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Naked Book Contract Signing and 9 Other Ways for Authors to Max Out Their Themes
Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, exploit your book’s subjects for optimal sales and visibility
I had you at hello, right?
For years my book publishing company specialized in nonfiction regional books and it taught me a lot about maxing out all the themes of a book, things that any author of nonfiction or fiction can adapt in their publicity, marketing, and sales efforts.
Before you mine your themes for all they’re worth, figure out as many themes as possible. Find them in these four groupings:
Broadest Theme
For most of my books, this was the region: Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Seattle. For you, it may be history, sports, business, biography, gardening, technology, etc.
Primary Themes
These are the more specific themes of your book and they will be the top sources of promotional inspiration. We had a book about Chicago firehouse dogs. Its primary themes were fires and dogs. Your history book may be about college and football. Your business book may be about startups and blockchain.
Tangential Themes
These are the deeper, related themes you can tease out of your primary themes, other places you can turn to connect with others for attention and sales. We published a title about about Chicago’s Civil War connections. In addition to Civil War buffs, we promoted the book to Abraham Lincoln fans, military history aficionados, and general readers of early American history.
Tangents may go broader (not just dogs, but all animals) or narrower (not just dogs, but working dogs) within a niche. They may pull out the most popular person or sub-themes of a topic. One book collecting Carl Sandburg’s film reviews during the silent film era, also got mileage by focusing on Charlie Chaplin, silent film actresses, and old movie house organs/organists.
For your purposes, think broader, narrower, lateral, and name-brand people, eras, and movements.
