Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Many writers bemoan having to market their books. They protest, “I just like to write books; I don’t know anything about marketing.”
Well, I have good news for you. To be a successful marketer, you need to know only one thing: Tell the potential buyer a story. You’re good at that, right?
Jeff Bullas, online marketing guru, explains the concept this way:
Modern information consumers want more than just data. People of this generation are used to getting accessible news, ideas, information, and knowledge; they know the tricks and cannot stand importunate marketing. The more promotional lines they see in a text, the faster they stop reading it. That is why storytelling is a great idea for any marketing campaign.
Here’s why story really is the perfect marketing tool:
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Stories engage us. We want to know how the story ends.
I’m a real sucker for story–even a bad one. My husband could tell in the first few minutes of a film if it was going to be worth watching. I, meanwhile, would get caught up in the story and wouldn’t be ready to abandon the movie at the beginning. “Maybe it will get better,” I would coax.
Yeah, well, they never did. At the end, I would concede, “That wasn’t worth watching, was it?”
Yes, husbands with a wife who loves story must endure evenings of repeatedly bad decisions.
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Stories are memorable.
Tell me a fact, and unless it’s a stunner, I’ll forget. Tell me a story, and I’ll be able to recall most of the elements of that story, not just the overarching plot.
Pennsylvania University did research involving physicians that showed doctors understand and remember information about using anesthetics better if this information is offered in the form of a story about a patient Frank.
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The goal of any marketing: to sell. By using story as your key marketing devise, you focus on making the story engaging and lace it with reasons to buy.
One of my favorite storytelling commercials is Kia’s electric car ad entitled, “Hero’s Journey.” You can watch the ad here.
Only glimpses of Melissa driving her Kia from each rescuing the globe adventure to the next give a hint what the ad is about. The last lines of the ad “sell.” And the tagline: #SmarterWay.
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Stories add emotion—even to a dry topic.
SolidWorks offers a service that’s focused on individuals who need to figure out how much material they must purchase for a construction project. The company decided to jazz up their product by demonstrating in a blog post how much material you would need to board up your door in case of a zombie apocalypse.
Where storytelling as ad copy began.
In 2011, the Nissan marketers realized that spreading press releases and standard advertising as broadly as possible did not help to establish a connection with their target audience. So the company created its own content laboratory.
Nissan hired former journalists who started to look for stories and data inside the brand. They searched for material that would be attractive to people and social media. Since they were natural-born storytellers, their noses instinctively sniffed out what would make for an interesting saga.
Now almost all the big international companies have such laboratories. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Apple, Cisco, American Express, etc., use stories as the basis of their content campaigns.
What this means for you.
Lucky you, stories are inherent in what you produce. Here are a few examples of what your readers want to know:
- Where did the idea for your book come from?
- How did you do your research?
- What obstacles did you face as you wrote?
- How did your Cinderella story of finding an agent/a publisher unfold?
- What kinds of letter/emails do you receive from readers?
- And the best of all: What are you working on next?
See how easy that was? At least one story lies within those questions…and so many other questions remain.
So get to work, you marketer, you. Tell us how you could use story to market your book. What venues could you use–Instagrams, Facebook Live, public appearances?
TWEETABLES
Marketing made easy–really. Click to tweet.
The one thing you need to know to be a successful marketer of your book. Click to tweet.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Story is the mirror in which chaos is abrogated by faith, possibility is illuminated by hope, and the tears staining the heartbroken face are gently wiped away by Love.
Carol Ashby
Thanks for the list, Janet. It’s going to come in handy.
*I do have one question. What do you mean by what kinds of letters/emails you receive from readers? What’s an appropriate way to use this kind of material? Also, what are appropriate ways to use good reviews without sounding like you’re bragging? Fan letters and reviews contain the same type of information, but is there a difference in how an author should use them?
Shelli Littleton
“Without sounding like you’re bragging” … I understand that feeling. I can only hope that the more we open our hearts to people, the more they’ll see into our hearts.
Janet Grant
Fan letters and reviews make great marketing fodder because they are so genuine. Nothing is to be gained for the fan who takes the time to tell you how much your book meant to the reader. Professional reviews don’t have the same genuine feel to how they’re written (the reviewer removes the emotional language that a reader would use and doesn’t write as if the opinion is personal). But a professional review carries the weight of the person having been hired to write a review–something they do for a living–and the individual has a much wider range of books read for a professional review. It’s the difference between a real person endorsing a product out of sheer delight vs. a hired individual who regularly writes reviews and is being paid to review your book.
You could use fan responses to your book by asking for permission to do so (get this in writing) and then either using the person’s first name only or identifying them as ” a reader in Connecticut.”
Either type of quote can be used on your website or in social media as a meme.
Shirlee Abbott
Thank you for the attitude adjust here, Janet, from something that makes me cringe (marketing) to something I love (story telling). My spiritual architecture/home renovation theme (restoring the soul) offers lots of room for stories. I have loads of home improvement stories, some akin to Kia Melissa’s well-intentioned efforts to save the world: my lessons learned from the Master Carpenter.
Michael Emmanuel
My favorite part of this is – “How did your Cinderella story of finding an agent/publisher unfold?”
It really is – will be – a Cinderella story. I cannot wait to tell it.
Shelli Littleton
I know, MIchael. That is one story I hope to be able to write about in the future. 🙂
Carol Ashby
Good to see you here, Michael. Hope all is going well and you’ll be here often.
Michael Emmanuel
Yes, all is ma’am. Schoolwork has been soaking my schedule. I’m on a temporary break and would be returning soon.
I do read most of the posts though, just not sharing comments. It’s good to see you too ma’am.
Kristine Brown
Thank you Janet. What a refreshing perspective change! I’ll be pinning this to come back to later, when I can brainstorm answers to the questions above and put this idea into practice.
Damon J. Gray
>> How did you do your research?
I confined myself to the gospels, and refused to see “just the facts, ma’am.” I wanted to crawl inside Jesus’ skin, to see with his eyes, the hear with his ears, to wrap my mind around exactly what it was the motivated him. What gets him enthused, impressed, angry, sad? It is easy to watch Jesus and do what he does. I want the harder task of loving what he loves, being moved by that which moves him. When I am flooded with the heart and mind of Jesus, I will naturally “do” the things he does.
Shelli Littleton
Storytelling is the greatest. Wide-eyed children come to my mind … begging for a story and sitting still for the first time all day. Not much changes as we grow up. I love Instagram and public appearances … I love opportunities now to work on these. To learn and grow. I’m cautious about Facebook Live at this moment …
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
It took me a long time to realize that my stories have to be about me readers; they want to know how the stories end because the stories are THEIRS, and they want to come away with the hope that somehow, in spite of everything falling to bits around them, everything is going to be OK. They want to see validation in the Good, and a preservation of the core of what they hold dear.
* I see this now in my own life, in the extreme. I need – desperately – for someone to tell me a story that says it will all be OK, that this fight has not been for nothing. I’m not stupid enough to think I can survive, but I need to know it mattered. In pain and fear, something every reader shares to some degree, I want to crawl into a large, safe lap and close my eyes and hear, again (for aren’t the best stories repeated?) about how the day was saved and the sun shone forth again.
* Please. I’m scared. Tell me a story.
Carol Ashby
Andrew, you being here mattered for me a lot. More than you’ll ever know this side of heaven. And I’m 100% certain you mattered to a lot more than me at this blog.
Jeanne Takenaka
There once was this guy. A warrior. Hurt by life and those who should have loved him. But this warrior? He had a heart for those who had no hope. For those who needed a rescuer. This guy? He rescued many with the skills he had learned. When disease threatened to take down this guy, he turned to the ultimate Rescuer. He struggled with Him, to understand. But the sicker he became, the more he was rescued. The more he was rescued, the more he began to emulate his Rescuer. This guy? He became a hope-giver of the best kind because he shared his Rescuer’s love and hope with those who had no hope.
*That, my friend, is what you do every day with the words you share online. You are a warrior hope-giver.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Carol and jeanne, thank you so much for these words of encouragement. They are badly needed.
* I’m dealing with what are, in engineering parlance, cascading failures of mission-critical systems. Zero dark thirty on Sunday was spent repeating an idiotic mantra…”I do NOT need to go to hospital…” in the face of the metaphorical elephant sitting on my chest and occasionally shifting his weighty bum. Hospitalization will not change the outcome, save leaving Barbara with a mountain of debt.
* And that does play with your head, watching the clock’s red numbers seeming to assume a mocking stasis, denying a dawn that might bring hope. Pain and dread contract individuality into a single point that could so easily be lost in the void.
* So, again, thank you, from the bottom of my aching (literally and figuratively) heart.
Julie Scorziell
Hi Andrew, I read this blog regularly but comment rarely (generally because there are already so many good comments by the time I receive it :)). Nevertheless, I’ve been following you and have been greatly impacted by everything you’re going through and how you’ve handled it — always with honor and dignity. My brother recently had an aggressive cancer return and one of the first people I thought of was you. Isn’t it funny how we can feel connected to people we’ve never even met? Thank you for sharing your story. It will have a happy ending, I’m sure, although as we know, the darkest hour always comes before the dawn. You are in my prayers. Psalm 34:4: I sought the Lord, He answered me, He delivered me from all my fears.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Julie, thank you so much for this, and my prayers are with your brother – and you.
* The connexions I have been so blessed and privileged to make through Books and Such’s blog are one of the largest factors in my continued survival. I almost did not last the weekend…but so wanted to see what Janet would post for Monday! I count the hours until I can expect to see her essay come up on Sunday evening.
* And yes, the ending will be happy. I see the bright clouds gathering around me; so it already is!
Angela Arndt
Andrew,
*I hope these true stories may give you some comfort:
My dad passed away from kidney cancer. During his last days, he kept talking about twelve men standing in the corner. He was lucid, carrying on long conversations with us. But every now and again, he’d smile and wave at that “empty” corner.
*My husband’s best friend was paralyzed during a hold-up. He passed away a year later from complications, but before he drifted into his last coma, he joyfully told my husband he could run again. He pulled at my arm and begged me to come with him over the hill and see Heaven.
*Both men had joy in their hearts at the end. I hope that offers a little bit of comfort. And I pray you’ll be able to tell your sweet Barb what’s over that hill, too.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Angela, these are comforting. Thank you!
* Another true story – Elvis is coming to take me to Graceland, and there is a bungalow there for me. I can’t tell you why, but Barb has been a witness, that when I get close to the edge…as I did 48 hour ago…Elvis is there, along with some other friends (Manuel the mercenary and Annie the dog). There is a lucid conversation (in Spanish, with Manuel), and the upshot is that the King is working hand-in-glove with the King Of Kings to bring His people out to where they can relate to eternal life. Hence, Graceland.
* Not theological at all, but Elvis never really left the building. He was caught by the elbow, and enlisted by an Almighty who needed a bit of help.
Angela Arndt
Ha! Love it, Andrew. We don’t know whom God will use to usher us across that divide, even a little ol’ rockabilly singer turned superstar. Praying. Always praying.
Elizabeth Bohan (Betsy, ej bohan)
Dear Andrew, I could not leave this post without telling you a story. In my life as a nurse, I saw a lot of life when infants were born, but also a lot of sickness, pain, and desperate hope in the midst of obvious impending death, or passing as I call it. There was obvious difference between the deaths of believers and those who did not believe in Jesus, His gift of salvation and the mansions/places He is preparing for those who love Him. Andrew, the Bible says, “Precious in the eyes of the Lord are the death of His saints. ” My dear brother, you will not be alone as He takes you through the thin veil that separates the visible temporary world from the eternal invisible world. We are assigned angels to us, as Hebrews says, “Angels are ministering spirits sent to those who will inherit salvation.” You will be taken care of all the way home. Home, Andrew. No more pain. No more tears. No more being scared. A heavenly fan club is waiting for you.
When my mother passed from cancer in 2007, my sister who was a nonbelievers, said After watching my mother her last moments she knew there was a heaven and that our mom went there. She said mom opened her eyes as if she recognized someone she was glad to see. Then she closed her eyes and passed on to heaven. My sister said it was amazing to watch her face lose very trace of concern or worry, and pure peace replace it. I missed it. I had been up with my mom for 4 days and my sister and brother sent me to a friend’s home to rest while they watched mom. They tried to reach me, but were calling a wring number. God knew my brother and sister needed to be there without me. But I awoke we figured about the time of mom’s death, and felt an unusual peace and the knowledge my mother was in God’s hands. I did not know she had passed until about 20 minutes later when they finally found my cell number and called me.That was Sept 2007.
Her pain was gone, and though we still miss her, like David said about his child that perished. “He will not come to me, but I will go to him.” One day we shall all be together and that day will come.
One time an older Christian lady died in the hospital, and she had the most beautiful smile on her face. It stayed even after she passed. I knew something wondeful must have happened as she passed.
I pray you and Barb rest in the arms of the Good Shepherd, let Him hold you, and when you are so tired lay your heads against his chest and listen to His heart beat. It beats with love for you both. Peace be upon you and Barb.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Betsy, thank you so much for this. It’s truly comforting, and for someone who has only seen violent death, extremely important. And you are so right; there will be no more tears, and no more fears. Again, thank you. You’ve brough the balm of peace to my heart and to my soul.
Donevy L. Westphal
I loved Melissa. That was so funny…and so me. Not saving the planet, but if something can go haywire that’s my life story.
Jeanne Takenaka
Janet, this is such a great post! The questions you shared got my mind whirring. I’m thinking of ways that Instagram could be utilized, as well as Facebook Live (scary as it is!). I’ve seen people share a short story via Instagram. It was fun to watch how she costumed herself, got the setting and the lighting just right. She shared a little bit of the story in the comment that accompanied each picture. I’m sure it took some serious time, but it was creative and kept me coming back (don’t ask me who it was; it was a couple years ago, and I don’t remember!).
*Facebook Live is such a draw right now. Facebook promotes the videos of people who utilize it, and they get tons of views. How much of a draw could we create if we answer some of these questions you shared on a Facebook Live video??
*This post is definitely one I’m coming back to. 🙂
Jaxon M King
Thank you, Janet. What a great post. I have been struggling with marketing myself because I get the feeling that people will think something like, “This guy again? I get it, you want us to read your book.” I have an author I follow on Twitter that brings those thoughts to my mind, but it’s because he re-posts book ad after book ad and nothing more. Your list of examples will provide a focus to keep followers more engaged. I like it!
Brenda Koinis
One of my favorite Mt. Hermon speakers began each evening with, “I have a story to tell you.” She had me right away. I wonder how many stories are hidden away in my journals and in the journals of my fellow writers. Now to learn how to link those stories to the ones we hope to publish…
Janet Grant
Jaxon, if you’re offering only ads and not stories, readers WILL respond just as you do to the guy on Twitter. I know none of us wants to be THAT guy, and we don’t have to be. We have so many different ways to bring our books to readers attention that don’t shout “ad!”
Janet Grant
Brenda, I know who that speaker was: My favorite storyteller, Robin Jones Gunn. I’ve heard her stories over and over, but despite knowing the ending, each time she retells a story, I enter in deeply, get teary-eyed and laugh at all the key moments. If only we could figure out how to make our stories as captivating. I think we can.
Jerusha Agen
Great attitude-shifting perspective, Janet! I don’t enjoy marketing or self-promotion at all, but I do love, live, and breathe story. This idea of approaching marketing as telling stories is definitely more appealing! And stories are always so powerful. I’ll give this a try. Thank you! (And welcome back! Hope your trip was wonderful.)
Janet Grant
I’m glad the post was helpful to you, Jerusha.
My trip was amazing. So much beauty, I could hardly take it all in.
Elizabeth Bohan (Betsy, ej bohan)
Janet, thank you for all the great information on using story with marketing.
I’m a sanguine personality and love people and being involved in all kinds of adventures. I’m open to anything to encourage people to read my writing because I write for their growth and healing –fiction or nonfiction — it’s all about being part of transformation into what God calls us to. I do this in a variety of ways, spoken word using poems I’ve written, presentations, mentoring (which is confidential as far as content, but people come to me which has been part of the reason I need to write, create YouTube videos (in planning stage), speak publicly, go out and talk to people one on one. I use story to identify and connect with people of all types of backgrounds. I love it. But, I am receiving so many ideas and such, I have to focus and narrow things down so I can get things accomplished even as I’m learning the ropes of publication and marketing.
I learn so much from the Books and Such blog. Thank you all for posting.