Long-Form vs “Snackable” Content: No, shorter is not always better

• Marketing, Writing
People read and value long-form articles, despite their busy lives.

Photo: Anna Dziubinska

“I don’t know what happened where every marketer thinks their content has to be shorter and shorter.” – Joe Pulizzi, founder, Content Marketing Institute.

Have you heard the shorter-is-better “wisdom” in your marketing meetings? Odds are you have, because it has become one of those things that people repeat as an obvious truth. Yet despite our busy lives, data shows it to be false.

Before I left the corporate world, I know I heard it from supposedly-informed colleagues. Along with these equally false statements:

  • Young people don’t use Facebook anymore
  • Email marketing is dead
  • No blog post should be more than 500 words

That’s not the end of the list, but the point is made without compiling more.

The true value of long-form articles

What’s the truth? The Quartz Global Executive Study discovered something quite different. Quartz calls it a survey of the media habits of the world’s smartest, busiest people. The 1,357 executives participating reported these results when asked which type of content they are most likely to share:

  • 84 percent say they share long-form articles more than any other content
  • Charts and data came in second at 47 percent
  • Videos were cited by 37 percent and breaking news stories by 36 percent

As you can see, there is no ambiguity in these results. People read long-form content and place a very high value on it. (Perhaps equally important, note that written articles are ranked well ahead of video.)

Mr. Pulizzi’s comment at the beginning of this post was made during Episode 180 of the This Old Marketing podcast (at about the 36 minute mark) that he produces with co-host Robert Rose.

Talking to Rose during the episode, he continued with these remarks. “You and I have been ranting about the whole ‘snackable content’ thing. You know, ‘We’ve got to get shorter and our videos are about 3 seconds long now because executives are busy and they don’t have any time…’ What we learn from this study is that executives love long-form articles – long, meaty, informational articles.”

Think before doing the same old marketing things

An often repeated point by Pulizzi is that we should always be asking why we are doing what we‘re doing in terms of marketing. Ask if sales collateral, trade shows, video, and other common tools are really the right tools for your market and product or service. Don’t just plow ahead with marketing activities that you know (or think you know) and are used to using.

And don’t believe marketing “truisms” just because you’ve often heard them.

Effort spent trying to do more of the same old things, may actually be more profitably spent doing new  and different things. The right things, based on what your customers truly consume and value.

So don’t blindly accept that short content is always better. From this study you can see that if you provide real information, with new data and insight, it’s going to be valuable to your customers. If you don’t have time to produce longer articles, find someone who has the experience to research and write on your behalf.

It will be another way to differentiate you and your business, with everyone else on another specious marketing bandwagon. One of so many that marketers climb aboard without thinking.

 

Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

Neil Gaiman, “Eight Rules for Writing,” Guardian, 2010 #

Your Book-Writing Roadmap: How to develop an outline for non-fiction

• Writing

Photo: Zachary Staines

This first step in your book writing journey is important for so many reasons. As you create your outline, the vision you have for your book will become much more clear. And you’ll build the roadmap that will get you started and keep you working toward the goal of putting your ideas into print.

Outlining includes these important steps:

  • Clarifying the overall theme
  • Deciding what kind of book you should write
  • Uncovering the subtopics that will become chapters in your book, to guide and persuade your reader toward the conclusion and action you want

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan HeathTo illustrate the steps in the outlining process, I’ll refer to a favorite book of mine “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip and Dan Heath, a New York Times Bestseller.

Define your theme

Here, you need to define the purpose of your book. What is the one, overarching idea you want to communicate to your audience?

Here’s where a good collaborator can help you through a series of discussions that will help you think a little more deeply about your expertise and how to communicate it.

It’s important to narrow the focus of your book to make it easier for your reader absorb and retain the information in their minds. If you have many ideas and are finding it difficult to choose, maybe you’ve uncovered topics for a series of books rather than just one. So much the better.

At this point, resist the urge for immediate decisiveness on your theme. There’s solid research showing that taking a little extra time at this stage will help you uncover the new twist on your ideas. That might be the key to finding the memorable hook that can take your book from good to great.

You probably know John Cleese as a comedian and actor. He was a leading force behind the Monty Python comedy group and perhaps became even better known as the co-writer and star of “A Fish Called Wanda.” What you may not know is that he also frequently lectures on the subject of creativity.

Citing research by psychologist Donald MacKinnon, one of his Cleese’s key points is that finding the most creative ideas requires setting your brain to an open mode by exploring a wide range of ideas, then letting those ideas ruminate in your brain for a while. Here are Cleese’s words from the text of one of his lectures posted on genius.com:

“Because, and this is the extraordinary thing about creativity, if you just keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious, probably in the shower later. Or at breakfast the next morning, but suddenly you are rewarded; out of the blue a new thought mysteriously appears.”

For the best result, let it incubate a bit before you choose your theme.

⇒ Theme example

The Heath brothers arrived at a theme for “Made to Stick” that doubles as the subtitle: Why some ideas survive and others die. The book’s purpose is to delve into why some ideas burn into our minds – whether true or false – and why, even though they might be more valuable, other ideas are so elusive and forgotten. Marketers can use the information in this book to create messaging and stories that resonate and “stick” with customers.

Most likely your theme can double as your subtitle too.

What kind of book is it?

Once you know the main idea you want to communicate, you’ll need to decide what kind of book format to use. Is it best organized as a handbook, guide, educational reference, or persuasive title?

Your book may do all of those things, but there should be one structure that works best to present your theme most effectively.

⇒ Book structure example

“Made to Stick” is an educational book about new ideas, so the structure first introduces the subject, then breaks it down into subtopics, presents successful case studies, and finally, helps marketers implement the new ideas.

Subtopics to chapters

Now it’s time to develop the chapter headings for your book. You want to think about how you need to lead your reader from being interested in your overall theme to understanding and believing in what you have to say.

One of my most effective university professors taught Statistics 101. (Shout-out to Dr. Jim Lackritz at SDSU.) What made him effective was that he broke up his curriculum into a number of units. He would teach the unit, then quiz us on that section of the material. In this step-by-step way, he gave us just enough new information that we were never overwhelmed by too many new concepts. As a result, we could understand each unit and build on it as we progressed through the course.

As you develop your outline, think in the same way. What are the logical “bites“ of information you can pull from your main theme? In what sequence do you need to present your ideas so that the reader has the context and understanding to move to the next step?

These subtopics will help you identify and add chapter headings to your outline.

At this stage, also think about graphic ways to communicate your ideas. We all love good visuals and, though well-worn, “a picture says a thousand words” has a lot of truth to it. Plus, good graphics will be a great resource when it comes to promoting your book. When you do your promotion and public relations outreach, you’ll find that bloggers, reporters, and editors love graphics and often are more prone to write about you if you can provide one.

Let me diverge a bit here: Once you have your chapters defined, you might consider releasing some or all of them as a series of eBooks. You can either sell or give them away. It’s a good way to get feedback on what you’re writing from your audience too, which you can then use to re-write and improve your book.

You might ask, “Why would I give away my ideas? That’s why I’m writing the book.” In fact, many successful business authors give away as least some chapters free. Or they will compile a series of freely-available blog posts into a book. They have found that people will still buy the book to have all the ideas – plus additional information – in one volume. Your book will also expose a wider audience to your ideas or pitch and serve as a tangible handout (or sales opportunity) when you present or speak on your topic.

OK…back to outlining.

⇒ Subtopics and chapters example

The Heath brothers chose the following sequence of chapters to illustrate the characteristics of ideas that are “Made to Stick”:

  1. Simple
  2. Unexpected
  3. Concrete
  4. Credible
  5. Emotional
  6. Stories – case studies to illustrate how-to

Pretty easy to see the logical subtopics they chose here, isn’t it? Presenting one concept at a time, they help the reader get educated on this new way to develop stories and marketing messages.

As an example of offering some of your ideas for free, “Made to Stick” readers can download the first chapter as a sample and many of the concepts in the book were first presented in a series of columns for “Fast Company.” The Heath brothers also offer a number of other resources:

  • A “Made to Stick” website
  • An easy reference guide at the end of the book that condenses the chapters into prompts you can use as you develop ideas and messages
  • A one-page “SUCCESS” Made to Stick Model for handy reference
  • Other ways to apply “Made to Stick” thinking

Your book outline is a working document

Just like my “Made to Stick” example, the typical outline for most non-fiction books will look like this:

  • Introduction
  • Set the stage – why the reader should pay attention to this new direction, system or business approach in the context of today’s environment
  • Main theme discussion, through a series of logically-sequenced subtopics/chapters
  • Successful case studies and examples
  • Wrap up and/or how to get started using this new knowledge

Of course like any plan, your outline will be a working document. You’ll most likely modify and reorganize as you go. But, as discussed in my previous post Why do you need a collaborator?, the top reason people don’t write the book they want to is that they don’t know where to start. With your outline complete, you’ll have your theme well-defined, your road map in hand, and be ready to go.

And if you’re not able to carve out time for the writing yourself, find a good collaborator who will guide you through the process. That way you can let your ideas free-flow without worrying about writing structure, let your collaborator re-write it into prose, and get feedback and guidance early in the process. You’ll save time, increase the quality of your book, and have your published work finished much sooner.

Why Do You Need a Collaborator?

• Writing
Need help to get past the intimidating blank screen?

Photo: Alex Knight

How to beat the odds and finish your book

 As you read this you’re likely one of over 80 percent of people who say we want to write a book. That 80 percent stat is backed by multiple surveys.

We have good intentions too, according to a survey commissioned by Brian Tracy International. The survey reports that nearly 70 percent of us view a book as a way to pass along a message or knowledge that will inspire and educate others.

Yet those surveys also report that only 10 percent or fewer of us do the work to turn our ideas into a published book.

Top reasons you won’t write your book

According to the Brian Tracy survey, the top reason that book ideas remain ideas only is that 40 percent of people don’t know where to start. Another 31 percent say they lack confidence or don’t feel qualified. And the third most cited reason, at 18 percent, is a lack of time.

Congratulations.

Rather than feeling bad about those stats, these answers uncover a pretty good self-awareness and understanding of what it takes to write a book. Despite the desire to do it and good reasons for doing so, writing a book is not a job that 80 percent of people have the skill or time to successfully accomplish.

Be one of the few who will be an author

To help you capture your message of inspiration or knowledge, and get it into the hands of those who matter to you, you most likely need a collaborator (aka ghostwriter). An experienced collaborator knows how to plan and execute a book writing project. They also enable you to offload the burden of time it takes to make it happen.

We’re the ones who can lay out a process and guide you through it, breaking down your wall of inertia into these manageable steps:

  • Build an outline to help you think about and distill your core messages, and lay out the chapters for your book.
  • Develop questions based on the subject of each chapter.
  • Interview you, saving you from facing the intimidating, time-wasting “blank screen” as you ponder what to write. Your collaborator should have good interview skills to draw out your message and help you explore valuable new offshoots and ideas that spring up along the way.
  • Transcribe, organize, and revise the information gathered in the interviews into an easy-to-read flow.
  • Periodically review progress with you, so you can provide feedback and ensure the writing stays true to your voice and vision.
  • Revise and re-write until you overcome the odds and complete your book.

A collaborator/ghostwriter can provide the quality writing you need to stand out

A final key point: Despite only one in ten people writing the book they want to, the volume of books continues to grow. Over 300,000 are published each year. According to Bowker, a writing services company that supplies important book registration numbers to the trade, self-publishing is an especially fast growing part of the market. In the latest figures reported by the company, registrations grew at a rate of 21 percent year-over-year and continue to accelerate.

Those numbers clearly show that you need to “sound different” to set yourself apart. Professional collaborators can provide the quality of writing that you need to make your book (or any other written materials) stand out in a crowded marketplace.

I’m happy to discuss your project with you with no obligation on your part. Let’s talk.