{"id":30872,"date":"2023-06-30T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/townhouse\/?p=30872"},"modified":"2023-06-30T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T13:00:00","slug":"this-email-is-disorganised-and-badly-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/this-email-is-disorganised-and-badly-planned\/","title":{"rendered":"This email is disorganised and badly planned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This email is, I guess, the third in a set of missives about marketing. (Here\u2019s the first one<\/a>, here\u2019s the second<\/a>.) If I were more thoughtful and more organised, today\u2019s email would probably have appeared first not third \u2013 and, arguably, it\u2019s the most important of the three so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those of you with time machines can zoom around reorganising space-time to rectify my shortcomings. The rest of you can simply consider this one deep truth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing costs are a tax payable on bad product design.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bad books won\u2019t sell profitably under any circumstances. Good books still need marketing, but the power of that marketing will be vastly greater, longer lasting, and more profitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obvious, right? And of course, to write a good book, you need a decent plot, you need great characters, you need all the yadda-yadda blah-blah that I talk about in these emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not enough to write a good book. You need to write a saleable<\/em> good book. (And, by the way, I know I often sound like a novelist talking only to novelists, but I do also write non-fiction and much of what I say \u2013 including every word of this email \u2013 applies to non-fiction too.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers are going to encounter your work in a bookshop \u2013 which may have upwards of 50,000 titles \u2013 or on Amazon, which has millions of titles. As readers, that diversity as great. As authors, we find that competition terrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s assume that your book is good. You\u2019ve ticked the boxes for plot and character and prose and all that. But why the hooting heck should anyone buy your<\/em> book? If you\u2019re writing spy fiction, why should anyone buy your books over John Le Carre\u2019s? If you\u2019re writing psych thrillers, why should anyone buy your work, not Gillian Flynn or Patricia Highsmith? In most markets, premium products sell at a premium price. In Booksland, the best books ever written sell at the same price as yours, in the same locations, and in unlimited quantities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why should anyone buy your book? Why, why, why, why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have a priest \/ doctor \/ field combo to consult, then here\u2019s a suggestion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers will engage with your book, if something about it piques their interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note, I\u2019m not saying \u201cbuy\u201d \u2013 I\u2019m saying \u201cengage with\u201d. I\u2019m thinking about a reader picking up a book from a bookstore table and turning it over in their hands and reading the blurb and sticking their thumb into the book to find a chunk of text to read. On Amazon, I\u2019m talking about a reader engaging with the \u2018look Inside\u2019 feature or scrolling down to read reader reviews. Obviously, not all of those readers will convert to buyers, but you\u2019re in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please also note, I\u2019m saying \u201cpiques interest\u201d. That\u2019s all. I\u2019m not saying \u201ca potential reader has considered every aspect of your book in detail, consulted newspaper reviews, Amazon reviews, inspected Goodreads, and compared a sample of your prose against Le Carre \/ Highsmith \/ Flynn \/ Nabokov.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t need all that. You just need to pique the reader\u2019s interest and secure some engagement. Achieve those things, and it\u2019s then down to the deeper, broader qualities of your book to achieve the sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what is it to pique interest \u2013 in any context, not just books?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s to give somebody a snippet of information which sparks interest in learning more<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, friends of ours recently went camping and invited us over for a Saturday supper. To pique my interest, they said, \u201cIt\u2019s a campsite with its own climbing wall.\u201d Eight words, that instantly engaged me \u2013 because I love climbing \u2013 and immediately made me want to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lawn mower robot means you never have to mow again.\u201d If you have a sizeable lawn, as I do, those words instantly make you want to enquire further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kids\u2019 summer fete: \u00a34 for 10 games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You instantly want to know what kind of games are on offer, when this thing is taking place, how certain is it that there will be thunderstorms, whether there will be a hog roast, how the hog in question feels about this, and much else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In not one of these cases does the snippet of information represent an even remotely complete picture of the thing described. A proper description of the fete needs to talk about barbecues and whack-the-rat and gym displays and archery and pony rides. A proper description of a lawn mower robot needs to explain about wire tangles and set-up hassles and how tiny sticks on the lawn will make the robot yap like a sad puppy until it runs out of battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A complete description doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s actually a negative at this very first introductory stage. Your description simply needs to deliver a snippet of information which sparks interest in learning more<\/em>. That\u2019s the whole deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why great elevator pitches can be \u2013 should be \u2013 ridiculously short:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campsite, with climbing wall.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robot lawn mower<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orphan goes to wizard school.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have any length to your pitch, you\u2019re saying too much. You haven\u2019t yet found the single point that nudges your potential reader into engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally, if your elevator pitch is artistic, you\u2019re missing the point. There\u2019s nothing remotely artistic about the pitches I\u2019ve just given you. They\u2019re just words shoved together. The point is to highlight the thing of interest fast and clearly. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often hear pitches like, \u201cA queen who came to conquer \u2013 but learned to yield.\u201d And, ye gods, that\u2019s all summer dress and no boots. Forget the dress. I want the boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose, instead, you\u2019d said, \u201cAn alternative history novel: Mary Queen of Scots invades England at the head of a 50,000 strong army.\u201d Wouldn\u2019t you instantly want to learn more? (Or rather, if that kind of history is vaguely your thing, wouldn\u2019t you want to learn more? You can\u2019t sell a comb to a bald man.) Being specific is good. Being clear is good. Being blunt is good. Being artistic and unclear is utterly useless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s another key point: the elevator pitch is for you<\/em>. It\u2019s so you know what you\u2019re selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowhere, ever, does JK Rowling\u2019s marketing material say, \u201cOrphan goes to wizard school.\u201d Nowhere, ever, does the marketing blurb for my Fiona Griffiths novels say, \u201cA detective who used to think she was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think an elevator pitch is for the reader, you\u2019re thinking about it backwards. It\u2019s for you<\/em>. You need to know your elevator pitch so you can check your product design is right. It\u2019s also so you can check that every single itty-bitty part of the universe surrounding your product \u2013 your book \u2013 harmonises with that basic offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week, I\u2019ll explain further what I mean. I\u2019ll take my own Fiona novels and show you how I try to make sure that my elevator pitch exists always and everywhere in the Fiona universe \u2013 from the text of the books to the design of the covers, and much more beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the deployment of the pitch is secondary to the thing itself. What\u2019s your pitch? What makes someone want to learn more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be long-winded. Don\u2019t describe the whole thing. Don\u2019t be artistic. Don\u2019t be clever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of your pitch as something you scribble on a Post-It note at the top of your screen. An eight-word memo to yourself. \u201cWhat\u2019s going to pique the reader\u2019s interest? This is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are fifty thousand competitors in a good-sized bookshop. Ten million or so competitors on Amazon. And none of that has to matter, because you\u2019ve got your pitch. Campsite + climbing wall. Robot + lawn. Orphan + wizard school. Something to arrest the roving eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Til soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This email is, I guess, the third in a set of missives about marketing. (Here\u2019s the first one, here\u2019s the second.) If I were more thoughtful and more organised, today\u2019s email would probably have appeared first not third \u2013 and, arguably, it\u2019s the most important of the three so far. Those of you with time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harrys-friday-email"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/this-email-is-disorganised-and-badly-planned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This email is disorganised and badly planned – Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This email is, I guess, the third in a set of missives about marketing. 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I've published trad & self-pub. Love both. Best known for my Fiona Griffiths crime series. Oh yes, and I'm the capo di tutti capi at Jericho Writers.","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/author\/harryjericho\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}