{"id":6588,"date":"2011-12-16T19:00:43","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T13:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/?p=6588"},"modified":"2014-12-23T16:09:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T10:39:58","slug":"got-white-papers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/got-white-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"Got White Papers? :: How Nonfiction Authors Can Use \u201cNutritional Content\u201d to Attract a Zillion Readers — Give or Take"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Expert: Laurel Marshfield<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Da Vinci Code Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

Around Christmastime, a number of years ago, I was browsing at a local Borders bookstore (now, sadly, extinct), looking for, among other things, thrillers by the mega-bestselling author, Dan Brown.<\/p>\n

A client of mine wanted to construct his<\/em> thriller-in-progress in the \u201cBrownsian\u201d manner, using densely applied historical research. Largely because — as he readily admitted — he was mesmerized by the fact that The Da Vinci Code<\/em> was then enjoying headline-making sales. (It eventually sold 81 million copies worldwide, more than any other book in publishing history).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/center>Contemplating such an unheardof level of success (even before its true measure was fully known), my client surmised that Dan Brown must be onto something. And, oddly enough, I noticed something intriguing that seemed to speak to my client\u2019s theory, when I at last found the bookstore shelves housing what was then Dan Brown\u2019s four-novel oeuvre<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It was a special-edition Da Vinci Code<\/em>, filled with photographs, illustrations, and pages of background material — all designed to lure readers into the dense forest of factual content the author had woven throughout his fictional world. Hmmm<\/em>, I thought, interesting<\/em>.<\/p>\n

:: Nonfiction Can Promote Fiction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moments later, I asked myself this question: If \u201cnonfiction\u201d (in the form of historical research) could be used to make fiction far more substantive and, as a result, far more appealing . . . might not nonfiction benefit from the same approach?<\/p>\n

How would that work, though? Nonfiction, after all, is already factual. So there\u2019s not the same substance-adding benefit that novels acquire by marrying fact and fiction.<\/p>\n

After several seconds spent mentally flailing around, this question appeared unsolvable, at that moment, so I turned it over to my subconscious — hoping that part of my mind would have more luck (as it almost always did).<\/p>\n

:: Can Nonfiction Borrow from Business<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several hours later, I was back in my office doing some online research, when I came across the words \u201cwhite paper\u201d three times in the space of ten minutes. Was my subconscious suggesting . . . ? And if it was, what would a white paper for a nonfiction book look like? My creative mind refused to comment. It was time for my planning mind to take over.<\/p>\n

Picking up a pen (I had long ago realized that a pen in the hand is worth bushels of words on the page \u2013 words yielded up more easily than with a keyboard) these brief notes appeared:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Premise:<\/span> White papers for nonfiction \u201cexpertise\u201d books = novel idea.
\n\u2022 Question:<\/span> But what would a white paper for a nonfiction book look like \u2013 what would it focus on?
\n\u2022 Answer:<\/span> It would focus on a book-specific problem and solution; in other words, the book\u2019s core message heavily corroborated with research and illustrative scenarios (i.e., stories, case studies, client stories).
\n\u2022 Question:<\/span> But how would white papers for nonfiction books be used?
\n\u2022 Answer:<\/span> They would be used to excite interest in three core audiences: Readers looking for answers, if not solutions. Professional organizations or other groups whose memberships would be interested in a presentation about the white paper\u2019s topic. And traditional, professional, and online media.
\n\u2022 More specifically:<\/span> White papers would be used to promote an author-expert to media outlets. To attract author speaking engagements. To encourage referrals — if an author has a practice or business, or consults and conducts workshops. And to offer as an incentive for joining an author\u2019s mailing list (\u201cfree white paper download with eNewsletter signup\u201d).<\/p>\n

:: White Papers Versus Other Book Promo Methods<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay<\/em>. But don\u2019t standard promotional methods cover all that already? Take book excerpts — don\u2019t they do the same thing? Good point. And the answer is yes. And no.<\/p>\n

As a brief segment of a book\u2019s larger message, an excerpt can\u2019t perform the same function that a white paper can. Short-sample excerpts are designed to stimulate interest in a book — but they are not, as white papers are, a problem-solving offering that stands alone, apart from the book they are drawn from.<\/p>\n

White papers are, in many ways, a unique \u201cgenre.\u201d They function as providers of \u201cnutritional content.\u201d That is, they offer free information that their intended audiences need and want, content designed to nourish their interests.<\/p>\n

What that means in actual practice is that white papers provide a solid overview of the challenge their audiences face, along with research-supported original material that suggests either a workable approach or an actual solution.<\/p>\n

But, my conscious mind cautioned, Don\u2019t authors already have lots of ways to promote their books and reach out to readers?<\/em> As in: author websites, book trailers, social media \u2013 not just Twitter and Facebook, but book review sites, virtual book tours . . . Yes, that\u2019s certainly true. White papers, though, reach out to a book\u2019s potential readers in an entirely different way.<\/p>\n

:: The \u201cNo-Sell\u201d Promotional Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of promoting a book, white papers \u201cpromote\u201d a problem the book\u2019s potential audience wants a solution to. In other words, they offer readers content that can\u2019t help but attract them to the author and his or her book.<\/p>\n

This strategy is often called \u201cattraction marketing.\u201d And it works by not overtly selling readers anything (the author\u2019s agenda), but instead attracting<\/em> them by giving them what they want and need (the reader\u2019s agenda).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simply a matter of recognizing that, if readers see a given author as a source of content they value, they\u2019ll naturally want more of that content. And they\u2019ll buy the book.<\/p>\n

For instance, let\u2019s say a business coach has written an expertise book for small business owners about surviving and thriving in the Great Recession. A white paper on that topic is something the business media, business organizations, and business owners would find vital to their interests. Their \u201cears would perk up.\u201d And if the white paper\u2019s content is solid and actionable, then book sales would be the result.<\/p>\n

:: A New Promotional Frontier?<\/strong><\/p>\n

White papers represent a new frontier because they are a not-yet \u201covercrowded\u201d way to stand out from the clamoring crowd in a given subject area or field. Book excerpts, their closest promotional cousin, are standard on Amazon (through the \u201cLook Inside\u201d feature), but relatively few authors are exploiting the huge potential of white papers. This is true despite the fact that — not only do they offer lots of \u201cattraction\u201d potential unduplicated by other promotional methods — white papers (unlike excerpts) can be written for any audience an author wants to reach.<\/p>\n

It seems just a matter of time before this leading promotional vehicle for business becomes the leading promotional vehicle for nonfiction expertise books, too.<\/p>\n

:: Are White Papers for You?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019re starting to wonder if white papers could give you the content-promoting edge you\u2019ve been looking for — by putting your book\u2019s message into the hands of those who need and want it most?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a painless way to find out.<\/p>\n

To celebrate a year\u2019s worth of BookBuzzr<\/a> blog posts, I\u2019d like to give you a grand finale New Year\u2019s gift. It\u2019s a free, hour-long phone consultation in which we\u2019ll explore how white papers can put attraction marketing to work for your nonfiction book. This is a $155. value. But it\u2019s available free of charge to the first three authors who mention BookBuzzr when filling out this Contact form: http:\/\/bit.ly\/tTDjNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

If you end up being number four or higher, don\u2019t worry. You have another option. There are an unlimited number of free, fifteen-minute consults to explore how white papers would work for your book.<\/p>\n

Happy New Year (it\u2019s the perfect time to become a book promo pioneer)!<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Laurel Marshfield<\/strong> — refusing to run from a New Year\u2019s resolution challenge — has taken seriously the pioneering potential of white papers for nonfiction expertise authors, and just launched a new offshoot business :: Blue Horizon White Papers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It complements Blue Horizon Communications<\/a>, her Editorial Services for Authors business.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For clients of both, Laurel\u2019s three decades as a professional writer, developmental editor, and ghostwriter means they reap the benefit of long creative experience.<\/p>\n

\u2022 At Blue Horizon Communications, Laurel helps authors shape, develop, and refine their book manuscripts, while providing: author consultation, manuscript evaluation, developmental editing, ghostwriting, collaboration, co-writing, book coaching, and related editorial services.<\/p>\n

\u2022 At Blue Horizon White Papers, Laurel offers white paper production services for nonfiction authors (and professional service businesses) by providing: white paper development, ghostwriting, editing or updating (for existing papers), and white paper coaching. Her design professional business partner, Miki Schmidt of SchmidtADV, provides white paper formatting and graphic design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Expert: Laurel Marshfield The Da Vinci Code Model Around Christmastime, a number of years ago, I was browsing at a local Borders bookstore (now, sadly, extinct), looking for, among other things, thrillers by the mega-bestselling author, Dan Brown. A client of mine wanted to construct his thriller-in-progress in the \u201cBrownsian\u201d manner, using densely applied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[353,3,720,718],"tags":[9,3,18,604,603],"class_list":["post-6588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bbmtc","category-book-marketing","category-guest-posts","category-how-to-guides","tag-authors","tag-book-marketing","tag-book-promotion","tag-dan-brown","tag-the-da-vinci-code"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}