Stop Selling Your Book. Start Inspiring

You’ve worked hard to write a kick butt book…

Congratulations!

(Seriously, you survived the late nights, the rewrites, and the endless coffee refills. You deserve a medal… or at least a nap.)

Now it’s time to think about how you pitch that book to audiences when you are on podcasts and webinars.  For many speakers, the gut instinct is to really lean into the salesy part of the process.

“If you check out my book, you’re going to learn all about XYZ.  I promise you’ll love it!  Grab your copy at BestSpeakerEVER.com! Buy in the next 10 minutes and I’ll send along my free workbook. The first 100 buyers get access to my exclusive community.”

There’s just one problem.  When you talk like this, it actually sabotages your credibility.  It makes you look pushy and… dare I say… a little bit like a sleazy salesperson.

Why Inspiration Beats Persuasion Every Time

Give your podcast listeners and webinar viewers a...

...one that leads them to buy your book.

You’ve probably heard me say before that “the speech is the cake.”  It’s the most important thing you have to offer your audiences.  That means a product like your book is the delicious and sweet icing on top.  It enhances the taste and gives your audience an even deeper and more impactful experience.

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Done right, a great speech will inspire others to learn more.

This actually just happened to me at a recent gig where I gave my Cube of Creativity speech.  People came up to me afterwards asking if I’d written a book about the topic to help them dive deeper.

They had their Moment of Inspiration and they were ready to go on the journey to buy my book… if it was available… which it’s not...sadly.  (I still need to write that one!)

But, my point is still valid.  Give a great speech, and people will be inspired to learn more.  Give a great podcast or webinar, and people will be ready to hit the buy button for your book so they can dive deeper.

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Why the Hard Sell Always Falls Flat

It makes perfect sense that those hard sales tactics speakers use don’t work very well. 

Why?  Well, people naturally hate to be pitched.  Podcast episodes are supposed to feel like a conversation, not a sales seminar.  Pushy tactics on a webinar do the same thing.  They destroy your trust and cause people to tune out.

Over the last week, I decided to dive into a library of podcast episodes to hear the various ways people pitch their books.  Here are a few of the common types I found:

• Infomercial Guest: This is the person who treats every podcast like they are selling on QVC at 2am.  They repeatedly hold up their book saying things like, “Go to my website and buy the book now for a discount.”  They’re not even pretending to have a regular conversation.
• Webinar Chapter Teaser: This person walks you through the table of contents and then invites you to buy the book to get the rest of the content.
• Overbranded Author: Here, the backdrop looks less like a home office and more like Times Square.  They quote themselves and use the book as a constant prop while they talk.  Their backdrop is a gigantic image of the book’s cover.
• Scarcity Seller: Think of someone who says...

“If you enter this discount code, you’ll get a special price on the book.”  

• Deal Maker: Here, there’s a 24-hour countdown timer and an exclusive offer. 

“Order now and you’ll get the bonus workbook!”

The Real Cost of Hard Selling

Ask yourself, are these kinds of sales tactics really serving your audience?  They may inspire some people to buy the book because you’ve created such a sense of urgency and hype.  But, will they actually read it? Will they be inspired to take action or tell others about your ideas?

Likely not.

These approaches always feel a bit sleazy and over-salesy to me.  They turn inspiration into an obligation to buy.  They undermine your authority and make the listener or viewer feel tricked into a sales funnel complete with follow-up emails and a bombardment of offers.

There’s actually research to back this up…

In Thought Leadership ROI, they found that audiences distrust experts who are overly self-promotional.  Instead, you should be there to serve.

A better alternative to hard selling is to create those Moments of Inspiration when your listener or watcher hears your idea and chooses to go on a journey to find your book.