It is vital you play hard to get when writing your book…
Things to avoid when writing your business book—Part Six
Behind the scenes of most businesses, there is no time or patience for stories. Most people want you to get to the point and to do it yesterday! So, we find ourselves constantly running full pelt to the finish line as quickly and concisely as possible.
When writing a book, however, getting to the point is not the point of writing the book.
As an author, you are seeking to engage your audience; to lure them into your world and once they are there, to tease them, play with them and generally have your way with them!
Ahem…
This is achieved through story—the more you master your art as a storyteller, the greater your storyselling.
For, once the audience is in your world, you can lead them from moment to moment, product to product.
They will not mind being sold to, because they enjoy the experience of the story… and you will not have to force them to buy, because storyselling is subtle and offered with an open hand (rather than a closed fist held to your client’s throat).
The challenge is, before you can master the craft of storyselling, you will need to transition from… getting to the point, to meandering to the point.
Most business authors charge out of the starting gate and head, in a dead straight line, to the finish. They have no time to offer their reader except when stating facts, figures and the occasional anecdote for illustrative purposes.
That approach has worked well for many years, but now it is failing more and more.
Why? Because the audience is so saturated in sales and marketing, they have become exceptionally adept at filtering it out of their awareness.
It takes microseconds for the savvy, modern brain to make a decision. If you are attempting to get to the point in that time, you will lose them, whether or not you are going at light speed with those facts and figures or not.
In less than a second, you have time to do one thing and one thing only…
Raise their heart rate.
If you achieve this, you will have them for them for a minute more, maybe several minutes. Then you can begin to tell your story, engage them and compel them to keep going on this journey. All the while you are walking beside them, sharing your story and meandering past different events.
The building of these events through narration, creating tension and the release of tension are not to the point—the purpose is not to get to the point, but to enthral your audience; leading them from one dramatic event to the next.
Everything in your story needs to be designed to keep the audience wanting more. And if you craft your narrative with powerful storyselling techniques, there will come a point in your book where the reader will relax into the story and begin to trust you.
Their trust is the most important aspect of the author/reader relationship. For when they trust you, you can offer them value in the purchases they make and the relationship you develop together. You can turn basic information into profound transformation.