As a Christian author, your message offers a solution to a problem. It is this message that he markets, not the book itself. Before people buy your book, they want to know that you empathize with their pain and that you can show them how to apply your solution to their problem.

Many authors spend years writing a book and feel that the published book is their final product.

However, this is only the beginning, not the end. The message within your book can be displayed and repackaged in various formats.

Your initial written message does not contain all you have to know about it. Successful authors make a lot of money explaining how to apply their message to people’s lives. A $20 book won’t make you rich, but all the other spin-offs: talks, teleseminars, eCourses, weekend retreats, consulting, mentoring, etc., etc. – bring big money.

“Someone once asked me how much I made for my first book ‘Guerilla Marketing’. The answer I gave was $10 million. The book itself only paid me about $35,000 in royalties, but speaking engagements, spin-off books, newsletters, columns, bootcamps, consulting and open houses brought in the remaining $9,965,000.” Jay Conrad Levinson, founder of the successful Guerilla Marketing series of books and information products.

You may be thinking, “wow, it took me all these years to finish my book, now you’re saying I need to do MORE!” But think of it this way… the hard part is done. And the passion that drove you to finish his book will also drive you to do more to help people understand his message clearly enough to apply it to their lives and see the change they’re looking for. After all, isn’t that why he wrote his book?

You see, books are limited in what they can convey. By repackaging your message into other modes of communication, you can reach more people. And you can also better connect with people and build the trust they need before they buy from you. This happens quite quickly through the use of audio and video.

So what does it look like to market a message, rather than a book? First, it requires a sales letter, rather than just a paragraph or two describing your book. You need to connect with your reader and the pain they’re going through because they haven’t figured out the solution to the problem you’ve written about.

The sales letter is written from the point of view of the reader and the question they always ask is “what’s in it for me?” This is in contrast to writing it from his point of view of, “I’ve written this tremendous book that I know will help you… blah blah blah.” Many authors continue to tell the story of him that led them to write their book.

Yes, you need to tell your story, but not until you’ve connected with your reader. And you connect with your reader by identifying what his problems are, the emotional struggles he’s going through, his frustrations, his fears, and perhaps his hidden dreams. Usually, problems prevent a person from pursuing their dreams. so touching on this aspect brings to the surface some problems that the reader didn’t even know he had.

Once you’ve identified the problem and painted a picture of your struggles, you can tell enough of your story to let the reader know that you connect to their pain. You don’t want to tell your whole story, because that’s not the purpose of the sales letter.

There are other components of the sales letter, but that is not the intent of this article. I want to help you see the difference between selling your book and selling the message within your book. In fact, I think of a book as a business card. It is what will draw people to you, to get more information from you. Because you have a solution for their problem and it works, they will see you as an expert, even if you don’t consider yourself an expert! They want more of what you have to offer. They are hungry for your help. They have come to trust you and have begun to tell their friends about you and how your message helped them solve a difficult problem. So whether you like it or not, you are an expert on them.

Another way to instantly connect with people and impact them greatly is by speaking. But that is a topic for another article. However, since you are a writer, there are numerous ways to market your product that require writing.