Your ToC Roadmap

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Stuart: Welcome to another episode of the bookmore Show. It's Stuart Bell here and today I'm talking with Betsy Vaughan. We're going to dive into something that we haven't spoken about on the show for a little while worth revisiting and that's the layout of your book. The not so much the formatting, but the content portion, how you can move people from the the title and the promise of a solution through to the best next steps they can take in the call to action at the back and really look at the benefits of spending some time thinking about that table of contents view and how it's really the roadmap to move people forward. So great episode. Got into a couple of interesting points. I think you're going to get some value out of this whether or not you're working with us directly or you're trying to get this created by yourselves. So a great show. We wrap up at the end talking about some changes to the 90 minute book products as well that are coming up soon. Soon. So as you're listening to this around about the release date, it's going to release on August 24th. So a couple of details about some changes coming up just after Labor Day. Okay. So excited to share this. Let's get to it.

Guest: Betsy Vaughan, Stuart Bell.

Guest: How's it going?

Guest: Good, thanks. How is sunny Florida today?

Guest: It's hot. Yeah. I just don't I bought four new sweaters at the store that has having a big sale and I have them sitting on my dresser in my closet. Closet. And every day I want to put them on and I know I should put them away because they're not going to be able to be worn until like November.

Guest: There's like a good few months.

Guest: Yeah, I mean months. We're not talking weeks or we're talking months. So I should put those away.

Guest: We've got a conflict of interest up here. So I'm back in Philly this week. So Lucy loves the summer, hates the fall and winter, really detest being cold, whereas I'm slightly more on the other way around because they're house has got like window air units, not central air. So it's pretty warm up here. So I spend the summer walking around with no shirt on, looking forward to the days when it's kind of reasonable temperature or looking for the time we're getting back to Florida where there's central air everywhere and the only time you're out of it is between the door and the front, the car and the front door.

Guest: We take that for granted.

Guest: I know, Right. Yeah, I was listening to. So this week is, or last week rather was the week of podcon down in Orlando. So Dean and I swung by there to catch up with a couple of the guys when we were talking about the dial talk done stuff and moving that project forward. But in the subsequent week. Now, of course, all of the podcasts that are coming out that I listen to this week are all talking about being podcon. And a few of the people were saying, I went down to Florida, man, it's hot as anything down there. But you know what? It is absolutely freezing cold because everywhere in Florida is air conditioned down to like 62 degrees. So it's spend most of the time being colder than you are wherever where you actually live.

Guest: It's so true. It really is true. My son's in Denver and his apartment doesn't have air conditioning at all. No air conditioning. But he's also like in a basement. And so when he was home the whole time, he wore like a long sleeve shirt and even at one point said, do you have this sweatshirt I can put on? I mean, he was like, it's so cold. And he's used to being comfortable, but not freezing cold.

Guest: Yeah.

Guest: Yes. Yeah.

Guest: Crazy stuff. Okay, well, no one cares what we

Guest: want to talk about.

Guest: Let's talk about some book stuff, right? I think today let's circle back to something that we haven't talked about for a long time. A couple of questions have come up about it recently when we've been dealing with some of the white label projects that we've set up. And that is the kind of structure of the book. So we spend a lot of time talking about the picking the target market and how important the title is to really engage people and the call to action because you want to lead people towards a particular thing. We don't spend that much time focusing on the content, but there is one bit particular that is important and that's the outline. So I thought we'd dive into that a bit today.

Guest: Super, let's do that.

Guest: The other thing that I'm going to try and do is enunciate more clearly because having been diving into transcripts a little bit more recently from some of the podcast work we've been doing, it amazes me how in tune Dean's voice is as an example to all of the AI. It's as if all of the AIs out there were tuned, strained on his voice because the automatic transcription is almost perfect for Mr. Jackson. And then I come and quickly do something on one of Mine. And it could be a blend of two things. Either one, my accent isn't quite as neutral American as it could be, or I just talk gibberish and don't realize, so I'm not sure which it is. I'm hoping it's the accent one.

Guest: That's funny that you said that, because I was talking to Mike, my fiance, and he said, yeah, sometimes I don't understand Stuart. And I said, you know, I just. I guess because we speak so much that there's not. I don't have that. I don't almost don't hear it, you know, anymore, you know, or I just sort of understand everything you're saying.

Guest: Right. I was talking to. I was talking to Dave the other day, so someone that we're working with a lot more closely now than we have done in the past. And he was saying the same. He said, as we talk more and more, we're maybe into like the 10th or 11th hour of calls now. It gets more and more tuned in. So do you remember there was a movie with Antonio Banderas years ago, something about Vikings, the 11th Viking or the 11th Warrior, something like that. And the kind of scene is where he is. I'm guessing he's kind of Spanish or South American background. And then he gets kind of taken by these. Or works with these Vikings. And over time, as they're around the campfire night after, the language then all starts coalescing on English as he's kind of learning more of the words and starts understanding more of what they're saying. So I always think it's like that. A combination of me talking fast, poor enunciation, and questionable Britishisms rather than American terms. It's the perfect combination.

Guest: I like it. That's great. That's great.

Guest: So with that being said, anyone that's still with us, let's get into some. Let's get into some content.

Guest: Let's do it.

Guest: Okay. So the content. There's the expectation, really, that everyone has got their content dialed in, in the sense of they know what they're talking about. So we position the books and the products generally as saying, you already know what you want to talk about. You've got years worth of experience. The hardest part is just getting it down on paper, and that's where we come in. So with that assumption in mind, there's the underlying expectation that people will take care of the content themselves in the sense that we don't really need to coach people on what they should be saying. They know what they should be saying. But the step that we do take an active interest in. And this is really the purpose of the first 30 minute call, or if you think about doing this yourself without our help, this is the work that you need to put into. It's kind of like the homework stage before you actually record. Because the aim of turning up on the recording, the actual call itself, is that all of the work's been done so that you can just turn up with your A game and then run through an outline that's already predefined, answering questions that you're already comfortable with. And therefore the content that gets captured is the best possible way to present your idea, your program, your manifesto in a way that ends up on the pages and makes sense. So this homework stage, this setup or outline stage is really the key to get nailed down before you start thinking about writing. Otherwise you find yourself in all of the problems that we talked about. Talk about kind of writing in circles or a never ending kind of sidetrack on a point that you don't necessarily need to make. So the aim is to have this structure outlined in a way that takes people from the title through the content to the call to action. It's a very definite journey. It's not just writing words for the sake of writing words. And then suddenly we're at the end. It's this orchestrated journey, this kind of chess player mentality of I know where people are when they're thinking about asking the question in the place, and I know what I want them to do as the next step. So what words are there in between those two points that A, give them some valuable information and B, lead them to the point where the next step makes sense.

Guest: You know, it's funny that people. I speak to them going in the beginning and we're talking about the process. And I never assume that anybody either has or hasn't worked on an outline. So sometimes it comes up. But so many times people will say to me, and every once in a while someone will admit to it later on, oh, no, I have this. I have this. I know exactly what I want to do. I have my outline, I know exactly, you know, how I want this book to go, and it makes perfect sense and this is how it should flow. And then once in a while, you know, and I always kind of chuckle to myself because I'm, you know, just jotting those ideas down. It's a great place to start, by all means. Right? People should do that. But when they get through it and really start talking to someone else and talking it out, particularly our team that's worked on, you know, so many books. They. Some people will come back and say, you know what? I thought I had my stuff together, and I really didn't. Like, I didn't. I didn't realize how important the order was. You know, like, they're. They're trying to, like, you know, have a call to action middle of the book, when they stop and look at. They're like, oh, wait, you know, so, yeah, it's, it's. It really is interesting. I'm sure there's many more who just don't care to share. You know, they've got that.

Guest: But, yeah, I think it's that challenge of being too close to the cobbler's shoes type problem of being too close to the metal, too close to the actual thing. Because you've got all these assumptions that are in your head that if you're outlining in isolation, you're not necessarily questioning it through the eyes of someone that doesn't have all of that experience. So that's the real benefit of talking through it with someone else. Like you say, obviously our guys, we've worked with over 500 people now to get these things outlined. So there's a natural ability and a specialization in orchestrating that journey of setting up the beginning, middle and end in a way that makes sense. But I think even if you're not working with us, if you're just by yourself and you don't have anyone else to bounce the idea off, then write out the job of work that the book's doing. So kind of like the title, what is it that you're trying to answer for the people, and then write out what the next step is. So this kind of idea of the first page, entitled page, and the end page, the call to action, write out those two things first at the top of the paper, then do the outline, then leave it for a couple of days and come back and then just see if that outline actually does get you from A to B in a way that you come into it with a colder set of eyes a few days later. And then you might not be working on the same set of assumptions that you were a few days before when you first wrote it. And at least that then will give you a second bite of the cherry and validate the path that you thought you were going down. Yeah, I think it just gives a cool set of. Gives a new perspective or a kind of blank perspective to go into it. And then rather than going in with all of that, all of those assumptions in your mind about how it's going to turn out you'll go back into it just looking at title, looking at the answer, and then answering the question of does it get from A to B? The next point, which builds on that is, so we've agreed that the title is the thing that captures their attention. The call to action is the thing that we really want them to do next. So the middle part, the content, we want it to be as comprehensive as possible to answer the question that you promised to answer. So you don't want to write a book that effectively says, well, there are 10 things and I could tell you them, but actually you really want to come in and see me because it's too complicated for you. I'm not going to tell you unless we have a consult, because that's just offensive or people will be disappointed with that. And then equally, you don't want to find yourself answering the wrong question, which is kind of what we just talked about. Make sure you kind of follow the path that you think you're following. And the third one is you don't want to find yourself in some rabbit warren of ancillary or supporting information that kind of wander out from the core question. Because honestly, no matter how simple the question seems, you could be answering the question of how to boil an egg. And I'm pretty sure that you could get into the thermal dynamic components of different pan materials and how water boils at different altitudes if you really got stuck in the weeds. Or it could be as simple as, well, you don't really want to boil an egg, you want to get an omelette instead and then start talking about an O. Obviously a silly example, but I'm sure that as you listen to this, you can imagine that those similar degrees out from the core question that you're trying to answer, those 1 degree out, 2 degrees out, 3 degrees out, you could very easily find yourself talking down or getting sidetracked by if you're not very disciplined about staying on subjects. Because you, as the person who knows all of this knowledge, where the more basic information really seems like this 101 level stuff that you just want to get past, it's very easy to jump away from this core, core direction, this core stepping stones of title, overview of the problem, reminder of what the solution could be, restate the issues towards the end and how people can take a next step, those kind of stepping stones towards the back cover, copy the next steps that people should take. Very easy as the expert to get sidetracked into the weeds because you've got all of this assumed knowledge. So that being said, the thing that we want to narrow down is the thing that we want to narrow down and get specific on all those steps, A great way of doing that is to break it down into bite sized pieces, which is really the table of contents. The table of contents, as far as the content goes, is really the most important thing given the assumption that you actually know what you're talking about. And then you can fill in the gaps for the chapters. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, if you don't know what you're talking about, then it's difficult to fix that problem. But you do. The table of contents is this kind of 10,000 foot view of how they get from the title to the back cover in reasonable steps that carry the journey in a direction. So if you were to look at a table of contents and the chapter headings and it bounced all over the place and it didn't really make coherent sense. And just before we started recording, you were talking about having a call to action ending up in the middle somewhere accidentally. Because just the way the content flowed in someone's original outline, then looking at the chapter headings is a check and balance that it is a logical progression from the beginning to the end. The general way that we try and structure things is stating what the problem is, reinforcing a little bit what the downside to that problem is in someone's mind, making the point in as helpful way as possible, but making the point. Listen, if you really don't make a change, there are some long term consequences to this. Just as a motivating, compelling element to keep people reading, then introduce what the solution is, then go into details of what the solution is. Bearing in mind, as we said, you don't want to go too deep because there are always these things, third, fourth, fifth level things that you get into. And that is a great thing to cover further down the track, further down the funnel, but answer the level 1 ones comprehensively. So the details of what the solution is, the benefits of what the solution is, reinforce the light at the end of the tunnel and then an easy next step that people can take to take it even further. So in the book, you've introduced the concept, you've given people maybe some initial first steps that they can do, some actions that they can take to move themselves towards this perfect solution. And then the real next step, the kind of meaty next step of actually getting into it, is probably starting to work with you. So if we think about financial advisors, because that's an easy step to take then the homework might be to bring together all of your bills and look at where the outgoings are going and categorize things together, because that's something that someone can easily do at home. Doesn't take any technical understanding. They've got all of this stuff there. Doesn't need an especially big calculator to work out. That's an easy step that you could put in the book towards making a difference. And then the first step after that working with you might be to come in for a review of your savings or a review of your outgoings or a retirement plan assessment, whatever that easy first step is. But in the book itself, you're still giving them something of value. The florist example. We use the florist example a few times, which I still haven't quite worked out why we got why that became. Yeah, it's on brand now for the podcast. So the florist example might be in the book. You're talking about times of years and some local places to go and see flower types, homework that people can do to start moving themselves in the direction towards wedding flowers. But really the first detailed piece of work they need to do is coming to see you so that you can assess a budget and see what flowers they like and see if there are any outliers that might cause a problem if this particular flower isn't available at that particular time of year. So it's that kind of. It's that kind of level of detail and direction that we want to do in the content, because that answers the question, the promise of the title. It gives people a light at the end of the tunnel thing, that they can have a good feeling about moving in the right direction. And it very obviously leads them from here's a problem that you don't know how to fix to here's a couple of steps that you can take yourself to get you moving in the right direction and feeling good about the direction. And then here's an easy way of getting started with me to really now put some gas behind it and get this thing moving properly. Looking at the chapter headings in those examples are going to be the way that you can check that it's in the right direction and that you're staying on topic when you're recording and not getting carried away or sidetracked.

Guest: Okay, I'm following you now.

Guest: So that as a structure, I know we don't talk very much about the content side of things. We usually focused on either the title or call to action or the longer Term follow up. Yeah, but that as a content step is really the most important advice that we can give. It's think about the table of contents as the 30,000 foot view of keeping people on the right path. And the other way of looking at it as well is we've already talked in the past about read rates and the fact that it's actually a pretty small number of people who actually read all of the content. So as people are flicking through, thumbing through the book, the title on the front cover is the thing that gets them to raise the hand. The picking up the book and looking at the back of it for the call to action. The majority of people do that. But then thumbing through it, the table of contents is the thing that almost everyone sees. And then it's a dwindling number after that. So that table of contents, if it's comprehensive enough and it's worded in a way that gives people the assurance that they're in the right place and heading in the right direction, it may well be the case that that's to get them to take the next step to reach out and call you or to fill out an assessment or to ask for a copy of the scorecard, whatever. The next step is just knowing that they've seen the table of contents and they're in the right place and the journey makes sense to them. They might just skip all of that part of reading it and jump straight to the call to action.

Guest: You know, I. People don't know this, you know this, but for part of my job, I read every book that leaves the office. And so I used to just. I honestly didn't even pay attention to the table of contents. And then for some reason I got into that habit and it really, I can kind of skim through it, really know what the subjects, what I'm expecting, you know, so when I'm reading it, it's not just completely foreign. Well, I've trained, transferred that to my personal life. When I pick up a book, that's where I go now too. I mean, I always, of course, everybody goes right to the back of the book. But I find myself really looking at the table of contents now to see, okay. And that'll be sort of my decision. Like, okay, am I going to read this book, you know, based on what I've seen in the table of contents? Because it gives you, you know, a lot of the meat and bones there

Guest: without going too deep. Exactly. You almost get kind of 80% of the overview with only 20% of the work. It's interesting that the that reassurance because really particularly because we're not talking about fiction at the end of the day, although I guess the same applies. But we're talking about something that moves people towards answering a problem that they've got. It's the resolution of a problem. It's not entertainment and reading for the sake of reading. So if you're on Facebook and seeing thinking about buying a lakefront home and you see the guide to Winterhaven lakefront home prices and you request a copy of that book and it says in there, as you flick through the table of contents it says there are, there's only this many lakefront homes. So you're picking from a small group of people. Here's the changes that have happened in in this year, the 2019 price data changes. Here are the five pointers that you really need to look at and the five things you need to be aware of or concerned of. And the very best next step is to request a pricing analysis or a pinpoint guide on a particular home. Then the outcome that I want is to get closer to buying a lakefront home. I don't want to reread all those words. I just want the outcome. If the table of contents does it does the job for me. It's enough to give me the reassurance that I'm in the right place. And the call to action is the obvious choice. I'm not here for entertainment. Why am I going to waste my time reading it? There's a clear next step. I've been reassured that I'm in the right place because the table of contents makes sense. And that's the thing that I thump through maybe one or two of the other pages. So therefore jump straight to next step. It's really that different way of thinking about it as the book isn't the product, the next step is a product. The identifying the person in the first place is the product. Everything is just about reinforcing the message that people in the right place. It's like the I don't know that we've got a copy of it anywhere. Maybe see if I can find a copy for the show notes. But the email mastery ad that we run in Success magazine is an advertorial type piece of one page content that talks about the nine word email which we've talked about here in the past. But that article is a five, maybe less than that 400 word article that talks about the nine word email. Pretty high level, just gets the headline details out there, gives people a next step and Then it says, if you want to read something about the seven other email secrets that can make a difference, go to this page and request a copy of Email Mastery. Now the landing page that they go to, it's literally just exactly the same heading and subheading as the add copy around a bit that says go to Email Mastery and request a copy of the book. It's just that headline, that sub headline and then a place for them to put the name and address details and an image which is exactly the same as the one before. There's none of this long form sales letter. There's no video on there. We're not trying to convince people to do anything else because they've already made that decision. The only reason they're on that page is because they've already made the decision because they've clicked through from the ad or they've typed in the URL from the, from the print, from the print article, they've already made the decision that they want it. The only purpose of that page is allow them to execute on it. The book is your book is very similar. They've already made the decision that they want the outcome that the title promises. The next step is how they get closer to it. So then the book's job of work is just to as quickly as possible get them to that stage. And for some people, for a lot of people, the type, well, the table of contents is going to be enough to do that. It's going to be enough to compel them or to reassure them they're in the right place, they're on the right path. The next step is the logical one to take and therefore how quickly can I take it? Rather than thinking about the book being the product, I need to write enough content in there that the sales price is justified and it's for all of this information in there. Because whether or not I've got other products or services to sell, I'm thinking about this as the book being product, which is the exact opposite of how we're talking about it. It's the compelling, reassuring steps to take them to the next stage. And that's not to say put then 70 empty pages in or 70 pages of law, because it doesn't make any difference difference because that's then a, a repelling for us rather than a compelling force.

Guest: Right, Right.

Guest: But, but yeah, you still got to know what you're talking about and give something of value.

Guest: Now I'm going to be interested to see after this podcast goes out the interest that our clients or potential clients are going to take in their table of contents.

Guest: Right.

Guest: You know, they, they look at it, but never, I mean, I can't think of anybody that's ever come back and said, oh, you know, that, let's change that. Let's, you know, that's, I mean, I don't even know most of the time if they even look at the table of contents, but it's going to be interesting to see if they circle back to it now and realizing the importance of, you know, if nobody ever reads the content of the book, but maybe just the table content.

Guest: And part of it, I think is a benefit of the way that we've got things structured because as people are working with us in that first 30 minute call and the outline that we, that we guide them towards knowing that this is the outcome. That outline is the table of contents, really. But this is all we have in the settings. We do that for them and we structure and word it in such a way that, hey, these are just the questions that we're asking you to prompt the content. We don't kind of hammer home this message quite so much because we're trying to, as people come on board, we're trying to very quickly hold people's hand through the process so that you don't get stuck in your own head about it and, and overthink it. And then six months later are still overthinking it.

Guest: Overthinking it.

Guest: Yeah, yeah. We try and move you through the process as quick as possible. So I think that's my.

Guest: Like I said, I think we do such a great job and we, That's a whole. We as in us as a whole. But you know, the content team, they do such a great job with that. I don't think people question it, but I'm just, you know, I wonder now if they will.

Guest: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be a good test of who's paying attention.

Guest: Right.

Guest: Well, one of the. Want to keep the next couple of shows a little short because we've got a couple of long ones with some interviews mixed in here. So kind of sticking with that idea of giving people a great, a great single answer and not getting too sidetracked in the weeds. Let's draw a line under it there. One resource that I will point people to though is Dean actually recorded an outline workshop last year or earlier this year, forget which, where there was actually the Dean's perspective on the table of contents, which is slightly, I mean, in the same ballpark as mine, but it's a different way of wording things. So always Good to listen to a different way of saying something similar. But then there was a Q and A call that followed that. So it's a good, good opportunity to hear kind of real people's questions. And that's always great to get a different perspective. So that is over on the website, 90minutebooks.com head up to the resources tab at the top and then under there is workshops and it's the book outline workshop. I'll also put a link directly to it in the, in the show notes as well. So that, that is another way of getting to it. This is going to be episode 84. So head over to the podcast tab and episode 84 and I'll put a link directly to the outline workshop in there. And then the last thing to mention is we're recording this the week before Labor Day. We've actually just sent out an email to the people who've already opted into the list talking about some upcoming product changes. So we've got some changes to the product structure. People have often asked for things that are slightly different to the way that we have the three products structured. So we've just changed those around a little bit. Some of the prices are changed. Well, as, as well. So if you are listening to this before September 4th, then you can head over to the site and really lock in the existing products if the existing ones is the way that you want to go. There's also this idea of kind of buy now, write later type thing. So if you're not quite ready to go yet, but you know you're going to be in the next kind of six months or so, then again you can buy 10 today and there's no pressure to get started until next year. So that is, that's just something timely in this show if you want to check out the new products. So well, to get through to the existing products, just 90minutebooks calm and follow the get started links. If you want to get a early look at the new products, then if you head over to 90minutebooks.com and then get can't speak and then started new. So until September 4th, we've just got that under a separate page and then we'll migrate it all across. But at the moment, if you head over to 90minutebooks.com get started new and then you'll get early look at the new product setup structure that we've got. And again, if you want to get an early start and pick one of those, all of those cart buttons are live now, so jump on board and we'll be waiting to guide you through the process, including setting up a fantastic table of content.

Guest: We will for sure.

Guest: Perfect. Okay. Well, thank you, Betsy. Thanks for your time. Thanks. Everyone listening. And we will catch you all in the next one.

Guest: Take care.

Guest: Cheers. Bye, Sam.