Help with Messaging

May 22, 2018 5:52 PM

I am about to launch a book. It has a largely liberal audience which I think will be excited to read about something they love. But I believe it also has a largely conservative counter-audience, or, a group of people who also follow it but don't like it and want it to go away. First, is it unreasonable to try to market the book to both audiences?

And second, when I create messaging for both audiences, I want to be authentic about how their concerns and desires are addressed in the book. After nearly four years or research, there really is something for everybody. But I don't want to amp up the successes and failures for either group but I do want to capture their respective attentions. Any suggestions on how to word introductory press releases or emails?

posted by CollectiveMind to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

You say you addressed everyone's "concerns and desires" - did you consult any of these conservative people while researching this book? Will your book make them feel heard or acknowledged, or are you in any sense "their people" (say, a rural upbringing or religious affiliation you can lean on)?

If they see you as a total outsider who is trying to disprove their views, I'm not sure that you can constructively address this audience, at least not in the context of this book launch.
posted by toastedcheese at 7:07 PM on May 22, 2018

BURN MY BOOK TO OWN THE LIBS

Without knowing more about the book, this is pretty hard to answer. If it's a kids book about how to frolic in Obama's unicorn garden, you'd approach it differently than if it's Abortion: Why You're Wrong.

More to the point: Sounds like your publisher should hire a marketing/pr consultant to walk you through this stuff and make decisions that fit your circumstances.
posted by klangklangston at 8:33 PM on May 22, 2018 [9 favorites]

This might not be similar to your situation, but I sort of did this once by trying to market a political journalism book to both liberals and conservatives. I thought there would be something for both sides to be outraged about, and that this would drive buzz!

In retrospect this was naive of me, and it didn't really work. Your goals might be different here but my biggest regret IMO, was relying on outrage, at all, as a channel for marketing. At first it seems like a great way to find readers. But it came at the expense of emphasizing strong storytelling or of the book being enjoyable to read, which I now wish had been the focus. It probably seems obvious but I didn't fully understand that the readers who buy books out of outrage on Daily Kos are looking for totally different qualities than the readers who want to be swept away by compelling nonfiction story experiences!
posted by johngoren at 10:23 AM on May 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That is exactly the situation I'm in. I've spent weeks collecting contact information for liberal progressives and republican conservatives. My conservative friends say the same thing, but they also say the outraged are not beloved by mainstream conservatives either and that thinkers on the right want a good read just like liberals on the left. It seems a no-brainer to send both sides information and let them make their own deductions. But I don't believe I have dumbed down the writing to appeal to both sides. What I've done, I hope, is to expose all of public radio's warts so that liberals wanting to protect it can do so and conservatives that want to point at its problems can do so.
posted by CollectiveMind at 3:27 PM on May 23, 2018