Are you taking readers on a decision-making journey?

Most people think of eBooks as a product. I often think of them as a stage.

Everyone has a front row seat with an eBook.

You may use that stage to teach, inspire or persuade.

I recently read a fantastic eBook called Before you Open Your Mouth: the Keys to Great Public Speaking by Nick Morgan, an expert public speaking coach.

I don’t remember exactly why I read it, as I’m not in the habit of public speaking. But I was amazed at the parallels between great speech giving and great eBook creating.

In each scenario, your audience sits down thinking, “what’s in it for me?”

Getting your audience from “what’s in it for me?” to “where do I sign up?” is what he calls the decision making journey.

Here is Nick Morgan’s formula for the decision making journey:

• Capture attention, briefly, using stories, questions, statistics or arresting facts. (All elements of sticky communication!)
• Go into the problem, from your audience’s perspective. The most important thing here is to talk about them, not yourself.
• Give your solution!
• Give the benefits and concrete examples of your solution.
• Close with an action step, a small, relevant task. (a.k.a. the call to action)

Enjoy the applause.