Contrast & Conquer
Take your book from agreeable to memorable
On the Kevin Miller Podcast, I've recorded almost 1,800 episodes with over 70 million downloads. I've reviewed thousands of books from which I've had over 400 influential guests. Almost all the books are in the self-improvement category, and with all of them I'm asking myself the same question: "Why would I have this author on my show?"
I don't care if the person is famous. More often than not, I find the best messages coming from people I've never heard of. Most books pass the clarity test. Few pass the contrast test: what they claim that the last ten books on the topic don't.
Contrast & Conquer is guidance I offer at 48 Days Press that puts your manuscript through that question before editing begins. Together we name the one idea you can be known for, and we test whether that idea is built to change a reader, not just win their agreement.
Why I do this
Some of the best messages I've found were in books you haven't heard of, written by authors who deserved to be known for what they'd written. The idea was there. It just never stood apart from everything else on the shelf.
I want to help great messages get the attention they deserve.
What a memorable idea does for your readers
A reader can agree with your book, and forget it the day after they finish it. Agreeing with an idea and being changed by it are two different things. An idea built with real contrast is one a reader can't easily set aside, because it runs into something they already believe and asks them to choose.
Think through your favorite books. The ones that stuck likely brought a new concept to mind in a unique way.
What it does for you
The same contrast that changes a reader is what gets an author known. A clear topic simply puts you among dozens of similar books. A distinct, contrasting idea, however, gives hosts a reason to book you, event planners a reason to put you on stage, and readers something to repeat to the next person. It's how an author becomes known for something, and that is where the books that stick come from.
A clear idea isn't the same as a memorable one
Most books have the first and assume they have the second. Your title and tagline say what the book is about. They seldom say what the book claims that no one else does.
Three questions show the difference:
- What does your book claim that the last ten books on your topic don't?
- How are you showing contrast between what people normally think and a new and more helpful way of thinking?
- Could a listener repeat your idea after hearing it once?
The layers of a core idea
- Topic. What the book is about. Every competing book on your topic has this.
- Thesis. The claim you make about the topic.
- Contrast. What your thesis says that the usual advice misses, or addresses differently. This is where a book stands apart.
- Handle. The short phrase a reader can repeat after hearing it once.
- Mechanism. What the reader does with it. Think of Mel Robbins's five-second countdown or "let them."
Titles and taglines usually cover the topic and sometimes the thesis. That's generally where a publisher looks, and an editing team structures the book for flow and understanding. I question and test the thesis, then look for the contrast, handle, and mechanism.
Here's how it works, applied to my own offer here
Show the pattern. A publisher looks at the title, tagline and comparable titles. That can make the core idea feel settled.
Name the gap. Comp titles show how your book is like other books. A title names your topic. Neither one says what your book claims differently than other books and authors do.
Hold up the contrast. A clear idea gets agreement. A contrasting idea gets remembered, and it gets the author invited on the show, onto the stage, and into the conversation.
Create the friction. Many bestsellers don't pass this test. Fame, or a famous endorser, can carry a book whose idea doesn't stand out. Without that platform, the idea has to do the work.
Offer the choice. Rely on the label, or find the claim that makes your book, and you, unmistakable.
Grounded in positioning
- Al Ries and Jack Trout argued that a brand wins by owning one word or idea in the customer's mind, set against what's already there. (Positioning, 1981; The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, 1993)
- Chip and Dan Heath identify "unexpected" as a trait of ideas that stick: an idea breaks the audience's current way of thinking. (Made to Stick, 2007)
- April Dunford's approach to positioning centers on the alternatives a customer would otherwise choose. Uniqueness only makes sense against those alternatives. (Obviously Awesome, 2019)
Why would I have you on?
Contrast & Conquer is open to a limited number of authors each month.
Kevin