How to Write a Subtitle That Sells the Book (Before They Even Read It)

All right. Welcome back, revenue writers, to the Revenue Writers podcast. We are continuing our Power Promise series. P in power is the problem that you saw. O is the offering of a solution. W is the words, particularly with your title and subtitle. And so we talked about the title of your book last time. Let's talk about the subtitle now. And what we talked about with the title was that the title is there to hook the reader. It is your headline. It is there to drive curiosity to get them interested. You think about Atomic Habits. It's a very famous book. You have no idea exactly what he's about to do, but you know it has something to do with habits, but you don't really know. It's small habits. Maybe you could think through that enough. But in a quick glance, three to five seconds, you're not going to figure out what that book is actually promising you yet just by that title alone. Ask the book. Ask doesn't tell you what the book's about just by saying ask. Bleak doesn't tell you what it's about. Margin doesn't tell you what it's about. They are just there to hook you. So the job then of the subtitle is to bring exact, painful clarity. This is not a time to be clever titles where you should be clever, don't be clever in your subtitle. That's a good rule. Okay? Clarity always beats clever, and especially when it comes to subtitles. You look at the subtitles of those books I was mentioning. Ask. The counterintuitive online method to discover exactly what your customers want to buy. That. That create a mass of raving fans. That and take any business to the next level. Okay? If you don't know what you're going to get with that book, with that long of a subtitle, you're out of luck. Okay? Blink. The power of thinking without thinking. Oh, I know what this book's about now. Margin restoring Emotional, physical, financial and time reserves to overloaded lives. So the subtitle is there to eliminate any questions that remain after your title. Okay? Mini book marketing. I mean, is this marketing that's going to help me put me on the New York Times bestseller list? What kind of marketing is this? And it tells you, hey, how to sell your first 1,000 books. I'm setting the expectation. I'm setting expectation low compared to a lot of marketing books. Because. Because I think the biggest problem people face is, hey, you don't even know how to move your first few books. And the secret is you can move a thousand. You can move 10,000. But most people are overwhelmed like hey, how to hit New York Times bestseller. Like I can't handle that. So with a subtitle you clarify and set with your words the expectation of the reader right up front and that way you can fulfill your promise. And you know, as the author, as you're writing your book, am I actually fulfilling the promise that I made the reader? I know even if someone hates my book mini book market, I know I 1000% fulfilled my promise to teach them how to sell 1000 books. And as long as I know that I'm confident in what I wrote. And so you need to choose a subtitle clearly articulates what it's about. Clearly articulate the promise that you're making between the title and the subtitle. You're like most the way there. But all those are influenced by first thing, two things you figured out. What was the problem you're trying to solve and oh, what's the offer of the solution. So embedded in my title and subtitle of many book market sell your first 1000 books. I am addressing the problem you don't know how to sell your books or I'm not selling books. And the offer of a solution is hey, mini books and marketing. I'll show you the solution with that. And so those two together are the title and subtitle are influenced by the P and the O the problem and offer a solution. So craft your title and subtitle. I want to hear it. Email it to me. Chrischris-stanley.com I hope you're enjoying these episodes and I hope it's helping you craft a powerful promise for your next book, for your next project. Can't wait to hear what you think about it. Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. I really appreciate it.