I’ve written a personal commentary on Revelation with unique perspectives that I’m supporting with massive amounts of Scripture and Jewish tradition. I see my ideal reader as a mature Christian who would love to dive deeply into the end times and the entirety of the Word of God. My developmental editor has suggested that I convert the many parenthetical citations to footnotes, but I worry that footnotes would be an immediate turnoff for almost all who are not biblical scholars. I’m not a biblical scholar, and so that’s the last thing I want. In fact, I suspect that my book will fail to appeal to scholars who spend far more time reading and meditating over books about the Bible than in the Bible itself. And that’s not my audience. So my question is, assuming you are not a scholar, what would be your preference for citation style? Thank you!

In the spirit of this week's BL livestream on branding... one of the things we didn't get to cover during that great hour is the importance of being really clear on -- and communicating to your audience -- your brand promise(s). In his book, A Branded World, branding and PR expert, Michael Levine, writes, "... a brand -- particularly a successful brand -- is a series of promises being not only met but exceeded..." For BMW, that's "The ultimate driving machine." For Coca-Cola, that's "To inspire moments of optimism and uplift." For Coors Light, that's "The world's most refreshing beer." For Apple, that's "Think different." You get the idea. I'm working on my new (re)brand identity and, this week particularly, the promise aspect of it. So far my drafts include: "repeatable, scalable, aligned marketing strategies" -- or -- "putting the fun (back) into marketing" -- or -- "No more faking it. Just making it." Still working on it; that's where it is today. 👉We all have such different brands. How are you framing/communicating your promise(s)?

When I self-published my trauma memoir in 2012, my trailer was ~3 minutes long. (To be fair, attention spans were longer back then, lol!). It told a very compelling, emotional story in video images and text. Blech! Too long, too yuck. I would never do that today. Which has me thinking.... How do we pack a "you-need-this-book-NOW!" punch in today's world, where the sweet spot for a (non-fiction) book trailer is more like 30 seconds? Maybe, we combine the USP and credibility of our NF selves, and then borrow from YouTube viral methodologies to deliberately create a trailer that has components that encourage virality. For example, Adley Stump is incredibly successful at creating viral videos. Her company, Viralish, works with top brands to develop viral videos across many platforms. Two weeks ago she gave a great interview that outlined how to craft a viral video. (You can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyyF7k_n4H4&t=518s) Adley's super fun to listen to and very articulate; anyone who likes marketing can learn a lot from this converation, and not just in the video realm. -- Actually, even if you don't like marketing you can learn a lot and have fun doing it with that URL. -- Anyway, Adley offers a simple, 6-step formula: 1. hook -- audience-grabbing idea delivered in the first 3 seconds 2. suspense -- open a curiosity loop (Adley calls it an 'itch', but don't scratch it) 3. pay off - resolve curiosity (scratch the itch) 4. raising the stakes -- make people care 5. engagement tactics -- include something that makes people comment on the video 6. split test -- i.e. on IG do trial reels to see which video hits best Definitely thinking about how I might incorporate these ideas into the trailer for my next book. And also, other marketing collateral I create along the way. Very interested to hear how anyone else is approaching this topic in 2025.... 🎥😁

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Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here, 24hrs in. Love this platform! I've watched a lot of Julie's videos which led me here. I only launched my books and productivity planners last week so in a massive learning curve. I haven't been able to get to promotion yet as still getting final touches on website, KDP, etc. There's so much to do! Anyway, I am looking to forward to being part of this journey with everyone inside this community. Thank you @Julie Broad for creating it. I love what you do. Sam.