In today’s publishing world, it’s not enough to have a “good” idea – those just don’t sell. Your book idea has to be GREAT … so great that it breaks through the noise to entertain, teach, and even change lives.
Ideas need to stand out to be noticed. An idea that is so generic—or generic-sounding—will be “nice” but not “memorable.” And an idea that is not memorable is not all that useful, marketable, impact-making, or commercially viable. Below are 8 core ideas that can provide conceptual guardrails for all your creative work and book ideas:
The 8 Ingredients of “Good” Ideas That Sells
1. CLARITY – The “It” of your concept and editorial development (your “grape jelly”)
2. A PROMISE – WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me”), which is your book’s commitment to the reader
3. A HOOK – The angle or sizzle that grabs attention
4. URGENCY / ZEITGEIST – Why NOW?
5. CONTRIBUTION – Why THIS BOOK?
6. BRAND YOU – Why YOU?
7. STICKINESS – Memorable language, voice, and “idea sets”
8. READERS – An Audience
As you can see, it’s not enough to just have a great idea – you have to be able to position, shape, and sell your story, work, and message at every stage of the way by:
- Packaging your idea into a complete “IT” so that it connects with its audience (instead of sitting on the virtual or physical shelf).
- Testing, developing and refining your idea with your potential audience.
- Choosing the best publishing path based on your unique message, budget, stage, and overall goals.
- Finding compelling and juicy language to talk about your book in a way that attracts readers, fans, and followers, and buyers who will go on to share your book and ideas.
Ideas that work – whether they are stories, entertainment, how-tos, or big conceptual ideas – find their way to fruition with an interplay between the concept itself and the platforms, connections, and strategies that can bring that idea to fruition in the best possible way.
It’s not easy. We can spend our time honing an idea only to discover that our way of presenting the information is too complex, too simplistic, too unpolished, or too unstructured to connect with our ideal readers. We may have a great idea but no meaningful plan to let people know about it or no credibility or visibility with the markets and readers we want to reach.
Using the model of the 8 Ingredients, however, it is possible to make our work more robust and much more saleable and to develop our audiences and strategies along the way, rather than waking up to discover we have a “good” idea that’s not “good enough”.
The good news is you don’t have to do it alone! As the founders of Book Breakthrough NYC, we wanted to create an intimate, hands-on “master class” that will teach you how to make your good ideas great! And we know it’s possible because we’ve helped so many workshop participants, mentor clients, and authors do exactly that by leveraging the three frameworks we teach: Ideas + Relationships + Strategies.
At Book Breakthrough NYC, happening live in Manhattan, the center of publishing today, you’ll learn the latest strategies on what’s working right now when it comes to developing, publishing, launching and promoting your message. This is your opportunity to truly become the CEO of your book!
We’d love you to join us (and our amazing attendees and guest experts) at Book Breakthrough NYC. There are still seats available and there’s time to register to take advantage of the two-payment option. But hurry, the two-payment option ends this Friday, July 15th:
http://www.BookBreakthrough.com <= Click here to register today.
