At the National Speakers Association Winter Workshop in Orlando last year, Mark Levy presented a session on how to write the best book of your life. While there were many valuable nuggets from his program, the idea that really grabbed me was his idea of using the album and the singles concept.
Mark suggested that best-selling albums have best-selling singles within them. Promoters use the singles to sell the albums, and albums to hype the singles. Similarly, as authors we should look for the content that can serve as singles within the book (the album).
So what are your singles content, and how can you use these to engage your readers as they read the book, as well as entice potential readers as you promote the book?
Look for the pithy sound bites that can serve as pull quotes within your book, adding visual interest and drawing your readers to the important a-ha’s. These are typically bolded in your book, and perhaps even shown as both the narrative and as highlighted text. Books, magazines, and professional journals use this technique to guide the reader to pay attention to key ideas, or to draw the reader to where this point is being discussed within the narrative.
Pull quotes within your book or post add visual interest
and draw your readers to the important a-ha’s (just like this one!).
Once you’re highlighted these pull-quotes, work with your publisher/internal book designer to use a font and format that provides white space and opportunities for the reader to slow down and process information.
After I’ve written the book and highlighted these pull-quotes, I suggest that you create a document of your pull-quotes so that you can repurpose these in your social media. Creating memes for these pull-quotes will help you further socialize your content and generate buzz for your book.
Speakers and authors should be the same on the page as they are on the stage!
Also, as you write, consider the great lines that are memorable when you speak. For example, when being interviewed for a learning event, I made the point that authors who speak should be “the same on the page as they are on the stage.” Pow! Even though I had never said it before and had never written it, it totally worked and became a sticky sound bite. These are where you may find your sound bites.
What are you doing to use the album and the singles concept with your book? Share your ideas with me at Cathy@CathyFyock.com.