Cover Lover

"Foreign."

Stuart: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the book More Show. It's Stuart here with Dean and today we're going to go through some of the titles and covers that we particularly like from the books that we've done so far. So we get quite a lot of feedback. And Susan, I know certainly when she's dealing with people on boarding, talks about titles and subheadings quite a lot to really communicate that message. So I thought this would be a good, fun play along at home show to talk about some of the ones we, we like, why we like them. And I probably should start with an apologize.

Guest: It's not very exciting.

Stuart: It is and I'll tell you why it's been interesting. So looking down the list, when we were just getting ready to do the. To do the show, looking down the list, it's difficult to pick because there's so many. The designers of Glenn and Sarah over here have done such a fantastic job. Um, yeah, I probably should apologise Susan when she listens to this because we've been talking about doing this show for a while and I've kind of jumped ahead and pushed her off. So Susan will do another one.

Guest: Well, forget about that. You should be apologizing to me for doing all these episodes and this is my first episode.

Stuart: That is a very good point. You are, you're in demand.

Guest: There we go. Yeah, exactly.

Stuart: We were warning warming people up for the good stuff.

Guest: It's all very exciting. There we go.

Stuart: Okay, so for those playing along, you

Guest: want to start and pick up?

Stuart: Yeah, I think so. For those playing along at home, if you go to 90minutebooks.com gallery and then you can see the particular titles that we're looking at. So when you're thinking about a cover and a title for your own book, then that will give you something to go against. So the first one I picked out, I think, because it was a visual one, was the Focus Edge by Phil Randanzo. To me, every time I look at the gallery, this one stands out. It's very eye catching. I was saying to someone last week that when thinking about covers and designs, it's kind of the covers spark the reaction, the kind of emotional reaction catches the eye and then the title in the subheading compels an action. So you kind of got that reaction, action, synergy thing coming together in this one really, because it's got the. There's a lot of dynamic movement in the, in the COVID So it really catches the eye. And then the title and subheading. So the title is The Focus Edge and the subtitle is How Entrepreneurs Get Shit Done. So it really is quite to the point. There's not really much messing around. It's. Phil's done a couple of books known quite well and it's definitely that his emotion of getting stuff done really comes through in that cover. So it's always interesting that kind of blend between being overly designed and just the writer might be designed to catch attention.

Guest: Yeah, well, you know, I think part of the thing about the covers is that it's really got to be about the title. You know, that's really the first thing because that's what's going to tell the story about what the book is about, you know. And I mean the Focus Edge definitely has gives you a sense of what this is, especially when you say the, the subtitle and you know, the, the thing that the only thing that people have to kind of make their decision based on is the COVID and the title of your book. You know, I mean, it's so how. It's the only thing. And that's why I put so much emphasis on really thinking through what the title is and what the benefit of actually reading the book. See, I've always said that the reason that the 90 minute book is such a great tool is that it gives you 80% of the value of the book is the fact that you have a book and the title and the COVID You know, when you look at those things, that's what people are going to make that book decision based on. And I, you know, I mean, I'm looking through the gallery here and I mean we have two really great designers who I would put these books up against any books that you see anywhere. These are just outstanding, you know, when you see them. This isn't even all of them for sure, but the, the ways that when you look at this, you could see these are really great professional looking books. And so there's something about the psychology of that when people are making a decision or presented with the opportunity to get a book, you know, they look at the title and if you can convey to people that there's a book benefit to it, that it's going to be valuable to them, that upon seeing it, people who you want to be in a conversation with immediately say, I want that. And the Focus Edge does that. It's really, you know, it's kind of focus is one of those great emotionally loaded words.

Stuart: It's the promise of an answer to a question, I think, isn't it? With no kind of ambiguity. It clearly Says it does what it says on the tin.

Guest: Yeah. And that's why. So my. If I'm looking through here, the first one that jumps out at me is Lisa Sasevich, boost your sales. How to use irresistible offers without being salesy. I mean, that just says everything that you want it to say. You know, you see that there's an immediate benefit for reading this book and you're going to say, you know what? If that's something that I'm interested in, then this is going to be a good tool for me. And you know, part of the benefit of putting all that emphasis into the title and the COVID is that nobody knows whether this book is 50 pages or 250 pages. It does not matter. That's why the 90 minute book works so well, because it doesn't make the boat go faster. And when I say that it's a term that I use all the time is like is if we're looking at the purpose of the book is to get you engaged in a conversation with the ideal person that you can help. You know, the book is just a gateway into a relationship. So if the people that you want to be in a relationship with are, if you can tap into a title and a cover that speaks to them in a way that says, oh, that's for me, I want that. It's not making the boat go faster, meaning it's not improving the response to the book. It's if it's 250 pages versus 50 pages, it doesn't matter. Because nobody knows. They don't know that. All they see is it's a book which is immediately embedded in our consciousness that this is valuable and this person that wrote this book is an expert. And I want the benefit that this title is offering. That's all that matters there. So the fact that it's, you know, 50 pages or 250 pages doesn't matter.

Stuart: I think we were having a conversation last week with Betsy. I think it was about the effectiveness of a bigger book versus a smaller book. And that for a lot of people the downside of even trying to do a bigger book is that there's so much resistance. It's such a big job, it's such a difficult job. And then you run into the risk of trying to be all things to all people rather than specifically answering one question, as you say, starting the conversation.

Guest: Right. And you can, but you know, do that. If you've got more to say about something, then package it differently. As you know, use this as a lead in. And then Save all that other good stuff that you have and put together a modular training course that you can sell for $500 or $1000 or $1500. I mean it's so, I mean I'm a user of this exact system. You know, I mean we have. Our Email Mastery book is a, essentially a 90 minute book. Transcripts from the I Love Marketing podcast where Joe and I did a few episodes about email, but run, you know, full page ads in Success magazine, run Facebook campaigns, people download the book for free and then offer them a $1500 blast or course on, on email Mastery. And that has been far more useful for people and profitable than putting all of that information in a big 250 page or 300 page book.

Stuart: Exactly. So even from the receiver, the consumer's point of view, the likelihood of reading that 250 page book. I was again gave the example just a couple of weeks ago. I've bought endless numbers of books and since the invention of Kindle, it's even worse because there's not the guilt of having it sat visibly on a shelf, but the amount of books I've bought with the absolute 100% intention of reading every page. But they're not because life happens. So delivering something afterwards.

Guest: Well, I just saw really great stats about how the readership of books now that everything's going to Kindle, they showed the thing that some crazy number, like I want to say, and I reserve the right to be wrong, but the essence of this is that 20 or 30% it was, it was definitely less than 50% of people ever read past the first 100 pages of a book. And that's measured data from all the Kindle and ebook users. They can see how far you get into a book. And those are best sellers. Books that aren't bestsellers fare even worse.

Stuart: And again, like I say, it comes back to the job of work. Well, the next one I had on list kind of reinforces that don't get carried away with the design and just offer a, offer a title that sells the solution. So that's Tyler's book, Tyler Osby's book, the Rent Free Solution. So this one keeps coming back because it's such a perfect incarnation of this approach. So the title is the Rent Free Solution. The subheading is how to Stop Renting, Buy a Home in Des Moines and Live in it for Free. Now every single word on that page has conveys the meaning to this single target market that Tyler is looking to engage. It's a relatively blank, it's a White background with just a key fob and a key up in the top corner. So I think he's using every single bit of real estate there to get the point across and identify the exact people that he can help. It's a really great example of. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It's targeted to a single target market. He's got a very clear understanding of who he's trying to target and then can quickly and easily get this book out, start collecting leads. And if he's got a second market six months down the track, then there could be another book that looks at maybe a different area instead of Des Moines or a different solution.

Guest: And that, you know, that works perfectly with postcards, with Facebook campaigns, all within looking for the specific target market. And of course, Tyler is able to help people get a loan. You know, that that's what his core business is and that's what his. That's what his intention is, is he wants to be in a conversation with people who are renting right now because they think that it would cost more money to. To buy a house when he's got a way to actually show them how to live for less money than they're paying in rent right now and in some cases live for free. Yeah. And own the house. So that's a. That's a really great example of a specific, you know, solution oriented kind of

Stuart: COVID And I think this is the difference I like. Yeah, I mean, it really hits the mark. And I think this single target market approach, as opposed to a broader a book, really appeal to the group of people that you can best work with. Being able to do this quickly and easily and have something that's very targeted, like this perfect example.

Guest: I like it.

Stuart: How about a number two? Do you have a number? Well, a second one perhaps, rather than number two.

Guest: I do. I'd say. I would say a. Yeah, yeah. I like the title. Return on safety. Ensuring a positive return on your investment in workplace safety. And that, you know, originally I think we were. I talk about this one. I actually, now that I look at it, I think I give it a better subhead than turning workplace. I had a subhead for that one was turning workplace safety into a competitive advantage and bottom line profits. And that, you know, taking something that. And this was one of the earlier books that we did and Doug has really, you know, had a great experience with this because it elevates something that is decidedly unsexy workplace safety, which is nothing more in the mind, you know, commoditized than posters and you know, when you think about that, the kind of thing is people think about it from, we've got to do our compliance there. But Doug's very passionate about it and he's very skilled at it and knows how to do things in the way that you approach it. That actually does create a competitive advantage and creates bottom line profits, even through less downtime from accidents, a better morale, better, you know, easy to recruit and retain workers. There's so many upsides to having to focusing on. On workplace safety, but speaking the language of return on safety and we've. I've seen, there's several books that we've done in that. In that vein, because I've talked about that a lot of. Yeah, return on hygiene and return on anything that you can show something that people wouldn't otherwise think about monetarily. If you can turn it into a, you know, a bottom line sort of approach where people can get a return on that, that's a, That's a win. And it elevates what you're doing in their, in their mind.

Stuart: Particularly as you say, for something that's happening anyway, for things that are mandatory, there's no way around it. Creating a competitive advantage by doing it in a more effective way is something

Guest: that you might as well embrace it. Right?

Stuart: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. There's no way around it. It's not something you can avoid. Yeah. It's interesting that one comes up as an example quite often being one of the earlier ones that we did. It's interesting to see how many people have then been inspired by that. I think the third one that I picked out then, in a similar vein, conveying a very clear message to a particular group, is Jim Hacking's staying here. So Jim's an immigration attorney. The particular group of people that he was working with is international students that are coming to the end of their study. So it's not so much people coming into the country, but it's people already here. And that staying here. As we were talking before, I wrote down the words emotional language as we were talking about the. The focused edge. But staying here, I think ticks that box as well. I mean, if you could. I don't think you could pick a better title that absolutely embodied what those guys are thinking of at that time,

Guest: what their desire is.

Stuart: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think that having that passion behind it, or passion's been block. Right. Words. But having the emotional connection, not so much from the point of view of you as the writer, but. But really putting yourself in the position of the reader. And what is it that they're looking at? We have quite a few people come to it from the point of view of technical language of the business or perhaps they're focused a little bit too much on the outcome that they want to achieve themselves rather than putting them in the position of the reader. So I think for people to take a moment and kind of really think about that customer avatar. Really think. Like you said in the past, imagine that that person's just walked into the office. What. What would you say to them? What's the type of language that they.

Guest: I'm looking at now. 1. This is the first time I'm laying eyes on this is having seen it. The live to 126. How to live a Very Long and healthy life by Dr. Jim Morris. Now that is a very, very interesting title. Very specific and very like, you know, that's. That's pretty cool. You'd at least. If that's something it's longevity is. Is on your radar. That's something that would be very, very interesting. You know.

Stuart: Do you think 126 gives it more credibility than 125? It seems like a more considered number. There seems to be math behind 125 as opposed to round number.

Guest: You know, you have to wonder. Yeah, yeah, Exactly. And why 126? It's like such a. Yeah. Very specific number. It's great. It's like one better than the highest number that people probably say. Like this one goes to 11. This is a beautiful cover. Was this Glenn or Sarah that did this one?

Stuart: I'm not sure if you talk for a little bit longer, I'll just have a quick look in the system. But as you look down the list, the. Or the. The whole gallery, like you were saying, the variety of the covers and the. I mean just the.

Guest: Yeah.

Stuart: Undoubted professionalism of them. I mean it's interesting. I see them every day, obviously passing three. But it's not until you take a moment and look at them collectively that you realize how. Yeah, just what a.

Guest: We've done a lot of cool stuff.

Stuart: Yeah. Yeah. Let me have a quick look whilst. I'll be quiet for a minute while you're talking and take a quick look.

Guest: Okay. So I think that the big lesson here is, you know, the COVID We're going to make the COVID look great. We're really. I mean there's. We haven't had a dud of a cover in the whole bunch. I mean in hundreds of books and so the COVID is going to look great. What's more important is to really is what does it say? You know, and I think that that's the, that's the magic is to convey a title that really speaks to your ideal audience. And it's really just about beginning with the end in mind. You know, if you're, if you're beginning that the whole thing is we want to get in conversation with people who we can help. So we backtrack and start to think about well, what would they really want? Like where are they now? And what would be something that would help start that conversation, you know, even if it's different than what they think right now, I mean, even if they don't know what they don't know. So you have to meet them where they are. And by that I mean, you know, something that is going to just start the conversation is different maybe than the destination that you're gonna, they're gonna end up with. You know, I think immediately of hip hypnotize your husband. And you know I have real. I'm very. That's one of the very first ones we did. I actually created this with. I named Yevgeny was his real name, but I named him Yuri Zoloff. And Hypnotize your husband is just such a curiosity inducing book that you know, when you're speaking to somebody who is going to be attracted to that, that's a gateway into all the other things that hypnosis can do, you know, because they might not be sort of attracted to a book called about what hypnosis can do for them. All the other things including smoking and weight loss and all the. All of those things. But now that you're starting the conversation about hypnosis, you get to use the conversation about the husband to demonstrate how hypnosis works and start a conversation that leads to them doing other other types of hypnosis on with themselves.

Stuart: I think that's a fascinating point, isn't it? To remind people that it is the gateway. It's the start of the conversation. It's not convincing people of an answer or getting people to think about your mindset. It's just the start of the conversation towards attracting the people who self select themselves as interesting and they're aligned.

Guest: That's exactly it. I just had tea with Julie Matthews who is a hypnosis practitioner and a hypnotist and this cover is not on here yet, but we've got in the works a book called Willpower schmill Power. Right. Why trying to lose weight almost never works. And what to do instead so it doesn't even bring hypnosis into the conversation. In the beginning, it talks about willpower, how ineffective willpower is in trying to lose weight. So we start off with a sentiment that everybody can relate to. Willpower, you know, that's just such a nice transition, you know. And to explain why willpower doesn't work, why it fails. Exactly. You can relate to exactly what happens and then get, you know, bridge that to why that's happening is because your deeper subconscious is what's really in control.

Stuart: Yeah.

Guest: And then you start that conversation and lead people to, at the end of the book, an opportunity to call and listen to a recorded message that will tell you whether you can be hypnotized. And so always leading to the next step. You know, that's really the title and the COVID is really just the first step in the conversation that turns the invisible prospect into a visible prospect.

Stuart: Yeah, I think that's key, isn't it? It's almost a superpower. I think people are quite, quite familiar with that type of approach in a direct marketing campaign or a postcard campaign or an AdWords campaign. But I think letting people know that it's now possible with a slightly different tool, a slightly different asset, it really opens up a whole other category of people to appeal to and then also carries through of it some of the authority of being a published author. But that's secondary to the direct response approach of here's a single target market. Meet them in the conversation that they're having. I just looked back at live to 126 and it was a Glen Linton special, so.

Guest: Ah, good. I figured that's good.

Stuart: Yeah, it is good. We should have. I'm going to reach out to Jim as well and see if we can do a show in the future. We just had Glenn McQueenie on last week talking about the doors that his books opened. Jim's used quite a lot of physical books in his campaigns. He's ordered quite a lot. So I think if we can get him on the show and look at the success he's had, fantastic. Okay, well, let's wrap up there. I think that was a good run through. Again, anyone that wants to play along at home, if you just go to 90minutebooks.com gallery and you can see all of the covers that we've been talking about today and a lot of the other ones that we've done. It's a great resource for people trying to get inspiration on both titles and design. Any final words from. From over there?

Guest: Yeah, I think that there's you know I mean you're going to when you look at the gallery you're going to see all the covers are awesome they're all it's going to be great the COVID is going to be great but I think that you know picking a cover you could have a cover as simple as the one that Tyler Osby has the COVID is I would say to people you know don't sweat it as much as you might you know like the little things like this this shade of blue versus this shade or this you know the little things I just look at the the big thing and say is it going to make the boat go faster? You know that Spend your time sweating over the title and let's get the COVID let's get the good looking cover and get it out into the world

Stuart: that's really it fantastic okay well thanks guys let's wrap up there and we'll catch you on the next show thank you.

Guest: Thanks. Sam.