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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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What Does Your Reader Need?

By Bob Hostetleron June 13, 2018
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I attend many writers’ conferences, as an author, speaker, and agent. As a result, I meet and become friends with many fine people and outstanding writers.

At a recent gathering, I enjoyed a spirited and stimulating conversation with an aspiring author who has a passion for reaching readers with the good news of Jesus Christ. I identify with that. But I’m not sure we ever got onto the same page, so to speak. As far as I can recall, some of the conversation went something like this:

SHE: People just need to know that Jesus is the answer.

ME: Absolutely.

SHE: I just wish they knew how much they need Jesus.

ME: Ah, I think you’ve hit on something there.

SHE: What’s that?

ME: It’s hard to write books that meet a need people don’t yet know they have.

SHE: What? What do you mean?

ME: You said, “I wish they knew how much they need Jesus.”

SHE: Right, exactly!

ME: But if they don’t already know how much they need Jesus, how are you going to persuade them to buy a book about how much they need Jesus?

SHE: I don’t follow.

ME: When people walk into a bookstore, they have some very real needs.

SHE: Yes, and first among them is a need for Jesus.

ME: Yes, okay, but they don’t know how much they need Jesus.

SHE: Exactly!

ME: So they’re not looking for books about how much they need Jesus.

SHE: They’re not?

ME: How can they? They don’t know how much they need Him.

SHE: But—

ME: So if they see your How Much You Need Jesus book on the shelf, why would they pick it up?

SHE: Because they need Jesus!

ME: But they don’t know that.

SHE: That’s why they need my book.

ME: I think we’re going around in circles.

SHE: You are. I’m not.

ME: Let’s try this. Picture your reader.

SHE: Okay.

ME: Female? Forty years old, maybe? Married? Two kids?

SHE: Sounds about right.

ME: She’s walking into a bookstore right now. But her car as she drove to the store was making a weird noise. But she and her husband are barely making ends meet as it is, so they can’t afford costly repairs…and she doesn’t want to say anything to make hubby angry. And he seems to be angry a lot these days. She’s pretty sure he’s going through some difficult things at work, and his new secretary—well, she doesn’t even want to think about that. She has enough to worry about, with her daughter’s cutting and the strange cigarettes she found in her son’s room the night before last. So she walks into the bookstore with all this on her mind, and she knows she needs—what?

SHE: Hope?

ME: Okay….

SHE: Encouragement?

ME: Could be.

SHE: Maybe marriage advice or parenting help. Maybe a break. Maybe an escape.

ME: Right. Those are her felt needs. Strongly felt needs. So do you think she’s more likely to pick up—and maybe even buy—a book about one of those needs, or something you know she needs but she doesn’t yet know?

SHE: But—

ME: So…what is it you need right now?

SHE: I need someone to buy my book!

ME: So, if I were to write a book about how you need to clearly and forcefully connect with your reader’s felt needs, I would most helpfully do it by showing you that that is the most likely path to selling your book—right?

SHE, nodding slowly: Ohhhhh.

 

We talked a little longer, but I’m still not sure we got anywhere. And I certainly could have communicated better. But it seems to be a hurdle many of us—perhaps especially writers who are also followers of Jesus—struggle to clear. We must write books that meet needs—not needs that only the author knows about, but needs that are felt by our readers before they even see our book. Or why would they pick it up, let alone buy it, and read it?

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Category: Book Proposals, Conferences, Pitch, Pitching, The Writing LifeTag: Audience, book proposals, pitch, Pitching, readers

Your Commitment to Your Reader

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 10, 2018
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When you’re working to get your book published, you feel you have lots of people to please. First, you have to be satisfied with your book. Then, you need to find an agent to partner with you to present your work to editors, who are her customers. Then the editor must sell your work to the editorial committee. Then it goes to the publishing committee. So along the way, you’ve had lots of people to …

Read moreYour Commitment to Your Reader
Category: Career, Editing, Inspiration, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Career, readers, The Writing Life

Markets are Different Than You Think

By Dan Balowon February 13, 2018
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Last week I addressed the issue of trying to be too specific or too general in identifying a reader-market and the need to continually address new generations. Today, let’s discuss the culture in the United States and the Christian writer. Here are some unavoidable things to keep in mind as you write: Ours is an “entertainment culture” where all forms of diversion are more important than just …

Read moreMarkets are Different Than You Think
Category: Communication, Marketing, The Writing LifeTag: Audience, Communication, readers, The Writing Life

Marketing to Younger Readers

By Dan Balowon February 6, 2018
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A challenge for book promoters is trying to market to a narrow group of people and discovering they are not easily distinguished one from another.  People are born every day and there is no definable space between demographic markets. Generational identifiers are not scientific, but arbitrary for marketing convenience sake. In case you don’t know all the terms: Traditionalists – Born up to 1945 …

Read moreMarketing to Younger Readers
Category: Marketing, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, TrendsTag: Marketing, readers, The Publishing Life

The Gift of Readers

By Steve Laubeon December 18, 2017
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I thought it apropos to talk about gifts during this Christmas season. There is one gift in particular that has been given to us year round. You. As a reader of this blog you give us the gift of your time, energy, and attention. According to Google Analytics there have been over 70,000 users who have visited our site more than once this year. I had no idea. If only one percent of those returnees …

Read moreThe Gift of Readers
Category: Agency, PersonalTag: Agency, Christmas, Gift, readers

Every Book is a How-To

By Bob Hostetleron August 23, 2017
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C.S. Lewis famously said, “We read to know we’re not alone.” I think that is true. But I have long subscribed to a similar statement that I see as sort of a corollary to “Lewis’s Law.” It is this: No one reads about other people. We read only about ourselves. Feel free to quote me. And send me royalties. But you might say, “How can that be, Bob? I read a lot of romance novels. They’re fiction. …

Read moreEvery Book is a How-To
Category: Craft, The Writing LifeTag: readers, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

We Need More Reader Segments

By Dan Balowon August 22, 2017
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In the bookselling world, books are categorized with a coding system developed by a collaborative industry organization called the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). They own and manage the BISAC codes, an acronym for “Book Industry Standards and Communications.” No matter how you are published, you will be required to categorize your book in one of the fifty-two primary categories, then by second …

Read moreWe Need More Reader Segments
Category: Book Business, Branding, MarketingTag: Book Business, Branding, Marketing, readers

Dear World, We Have What You Want

By Dan Balowon June 14, 2016
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Dear World, Those of us involved in Christian publishing can’t help but notice you are hurting. While our work is to write and publish books, one or more times each week we gather to worship and pray to the Creator God, considering ways we can ease your pain. I hope you know we care. There are dozens of new books with Christian themes coming out every week. They contain information and inspiration …

Read moreDear World, We Have What You Want
Category: Art, Book Business, Career, Christian, Theology, TrendsTag: Christian, readers, Theology

“Dear Author,”

By Dan Balowon June 7, 2016
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Authors write books to readers and once in a while a reader will write to an author. Here’s an imagined letter from a reader. As you consider viewing your work through their eyes, maybe taking a moment to actually see inside their world would change the way you approach your work. Dear author, I am no one special, I just like to read. The first books in my life were read to me, and it got me …

Read more“Dear Author,”
Category: CareerTag: Career, readers

Reaching a New Generation of Readers

By Steve Laubeon June 6, 2016
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Last Friday I posted a fun song about Millennials. Earlier this year a number of articles told of a Pew Research report that declared there are more Millennials in America than Baby Boomers. There are now over 75 million people ages 18-34. Boomers (ages 51-69) are no longer the largest demographic. (And there are more 22-years-olds today than any other age group.) This was inevitable, of course, …

Read moreReaching a New Generation of Readers
Category: Book Business, Career, Creativity, TrendsTag: Book Business, Career, readers, Trends
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