The “Icky” Marketing Tactic Gaining Ground With Authors

Barry Davret
Aug 29, 2017 · 2 min read
Source: Stencil

It happened again. It’s a troubling trend among some authors. It frustrates me as a reader. It has nothing to do with grammar. A few typo’s don’t bother me. I’m even okay with the “padding” publishers demand to market the book.

I recommend and gift books to friends and peers all the time. This practice guarantees a condemnation.

It’s the tease that ignites my fury — a joke without a punchline. Here’s what I mean.

Let’s suppose an author writes a book to solve a specific problem. He spends 95% of the book explaining the problem. The remaining 5% reveals the solution. But it does not reveal the how. To learn the how, you must buy the next book or some other course he sells. In other words, the solution to problem “x” is “y.” To learn about “y,” buy this course or this other book.

Don’t Leave Out The Punchline

Most books give you the full picture. Only one out of ten do the tease.

In the online marketing world, using a front-end product as a tease for more expensive products is standard practice.

They lure you in with a cheap product. It teases the actual solution but holds back the punchline. To get the real deal you need to fork over ever increasing amounts of money.

Here’s The Good News

It still happens but the numbers steadily dwindle.

The marketers left standing in the end follow a different model. They give away their best stuff early, sometimes for free. That strategy builds trust. Trust leads to repeat business and lower customer acquisition costs.

It’s slower than the tease. But people aren’t falling for the cheap tease and expensive up sell.

I will not be buying the next book by the author. He teased me with a great setup but now he holds the punchline hostage.

Call To Action

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surTHRIVAL Skillz — By Barry Davret

Next Level Skills For The Modern World

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Barry Davret

Written by

Writer. Experimenter in life, productivity and creativity. Contact: barry@barry-davret dot com.

surTHRIVAL Skillz — By Barry Davret

Next Level Skills For The Modern World

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