have a following.
While the initial process of narrowing down talking points may be challenging, remember that having talking points will streamline your PR campaigning and marketing efforts throughout your book launch. Taking the time to simplify and codify your book’s main messages and benefits will ensure that your target audience not only understands the value of your book but is ultimately compelled to purchase, read and share it.