It’s been awhile since I’ve done a book review. So I have one here that should be a boon to anyone who makes comics.
Promotion is necessary and you must market your work, even if your work is handled by a publisher. You can have the biggest, baddest comic (or any other product) on the block…but if nobody knows about your work, they don’t buy it. That’s where marketing comes in. You need to tell others about your work be it through a weblog, a Facebook post, a press release or a sales letter. But how can you phrase your marketing efforts so people will sit up and take notice?
Enter the text Words That Sell by Richard Bayan. The subtitle for this work is “More than 6,000 Entries to Help You Promote Your Products, Services and Ideas.”
This book starts off with a short introduction and goes on to explain how to use the book, a crash course on copywriting, and different types of sales copy. The bulk of the book though is mainly words and phrases designed to grab people’s attention and to describe your product, convincing them why they should buy.
The sections of selling words are divided up into: grabbers with phrases like “back by popular demand” and “try us for six months”; descriptions and benefits which lists words to use for terms like “appealing”, “authentic”, “distinguished”, “wholesome” and “popular”; and lastly, clinchers which involve phrases meant to grab the attention of your audience.
Mr. Bayan has been a copywriter and copyeditor for Barron’s Educational Series, Time-Life Books and Day-Timers. This background, combined with the excellent advice and variety of marketing words, make Words That Sell a winner. This book is worth having and can really aid in selling your work.
I’ve used the terminology myself when composing my many press releases as well as the sales letter I’m putting together for Forbidden Planet. No doubt the strategies in this book will be used for Sunnyville Stories Volume 3 when it comes out.
Pick up this book today at your local library or friendly neighborhood bookstore.
Words That Sell by Richard Bayan, McGraw-Hill, 2006
