Top of mind bottom feeders and how their spam email tactics can suck blog from Brand Communications and Optics Strategist Loren Weisman.
Top of mind bottom feeders
You have probably heard the phrase: “Stay at the top of your audience’s mind” at all times.
And all these hype type Business coaches and executive consultants love to repeat it as if it’s the ultimate marketing truth.
But here comes the problem…
Many have twisted this advice into something counterproductive. Instead of providing value, they flood inboxes with constant, repetitive, low quality content in a desperate attempt to stay “top of mind.” I call them Top of mind bottom feeders.
It reminds me of those old movie scenes…
(before everyone became hypersensitive and so easily triggered)
where someone tries speaking to a person in another language by just getting louder and slower, as if volume alone will make the message understood.
That’s what seems to be happening with email marketing today.
More noise, less meaning… an excess of hype and less authenticity.
A Big Part of The Problem: Overkill and Over sending in Email Marketing
You click on an ad or sign up for a free resource.
The next thing you know, you’re getting the daily emails…
and even sometimes seven days a week.
What’s inside of so many of the emails from those Top of mind bottom feeders?
– AI-generated filler content
– Sales pitches not even cleverly disguised as valuable insights
– Regurgitated blog posts, just slightly rewritten with empty call to actions and weak hype.
These approaches don’t build trust or deepen connections. They can do the opposite:
– Trigger unsubscribes
– Get your email marked as spam
– Damage your brand reputation
And sadly, some businesses even keep sending emails after you unsubscribe, breaking both etiquette and compliance rules.
Consider Flipping the Script on the top of mind bottom feeders:
Go for Quality Over Quantity
If you want to be top of mind, you don’t need to send an email every single day. In fact, less really can be more. And perhaps in honor, space, patience and authenticity, you can create better engagement.
– Offer subscription preferences: weekly, monthly, or “special announcements only.”
– Clearly state how often you’ll email and actually stick to it.
2. Prioritize Value Over Volume
– Have every email including something new worth reading or acting on.
– Avoid generic AI output. Use it to assist, edit but not replace your authentic voice.
3. Think Long Term Relationships, Not Quick Wins
– Let customers come to you naturally, like passing by a product in a store multiple times before deciding to buy and seeing how you might be different from all the yell tell sell types.
– Give them space to stay curious instead of overwhelming them with pitches.
In retail, shoppers often see a product several times before they decide to purchase. That repeated exposure can work because it’s subtle and not as intrusive. As they back their products with different ad buys and ideas to engage.
The same can go for email:
– Consider Spreading out your communication over bombarding too often.
– Make each piece original and worth opening, not just glorified click bait.
– Avoid the “same email, slightly altered” trap and hype of those top of mind bottom feeders.
– if you don’t have anything to say, send or share… just don’t send anything then!
When people look forward to hearing from you instead of dreading another email, pitch or push your engagement rates may just skyrocket.
Being “top of mind” isn’t about shouting the loudest or showing up the most. It can be about showing up meaningfully, authentically and respectfully. Consider honoring your audience’s time, intelligence, and attention.
If your emails are authentic, authoritative, and genuinely useful, you may not need to force yourself into someone’s inbox every day. They might just invite you in and be that much more open to your product, service or offer… and that’s the kind of connection that can lead to real, long term customers.
Fake Authors Using AI. Podcast Links and Transcription for Wait What Really OK Podcast Titled “Fake Authors Using AI: Examining the false authorship trend.”
Fake Authors Using AI.
Podcast Links and Transcription
Fake Authors Using AI, Examining the False Authorship Trend.
***
Fake Authors Using Ai Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction & Theme Song
00:20 – Host Introduction: Loren Weisman
00:28 – Dishonesty in Modern Publishing
01:11 – AI Book Writing: Real Authorship or Not?
01:26 – Fake Authors Using AI: Speedy AI Prompts & Ethics
01:41 – The Integrity Crisis in Self-Publishing
02:04 – Transparency in Writing & Book Creation
02:34 – The True Author’s Journey: Time & Effort
03:12 – Using AI Ethically for Editing and Proofreading
03:39 – Algorithmic Writing vs. Real Human Craft
04:10 – Copyright and Ownership in AI-Generated Books
04:34 – Fake Courses: AI Content and Deception
05:15 – Businesses Seeking Dishonest Creators
05:44 – Transparency in Marketing & Education Products
06:27 – The Authority Problem: Real vs. Fake Experts
07:05 – Human Input, Editors, & Authentic Voices
08:13 – How the Term “Author” Is Losing Validity
08:35 – Prompters vs. Genuine Writers
09:29 – Public Normalization of AI Cheating
09:56 – Be True to Yourself: Preserving Authority
10:37 – Identifying Fake Experts & Coaches
11:44 – Anthology & Mass Authorship Scams
12:21 – Questionable Motives in Content Creation
13:10 – Why Prompts Don’t Equal Authorship
13:31 – Ethical AI Use: Sharing Your Process
13:59 – Creating Genuine, Original Content
14:49 – The Ethics of AI in Content Creation
15:59 – Spotting Fake Experts Through Social Media Surges
18:02 – Evaluating Whether an Author Is Real or AI
19:40 – AI Detection Advancements & Accountability
21:18 – Transparency & Integrity as Competitive Advantages
23:59 – Real Authorship: Blood, Sweat, and Tears
25:49 – Final Advice on Honor, Truth, and Professionalism
***
Fake authors using ai transcription
Fake Authors Using AI Transcription
Song:
Wait What Really OK, OK. With your host, Loren Weisman. This is a fully licensed theme song for the show about stuff that makes you say, Wait What Really OK, OK.
Loren:
The state of publishing, writing, and putting out a book to me has become terrifyingly dishonest. And right now, in this time of dishonesty, there are more and more companies using AI models that allow for these books to be written, as they even profess, in minutes. One of the strangest issues that I notice with it and that I have with it is how incredibly popular these ads are on sites like Instagram, where it’s not just the ad.
And, yeah, okay, there’s a whole bunch of fake people saying, oh, wow, this is really neat. This is really neat. But people saying, real people with real profiles saying they’re genuinely excited about this. The fake authors using ai problem shining bright.
They’ve always wanted to do something like this. They’ve always wanted to write a book. But you’re not writing a book. You’re adding in a prompt. Some of them claim that you can set up a prompt in two minutes and then have a complete book. Some of these ads, they’re stating, oh, just go in here, add this prompt. You’ll have this. You’ll be able to upload it. You’ll be able to go out with your friends and have lunch. And now you’re an author.
I find that pathetic. I find it to be dishonest.
And as someone that I would consider myself a real author, it makes me not want to tell anyone I’m an author anymore. For all these people that are out there saying, oh, you’ll be able to tell people you’re an author, would you.
Would you be that honest with it? Would you share with someone exactly how you wrote your book? Would you put on the front and the back a little note stating below by your name that I did a prompt, I filled out a couple questions, I added this part, and then AI wrote it for me, that you are one of those fake authors using ai.
Most people, probably not, and yet so many are out there doing it. I’ve authored three books of my own. I’ve helped from a messaging standpoint on a series of other books. It’s a long process, and people saying, it doesn’t have to be that long. It can be done in minutes.
I was proud of my third book, which I knocked out in just a little shy of four months, that also included, on average, four to five hours of writing on a given day, five days a week, as well as going back and forth with the editor and the proofreader and legal and all that stuff and not saying that Other people shouldn’t be involved in a book.
Fake Authors Using AI Transcription Continued:
You should. And it’s not saying that AI can’t be involved in a book. It can be. You could give certain stuff to A.I. for a developmental edit. If you’re being honorable, that is, you could give stuff to A.I. for the grammatical. You could use some of these A.I. systems for proofreading.
You could use some of these AI systems for legal aspects of compliance. You could use AI in a series of ways. That doesn’t take away from the validity if you actually wrote the book. And yet this is being bypassed now inside of algorithmic learning, it’s not necessarily artificial intelligence, but algorithmic learning. For you to put in such a simplified pattern or answer just a couple simple questions, and then all of a sudden you have a book. How does the copyright work on that for the fake authors using ai?
You know, are you sharing? Are you honestly sharing a copyright? Would you to state, okay, well, you know, I wrote this with this given site or this given model. I mean, the same thing could be said for these courses, too, these fake courses where it’s fill in, oh, this stuff is easy. It’s 10 minutes of filling these things in, and a course will be created for you. What a deceiving ripoff. If you can fill out something for five to 10 minutes and that in turn gives you a course that makes you look like an expert that you’re selling. I question your honor, I question your morals, I question your professionalism, and I question you as an individual.
And it’s so sad that there are so many companies that are looking for people, questionable people that will simply use their little model, flip this thing through. And in a sense, they’re looking for liars. They’re looking for people that are happy to deceive. They’re looking for people that will use their information. Oh, they’ll scrape pieces from here and from there and maybe even from a couple of these courses. Maybe you do learn a thing or two.
But would you share that with your students? So for your little. My $99.00 course, my $499.00 course, my. My, that course. Oh, and all the marketing with it, would you put right on that front page in that scroll down section and your special. And your discount, would you list. These were the questions I was asked, this is what was prompt, and then it was returned to me, and I packaged it, marketed it, and I’m selling it to you now. For those that, that have no problem with that, who am I to judge?
I have my feelings, I have my opinions on it. But to those out there looking for genuine authority, for those out there that are looking for genuine education, for those out there that are looking for real intelligence, it’s time to dig a little bit deeper and watch out from what you’re being presented and from what’s being presented to you and even those that have authority. There was one particular lawyer that had a. He had a book and a course. And this guy, I believe in some of what I heard from him, he definitely knew his stuff inside of family law.
But what he didn’t realize, or it seems he didn’t realize, was that he used one of these little course creators and it took away his authority and it turned it into fluff. And because it was probably a five minute prompt, it put a whole bunch of stuff in there that did not show the efforts to write a book means or used to mean you wrote it.
Yes, you would have editors. Yes, you would have, you know, people to proofread. You’d have technical editors, you’d even have developmental editors. My second book, there was an entire team at that publishing house to help make that book what it was. But the voice, the narrative, the message, the experience, the authenticity, the wisdom, the intelligence that came from me. And it was heartbreaking to write that book. It took a very long time. It was better part of. I say it was a better part of 12 and a half months of writing.
One of my books
Fake Authors Using AI Transcription Continued:
And then we went into the editing phases. Things had to get moved around. It was. There was a lot there. I wrote 1200 pages that got, you know, shrunken down into 478. And I needed help with that. And I had. There was an amazing, amazing guy. I still just, I. He took the time to read every single one of those pages. And it wasn’t the cheapest. It wasn’t the cheapest situation, because that’s time. It wasn’t just AI, but these days, like, you know, so there’s certain people saying, why don’t you share? Why don’t you lead a little bit more that you’re the author of these books?
Because the term author to me has lost so much of its validity and authority. It’s been dropped back. Because these people are calling themselves authors that are actually liars. They are prompters. They’ve prompted the idea of a book.
They’ve used an AI system that can then from that prompt generate stuff. And from that prompt you can state, who are you aiming for? And now it’s generating content that does not come from this individual. Oh, great. Maybe you even say, okay, well, I want your prompt and pull from a Whole bunch of my blogs on my website and blogs that you wrote. So it’s pulling certain information, but it’s still this, this initial process, the, the majority of the process is a lie.
Loren Weisman Cartoon
And that to me is so unfortunate. I don’t understand and I mean, I guess I don’t understand with a lot of the AI and I don’t understand how not only cheating, which at one point it was, let’s do it really quietly, has now turned into a thing where people are advertising how you can cheat. They’re advertising here, here’s the ways that you can do it. All you have to, all you have to do is this. You will appear as an authority.
And I kind of like that whole appear as an authority because in a way there’s a little honesty in the middle of this because you’re not an authority, you’re not an author if this is the system you’re using. And I think that if you’re using these kind of systems, it reduces your authority. Be true to you and look a little bit deeper. Look, you know, when you, when you see a book, if you’re not 100% sure about it, is all of a sudden this person, they were just doing this and doing that or they were this kind of.
Because I know this is very popular with that life coaching and the business consultants, oh, they’ve regurgitated so much crowd and there are many that have written books and they regurgitated it too. But search some of these chapter names, search the title, search the opening, the closing, see if that tone, see if it’s showing up anywhere else. Look at, I mean, you know, some of these people now and they’re stating, oh, you could put out a book a week.
Nobody writes a book a week. And even some of these larger scale authors, even some of the, you know, the romance authors of the, you know, when it was that supermarket buy the book, some of these people had their ghost writers, had their writing team. It was almost like the early stages of AI but it was with real people where it’s okay, you’re going to scope out the concept, you’re going to hand it to some other people, let them develop it, let them add to it.
It wasn’t really a developmental edit, it was really having a series of co writers and then bringing it back to the author. And the author had paid these other people and they zapped their name on it. The other one I can’t stand it doesn’t seem to be quite as popular these days. And I think the lack of the popularity Is because now you have the ability to make it all your own.
Is that book of 20 different authors on something which is somebody who’s trying to make a buck and say, oh, I’m going to promote you. It’s going to give you a great promotion. Write this little section here. I had people coming to me with some business books where they’re like, write this section. Here’s what you pay me, and I’ll put this in the book.
And it’s going to do great for your business. And I would say, I don’t want to be associated with some of these people you’re talking to. Oh, no, these are big names. I’m like, yeah, they’re frauds. Some of them are frauds. Some of them are hype machines. Some of them don’t know what they’re talking about. And yet you’re claiming it’s this authorship of all these people together.
No, it’s a product. Is it a product that you want to create to try to hype yourself? And if so, if a book is not in, you don’t write a book. If a course is not in, you don’t create a course. I don’t care. If you need money and you can’t organize your content, your expertise to be amplified in the best way possible for you, that you need to lie, cheat and steal, then it’s time to get another job. Or I guess with some of these people, it’s fine. Just do what you’ll do.
Think with a foundational transparency realize. And even with these AI things that they’re telling kids to use in college, use this. It’ll hide the AI writing we’ve come into this time on these sites like Instagram and these product models and these business models of here’s how you cheat. Here’s how you don’t get caught. Here’s how you create something amazing. Here’s how you become an author.
The last time I checked, becoming an author does not consist of creating a prompt and trying to sell people BS. And again, the option is there yet. Just because something is available doesn’t mean you should do it. Just because a whole bunch of other people you know that are doing it doesn’t mean you should do it. And maybe you can take some pride and maybe you can take just some, some foundational, ethical, moral, just honesty and be able to fire back and say, here’s how I used AI.
I used it for this part of the editing. Here’s how long it took me to write it. Here’s how much I wrote here’s where I got my help. I create. The bulk of my stuff that I’m putting out these days is more so videos and podcasts. I create a couple one minutes, three days a week. The other two days a week, I create the fuller length, but they usually stand at between 3, 4, 5 minutes max. I create those ideas. I’m not going to use some kind of trending software.
I’m not using a script thing from AI. These are my thoughts from my experiences. Now, once that video is done, I bring it into sites like Submagic and it automatically, with AI, creates the video, the captions. I also am a fan, a partial fan of Vidiq. Not for it to sit here and tell me this is what I have to film and this is what I should film. And here’s the latest trend. So just hop on this train. No, I like that. I can upload to.
I can upload to Vidiq a video I can upload. I can also add in and say, okay, here’s. Here’s the captions, here’s the script, here’s the point of what I’m going for. What would be some good keywords to add to that and add to the description? It’s the same thing with descriptions. I create my videos. I will say, okay, I have just created a video. This is what the video is. This is the title of the video.
Here is, Here is the. The transcription from the video. I’m looking for a couple keyword phrases that would be strong from what’s been created to amplify the marketing. And that feels completely moral and ethical and transparent to me.
I’m happy to share that with the world. While it’s strange that some people from the faceless YouTube channels to others that will go, okay, what’s trending? What’s hot? What do I need? Oh, gosh, I gotta write a script. Not anymore. You can click on it and Vidiq will do it, and some of these other ones will do it for you.
That’s not honest. Using AI as an editing tool, using AI to bring, to enhance or assist on authority, I find to be a moral, ethical thing. And it’s something that I have no problem sharing how I use it. To these people that choose to hide that, to these people that choose to deceive, to these people that use it so that it completely creates their content, all their authority, all their knowledge, because it’s built from somewhere else.
That to me, is dangerous. And that to me, it makes me wonder, you know, for the people that are looking into it. What is it? Not only are they scamming, but they’re. They’re holding themselves with no liability to anybody, no accountability. So if you start seeing somebody that just pops up out of nowhere, watch for some of the signs.
Do you notice that for all of a sudden they didn’t seem to have much going on? They had a couple blogs here, they had a couple posts here with social media, and then all of a sudden they’re drenched in social media. They have all these blogs coming out day after day after day after day. And many posts in a given day that might be AI, it might not be them.
Do they all of a sudden have they gone from never writing a book to all of a sudden they have five books in a series of months to all of a sudden having these courses that just seem to have come out of nowhere? Might be. Again, might be AI? Yes. There are people that are working and they’re putting together and they’re prepping certain stuff for a given launch, and that’s one thing.
But when all of a sudden the content, the courses, a series of books, a whole bunch of stuff seems to all of a sudden come into play, that fake authors using ai red flag can go up, that might have been the time when they signed up for their little subscription, they paid their little fees, and they’re in full exploiting mode of you don’t get caught in trying to buy into the hype.
That is not true. And even inside of some of this, you may notice, see if you can get something where you can test out and read through it. Does it look like it’s just a call to action?
There’s one individual I worked on with a book and I stepped away from working with him because at first it was truly a stewarding, gifting, intelligent book from an amazing individual that had great knowledge and great experience.
But then he turned it into a call to action. Everything was a call to action about that book. And it’s not saying that a book can’t promote your authority, but I don’t believe a book should create your authority. And I don’t believe that a book needs to be a call to action. From that book, if someone gets a good enough sense, wow, well, this is who he is.
This is how he does it.These are his experiences.This is a sense of him.
Fake Authors Using AI Transcription Continued:
Okay, great. But if in a chapter three different times to learn more. Oh, to learn this. Oh, to get this, you just got to work with me. Oh, you just sign up here. Oh, just, oh, pay me this then. It’s not a book, it’s an ad pamphlet in My opinion and for you, for the individuals that see these things, yes, I get it. It can be enticing.
It’s kind of like, you know, sugar candy of like, I’ve always wanted to have a book. This scam site says I can have a book. I think deep down most people know that, wait, I’m going to be an author in two minutes.
Fake Authors Using AI Transcription Continued:
They know that there’s something wrong with that. The fake authors using ai, slowly being exposed… Go with your gut, think about it, pray on it. Stand on a foundation of truth and transparency. Because as you build, as AI gets smarter, AI is also beginning identify more and more the fakes. And for people saying, oh, well, we’re able to hide this AI.
We’re able to hide the AI writing, more themes, more patterns are showing up, more is coming out. Are you prepared in your business, with your product, with your service, are you prepared to go truly transparent for who you are, for what you know, for where you learned it, for the knowledge, the wisdom, the discernment that you’ve grown?
Does it prove out or did it magically appear overnight because of an AI system? Did you hire some kind of marketing AI thing to give off the appearance, or did you genuinely go and learn these things? It’s even awful. You know, some of these colleges, you don’t need to go this long. You don’t need this long to get this master’s. How do you know this individual might need that? It’s looking in and it’s vetting and it’s digging deeper and it’s choosing the path that you want to go. In the end, it is your choice.
There are more options now than ever to lie, to deceive, to cheat, to steal, to rip off, to appear as something that you are absolutely not.
But there’s also, in the middle of this honesty, there’s integrity. There’s the ability to stand out and shine like a bright, beautiful light of truth, of love and of transparency, of being able to share transparency. Hey, this. You know what? I did use AI, but I used it this way. Here’s what I did to create this.
Here’s how long it took me to write the book. Here’s how I wrote it. Talk about those things. Showcase so that you can share. If you’re going the moral route, if you’re going the transparent route, so you can be seen differently in a sea of fakes, in how you stand and how you wrote, in where the book came from, in where the experiences happen, in how you put this together, having that little story that may end up being a series of videos, it may end up being a series of blogs, a post of pictures of the process, of the time, track it.
When did you first sit down and start writing?
When did you. When did you stop?
I’ve been writing something. It’s a. It looks like it may be another book for me. It started off not intentionally at first. It was. I’m just going to get this out to now becoming something that goes like, okay, this, this may be a book. This may be a book for a side of the story that I feel I want to have seen.
And I’ve gotten to the point where it was started in June and the last I wrote the opener and the closer, I guess you could call it opening and closing thoughts for the whole thing this morning and in that may be my next book.
I’m not sure yet, but I can state, here’s what I did, here’s how I worked on it, here’s how I created it, here’s how. Here’s the process, here’s the dates, here’s the timeline. I’m going that extra distance right now to showcase this came from me and did not come from a prompt or an AI system or some cheap software thing. That this is me. I am not one of those fake authors using ai.
And that’s where I want to leave you with this one. Be you if you’re going to be honorable, if you’re going to show that integrity to stand out against this sea of lies, of deception, thievery, false fronts and fake people and even those with some authority but trying to shortcut, share how you didn’t.
A great deal of your marketing and your message and part of that narrative can be shown in how you did it to prove that you did it and in that how much better would it feel to be able to say no, you know, oh, this guy’s an author and this guy’s. Are they. I can’t say if they are. I can’t say if they’re not. But I can tell you this is the blood, sweat, tears and time that I put in. And with anything that’s worth anything, it is blood, sweat, tears and time.
And while they claim and many of these fake false flag companies and scam artists, oh, you just do this in two minutes. Somewhere deep down, I believe everyone knows it’s fake, it’s wrong, it’s untrue, and it’s a way to make a quick buck. And I’d like to see, I’d like to see, you know, accountability on that. I like to see that if you had to use those things that you would not be allowed a copyright or it would have to be stated somewhere in the book what this was and how it was created.
That’s not coming anytime soon.
But at the same time, for you to counter and be able to tell the truth of your process, your system, how you came to get from point A to point B and the details in there, then in that transparency, you’re blowing the others out of the water and you’re showcasing the truth of you, the truth of a book, of where you stand, of what you have for experiences and, and what you are capable of over so many others that have so little capability to do anything that they’re looking for any way to appear as something they’re not. And they don’t care how it could come off. If they’re lying, if they’re deceiving, if they’re cheating, as long as they can make that quick buck and hold no accountability in the moment, they’re thrilled.
Shame on them.
And instead of being like them, consider standing in honor and transparency as you be true. Be true to you. Be true to the audience that you may want to build or that you’re trying to build. I believe it makes all the difference in the world and really highlights who you are as a person and who you would share that with.
I mean, the last thing I’ll say, would you tell a daughter or a son, this is how you created a book. Would you tell a family member? Would you tell somebody that you look up to. This is what you did and this is the process that you did. And if you don’t feel comfortable or there’s something tugging or nagging, then why do that to the public at large?
Fake Authors Using AI Transcription Continued:
Honor yourself. Be true, be transparent, be professional. Even in a world where everyone is saying you don’t have to and you can go the other way, take that route that a little less people are going through, go through that gate that’s a little skinnier than the other one. It’s something that may allow you to be a little bit more proud of the achievement of what you create and how you created it. So that’s about it. That’s my rant on this one.
Maybe a little more emotional than it needs to be, but that’s where I stand on this. This new practice of the. The two minute prompted book and the type of people and the choices that people are making right now to appear as so much more, while in a sense it only amplifies how much less they are as a person. Wait What Really OK, OK.
An ai book tsunami
Fake Authors Using AI. Podcast Links and Transcription
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book: Steps for Real Authority Podcast from Wait What Really OK and the transcription as well as links to the episode.
Brand Strategy Blueprint Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: Why Write a Book Today
00:24 – Authenticity vs. Authority in Book Writing
01:18 – The Problem with Quote-Filled Books
01:57 – Writing Workshops and Publishing Courses
02:37 – Self-Publishing Scams and Amazon Bestseller Myths
03:30 – The Truth Behind Amazon Best Seller Claims
04:22 – The Hype of Bestseller Status
04:51 – Building a Foundation for Your Book
05:32 – Self-Publishing, Hybrid, and Traditional Publishing Options
05:48 – Hybrid Publishing Explained
06:11 – Working with Major Publishers
07:11 – Book Revenue vs. Speaking and Services
08:08 – Children’s Books and Book Revenue Risks
08:40 – Multiple Book Formats: Paperback, Ebook, Audio
08:58 – Audio Chapters and Staggered Book Releases
09:30 – Flexible Book Formats and Reader Choice
09:45 – Staggered Audiobook Release Strategy
10:20 – Testing Book Chapters as Marketing
10:55 – Customer Journey: Audio to Ebook to Print
11:13 – Courses vs. Genuine Teaching
11:45 – Building a Book Foundation: Speaking and Consulting
12:21 – Protecting Intellectual Property and Book Integrity
13:03 – Outlining and Blueprinting Your Book
13:36 – Using Flashcards and Chapter Organization
14:06 – Structuring and Writing with Flexibility
14:42 – Overcoming Writing Challenges and Finding Inspiration
15:29 – Organizing Chapters and Sections
16:26 – Writing in Sections and Avoiding Burnout
17:01 – Creative Writing Process and Idea Capture
17:41 – Importance of Chapter Titles and Taglines
18:35 – Designing Engaging Chapter Titles
18:57 – Drawing Readers in with Chapter Openings and Closings
19:49 – Media Outreach with Chapter Snapshots
20:31 – Using Opening and Closing Thoughts for Promotion
21:06 – Leveraging Quotes for Book Marketing
21:52 – Making Your Book’s Quotes Stand Out
22:34 – Pre-Optimizing Quotes on External Platforms
23:37 – Blogging and Sharing Your Own Quotes
23:57 – Authority and Reputation Through Original Quotes
24:30 – Building Buzz Before Book Release
25:36 – Securing Domains and Social Media Handles
26:18 – Book Proposals and SEO-Driven Titles
26:56 – Pre-Release Marketing and Promotion
27:34 – Early Visual Branding and Social Media Assets
28:10 – Simultaneous Content Creation and Book Writing
28:38 – Outlining and Blueprinting for Security and Exposure
30:07 – Staggered Audio Chapters and Brand Analytics
31:00 – Investment Opportunities for Books
32:11 – Reading Contracts and Avoiding Pitfalls
33:04 – Learning from Publishing Mistakes
34:01 – Building a Brand Strategy Foundation
35:45 – Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts
Loren: This is Loren Weisman in this episode of Wait. What really, okay. Is focusing on those that have decided to write a book while it’s turned into a time where anybody can write a book, it seems. And many of these books that are coming out are AI generated and AI prompted.
And there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of reasons for a lot of people not to write a book. If you’re really looking to the point of, oh, I’m trying to appear as an authority, so I’ll write a book, or I’ll use AI or I’ll use these Chat GPT prompt lessons and how to write a book in 20 minutes, you know, not really a great idea, and I’m not trying to get off that path.
But if you genuinely have an authentic, authoritative, true story and there’s something that you want to get out, and regardless of whether it’s to sell some books to open up speaking opportunities, to move toward, you know, move something to clients that genuinely has a foundation that is true and that is you, then hopefully this podcast will be helpful.
However, it’s really a stop point and turn it off. If you’re just doing the book thing because they say everybody has a book in them. I don’t, I don’t believe that.
I don’t think everybody has a book in them.
And I think it’s shown more and more in these last number of years with so many people trying to push out these double spaced, large font, all these images, images of other people’s quotes, other people’s stuff, that model of chapter openers where it’s some famous Zig Ziglar or Dale Carnegie quote. Where is the authority in that? It’s sort of like those videos that you see on YouTube or Instagram or anywhere else where it’s. Somebody else is commenting on an actual authority, but they’re not really bringing anything to the table.
So I guess that would be kind of the preface of this. Let’s say that you are not one of those people and you have a genuine story and it’s a story that you want to get out there. While many say, okay, well, you’ve just got to write and you got to join these writing workshops and you’ve got. And here’s how you write a book, and here’s how you do this, and here’s how you do that, that does work for some, but not necessarily for all.
And many of these people that are pushing the here’s how to publish a book, many of them have, you know, not really all that successful books for themselves and they’ve put together some kind of course or some kind of model to try to get other people to do it so that they can cash in. I would be very wary of these courses. And also when you’re looking up about publishing, there are a number of self publishing scams out there. And the thing is, anybody, oh, we’ll hook you up with editors, we’ll hook you up with this, we’ll hook you up with distribution, we’ll get this thing to be an Amazon bestseller.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
I’m going to touch on that before we dig into the book an Amazon bestseller and look at the expert. You can become many. There are genuine self publishers out there, but a lot of these are scams where they’re looking for money to basically build a book that has no solid foundation, no security and no real stability, especially in today’s market with AI, with plagiarism.
And as all these things have just increased and gotten worse. And then that last touch on the whole Amazon bestseller, I don’t know what the price is, I’m sure it’s gone down now, but these people claiming to have Amazon bestsellers, isn’t it amazing?
Take two seconds to think about it. Isn’t it amazing how many people have claimed to be best sellers that you’ve never heard of? Amazon has thousands of categories. And just to touch on this and then move on, what some of these book consultants will tell you to do is to pick a category that’s very, very low and then you attack in there and then…
You can buy this little program where it’s going to get a whole bunch of robots to download your book at the same time and it’s going to bump you up to number one in a given category and you’ll be there for a minute or five minutes or ten minutes, who knows? And then they’re going to grab a screenshot when that happens, they’ll send it to you and all of a sudden you’re an Amazon bestseller.
That’s a lie, that’s deceptive. You are a best bought download for a momentary time for seconds, minutes, maybe a few hours, and then it went away because you didn’t see a single sale from that. You ended up spending money for this hype position. And more people are getting onto that. Again, if that’s something that you want to do and you want to claim on the Amazon best seller thing, this podcast might not be for you.
I’m not trying to turn people off in a way, but if you genuinely want to put out a book Consider doing it in the right way, in a foundational way, in a secure way, and moving away the assumptions and the connotations of an industry that has become more and more flawed. I’ve published three books. One was completely self published.
It was, it was self published through an agent and it was a self publishing house of sorts. So a lot of it was paid for. I was guided through, I was guided through their process. I had paid out of pocket for that. And then there was baseline distribution.
The second book was a hybrid publish and these are publishing options that you can have. The second book was a hybrid publisher. It was a great publisher that took some of the cost, I took some of the cost. It’s a very fair percentage that comes back. You’re going to get paid a little bit more when you have some skin in the game.
And it worked out decently well. The third book was a major publisher and I ended up brokering a deal with that major publisher, knowing where the state of the book industry was, where I really wrote on the front side and gave royalties and extended elements on the backside back to the publisher.
And in that it was an advantage for many years for me because the level of promotion went up, up that much more because I wasn’t necessarily getting the royalties. Now some jumped on me for that saying, okay, that’s foolish. But even with certain major publishers and with hybrid, you are paying or money is being spent that you have to pay back, that comes to the warehousing, comes to the transportation, parts of printing, all of these different costs that come into line.
And what I felt was I’m going to get on the front side before the bulk of these costs come in, handle some of these costs, take the advance, take these payments and I’ll be good to go. And in that book that still is marketed and out there today, it helps to promote me.
Is Honesty Still Valued in Reviews Today Video
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
And I guess as we jump now into the actual foundation, are you looking for a book where you’re trying to make X a quarter and most of the books, major publishing, they pay quarterly or are you looking at other elements? Because if you’re looking solely to have a living as an author, that’s a very challenging world to be in and more than likely it really is impossible these days.
I would advise that if you have a story, if you’re tying that to genuine speaking, if you’re tying that to services that you provide, if you’re tying that to other elements, it’s going to put you in a greater position than trying to put out this book.
Now the Same thing goes. It even goes a little bit worse for children’s books. Children’s books pay even less in some. In some cases. Is it something you want to do genuinely from the heart and tie it to a company that you’re with, a nonprofit speaking clients product, anything like that, that can be a great connection, that can be a great bridge. But sitting there solely operating purely on just book revenue is a dangerous way to go.
Now adding the numerous elements can be a good idea and that can up the. Up the revenue too. And this is kind of on the front side. Thinking about not just the paperback, but are you going to do a hardcover, are you going to do an ebook? Are you going to also do an audio? I really recommend all of those. Now, my second book, it was a music business book.
One of the things I did with the audio and I highly recommend it for people that are putting out something that might be a little bit more. If you’re a strategist, a consultant, coach, you have a series of different topics run through different chapters and you’re able to have a book that can be read from any space. And I prided myself on my second book that you could read.
You could read The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business. If you just wanted to read chapter nine, you could read chapter nine. If you wanted to read 10 and go, then go to two, you could do that. You could read it front to back. It had a format to it, but it also was a choose your own adventure. And in that when I released the book with the hybrid publisher, I went to them and said, as opposed to okay, we’re putting out the paperback, the hard copy, the ebook and the audio all at once. I opted to go a different route. I said, let’s get the ebook out first, get it warmed up, get some press releases going, then put out the paperback and the hard copy.
Then from there, a month later, we staggered for 12 months an audiobook coming out once a month. And in that audiobook was just a single chapter. So chapter one came out a month later, chapter two, and inside of the promotion that was online and also in press releases and in major media. It wasn’t the same concept of buy my book, buy my book, buy my book, you got to buy my book, review my book. There was an element of this is available right now, the audiobook for chat, you know, the audio chapter for this book is available now. And it ended up being a cool and almost. It was humble in not saying, okay, buy the book, but run me for a test drive.
Try this 99 cent chapter. I think some sites might have charged a buck 99, some were up to two 99. But try this chapter, see what you think of it. Maybe you’ll want to wait till next month and get another chapter. Maybe from there you’ll want to get the ebook, or maybe from there you’re going to want to get the paper back. And I found in looking at sales over time that many people went to a couple audio chapters and then they buy the ebook. And then even some of them, when I was out speaking, they said, well, I bought these four chapters, then I bought the ebook, then I bought the paperback. I wanted to have the physical copy as well. So that one customer ended up being an array of purchases which then help with the profit as a whole.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
The other points inside a profit are not necessarily courses. And I know that people say, oh, you need to have a course, you need to have a course. I don’t believe it. If you’re not a genuine teacher, if you don’t genuinely have a course in you, don’t use one of these AI things to fake it, because people are going to know. And right now, more and more these courses are getting slammed and attacked for people that maybe they did have a book in them and maybe they can serve well as a coach or a consultant or a strategist, but then inside of a course, it just looks like crap.
So if you don’t have a genuine course in you, try to move away from products like that, please. Getting back to the foundation, though, we’ve talked quickly about the different models of what you can put out. You talk about the speaking element, the consulting element. These all become part of the foundation even before you write the book. And as you go to write the book, thinking about ways to protect the property, the intellectual property, the integrity, and at the same time to look good for.
If you want to go to a major publisher, if you want to go to a literary agent, what are ways that you can do that can stand out in a world where everybody supposedly can be an author, but really are they selecting you or are they going to look at you? Or do you become worth the investment? Does your story stand with authority? And in that, as you begin to outline it and you begin to almost blueprint it, this may open many more doors, opportunities, and even advances to do the book in the way that you’d hope to and in a way that can really protect you.
What I mean by that is outlining a blueprint of understanding the shape of the book. What are you Know, as opposed to the. I’m going to sit down and write the Great American Book, and I’m going to start writing from the opening point to the closing point. Consider laying it out, maybe even using flashcards. I used flashcards for my third book, and I moved them around. I wrote down. I’m like, okay, is this a chapter? Is this a section? Is this, you know, a subheader? I would call them. I did one of the For Dummies books. So Is this an H1, a header 1, a header 2, or a header 3? And in slowly moving the pieces around and getting this sound foundation of what this looked like of what was going to be written, it became much more comfortable.
I wrote my third book in just under four months, and I did that after I put together the blueprint and this baseline foundation. And in the book I was talking about, it was another book on music, but I was talking about different things. And some of the same things from the second book, but in a different format. And I really wanted to collect my thoughts in a way to make it easier to write. I’m not an author. I dropped out of college to become a drummer. I was in music and television for many years.
I’m not an author. I was not a writer. There was a bartender in Seattle, Washington, gosh, what was his name? John Moroney, said, you need to write a book. And I laughed at him. And my first response was, as he was serving alcohol, so you must be drinking. And he kind of ripped me for a while and just kept going, you should write a book. You should write a book. And the more I thought about it, I said, okay, I’ll try. And with that first book in kind of looking at, okay, I’m not going to write something front to back.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
How am I going to remember all these things? Let me break it out. I began to design chapter ideas. They weren’t the chapter titles, and we’ll get to that in a bit. And then I began to say, okay, what sections will go where? And then I began to see a form and inside of this format. The idea was not to write it front to back or write complete chapters. It was to write from the standpoint of not being a writer. I had sections and eventually I made on my computer files for each chapter. I made file sections of, okay, so this chapter is here, that chapter is here, okay? And I had a little, you know, notepad, word docs that had notes in them of this will go into this chapter.
Let’s cover some stuff on this. Let’s cover some stuff on that. And I was able to, in a much more comfortable way, write the first book by writing what I felt in any given day. At that time, I was producing full time. I wasn’t really on the road. I was speaking a little bit. And I would get up in the morning, I’d usually go for a swim, the, you know, have a little bit of breakfast, and then I just try to write for, you know, an hour or two.
But in that, it wasn’t just writing fluff or writing, who knows where this is going to go. I would think about where I was, where the inspiration was, and I would see, what chapter is that going into? And then inside of that file for that chapter was, okay, here’s some loose ideas, but this is what it’s going to go, and I know it’s going to go in this chapter. And then eventually inside of those chapters became sections. Then I could hop around this model, which made it a lot easier than people if they were back in the days of typewriting or writing by hand. I could jump from place to place.
And I never got burnt out in writing because I never felt the restriction or the constriction of being stuck or like, okay, I’ve got to fill this in. I could be sitting here working on this section, you know, some subsection in chapter three, and all of a sudden I’d have an idea. And I’d either pop that idea into a notepad to address it later, I pop that idea on a page in another chapter file, or I take a break and then just go into that other file and write from there. In this, it brings almost a greater creativity, or it did for me, and a greater relief to jump around, to have the freedom and at the same time to get all the thoughts out.
And then this master notepad that I had that was right on the. Right on the front of the laptop. I don’t know where this is going, but here’s a note. And oftentimes when I was checking emails in the morning, I would look at those notes. Where does this belong? And I moved that around myself. And then the foundation grew into large chapters. And then there was a format, and that’s when the editor came in, and so on and so forth. The other element in this initial phase can be titling and seeing almost the chapter titles as something more important at first than the title of the book itself.
When we sit here, I need to have the great name. I need to have a great name. I need to have a great name. Maybe consider that having a great chapter title name something that can stand on its own. So if you do an audio chapter that can stand out, something where there’s a tagline, not just a tagline for the book, but a tagline for the chapter. I believe in more of the educational books, and even some of the ones that aren’t as educational, a little bit more story. Having that chapter title, designing that tagline for the chapter, and having an opening thought and a closing thought to that chapter can be a great tool to get people to read, and especially get people to read that might not necessarily want to read.
So the concept here, and some of this can also be, if you choose a different writing mode of saying, okay, I’m going to work on chapter titles, taglines, opening and closing thoughts, and then I’ll fill in and write the chapters in from there. Or you might end up writing inside and going backwards. But either way or either direction that you choose, please consider having the importance of that chapter title. Almost like a headline, probably under 70 characters, a tagline to it, it brings an extra piece to that and an opening and closing thought. Here’s one of the leads for the idea of the book as a whole.
Publishing a book does not make you an authority or an expert.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
Could somebody go into each chapter, read just the opening and closing thoughts, and get the gist, or from there be drawn in that much more to want to read the rest of the chapters? I believe this to be a great way to draw people in and at the same time to draw media in. There are many people inside of media where they’re handed a number of books on a daily basis. What’s going to draw them to review? What if you sent out with a review packet saying, okay, here’s the book.
By the way, there’s opening and closing thoughts for each chapter. So if you just want to skim, you can get a much better idea. One of my promotion points and promotion docs that I sent out when I was doing pre reviews and pre release of the second book was a PDF document that was just the opening and closing thoughts of each chapter, as well as the opening, the opening of the book and the conclusion of the book. I got a lot more interest and a lot more return on the investment of the time that I put in of people asking for the entire book, of people wanting more, of people wanting to dig in.
So consider that opening thought and that closing thought, and even inside of some of those opening thoughts and closing thoughts, when you get them honed in and you’ve now designed a chapter, even before that chapter is completely done, some of those opening and closing thoughts can Be used in advance of the book being put out through social media, by audios, by videos, and especially quotes. And getting to the quote part, jumping over to quotes, please consider inside of your book. If it’s, let it be your book. Be the author of your book. Don’t put other people’s quotes all over your book. Don’t let these opening thoughts, like so many choose to do, have somebody else’s authority, somebody else’s expertise, make it yours.
If there’s a certain quote that you are tying in some kind of knowledge or some part of the story to, by all means, but don’t have these segments and these books with these people where it’s just quote unquote, on quote unquote of other people’s authority. Let it be yours. And as you find a quote that might be important, that might be something going, okay, this is definitely in the book, this is definitely here. You can make it as you can have it be something that’s pulled out as a pull quote in certain images as opposed to just having a chapter and a whole bunch of pages. You could have something enlarged, something italicized, something bolded, something to stand out, something to break it out for the eye for someone to read.
And if you know, okay, this quote is going in, this quote is going in here. It’s going in the middle of chapter two. It’s on this subject. I really like it. I know it’s going to be there. Boom. That is in chapter two. Feel free and please consider doing this to add that quote to Goodreads and you can add a quote to Goodreads before your book is published, to sites like quotes.net to quote fancy and to many of these other places where you can begin to pre optimize the IP of your work so that as the book comes out, when people look up some of these quotes, they find them located in all these other places. Every so often it can be good to put out that blog of your quotes and add it on a website inside of an article.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
Quotes that you can be quoted on inside of interviews. Would you quote me on this? That’s great. Let’s say it’s one of the Kirkus reviews and it goes through a major publisher. That’s a quote that’s going to have some high authority and point back to you. Recently, right now, in just protecting some of my older quotes, I ended up doing a, you know, I ended, I titled it Top 100 Loren Wiseman Quotes. Now, this isn’t a look at me. These are quotes that I hope people are happy with.
But the main point was to reestablish quotes that were from my book, from my three books, quotes that I’ve had on my website, quotes I shared in interviews, quotes about how I operate, how I like to work with people, what I advise people to do. And again, it’s a re energizing of these are mine. And so at the same time, you can do that in advance, these are yours. Creating elements in advance can also help whether you’re going to a literary agent, whether you’re going to a hybrid, whether you’re going to a major publisher for them to see the strength of what’s being created, to begin to see the buzz of what’s happening, whether you end up with a working title, whether it ends up having the title ends up having to change somewhat, that can happen too.
But coming back to the blueprint, in really designing chapter titles, in designing a title for the book, in looking, in doing a brand discovery, and that’s something you can do with someone like me, that’s something you can do with other brand strategists that understand this methodology and this model to work in, to understand what is the chapter title, what is the title of the book going to be when that’s searched on. Are you buying some of the domain names already? Are you securing a social media Are you securing a social media set? Do you have this stuff taken?
Maybe you don’t know what the cover of the book is necessarily going to be and you have just a holder image, but this is where your ex is going to be or formerly Twitter. This is the Facebook, this is the Instagram, this is where you’ll have your YouTube having these things set up. Not only does it set up a primary level of security for you, for your IP and for the book, but it can be a great preliminary marketing element to go to, to go to a publisher and state, this is what I’m doing. When I had put out a book proposal, put out a book proposal on a Friday and it came back on a Monday afternoon saying we want this. And what I sent in the proposal, it was one chapter done, it was 11 chapters stated.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
These are the names, this is what I want to call them. I understand certain things are going to change, but from an SEO standpoint, from a competitive standpoint, from a comparative standpoint, from a connotative standpoint, these may be the strongest. Here’s the opening and closing thoughts as they are at the moment for the rest of the chapters. And by the way, here are the domains I purchased. Here’s the social media sites that are all up, there’s nothing on them. And here’s the outline in the direction of where I’m taking it. I became less of a risk and a safer investment to be viewed for what I was doing and what I was doing in advance while the book was still being written.
And in that it brought a level of promotion and it also helped once the book cover came back, I believe that was. Oh, book came. It came back in. I think it was like December. I don’t even remember the year now. But then I could use the image of the book. And the book was still five months out from being released. And I was able to get the images of the book, the fonts, all the typeset, all the look up onto all these social media headers. I was able to get the front in the backs for the YouTube videos. I was able to get a lot of just the watermarking done. And then I was even starting to put out from there the videos about going a little further into this is what I talk about in this chapter.
These are some of the ideas. Here are some of the quotes. I was putting the quotes up through Goodreads, through Quotes.net, OwnQuotes.com and through these other places I was building simultaneously while writing the book. And then yeah, it went to editing and went to, you know, tech editing and proofreading and the whole nine yards and a lot of that stuff. Yeah, that’s down the line. And again, the writing process, it might be a little bit longer for you. Not saying you have to write it in four months, you might write it in two years. But still in the first phase in this security, stability, foundational phase, consider the outline, consider the blueprint.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
Consider putting this together for yourself, working with someone like me, or working with me on one of these so that you have all the formats in place, so that whether you’re pre pitched to a hybrid, a major, a literary agent, whether you’re doing this yourself and you just want to protect the story as it goes out, whether you want to build up the advanced traction before the book comes out, you’re setting a precedent with a better foundation that’s that much more stable to build and get the exposure you’re looking for.
Consider taking your concept, and this is part of where you protect it as well, into a level where it’s showing up in. It’s almost like blockchain book writing, for lack of a better word, that it’s not just I’m working on a book and it’s coming or something that you pop out on your personal, your business, social media, but that the domain is taken, the social media handles are taken, the outline of what you’re creating is out there. That this begins to showcase a strong, viable product that has the legs to it to run for a long distance.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
That idea of stating if you can, multiple audio chapters released over an extended amount amount of time discussing in options if there are other books inside of you or other books that tie to this, that here’s the book that I’m doing, here’s the outline of it, here’s the opening thoughts, closing thoughts, taglines of chapters, tagline of the book as a whole. And from here I would go to here figuring out some of the market and some of the analytics and the brand of where this may impact the best. Not, excuse me, not shortcutting. If this is to be something a little bit bigger than that local little, you know, mom and pop self publishing publishing house that can pop you up on Amazon and print you 500 copies is not going to be the answer. There’s also in between the self, the hybrid.
There’s also investment opportunities, there are ways to go for investment for your books. And once you showcase what’s going on, you may be able to draw out investment. So the main point being and kind of summing things up and then a last thought, prep the best foundation that you can for the authenticity and the authority of your story so that even while you’re in the midst of writing it, you’re promoting it, while you’re building the message across it, you’re marketing it and that you’re already bringing in all the authentic structures prior to the editor, the proofreader, the tech reader. You’re authoring out and advertising what this thing is going to be to the public, to media, to literary agents in advance.
And in the last part of this, and this impacted me with a particular book in the last part, read carefully the contracts and the deals that you get into. Look for the warning signs, look for situations that don’t maybe appear at first. This goes with anything I would say. And I used to say I don’t say it anymore. And I really corrected myself shortly after one of the books came out that I felt a little bit screwed over by a situation that occurred. And in the end it was my fault. It wasn’t.
These people chose to do something that was not very moral, not very ethical and absolutely questionable. And it cost a lot of. But I didn’t take the time to read a section of a contract that I thought I just buzzed across it. It seemed fine to me, but it wasn’t fine. And it cost me a lot in the long run. And while I’m still proud of the work and the work still is out there promoting, there was also a piece of that that it was very harmful, but it was harm that I caused because of my lack of due diligence, my lack of vetting, and my lack of double checking.
If you get right as you’re getting to that point of whether it’s signing or distributing or whatever deal that you might end up cutting, look very carefully. And if you’re not 100% sure and really in all to get a lawyer to review a contract or if you’re really clear on parts of it, to say, okay, I’d like to book this consultant, because there’s this one page or this paragraph or this that I’m a little unclear with. Having that legal person review that with you, it can make all the difference. So in close, consider the brand strategy of your book, the optics of your book, the foundation, even before you’ve written the whole thing.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
Consider moving away from the idea of I need to write a book and complete this thing. Before I think about any of that, I say do the very beginning steps simultaneously to create the greatest foundation so that the IP stays yours, so that people know. Begin to learn your quotes, begin to learn parts about your story, things that you can feed into podcasts, into videos, into short videos, into the quotes that go out, into articles, even into parts of it, of a little bit of the story of where you’re at with how you’re writing it and bringing this whole product that goes beyond just the book itself to a finish line that is a starting point for the book, for the subsidiary elements of the book, the ebook, the audiobook, whatever else, the speaking, if there are seminars, whatever else is involved, or if it’s cross promotion of products or your services, whatnot.
But when you add that different view and when you power up a little bit more with this blueprint and this foundation and you have that genuine story, I believe you can have and create a greater impact in media, in the publishing world, and then in the launch, sales and recognition, as well as genuine reviews, and be able to get that just that much further out to the world, that’s all I got. My name is Loren Weisman. Have a good one.
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes: Considerations for Branding, Communication and Marketing
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes:
Considerations for Branding, Communication and Marketing
To get a little more of an idea of me, where I come from, what I believe and how I work… I am sharing 100 of my quotes from the last few decades that have appeared either in some of my books, on my website or articles.
I hope this gives you a sense of me, my views and my approach.
Here’s to hoping you might find one or two of them helpful.
I hope some of these quotes can be a resource you return to whenever you need a boost in mindset or strategy.
Ten Themes of the Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes:
Broke these quotes out into the ten themes or topics below…
Foundations of Brand Messaging & Strategy
Authenticity, Authority & DifferentiationStorytelling and Content CreationMessaging, Delivery and EngagementClarity, Truth and ProfessionalismPersonal and Professional GrowthIntegrity, Honor and EthicsCommunication, Respect and RelationshipsOptics, Perception and Social MediaEndurance, Harvest and Long-Term Vision
Foundations of Brand Messaging and Strategy Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
1. The foundation of transparent messaging is often framed by your words, your story and your actions. Consider making them strong, true, authentic and yours.
2. I believe in the discovery, validity and security of a brand and its messaging being built on a foundation that is stabilized for enduring growth. Regardless of the field or product, when these key elements are reviewed and addressed, the accountability, authenticity and authority can shine that much brighter.
3. For me, a first step, with any business, venture or visionary is to bring them through a personalized organizational strategy plan in order to create the right foundation for all to be built on or corrected.
4. Perceptions, comparisons, compliance and connotations of the messaging and optics of a brand can matter a great deal. Consider taking the time to choose a sound foundation for the name, the content and the tone for a secure, stable and persevering performance.
6. I think the messaging has to come before the marketing and the discovery of the brand. This can allow the foundation of what it will be built on, to be understood as much as possible by as many people as possible.
7. I believe Messaging isn’t marketing. To me, Messaging comes before marketing.
8. When marketing is not grounded in a foundation of authentic messaging with authority, integrity and ability, it can end up costing worlds more, saying worlds less and sounding the same as so many others.
9. Shortcuts on the foundation of your discovery, compliance, brand, website, uniformity, competitive, comparative as well as your core messaging are a dangerous and often become the most costly route to go.
10. Premature promotion and distribution before professional protection and organization can lead to loss of control, ownership and profits. Consider creating the sound foundation before you start building the floors above it.
11. Consider building your foundation so strong and secure that everything placed on top of it can be supported and set up to thrive and succeed that much more.
12. Brand before liftoff. For the best launch, the farthest reach, and the most results, consider building the brand foundation and fueling it while it is still on the launching pad. In many cases, designing a brand after you take off is like fueling a rocket after its lifted off.
13. When you run across the operational touch points, the strategic touch points, the core time frames, and the messaging simultaneously; It can allow for a sound foundation to be heard above the unison and harmonies of so many others saying the exact same thing at the same time.
14. Consider Discovery and blueprinting before building… Messaging before marketing… And engaging before selling.
Authenticity, Authority and Differentiation Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
15. The authenticity in your story, the authority in your delivery and the personalization of your presentation can make you that much more real and able to reach that many more people.
16. Authenticity in the direction, delivery, authorship and performance of a business or brand can create a greater path of awareness, presence and profit.
18. The authenticity in your story, the authority in your delivery and the personalization of your presentation may help you appear that much more real.
19. Consider exchanging the claims, promises and guarantees for authentic, humble and engaging content.
20. Consider nourishing your audience with authentic content that highlights your authority instead of feeding them junk click bait in attempts to grow a false popularity.
21. No one can create your brand for you. No one can create your story for you. To be authentically created, this has to be done with you, not for you.
22. If you say the same things as everyone else… share the same links as everyone else… post the same quotes as everyone else… and put up the same pictures as everyone else… Why should anyone think you are any different than everyone else?
23. If you are… saying the same things as everyone else… sharing the same links as everyone else… posting the same quotes as everyone else… and putting up the same pictures as everyone else… Why should anyone think you are any different than everyone else?
24. Consider being drawn to individuals showcasing and sharing authenticity, authority, experience and knowledge, while being less concerned with who someone is standing next to.
25. Amplify with your authority instead of constantly shouting only publicity. A sell only goes so far. Your experience, knowledge and authenticity can create the endurance to engage and sustain a connection.
Storytelling and Content Creation Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
26. There are hundreds of ways to tell a story and thousands of ways to tell different parts of a story. Still, be sure you have your story and the foundation of its messaging solid, situated and clear before bringing it to a public containing a large number of people with short attention spans that tends to read only headlines.
27. Spread your story and messaging out, over time, and over different types of media in short segments that invite people to learn more with out force.
28. Creating authentic messaging with your story allows for the strategy, products, and security to come together correctly and create a melody that may be heard over the same old harmonies sung by everyone else when they use hype scripts instead of true life.
29. In painting a palette with a wide array of information, before painting the picture of your brand… it can allow for the tone, temperature and clarity of your brand, messaging and process architecture to all come together in harmony at the same time.
30. By thinking about gearing the message across the existing customer, the familiar with you but has not converted person and the individual that has no idea who you are… (your three audiences) with the same content, you may be able to build a greater bond, better relationships, and an endurance audience.
32. Consider posting content that plants authentic seeds for an enduring harvest instead of posting empty hype that lasts only for a moment.
33. Is that content for the present, past and future? Consider simultaneously strategizing your content creation to deliver a resonating endurance impact for the present, future and past.
34. Content without continuity and connection can leave you with fewer conversions, sales, and engagement. Consider not trying to create something to go viral and instead start building an authentic connection rooted in endurance and engagement.
35. Your story, shared with authenticity can do more to sell you than any sales pitch, marketing piece or ad.
36. Instead of trying to shake 20 hands, get 30 business cards and adding 40 people to your LinkedIn, consider taking the time with authentic introductions and conversations that are grounded in connection quality over racing for the quantity of stale and rushed connection attempts.
37. For your own professionalism, reputation & appearance, it really is ok to NOT post every video, picture, event or show on social media. On the contrary, holding back, waiting or not posting certain things altogether can help much more than hurt.
38. Would you be worried for someone to see or hear… that picture, video, blog, quote, audio or rant… tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or in five years? Then perhaps, don’t post it today.
39. You can do something nice without posting it on social media.
Sometimes, consider giving from the heart, sharing with authenticity and helping without the spotlight.
Messaging, Delivery and Engagement Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
40. When your messaging strategy has the foundation that allows the message to be delivered in an array of ways that best represents your vision while allowing each person to have their own authenticity in sharing it, the reach has the chance to expand greatly.
41. Methodically messaging in a harmony of honor, humility, authenticity and authority may create more resonation for your story to be heard by that many more connections.
42. Sometimes the messaging and story are right where they need to be, but the issue is in the performance and delivery of that story and that message. The melody, tone, dynamics and tempo can be everything in a delivery.
43. Consider the invitation elements of your messaging in your sharing, pitching and marketing. Does it invite people to want to learn more or confuse, over making them feel like they don’t know anything at all.
44. Consider synchronizing your messaging and online connecting styles with your methodology, morals and beliefs, not someone else’s.
45. Are you network messaging or network marketing? In these times, it seems people may be more enticed by an engaging message over the usual marketing pitches.
46. The more you engage and connect, it may allow you to find that many more authentic engagements and connections.
47. When messaging is authentic, compliant and aligned, then strategically and ethically mobilized for distribution… It can cost a lot less to market and has the chance to resonate with a lot more people.
48. If you cannot get your point and your story across without using a PowerPoint, it may be time to revisit your messaging.
50. Are you selling with soul or do you come off like you are selling your soul? If people only see you selling your expertise all the time, without experiencing elements of you sharing the expertise and knowledge you have, then what reason are you giving them to trust you or buy?
Clarity, Truth and Professionalism Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
51. Differentiate your opinions from facts. Honor your audience with messaging that clearly defines when you are sharing truth and when you are sharing an opinion.
52. Consider that when you state only what you can prove and differentiate your opinions from facts, it may allow you to stand on a stronger foundation over those stating whatever they want with no care for the truth.
53. In humility, subjectivity and in the ability to see a series of elements from a distance; it may help you to focus your messaging in order to create a much stronger of an impact.
54. Instead of claiming to be the answer, consider stating that you may be an answer.
55. I do not believe in my truth and I do not believe in your truth. I believe in the truth.
56. I believe an effective content strategy has to mix your authenticity, your story and your authority along with commentary and subjective opinions when sharing other peoples content.
57. Staying with statements that are still assertive, but placed in a subjective format can help in debate, conversations and communication. It can open many doors for authority, while applying humility and honor for another person’s views.
58. As a brand communications and optics strategist,
I focus on the authenticity, authority, optics, psychology and perceptions of a brand, persona or product.
59. The most effective brand messaging strategy is not to create the messaging that makes the most sense to you. It is creating the brand messaging that makes you, your brand and your products make the most sense to others.
Personal and Professional Growth Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
61. If you are ready to face the fears, take the steps, do the work, be more than you thought you ever could, and attack the dream, what is keeping you? Lose all the excuses and replace them with all the reasons for success. Be the change for yourself. Commit to the dream or quit. There really is no middle ground.
62. Be the person you would do anything for. Be the person you will not let down. Could now be the time to respect yourself and your dream? Don’t both truly deserve that respect?
63. It’s time to respect yourself and your dream, both truly deserve that respect. Be the person you would do anything for. Be the person you will not let down.
64. I do not think you need to commit yourself 24/7 to building your dream. I do think you should commit to making every hour you work on your dream to be as effective and productive as possible… So you may be able to have the life you always wanted before, during and after your dream comes to fruition.
65. Motivation without animation can be a core factor in the early extermination of a vision or venture.
66. If you are working yourself to death, how can any investor feel safe, confident and secure investing in you?
67. When you treat your business or dream like a living, breathing baby…
You may make better decisions and wiser choices.
69. If your dream is all about winning an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy, or another award, give up and quit now! Why dream for accolades, awards, recognition or celebrity status?
Considering dreaming to learn, achieve, grow, sustain and succeed authentically.
70. I see many more successes and wins from those working to be better over those trying to be the best. Consider removing the hype, the hate and the ego in your growth to truly grow to your potential and beyond.
71. Choices made in fear to fix the moment can poison the future.
Integrity, Honor and Ethics Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
72. Please stop overselling what or where you are, especially in today’s industry. It is easier now than ever to be found out as a big-talking beginner or a liar. On the other hand, honesty and transparency can be a major strength; consider using it.
73. The honor of your presentation, execution, experience, and growth can do much more for you and your career over false claims that have no substance yet.
74. Consider standing in honor and transparency whether behind closed doors or if those doors are open to the world at large.
75. Through my messaging, ideas, beliefs, faith, experiences and present conclusions…
I look to share content that represents my integrity, authenticity and authority in a stewarding approach while asking for nothing in return.
77. Are you trying to control and guide truth or are you allowing truth to control and guide you?
78. Your actions and approach with what you have may very clearly showcase to others what you would be able to do with more.
79. No one has a right to tell you what you want, what you need, or what you must have. So why let them?
80. Choose those you give your trust to carefully. Be caring; be loving; be creative. But also be careful.
Communication, Respect and Relationships Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
81. I do not disconnect because I disagree with someone on something, some view or some opinion. If I disconnect, it is because of how they chose to disagree.
82. Regardless of how much I disagree with some people’s views, opinions & political beliefs… those disagreements have never created a desire for me to harm them, their family, business or home. I don’t understand how the first response is burn it down instead of building it up.
83. As challenging as it can be from businesses to relationships to anything else, if we ground ourselves in the respect to hear the other side, differentiate our opinion from proven and vetted facts, while removing the insulting and attacking elements, we have a better chance at create impactful conversations of change.
84. Amplified authentic opinions can be driven with passion while still anchored in respect for those that have a different view.
85. Looking for someone to hear you and your desired message of change? Perhaps, do not open with insults, attacks and attitude pointed at the people that might be able to help make that change.
86. Consider messaging, marketing and responding in love. Be kinder and be bigger, instead of adding to and authoring more words of hate online.
88. Demanding change and justice is worlds different from devoting time and efforts to making those changes and creating that justice.
89. Voting is a right and if you do not want to exercise that right, who am I or who is anyone to tell you that you are wrong?
90. Are they only addressing your symptoms or are they working with you to find a cure? And, do they have the knowledge and ability to assist you in the healing with a plan for the long run?
Optics, Perception and Social Media Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
91. Pictures of people taken with influencers does not make them a person of influence or an influencer.
92. Consider following through with endurance over just following the latest trend, book, course or claim of the moment.
93. From the news, to social media and everywhere else, the tone and temperature in some ways, has become more toxic than the virus itself. It’s almost as if for some people, it is easier to be brutal than it is to be beautiful.
94. Stop settling for, subscribing to and becoming enticed by stupid. I believe most are smarter than that. Yet many allow themselves to continually get sucked into it.
95. Playing the blame game is stupid and childish. Even if it is someone else’s fault, the blame game is wasted time, effort, and energy that takes you somewhere that most of the time is not going to get you anywhere.
Endurance, Harvest and Long-Term Vision Quotes
Top 100 Loren Weisman Quotes
96. How you plant, where you plant and who you plant with can be some of the most crucial elements to reaping the best fruits and results at harvest for any business.
97. Consider taking an approach to your nonprofit asks by explaining what is needed, what would help and why, over telling them that if they skip one coffee here or one beer there, they can do so much more and show that they really care.
98. I believe there is no better way to find out the true heart, honor, and professionalism of a person, than seeing how they handle themselves and others when facing a crisis, disaster or intense level of pressure.
Loren Weisman Video Shorts on YouTube. A collection of 20 topics on communication, messaging, optics and topics.
Loren Weisman Video Shorts
1. The Company You Keep: Why Your Network Matters
03-06-2025
In the YouTube Short “The Company You Keep: Why Your Network Matters,” brand communications strategist Loren Weisman emphasizes the importance of being selective about your professional connections. He argues that entrepreneurs and small business owners should clearly define the types of people and brands they want and do not want to work with, based on their values and standards.
This approach is not about limiting opportunities, but about attracting like minded clients and collaborators, enhancing brand authenticity, credibility, and professionalism. By openly communicating your boundaries and expectations, you set yourself apart in the marketplace and foster genuine, value aligned business relationships.
9. The Moral Crisis of AI Branding: Where do you draw the line?
03-18-2025
In the YouTube video “The Moral Crisis of AI Branding: Where do you draw the line?”, Loren Weisman, a Brand Communications and Optics Strategist, discusses the ethical boundaries of using AI in business branding. He supports using AI for research, optimization, and information gathering but cautions against relying on AI to create content or personas that are not authentic.
Weisman encourages entrepreneurs to ask themselves if they would be comfortable openly sharing how they use AI with family, clients, or the public; if not, that may indicate a need to reconsider their approach. The video emphasizes transparency, accountability, and aligning AI use with personal and brand values to maintain trust and authenticity.
19. Are Online Courses Actually Worth Your Time And Money?
04-03-2025
In the video “Are Online Courses Actually Worth Your Time And Money?”, Loren Weisman warns viewers about the prevalence of low-quality, deceptive online courses often created with automated tools and marketed by individuals with false or inflated credibility. He highlights the risks of wasting money on invalid certifications and the potential damage to one’s own credibility.
Weisman advises viewers to thoroughly vet both the course content and the instructor’s real world expertise and presence before making a purchase, emphasizing the importance of investing in authentic, well founded training rather than falling for digital scams.
20. Proving Claims with IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE
04-04-2025
In the YouTube video “Proving Claims with Irrefutable Evidence,” brand communications strategist Loren Weisman urges viewers to support their claims with substantiated, unbiased, and objective proof.
He criticizes the common practice of presenting personal beliefs or secondhand opinions as evidence and stresses the need to dig deeper, thoroughly vet sources, and consider potential biases. Weisman emphasizes that true credibility comes from transparency and presenting verified facts, not just repeating what aligns with one’s opinions or interests.
Brand Strategy Blueprint for Your Book Transcription Continued:
