Jeremy Jones started at an early age with his creativity. Always looking for a way to start a venture as a kid, he was already well geared towards wanting to work for himself when he grew up. Although he did a stint in the military, well-known for forcing conformity into functional units, Jeremy refined his creative side in design school after being discharged, and then began writing extensively.
His introduction to actual marketing was not book-based. Instead, Jones stumbled into the field blindly, developing his sense of content through Internet writing and taking advantage of the availability of blog and podcast platforms. From this early approach Jones developed an experience-based perspective regarding the role of education in building awareness and relational audience growth. That same principle has carried forward to just about everything he produces today.
In the podcast, Jeremy Jones goes into some detail about the need and value of education marketing in writing and how at the end of the day it is where the basics of marketing start and attribute their genesis to greater messaging down the road. He covers the topic in detail in his book, Client Bait, as well as referencing the principle repeatedly in presentations and trainings he provides to writers.
Jones also spends a good amount of the podcast covering the field of self-publishing and book ghost-writing for clients. Breaking down the process into three main categories of functions, Jones provides listeners salient takeaway points that apply, regardless of writing a personal book or producing a technical breakthrough manual for corporate level readers. Key points covered by Jones include:
- Start with a book strategy first before writing. Define the purpose of the book to you, what you want from it, and what it will mean or provide to a reader.
- Every book at the end of the day should deliver an overall message – a golden thread. [Tweet it]
- Define a call to action in the book, don’t just leave it as an open idea with nothing else on the part of the reader. Readers should not be left in a situation where they do nothing with the information provided.
Jones doesn’t just leave the book publishing topic on writing and packaging. He also provides solid advice on promotion as well. Bifurcating the function into pre-release and post-release promotion, Jones spells out the value and benefits of building a team for release via partners, cross-affiliation, quid pro quo relationships and other means of building and expanding one’s contact market for a book release.
Any book produced, however, should still provide considerable value to be successful. According to Jones, writers need to clearly avoid producing pitch-fest products that have not educational value. The writing and material also needs to be quality level. Non-fiction, one-topic approaches work very well, focusing attention and effort into a simple messaging formula that doesn’t come across to a reader as complex or confusing.
The biggest mistakes Jeremy Jones sees in self-publishing typically come back his primary point in strategy development. Folks go sideways with trying to be entirely unique with a new book idea. Instead, just sharing a specific viewpoint is already being unique. Poor packaging also kills a book quickly, and trying to go solo versus involve people in promotion is a death knell.
Memorable Quotes
- “With ongoing book promotion, it’s content marketing. It’s providing valuable resources… providing valuable information… providing education to the readers…”
- “You want to lead with the value and not be overly promotional inside the book.”
- “It’s about being smart and doing a little bit of research in advance, finding out what’s going on in the marketplace, and then positioning your book in the right spot.”
- “An author’s mistake is that they think they need a 100% unique, mind-blowing idea in order to write a great book that sells.”
For anyone who wants to be a book writer or is working as a ghost writer, Jeremy Jones’ podcast is critical listening material. He spells out how to break through in the publishing market effectively in ways not covered through traditional publishing training but utilized every day in practice. Not listening to this podcast is essentially leaving potential opportunity on the table, especially if writing a book is your next project.
5-Star writer Tom L brings to customers and clients 17 years of extensive writing and editing experience working in government and producing documentation for public consumption. Additionally, he has spent the last 8 years privately producing written content and analytical products for clients and freelance agencies as well.
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