As a writer, author of a book, you probably think you know your job:
polishing your sentences, your style, giving life to characters, and telling a
good and strong story.
But when it comes to sell your book, these skills don’t apply anymore:
moreover, they can even make you sound pompous or, at least, not very
businesslike…
Why?
Because you enter another world, a new territory… Selling got nothing to
do with book writing techniques.
And copywriting asks for a different point of view.
First of all, you have to change your mind. Stop looking at your work as
a piece of art. Of course it can be one, but a professional copywriter sees it
as a product.
Yes, a product.
You write a book, you publish a book, but you sell a product. So, what
really means copywriting, and how to learn it?
--) copywriting focuses on communication and customers psychology. How
people react, feel, dream, hope…
By using copywriting, you will discover why people buy books. If your
name doesn’t mean anything to anybody, chances are that people will be
interested only by your subject: they look for what lies inside. And it can be
a lot of different things. So ask people first (on blogs, forums, polls…), and
cleverly use their answers… Don’t take anything for granted, listen to your
customers, and change your mind when needed.
--) copywriting is a method. Don’t reinvent the wheel! So many famous
copywriters wrote books and articles, and shared years of tests and
experiences: buy them, get them, read them, feed yourself with their best tips
and tricks.
For example, writing a good sales letter asks for special techniques and
skills, with a strong emphasis on structure. Don’t use it, and your sales
letter will fail every time! So learn this writing strategy from masters.
As a
blogger said once « Your headline is the first, and perhaps only,
impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a headline or post title
that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even
exist. » So it’s something else you need to practice, because it’s
crucial to your online success.
And,
by the way, professional copywriters spend 80% of their working time on
headline writing: they probably have a good reason to do it that way!
Listen
to all these great guys (Joe Vitale, Christian Godefroy, Jim Carlton, Ben
Hart…), they do know what online selling means.
--)
copywriting takes discipline: you need time to master this craft. Emails, sales
letters, ads… without this arsenal, all your efforts will miserably fail.
So,
patiently, daily, do your homework: copy the masters, take them as models,
never steal, always copy and modify. Try to figure out why it’s working for
them.
Every
morning, sit down at your desk and deliver the best message you can to your readers/customers.
So, to
reach success in your self-publishing odyssey, be a good writer, but be a
first-rate, top-notch copywriter too!
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