The Blueprint that Sells Books

The market doesn’t reward originality alone. It rewards clarity.

Readers make buying decisions in seconds—and those seconds depend on signals: cover cues, category alignment, keyword precision, and a description that instantly communicates who the book is for.

In this episode, we break down why following a proven framework isn’t creative compromise—it’s strategic positioning.

A formula is not a box. It’s a blueprint.

For fiction, that means honoring genre expectations and recognizable tropes so readers immediately understand the emotional experience you’re promising. For nonfiction, it means knowing exactly where your reader is on their journey—beginner, stuck mid-process, or advanced—and framing your title, subtitle, and opening lines accordingly.

We also unpack:

• Why “my book fits multiple genres” is often a red flag
• How Amazon’s algorithm prioritizes clarity over cleverness
• Why ads that get clicks but not sales usually signal positioning misalignment
• The real reason roughly 70% of purchases stem from recommendations, not direct searches
• How to correct misalignment without rewriting your manuscript

You’ll walk away with tactical action steps:

• Audit your categories for buyer intent
• Refine backend keywords to reflect how readers actually search
• Evaluate whether your cover signals genre in under one second
• Rewrite your description opening to lead with the strongest promise

You’re not copying creativity.
You’re copying clarity—so your creativity can shine.

If this episode reframes how you think about positioning, share it with an author who insists their book is “different.” Then subscribe and leave a review telling us what shift made you rethink your book page.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Scam Alerts And Community Thanks
• 3:18 How To Spot Fake Outreach
• 7:15 Why Formulas Aren’t Sameness
• 11:10 Familiarity Lowers Risk For Readers
• 16:20 Resisting The Formula: Common Myths
• 21:15 Market Alignment Without Losing Creativity
• 26:20 Categories, Algorithms, And Discoverability
• 31:10 The Successful Author Formula Explained
• 36:25 Cover Signals And Narrative Promise

Transcript

Scam Alerts And Community Thanks

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Sansbert and Amy Cornell. And first off, I want to lead off by saying y'all are just amazing. We so the fake penny emails. People pretending to be me are still happening. And they're all Gmail accounts, but we get enough emails that we know that y'all are picking. People are forwarding them to us and saying, hey, I don't think this is new, so that we can then report them. Email. Um and yeah, I just want to just want to thank you guys all for being so proactive about that. Because we just got one again last week, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yeah, just last week, and it was amazing because she said, This doesn't sound like you guys. And it it's a we're all so busy. Like the fact that that person took a couple extra minutes out of their day to forward that and include a note and say, like, hey, this is happening, you know, it's like, wow, that's pretty incredible.

How To Spot Fake Outreach

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really incredible. So we just want to say thank you to all to everybody. And if you're if if if you're not sure what's going on, we talked about this, I think, a few episodes ago. Scammers are alive and well and pretending to be me and writing you from a Gmail account. I will never write you from a Gmail account. I will never just write you and go, oh my gosh, your book is awesome. Like out of the clear blue, just, you know, some rando email that you're getting into your inbox. We just don't, we don't find authors that way. We don't, you know, push them on our services and all this other stuff. And we also don't promise bestseller, best seller campaigns and movie deals and all the things. So there's a lot of scams going on there, but you guys are savvy and smart and just forward them over to myself or Amy or both of us, or you can send them to info at amarketingexpert.com and we'll report them to Google. Um, I actually wrote one back. Did I tell you about that? I wrote I love that. I wrote one back and I was, I don't want to say on the air what I said because it really wasn't pretty. It was scamming authors. And because I was pissed, right? I mean, they're taking my name, they're taking our company name, they're taking our reputation, and they're pretending to be me. And the person actually wrote back and said, Well, I'm a marketing person and I don't have a lot of experience, so I need them to think I'm you, so they'll hire me. Is that insane? How insane is that? And and I was like, that doesn't even make sense. Like you know what I mean? Anyway, and then they're taking money in Bitcoin. It's it's crazy. We had somebody on LinkedIn, she's like, are you taking Bitcoin? I'm like, no, we're not holding anything for ransom. I mean, we're not like, you know what I mean? Like, we're not, we're not taking Bitcoin. She's like, Yeah, because somebody wrote me as you and said I could pay them in Bitcoin. I'm like, yeah. I don't even know. I don't even know what Bitcoin is. Like, literally, I am not ashamed to admit that. So yeah, we're not we're that is you not be paying us in Bitcoin anyway. So I don't know. Thank you all so much for for reporting those and for being so savvy. And just a reminder to text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. We'd love hearing from you. You can send us your show ideas, ask us questions because we do like to answer questions in the during the show. Oh, yeah. Um, show ideas, questions, all the things. Text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. Now, today I really love the idea for this show. I'm so glad that Amy was on board. Um, because one of the so when I teach a class, I a lot of times I talk to authors about how success leaves clues and how you know following other similar authors in your genre who are doing well can help to show you how you can sort of emulate what they're doing. And I think that a lot of times when I teach these classes, this gets misinterpreted. And what what the what the author actually hears is copy them, don't use your imagination. And that's not exact at all what I'm saying. What I'm saying is is that there is a formula, you know, why why copying success works and why authors resist it, right? Is actually was the starter title for the show. But a formula is a structure, it's not sameness, right? And there is a formula for success. The problem is, and I know we're gonna sort of talk about it, is that there's a lot of resistance with authors when it comes to understanding the formula, and that's where so many authors fail. I mean, we see this all the time, right, Amy?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Yeah, it's and I like that you pointed out that a formula doesn't mean sameness. It just means there are things that work and things that there are things that are known to work and things that are, I mean, I don't even want to say don't work, but that are much more risky or don't necessarily apply to what you're doing. But there are definitely some key foundational strategies and best practices that I think get overlooked way too much. And then it sends authors scrambling and wondering why things aren't working and all the other reasons we do so many of the episodes that we do, right?

Why Formulas Aren’t Sameness

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Right, exactly. And you know, there's a lot of studies on consumer behavior. You know, I love I love geeking out on this stuff. And familiarity, and I'm gonna bungle that word, of course, but familiarity reduces perceived risk because people prefer products that feel recognizable, which is part of the reason why, you know, uh, you know, businesses like McDonald's and Starbucks, and when you go in there, you know what you're gonna get. And there are no surprises. And products that are recognizable do better because it helps to lower decision fatigue, right? And Amazon shoppers in particular, they make microdecisions. Like there have been some eye tracking studies in e-commerce that show that users form impressions in under a second, which is which is right, which is really kind of crazy. So think about you know, this is not copying, this is really sort of mirroring, this is following a formula. And the formula really tells you how the house is built. You still have to decide how to decorate it. If that's a kind of a an you know, an analogy that is a little bit maybe more visual and makes some makes some sense. Absolutely. So let's talk about why this is one of particular ones that I love. Why authors resist formulas? So the psychology behind that, again, this is super I love just speaking out on psychology stuff. So resistance and we'll take these in order. Um Amy, I'll take the first one. My book is unique, right? We get it. Your book is unique. Every successful book, though, inside has a recognizable framework. Okay. So let's just take, you know, the romance category, for example. Um, enemies to lovers, it maybe doesn't sound unique, right? But within that story is your unique story. So the enemies to lovers is a formula, okay? It is, you know, it has powered hundreds, probably thousands of best-selling titles, right? You're following the trope slash formula, but the voice and character execution is yours, right? And that's where I think a lot of authors get misaligned in that I I want my book to be unique. So I'm gonna, so my book is going to be a blend of this genre and this genre and this genre, and you end up trying to combine formulas or ingredients, if I'm gonna continue to use analogies, ingredients that aren't really gonna net out. Right. Um, and you know, the book any market, not just the book market, but any market thrives on predictable um anchors. And that's one of the reasons why um, you know, why formulas, you know, why formulas work. And you know, there's a there's a thing in the in the show notes, and I I agree and I disagree with that. So readers don't buy books because they're unique. I I think that's actually not true. I think readers don't buy books that they don't understand. Right. But you know what I mean? Like it has to be unique, it has to look unique, you know, it has to look, I mean, it has to look unique while still following the formula. And that's really where, you know, you have a formula and then you insert yourself and your story and your your experience or whatever it is that you're writing into that formula and you make it your own, which makes it unique, but it still can sit on the same shelf. I mean, Amy, am I sort of does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Yeah, it makes sense to me because we have this conversation with clients all the time. And it's why a lot of authors actually end up hiring us because we it's hard to get out of your own way for a lot of this, I think. You know, it's so easy for because this is your your baby, this is your book. You know, you've put a lot of time and effort into it. So it's very easy for an author to understand what makes a book unique, but it can be more challenging to, like you said, find that balance between uniqueness and what the market is looking for and making sure that those dots are connected properly. Right. Exactly. Exactly. You know, and I like in the notes, like I do like this one, familiarity with a twist feels safe. Yeah. So something familiar, like you said, Penny, they don't buy books, they don't understand. So making sure that your book as a general concept is familiar to them in a sense that you're answering what they're looking for, but that twist is your unique point of view or what makes your storyline special. You know what I mean? So they come into it going, okay, this sounds like it's on the right track. Plus, I'm intrigued because it's got something special that I haven't heard before.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Um so, and I love this next one. Yeah, go for the next one. Go for it.

Familiarity Lowers Risk For Readers

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Okay, point two. I don't want to be derivative. So this is great. I love this. This is right up my alley. You know, it's easy to confuse market alignment with creative compromise. You know, that's that's so that's so that's such a sticking point. You know, and we have these are more conversations, not to sound like a broken record, that we have a lot of that we have these conversations a lot. Covers follow conventions so readers can find you. Honestly, I'm gonna be, you know, there's nothing scarier than somebody saying, like, I have an entirely unique cover that nobody's ever seen before. And I go, oh no, because what you want a beautiful, creative, successful, you know, cover that speaks to your topic or your genre and all these things, you still, it's that familiarity that you still need to tap into to make sure that the people that you are trying to reach see your book cover and go, that looks like something I like to read. And if you're so far off from that, that's where the confusion comes in. And that's where they either click away or don't click to your retail page at all. Right. You know, that's part of the formula. There is a baseline kind of vibe, you know, excuse the woo-woo word, that you need to kind of follow along with, but still make it your own because that makes an easy buying decision for the shopper. You know, same thing with categories. Those exist because you want to play nice with the algorithms and you want your books to show up where they need to show up for the right people. You know, these are the kind of things that create being too creative is going to hurt you more than it's going to help you.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Well, and you know, I mean, if you if your reader has a hard time figuring out what your book is, the Amazon algorithm is never going to figure out where your where your book is, where your book belongs, right? And 70% of book purchases on Amazon specifically come from algorithm recommendations, not direct author searches. So I think, you know, we one of the things, because we just did a show actually on Amazon ads, right? And I think one of the points that I neglected to mention, but it just kind of spiked when we started as we started talking about this, is don't pay for your name in when you're doing Amazon ads. Like, because I I don't necessarily want, I mean, if my and my name is real unique, like I get it, but if I'm not coming up on Amazon and somebody is searching for my name, which rarely happens, by the way, right? Because the majority of people do not look directly for authors, right? Um, then then we have a problem. So you you have to come up, you have to come up under your correct genre. And if Amazon can't figure out where you belong, that's that's a that's a problem. And that's where the formula, that's where putting putting your book into a formula that is a known formula that works where it belongs, is gonna help you to sell more books.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Right. And I love this. You're not copying creativity, you're copying clarity. And I love I love that so much, you know. So we're not saying you need you need to go and do exactly what another author is doing. Actually, please don't do that. But the kind of things that we're talking about during the show, these are the kind of things that are foundational for every book out there, if it's going to find its people, you know, right. If you want to get it in front of the, like there are uh there is a formula to making this work. And then that is where the creativity comes in is how do you then stand out while staying true to these formulas that have proven to work over and over again?

Resisting The Formula: Common Myths

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Right, right, exactly. And I think the the final resistance, which is kind of my personal favorite, um I should invent my own path. And this is really where the ego kind of quietly shows up, right? Um I understand, we understand that you want to create your own path. And this is, you know, books are uniquely personal projects, right? There's the creativity, there's maybe your personal story, whatever that is. But even like restaurants follow cuisine categories, right? Movies follow genre convent uh conventions, tech startup models, you know, model pricing on competitors. Everything has a formula. So you can still invent your own path while still following the formula. So if you're listening to this, you're just like, well, I'm not really sure, I don't really know. Make sure that, you know, when you're looking at your particular genre, that you're adhering to all of those different formula metrics. For example, um a book cover in a particular genre has, you know, sort of like a look to it, for example, right? Um and every genre, every, you know, every and re every genre has their particulars, even though the book covers are all different. There are particular formulas that good, you know, cover artists and things like that follow. The same thing is true, obviously, for your categories, which Amy was just mentioning, and your keywords and things like that. The verbiage in your in your uh retail description, you can still invent your own path and follow a formula. Um because you know, I had a publisher one time tell me that you can reinvent the wheel all you want when you are a household name. But when you are starting out and you're paving your own path, you have to follow the designated routes. And I realize that that sounds like we're just killing all your creativity, but truly, those are the things that will help you to be successful and allow you at some point to create, you know, do to do your own thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Right. And I love the note. Sorry, y'all. I mean, it's I love when we make notes in here that really speak to what the pain points are, because one of our notes is reinventing doesn't make you innovative, it just makes you tired. And that's like, I so feel that. Oh, I know, right? Yeah. It really is true that, and we do hear that from a lot of authors as well, that they just get tired of trying to figure out how to make all this work. And so that's another great reason to kind of embrace the idea of this formula because it does give you something to work from so you can feel so you can feel assured that you're okay. Like I'm on the right path here. Like I'm doing the right things in the right order, I'm assessing what needs to be assessed, you know, because it is, it's it's challenging. But I mean, that is one of the things that I tell so many of the authors that reach out to us to potentially work with us that we are big on doing the right things in the right order at AMI. And because it really does make such a huge difference. And for over two decades, we've seen authors struggle with trying to get back on track after doing things in all the wrong orders, you know? Right. And it's so much harder. So it's like we really like to emphasize that to save all of y'all a lot of heartache.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Right, right, right, right. Exactly. Um, all right, you want to take the next one?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yeah, what a successful author formula actually includes. This is a big one. I love that. Go for it. Like, here we go. Okay. Market signals, category placement that matches reader expectations and keywords that mirror how readers search. This is so important. And I can't tell you how many emails I get a week saying, do you use this program or do you use this program or do you plug in this? And it's like, believe it or not, we are very old school when it comes to figuring out categories and keywords because it makes what really works is mimicking what people are doing on Amazon already to find books that they end up purchasing. You know, so these are really important. Like this is a huge part of the formula. You need to be meeting readers in ways that they are actively performing on Amazon. You can't expect them to show up looking for your book, or like Penny already said, searching for your name. They're looking for something they know they already want. And so categories and keywords are a great way to connect those dots. So you end up showing up in front of on the right searches for the right people looking for books like yours. And I think that's a huge one, Penny. It's really hard to step away sometimes and realize, you know, come to terms with the fact that like nobody's actually searching for your book, but that's okay. They're searching for books like yours. And that's where that's where the sweet spot is. You want to insert your book in those searches. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Right, exactly. And that's where the visual language comes in. So the covers signal the genre in under a second. And we've done a whole bunch of shows on covers, so I don't want we don't have to spend a ton of time on this because I do want to get to some of the tips and how you can figure out whether, you know, it it some signals to figure out whether or not you're, you know, you're battling this. But the covers are, you know, the cover has to match the genre promise, right? It has to signal the genre. So I think that um, and then when authors get creative outside the genre norms, that's when you start to get into problems. Even and we've actually had situations where the writing has just been like an author will come to us and they're like, this book hasn't done anything. I don't know what I'm doing, and I'll read through the book. And I mean, the writing is spot on, amazing, but it's buried in a cover that isn't sending the right signals to the to the consumer.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Right, 100%. It's not doing the book justice right now. Exactly.

unknown 21:10

Okay.

Market Alignment Without Losing Creativity

SPEAKER_00 21:11

And then the, oh, I love this one. Narrative promise, a hook that answers who are this, who is this for? Why will I care? This is also where you put in the genre expectations, the emotional, intellectual, the practical. You know, you really, again, we've talked about it a lot. You can't expect shoppers readers to spend a lot of time trying to figure things out. So these are just very simple ways. They're nuanced, but very simple ways to ensure within that split second that you have their attention, they instantly see, oh, this is a kind of book I'm looking for. This is, you know what I mean? It piques their interest. So the narrative promise is super, super important. You want to make sure you and we talk about that a lot too. Don't bury the lead, right, Penny? Like you don't want to wait till the end of your description, or you don't want a really vague title with zero without a sub. Subtitle, if that reduces the likelihood of somebody that's shopping for books is going to understand what your book is about, you know? Right. Put it right out there. This is who it's for. This is what makes it great. Like lead with the best stuff, you know? Like that is always going to work in your favor.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah. Yeah. That's up, that's absolutely true. And then I think that that the final one on this is uh the reader path. So where does this book fit into the reader's life and what problems does it solve or experience does it deliver? Now, this is kind of unique because um this, so when you're talking, and you know, this isn't necessarily um fall, genre fiction doesn't tend to tend to, I mean, genre fiction does have to have a reader path. Let me just back up a little bit because I'm getting a little bit scrambled. Um, but the problem that it solves and the experience that it delivers is pretty unique to our nonfiction authors that are listening, right? So when you're talking about, like, let's say, for example, how to be successful, just right, how to be successful. You have to really figure out where in the success funnel your book actually belongs. Like, is it just at the beginning? Like, have you, this is your first time trying to, I don't know, whatever it is, build a business or whatever it is that you're doing, start a singing career, who knows? Like, where does it actually fall in the cons in the consumer's path? And you have to figure out where that is. Your cover has to align, your book description has to align, and obviously the content of your book, you know, your book has to align too.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Right. Yeah. And this goes back to what you said on a recent episode, Penny. And it was, I think it was one of our first of the year where you said it's really not about you. And it's, but I love that so much because it's true, you know, like at some point you have to shift from the about me to about the reader, the buyer, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Right, right, exactly, exactly. And I think that, and I and I'm looking forward to to to getting the the the signs that authors are fighting the formula because I I think we could spend an hour just talking about that. We won't, but we could. Um, but it's really, but it's really, really true. I think that uh in the majority of cases, we the reason that these problems happen is authors just want to be unique. And I get it. We all want to be unique, we all want to stand out, we feel like the competition is fierce, we want to get out ahead of this, we want to put something that's really gonna pop. And in in doing so, you end up, you know, ignoring the formula and you wind up in the next phase of this podcast conversation where you're where you're fighting the formula. Amy, why don't you let's divide these up? These are really, I don't want to say fun. They're not fun if you're listening and this is you, but they're interesting to talk about. Um, so do you want to take the first one on this? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yeah. So red flag number one is when you hear that it fits in multiple genres.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Huge problem. Sorry. I just had to step up. So I'm like, oh yeah.

Categories, Algorithms, And Discoverability

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Yes, it's like that's that's not a thing. Um it it and you know, the reason is is because once you start splitting your focus, and this is where, you know, my marketing hat is put on for sure. Once you start splitting your focus, very little of what you do becomes effective. You know, you really want to have a focus on who your readers are, how you're going to speak to them, what your branding is going to be like. And if you are trying to appease multiple different reader markets with a single title, unfortunately, it's going to be just result in a lot of your efforts being relatively lackluster and nobody feeling special or like they're being seen or like their needs are being met or their genre tastes are being, you know, catered to. It just ends up being diluted. And so I get it. A lot of authors, I think, like to go in that direction with multiple genres because they think it's expanding who their potential reader market is, but it actually works against you and it makes everything less effective. So you're much better off, especially when you're building your author career, to firmly cement your title into a genre that you have done your due diligence to learn about, to know what kind of books are trending, to know what authors are doing well. You know, success definitely leaves clues. Really understand what you're getting into. And I assure you, everything that you do in terms of marketing, branding, positioning, anything with your platform is going to work for you that much harder.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah, that's absolutely true. I think that what and you know, and I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you ended on that, because I think that when you when you miss, when you when your book is misaligned and when you're when you're not following a formula, everything becomes so much harder, right? Everything feels like an uphill battle. So if you're marketing, if you're listening to this and your marketing has felt like an uphill battle, you may want to take a look and see if you're if your you know, roundhole square peg kind of thing with your book. Um and this isn't so. I just want to make sure as we're finishing up these signs that you're fighting the formula. The majority of cases, this is these are quick fixes, right? Oh, yeah. So, you know, in some cases, and I and I'm gonna talk about the cover in just a second, uh, maybe your cover is just misaligned, um, maybe your book description needs to be tightened up, your genre needs to be changed. Like the book is fine, it's just sitting in the wrong place, or you tried to get too creative with the with the genre. Now, if you wrote the book and it like if you wrote a romance novel that has werewolves and I don't know, enemies to lovers and secret baby and you know, sarcosy Christmas romance or whatever, then you probably have to rewrite the book. But that's generally not what we see. Generally, what we see when authors are, you know, really struggling is, you know, like Amy mentioned, there's multiple genres. The second one is an author who says, I don't want a typical cover. I get it. I write books, I don't want typical covers either, but I do want a cover that is recognizable in, you know, in the industry, like I in the genre. I want something that when when an when an author, which obviously I write for authors, when an author looks at it, they're like, oh my gosh, this book's exactly what I need. This is what I want. I don't want anything, I want something unique, but I don't want anything that deviates from that. Full stop. Right. Right. Because everything will suffer. People do judge a book by its cover.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

100%. And I feel bad saying that sometimes to authors because it can be very like deflating. But know that, like Penny said, it is one of the simplest but most impactful things you can do for a book that you feel is not landing well in the market. Yeah. And I met an author. We've seen clients do it before, and it is just mind-blowing, right, Penny?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Yeah. I met an author years ago, and I can use this as an example because this author later went back and changed their cover. But um, this book was about this book was set sort of like around the Vietnam War. So the cover had so he wanted everything that was in the book on the cover, right? So he had uh a jungle, right? He had a picture of Nixon, he had uh, I think weed on the cover, like then he had some tattoos, and then there was a lava lamp because it was the 60s, right? And and I told him I I and I said, you know, I I'm getting a little bit of a headache looking at your cover, you know, and he said, Well, the reason that he did it that way, which you know kind of made sense when your comment, he's like, I wasn't, you know, I I wanted to make sure that I appealed to everybody, right? Because, you know, like maybe somebody that likes lava lamps would pick up his book. I don't think that's a thing, but whatever. And I get it, he was he was feeling a little desperate because he wanted to sell books, so we wanted to make sure that his cover appealed to everybody. And guess what? When your cover appeals to everybody, it's gonna appeal to nobody. And consequently, he went back and he's actually his his new cover was phenomenally awesome. I mean, it was amazing, but he said to me, He's like, I really had to get out of my own way. And I'm like, Yeah, I agree with that, and completely so yeah, all right.

The Successful Author Formula Explained

SPEAKER_00 31:00

So next one success story, yeah. Reviews reviews say it's good but confusing. And I would say, and I would say this is kind of we could kind of lump any sort of review that has positive and negatives in it, you know what I mean? I think that's kind of where you know, you gotta take constructive criticism for what it is instead of just writing it off, which can be really hard. Like I get it. But at the same time, if you really want to do this and you want to be successful at this and you want to be making positive strides in the right direction, you have to, like Penny just said, get out of your own way and actually, you know, take that constructive feedback and think, is this true? If so, what can I do about it?

unknown 31:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

You know? And a lot of times, like Penny already said, a lot of times it's positioning. A lot of times it's not necessarily because there's anything wrong with the content of the book, but for whatever reason, some way that you're presenting it is bringing in the wrong people that were expecting one thing, but kind of got something slightly different. And unfortunately, once you get to that point and those reviews are posted, there's nothing you can do about it. You know what I mean? Other than go back and fix what can be fixed. And so, yes, like after you're done throwing things across the room at your desk, you know, kind of focus in on all right, what did they say? And is there something I can do? You know, is there a silver lining in this in this review that said a few things that I don't want to hear?

unknown 32:33

You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

And we and you know, we've all been there. We've all been there with, and you know, as Amy said, not all reviews are gonna be deal breakers for your book. But if there is a through line of reviews that are popping up saying this wasn't what I expected, then you probably have a problem. Right. Right. Exactly. Yep. Um, and the final one, and we spent so last week's show. If you want to listen, if you want to learn about Amazon ads, we did that last week. Um, ads are getting clicks, but no sales. So your automatic ads on Amazon, they is, man, I tell you, your automatic ads, you have to be careful of them. And we talked about this in the show last week. So definitely tune into that if you haven't listened. But man, they will tell you if your book is sitting, if there's a problem with your optimization, like flat out. Because Amazon won't know where to put it and the ads will just look bad. I just I don't know how else to say it. You know what I mean? And I think that, you know, uh the takeaway from this is or should be that every best-selling author that you admire operated inside a framework before they mastered it, right? A formula is not designed to erase your voice, but hopefully amplify it.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

So again, the formula, you put your own story inside that formula, it makes it unique, but follow the formula. I can't tell you how many times, how many. Well, first off, you'll save yourself a lot of time, but also probably thousands and thousands of dollars in marketing and doing all the right things. Amy, any final thoughts before we wrap up?

SPEAKER_00 34:14

No, I love this. And I loved, I want to go back to your early example, Penny, because I thought that was perfect. Like there are things that need to be done correctly in order to build a house. You know what I mean? To code, to structure so it doesn't fall on you in the middle of the night. But being able to design the interior is exactly, I love that example. I thought that was such a perfect real life example of why this is so important. There are absolutely right ways to go about things. And then after you get that cemented in, then the creativity comes. Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And it's something visual that everybody can kind of, you know, get their, kind of get their mind around. So we hope that you have enjoyed this episode. We love show ideas. By the way, even if you're not part of our our fun little texting group, um you you're welcome to email us. All of our contact information is in the show notes, but you can text us podcast, text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. And we love reviews. So wherever you listen to podcasts, please leave us a review. And and one of the things, Amy, you mentioned this last week in the show about the reviews. I don't mean to put you on the spot, but you said something really smart. Well, you always say smart things, but you said something really smart about tell listeners in your reviews how the show helped you. What was that? Oh, yes.

Cover Signals And Narrative Promise

SPEAKER_00 35:36

I I love, you know, we joked because we uh Penny and I both love hearing how wonderful we are, of course, but so you can say that too. But if you only have a few minutes to leave a review, do it for your fellow authors and write a quick review that, you know, gives them a tip or a trick or something that you learned or refer back to an episode that was really helpful for you because people look at reviews to figure out if this, you know, if this show is going to help them. And so if if you've been a listener for a while and it's helping you, we would love a review that actually tells other authors why it's working for you, what stands out, why they should listen to it. Because again, as much as we love the fanfare, we really do this for the educational aspect, and you can really help other authors by kind of calling attention to something in your review that will help them along the way.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Yeah, I think that's I think that's awesome. I'm glad you mentioned that. We want to thank you so much for listening, and we will we hope the show has been helpful for you. And we'll see you next week. Bye bye.