5 min read (1011 words)
Today, I’m going to introduce you to two concepts that you may or may not be familiar with:
- Your core message
- A category of one
Either way, we’re going to address them here.
Because just like the blood coursing through your veins, they are critical to getting what you ultimately want as an author.
Both work in unison.
And they work to remove barriers for you as a self-publisher looking to bypass competition, gain attention, consistent sales, glowing reviews, and a thriving business alongside your book.
If you’ve been a customer of mine for any length of time, you’ll know I stress the importance of gaining “empathy” with readers using QA analysis before outlining your book or anything else.
Empathy is the backbone of everything I teach.
So, let’s get into…
Your Core Message
AJ Harper, author of “Write a Must Read,” and ghostwriter for the bestselling books “Profit First” and “The Pumpkin Plan” (and 9 other books) on behalf of Mike Michalowicz — had this to say about your core message as a non-fiction author.
She goes on to say…
And further explains…
I used AJ’s book to give further credence to a similar (but “combined”) method I’ve traditionally used with wild success — known as a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and an Elevator Pitch.
Condensed into a short, compelling statement of your VALUE.
Let’s stick, however, with ‘Core Message.’
It feels more modern.
There are some subtle differences between a USP and an elevator pitch and how AJ Harper defines the core message.
However, unlike a clear, strong and transformational statement (as taught by AJ) — speaking to the solution of the core problem your target reader is experiencing…
I prefer to take it up just one more level, combining all 3 methods.
Clear, “unique,” strong and transformational. (“C.U.S.T”)
When thinking about a core message, I like to include elements that put my book into a “category of one.”
Eliminating competition.
So, for me, it must have…
At least ONE of these unique “M.A.P”. elements:
- Unique Mechanism
- Unique Audience
- Unique Promise
And while elements of your core message CAN be woven into your book title and sub-title (hook) — that is NOT its purpose.
Its purpose is to act as a thesis, to guide you, your book, and the transformation you’ll provide readers upon reading.
All in a SINGLE sentence.
And if you’ve not considered the idea of creating a Core Message for your book, you’ll see why that’s a mistake once you finish reading below — and especially watching the video below.
Where we’ll further “unpack” my unique framework.
Without it, you’re just another fish in a large, cloudy and confusing lake fighting for attention.
When you take the time to craft yours, you become…
A Category of One
When done with finesse, based on the upfront “empathic” research we’ll go over today, competition is less of a concern, and attention is almost guaranteed to flood your way.
Because you “isolate” your offer in the market.
No one has the same core message as you.
You’ve combined some unique — but appealing — elements.
It’s presented to gain the attention of a target reader that you’ve established empathy for. A level of understanding that many of your competitors overlook or simply have little understanding of how to perform with data-driven methods (“Qualitative Analysis”)
With ChatGPT and AI — gaining these insights is a breeze.
Taking research that took days to perform down to minutes.
How you articulate your core message comes down to a fine balance of word choice in your title, description, introduction and your table of contents (TOC).
Separating you and your book into a category unto itself.
A category of one.
Let’s recap for CLARITY:
In the buildup to this video, we looked at a broad overview of a proven niche with huge demand and identified key elements that make the bestselling books there successful.
Using data-driven methods…
Like Qualitative Analysis & Predictive Modeling.
We identified surface-level problems and got AI (ChatGPT) to propose surface-level solutions. And just for fun — we got ChatGPT to present a book title in line with all this research.
From there, we dug into the research to pinpoint an entry by choosing a sub-niche or book topic that shows potential.
Today, however — we go deeper.
Uncovering pressing questions, problems, dreams and obstacles of your specific target reader — and summarize everything using an additional data-driven approach: Jobs to be Done (“JTBD”).
Everything covered today is all you need to put together a comprehensive book project brief.
Something that’ll cost you between $300–$800 for any competent analyst to do on your behalf.
And hey — it’s all FREE.
Let’s get into the video:
If you’re a KDROI user already — you’ve been exposed to the importance and practice of gaining EMPATHY with readers using ‘review mining’ on Amazon (Feature #2).
A qualitative “data-driven” insight method that’s performed before any element of your book is even considered.
It requires a lot of manual analysis and deep thinking.
It’s time-consuming; draining even.
With ChatGPT, however, we can get all that “thinking” done for us before moving on to the next stage. Which takes seconds.
For example: there are 8 prompts to be used today in Part 4.
Each one builds upon the next, so use them in order:
Prompts 1-3: We deep dive into target reader analysis (QA).
Prompt 4: Summarizes all that research into a JTBD report.
Prompt 5: Undercover’s their objections towards competing books.
Prompt 6: Takes all into account to create a unique core message.
Prompt 7: Takes your core message to construct a compelling title.
Prompt 8: Takes your title, and … (you’ll have to watch to find out).
I know, such a tease.
Let’s continue in the video:
Automated Empathy: Finding Your Core Message With Deep Qualitative (“Reader”) Analysis.
_
Prompt #1:
You are to act as a qualitative data analyst and use research methods to gain insights into the target readers' needs, wants, desires, goals, aspirations, questions, problems, challenges, fears and frustrations for the book TOPIC and BOOK TITLE provided below. Don't reference any details about the book itself, I just want insights about the target reader. This includes a detailed analysis of the target market's psychographic data to understand the target readers' lifestyle, values, interests, and other factors that influence their motivations, behaviours, and beliefs.
Silently use a combination of Text Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, Natural Language Processing, Topic Modeling, Word Embeddings, and Text Classification to gain a deeper understanding of the target readers and provide a comprehensive report.
TOPIC: {SPECIFY TOPIC}
BOOK TITLE:
{ADD SPECIFIC BOOK TITLE/TITLES}
OUTPUT: Provide a comprehensive report on the following:
1. Target Audience & Demographic Profile (Provide a 150-word summary)
2. Values
3. Lifestyle
4. Interests
5. Personality
6. Beliefs and Attitudes
7. Motivations
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), and where appropriate, bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output.Prompt #2:
You are to act as a qualitative data analyst and use research methods to gain insights into the target readers' needs, wants, desires, goals, aspirations, questions, problems, challenges, fears and frustrations for the book TOPIC and BOOK TITLE provided below. Don't reference any details about the book itself, I just want insights about the target reader. This includes a detailed analysis of the target market's psychographic data to understand the target readers' lifestyle, values, interests, and other factors that influence their motivations, behaviours, and beliefs.
Silently use a combination of Text Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, Natural Language Processing, Topic Modeling, Word Embeddings, and Text Classification to gain a deeper understanding of the target readers and provide a comprehensive report.
TOPIC: {SPECIFY TOPIC}
BOOK TITLE:
{ADD SPECIFIC BOOK TITLE/TITLES}
OUTPUT: Provide a comprehensive report on the following:
1. Questions
2. Problems
3. Fears
4. Frustrations
5. Challenges
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), and where appropriate, bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output.Prompt #3:
You are to act as a qualitative data analyst and use research methods to gain insights into the target readers' needs, wants, desires, goals, aspirations, questions, problems, challenges, fears and frustrations for the book TOPIC and BOOK TITLE provided below. Don't reference any details about the book itself, I just want insights about the target reader. This includes a detailed analysis of the target market's psychographic data to understand the target readers' lifestyle, values, interests, and other factors that influence their motivations, behaviours, and beliefs.
Silently use a combination of Text Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, Natural Language Processing, Topic Modeling, Word Embeddings, and Text Classification to gain a deeper understanding of the target readers and provide a comprehensive report.
TOPIC: {SPECIFY TOPIC}
BOOK TITLE:
{ADD SPECIFIC BOOK TITLE/TITLES}
OUTPUT: Provide a comprehensive report on the following:
1. Needs
2. Wants
3. Goals
4. Aspirations
5. Desires
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), and where appropriate, bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output.Prompt #4:
Based on the existing research provided by your Qualitative Data Analyst, use the "Jobs to be done" (JTBD) methodology to provide a comprehensive report on this target audience. Focus on a deeper understanding of their specific needs, motivations, and desired outcomes, as well as any potential barriers to success. Ask questions about the customer journey, preferences, and objectives to uncover unmet needs and pain points that a product or service could solve. Leverage the results of the JTBD research to provide insights into customer behavior and create products and services that better meet the needs of customers, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, ### H4), bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output.Prompt #5:
You are to act as a Qualitative Data Analyst. You will silently analyze historical Amazon reviews on the following book titles. You will also use historical market research, sentiment analysis, social media insights, key element analysis, and any other historical insights before 2021 you think are important to answer two questions.
Book Titles:
{ADD BOOK TITLES}
Questions:
Why did they buy? (What did they like about existing books/solutions)
Why they may not buy? (What did they dislike about existing books/solutions?)
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output.Prompt #6:
Based on all the qualitative data insights, and the jobs to be done report above, Use the following frameworks to help construct the core message for my book.
TASK: Provide 5 iterations for both TYPE A and TYPE B below.
TYPE A: I help [demographic] who have [pain/problem] to achieve [solution/transformation] by [big idea / unique method to solution] – even with [emotional struggle/obstacles]
TYPE B: I help [demographic] who have [pain/problem] to achieve [solution/transformation] in [X number] of [days/weeks] by [big idea / unique method to solution] – even with [emotional struggle/obstacles]
Please fill in the brackets [] in the above statements, and provide 5 iterations. With each iteration, silently unpack and improve upon each iteration to build further attention-grabbing elements while improving clarity.
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output.Prompt #7:
You are now to act as an innovative high-level literary agent for non-fiction authors who can suggest bestselling book ideas and titles that solve real problems for readers based on data provided by your Qualitative Data Analyst, the Jobs to be Done findings, and the core message.
CORE MESSAGE:
{ADD FAV CORE MESSAGE}
TASK: Provide three bestselling book titles based on all this research, along with three short but relevant bullet points on book content suggestions. You will also provide a brief description of how the book provides a unique solution to the problem, using headings to identify and separate the title, suggested content, and solution for easier reading.
GOALS: The book titles that form your OUTPUT should solve the problem for readers and be:
1. Emotionally compelling.
2. Benefit driven.
3. Curiosity driven.
4. Intellectually interesting.
5. Attention-grabbing.
6. Contain a big idea, USP or unique angle to stand out from the competition.
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output. Avoid including "Title 1" and "Title 2" in the output.Prompt #8:
You are now to act as my coach and consultant by the name of Dan Kennedy. You will use your experience in direct marketing to provide ideas for higher-priced backend products and services based upon my favourite book title and favourite core message. These additional products and services will be offered to existing readers who want more personal help from me. These products would include video-based courses and coaching and consulting offers to further help them achieve their dream of a transformation.
TASK: Silently analyse all qualitative data insights, the 'jobs to be done' report and my favourite book title and core message and then provide 4 product suggestions.
FAVOURITE CORE MESSAGE:
{ENTER FAV CORE MESSAGE}
FAVOURITE BOOK TITLE:
{ENTER FAV BOOK TITLE}
GOALS: The offer titles that form your output should solve the problem as promised in my core message, but with more practical, hands on help for the reader and be:
1. Emotionally compelling.
2. Benefit driven.
3. Curiosity driven.
4. Intellectually interesting.
5. Attention-grabbing.
6. Contain a big idea, USP or unique angle to stand out from the competition.
Provide four offer examples along with a detailed overview of the content delivery for each, along with bullet point suggestions that reveal how a transformation is achieved for the student. Assign a value to each offer to get started.
FORMAT: Use markdown formatting such as headings ( ### H3, #### H4), bullet points (-), and numbered lists (1.) to organize and structure the output. Avoid including "Title 1" and "Title 2" in the output.I hope that was useful, insightful and eye-opening.
Feel free to share your thoughts or questions below.
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