Is it Urgent Enough? What Marketing Can and Cannot Do
Series: #4 of 10 Useful Marketing Tips for Publishing Your Ministry Book, On Need
I’ve decided that the Apple Watch is a design fail. It’s more form than function. Consider:
The battery lasts one day, max.
It’s not easy to charge; it easily falls off the magnetic base.
Therefore it’s frequently dead.
Therefore I can’t rely on it for health metrics.
I don’t use the apps anyway.
Obviously some people enjoy it, but I won’t buy another.
As I was staring at my Apple Watch the other day, thinking these deep thoughts, I remembered a phrase from my 20s, when I led emerging technology at a large church. I first heard the phrase from the broadcast video industry, from a large expo I had attended. Here it is:
“Solutions without Problems”
Much of “new tech” on the market lacked sufficiently urgent problems.
Function always outclasses form. For something to work (and to sell), foremost, the customer must need what the product offers. And the need must be urgent. This leads to today’s bottom line:
Today’s bottom line: is your work urgent enough?
I wrote another book outline this past week. This one is about the various stages of following Jesus, based on the story of Peter. I am trying to help young people understand their own faith development with grace and encouragement (not judgment). I’ve spent about 4000 words on it, but I am still unsure. Is it urgent enough?
This is my new editorial question.
For non-fiction, it may be the most important question. My best sellers as both an author and now a publisher have without fail solved urgent problems.
The crazy thing is that the outline I did was my sixth since I finished my most recent book, Telos. The more I write these weekly columns to you, my friends, the higher I set the bar for myself—and for our acquisitions at Invite Press. I am done writing and publishing for the fun of it. I want books that provide solutions. But they can’t be solutions without problems. They need to address gaps, with urgency.
A couple of months ago, I told you about a survey conducted at my former employer, The United Methodist Publishing House. It revealed that the average pastor buys 11 books a year and reads 2. I used to joke that pastors are busy and do a lot of aspirational buying. But if you believe like I do that the phrase “not enough time” is bogus, and people actually make time for the things they really want in life, then the survey actually reveals something else: those other nine books a year lack sufficient urgency.
Takeaway: Now you might say, well the Apple Watch is successful, so this isn’t true. Yet, I am not sure this is apples to apples. Apple is a trillion dollar brand. They could release an Apple Throne toilet seat and fans would buy it. What you and I need to do is create a product that solves a real problem. If you do this well, your book will market itself.
CHAMPIONING INVITE
To understand what works, there’s usually no better place to look than to what has worked best so far.
So far at Invite Press, that is Dynamite Prayer by Rosario Picardo and Sue Nilson Kibbey.
There are many reasons for its success. While we need to be careful about creating a formula, because variables are dynamic and no single formula or template ever works in publishing, we can acknowledge that some of the benefits of Dynamite Prayer are that it is short; tactical, with its 30 day focus; has a simple and strong title; and has a colorful cover. The authors also did a great job of working their networks.
Another one of our authors, Robert Johnson, has his second Invite Press title, Kingdom Moments and Movements, coming in January. He recently asked Rosario Picardo how Roz and Sue got their book of the ground.
We turned that question into a webinar for everyone. Join Sue and Roz on December 7 at 3pm Central for a webinar on what they did to make Dynamite Prayer a success. Click here to register for free.
Final thought: Perhaps you have noticed that this series on tips hasn’t covered many tips yet. While every best practice matters, and we will begin looking at best practices next week, the seeds of any project’s success began with deployment. As my father, a Major in the US Army that served on General Westmoreland’s staff in Vietnam, once told me: mistakes in deployment cannot be overcome. Conversely, a good plan well deployed set the stage for success.
Dynamite Prayer started following a two-day retreat with the authors and their fellow faculty and administration at United Theological Seminary, in which they needed a tool to help teach their team how to more effectively listen to the Holy Spirit. Look around you in your daily work. What needs do you see? Use this as the basis for your writing.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
This 10 part how-to series is about marketing books specifically tailored to faith-based audiences. It is designed for authors working for or involved in ministries and publishing, though the insights may apply to several other applications and industries. Next week we will take a look at the six booster rockets that make up a good marketing plan.
A Better Definition of Marketing. The 2 Negative and 1 Positive Ways We Think About Marketing in Ministry
Why Marketing is Necessary. Marketing Apologetics
What We Mean By “Audience.” Thunder and Lightning: Name the person you’re trying to help
What We Mean by “Need.” Is it Urgent Enough? What Marketing Can and Cannot Do
The Six Booster Stages of Your Book’s Launch.
Publicity: How to Maximize Your Earned Media
Advertising: How to Leverage the Benefits of Paid Media
Social: The Power and Problems of Social Media
Direct: Rented Versus Owned Media, Part 1
Platform: Maximizing Your Owned Media, Part 2