Attract More Buyers to Your Book: Use Metaphors

Surprise your potential buyers. Give them chocolate frosting!

After we entered school we had a lot to learn. We left the sand box, the nap, and the all day playing with our imagination. No wonder we have lost touch with our original, playful, creativity. Now in the information age we expect to read short, concise pieces. Yet, we can, if we play a little, add more of our original ideas to our books if we use metaphor.

Metaphor means wedding a word to an image, sound or feeling. Metaphor is a fusing of dissimilar entities into one new image. Metaphor asserts a likeness between two unlike things. Images are word pictures that give language power and richness by involving our senses in the experience. When you wed an image or feeling to something totally unexpected, you produce a new pattern--a metaphor that creates a powerful picture and reader enjoyment.

The purpose of metaphor is to intensify your awareness of the images around you. Clichés are worn out metaphors. Avoid platitudes because your reader will be bored with them and not read on. Write naturally and avoid pompous words like "utilize."

Metaphors create tension and excitement by producing new connections. Hence, they reveal a truth about the world we previously didn't recognize. The power of metaphor is to surprise us.... Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, says, "Metaphor builds a bridge between the hemispheres, symbolically carrying knowledge from the mute right brain so it can be recognized by the left as being like something already known."

When your potential customers glance (about 12-15 seconds) at your front cover and back cover, and see originality there through metaphor, they will gain insight that sheds new light on a familiar concept, idea, event or feeling. Your metaphors hook and seduce them. Now, they will hand you their check or credit card feeling good about themselves for the decision.

To Enhance your Writing Practice This Fieldwork:

1. Start a Metaphor List. Keep it filed where you can find it easily and add to it. Every time you hear a good one, write it down. Use other people's metaphors as a springboard for you own.

2. Play with these exercises:

Practice: Writing is...as painful as a tooth being pulled... riding a roller coaster... a self-revelation. Now try your book's title or part of your "tell and sell" (unique selling proposition which includes benefits), and back cover copy. Self-care is...a bubble bath in the middle of a workday... breathing in the mountain air... lighting a candle near my workstation.

3. Complete these metaphor starters: Remember to use concrete words--of image, sound and feeling. Forgo all clichés.

I'm as silly as
I'm as frazzled as
I'm as happy as (no clams, please)
I'm as frayed as
I'm as dizzy as
I'm as low as
I'm as powerful as a
I'm as sleepy as
I'm as tired as
I'm as cold/hot as
I'm as energetic as
I'm as spiritual as
I'm as comfortable as
I'm as loose as

Expand the list using the subjects of your book. Think and picture your audience as you create more powerful writing.

4. Re-define all general benefits in your introduction, "tell and sell," or sales letter. Instead of saying, "Read my book and live life well," make your benefit more specific such as "Read my book and your life will look like...." Or, "Read my book and your life will feel like...."

5. Finish These Statements to Warm Up:

-Stress is...
-Authentic is...
-Health is...
-Spiritual is...
-Marketing is...
-Promotion is...
-Profits are...
-More life is...
-Better Communication is...
-More money is...

Let your potential buyer know how they will see or feel themselves after they read and use your book's ideas and suggestions. When they can see or feel it for themselves, they are more comfortable buying. They need to see the results (benefits) and feel themselves better for using your product.

6. Just for fun:

"I was as dizzy as a dervish, as weak as a worn-out washer, as low as a badger's belly, as timid as a titmouse, and as unlikely to succeed as a ballet dancer with a wooden leg."

Each of you has the powerful potential for making connections and seeing relationships in your own unique way. Metaphor making is a highly personal and richly creative experience. Play with metaphors and use them in all of your writing--even your sales materials.

Judy Cullins © 2004 All Rights Reserved

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The BookCoach Says...," "Business Tip of the Month," blog Q & A at http://www.bookcoaching.com and over 185 free articles.

===============
Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com or Cullinsbks@aol.com Phone: 619/466-0622 -- Orders: 866/200-9743

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Make your Book Stand Out From the Crowd: Know your Audience

Most authors say, "Everyone will want my book, and when... Read More

How To Promote A Book

Nowadays it's no longer a matter of whether or not... Read More

Publicity Through Philanthropy For Writers

I am twenty three years old, have sold over four... Read More

How to Market Your Unsold Books on the Internet: Its Easy

Your book expresses your wondrous information, your creativity, and your... Read More

19 Ways to Secure Non-Returnable Book Sales and Sell More Books

Surprisingly, book stores are not always your greatest source of... Read More

Your Book Marketing Plan - Winning Strategies and Tips

Many authors hit a roadblock when it comes to putting... Read More

FSBO Author believes in Bookswaps

Hi Noel,I absolutely love your website, As an MS sufferer... Read More

Top Six Lies About Book Marketing: (And the Truths to Set Your Book Free!)

If you're like me, you have a book and the... Read More

Sell More Books With an E-mail Newsletter

NOTE: Because many words in this article are likely to... Read More

How to Create an Amazing Author Website

Without a website, an author is unknown. Without a website,... Read More

Top 10 Ways to Know your Book Concept will Sell--Before you Invest Time and Money

Make your book stand out from the crowd! Test your... Read More

Five Secrets of Winning Book Proposals

Working in the publishing industry comes with a high expectation,... Read More

Five Tips To Consider When Choosing A Publisher

Choosing a publisher probably seems like a complicated task, however,... Read More

How to Make Money With Your Short Stories, Poems, Essays, and Novels

Recently, someone rated my "Online Book Marketing" article a 2... Read More

The Perfect Book and Where to Find It!

If I was asked to describe the perfect book, one... Read More

Dont Sell your Book, Share It

Most authors who aren't used to speaking before a group... Read More

Comments From A Book Reviewer

For the past several years I have been reviewing books... Read More

Dont Clone your Book or Business Marketing

Remember that the miracle of cloning sheep has its drawbacks.... Read More

Publishing Your Book?What Way is Best For You? - Part 1

Your print or ebook is nearly finished. You wonder if... Read More

How to Self Publish and Promote Your Own Book

If you are reading this article then you have already... Read More

Sell Your Book with Pennies

Imagine you share a huge penny... Read More

Book Marketing 101- Book Publicity for Authors -- Creating a Book Publicity Campaign

Publicity is that elusive thing that can make or break... Read More

Why Writers Dont Do a Book Signing

Whenever someone suggests you do a book signing and you... Read More

Book Promotion Myth -- The Best Place to Sell Books is a Bookstore

When authors think of their audience buying books they think... Read More

Colour and Book Covers - What You Should Know if Youre Self-Publishing

Color is tricky at the best of times. If you... Read More

4 Questions to Answer Before Contacting a Book Agent

Obtaining agency representation is your first step toward getting profitably... Read More

Distribute Your Self-Published Book - Part 1

Where is your book now? With a distributor? In a... Read More

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Imagine your book at the top of the Best Sellers... Read More

Super Profitable Techniques for Selling Books By Mail

The total number of books sold by small, part-time mail... Read More

Buzz-Based Book Marketing

Once upon a time, people went to bookstores when they... Read More

Book Marketing 101

Francine Silverman. Book Marketing from A-Z (InfinityPublishing.com, 2005). Trade paperback.... Read More

Plain Speaking ? 4 Secrets For Getting Your Book Purchased

What can be more infuriating to a potential purchaser of... Read More

7 Vital Book Promotion Tips

As a literary publicist I often am asked about publicity... Read More