90% of books are rejected by the first paragraph. Only 2% of books are based on the entire book. 30% of the Top 100 books on Amazon are self-published. Yesterday Randi discussed publishing and how to keep a captive audience with Ben Parr, author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention as well as Brit Morin, author of Homemakers: A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation.

Here are Ben’s thoughts:

“Content creators need to get the attention of the audience, teachers need to capture the attention of students. We all have to capture someone’s attention.”

“Adrian Grenier from Entourage, Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook, and Steven Soderbergh director of Erin Brockovich were some of the people I interviewed for the show.”

“The book focuses on 7 psychological triggers that capture attention. Attention is a stage process.”

“Becoming a life-long customer happens through stages, not all at once.”

“Automaticity: What color shirt should you wear to get picked up if you were hitchhiking? Red.”

“Yellow and orange are terrible colors for job interviews but great for excitement.”

“Compulsion for Completion: People have a stronger memory for incomplete stories than they do complete ones.”

“Asking a question is acknowledgement. We pay attention back. It provides validation.”

“It’s not just about you, it’s about them.

“Establishing your credentials and expertise can get you attention.”

“It’s an emotional response when you have something that physically exists in the real world like a hardcopy book.”

“David Copperfield is a fascinating person. He’s always thinking about how people perceive his performances and who he is. He’s thoughtful about his presentation.”

“The creator of Super Mario gave me such detail about why Mario is one of the most well-known and iconic figures: When they first created him they only had 16X16 pixels. They gave him a moustache to see his nose, overalls to see his pants, and a cap to see his hair.”

“It absolutely matters if it’s good attention or bad attention you receive.”

“You can really get bad attention and lose out on your audience.”

“Quiznos had dirty looking rodents for their ads then they went bankrupt.”

“The Credibility Rule: Having a network really does matter that gives you a level of credibility. Build your network. It’s how you get in the door for investor meetings.”

“Leverage your network to get you in the door.”

“It’s a relief if you come to me and not pitch me. Just ask questions and show your research. I would answer those questions all day.”

“Don’t go after somebody right after they do a talk. Do your research and show that you really care about the person.”

“I went to the mountains and to Thailand to write. It’s not a simple process. You have to allow time.”

“You have to stand in a booth for 4 straight days to record your own book.”

“I’ll be everywhere so I’m happy to sign any books that come my way.”

“It’s always valuable to be creating content. Branding, building an audience just takes practice. Being an editor at Mashable made me a better writer.”

“Establishing expertise is one of the most important advantages in the business world.”

Get the pre-order of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention at captivology.com

Next up, Brit Morin the founder & CEO of Brit + Co and author of Homemakers: A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation:

“I asked why write a physical book that takes months and is anti-technology? But I found the physical presence of a book is like a work of art.”

“Homemaking has changed over the last 50 years. From iPhones to cake mix to the microwave, this book is the intersection of homemaking and technology.”

“Each chapter is a different room and how you should know how to do the various things in those rooms.”

“Technology can do amazing things for us as we learn to be more creative. Because we’re so absorbed in our computers there’s a newfound admiration for people using their hands to make and create things.”

“Have fun in the offline world.”

“This book is for the people who think they’re hopeless with domestic skills.”

“The bathroom is about beauty, how to put on makeup the right way, or creative ways to do your hair.”

“Writing a book is not like writing a blog post. It’s difficult. You’re compounding everything you want people to know in one space and make it flow.”

“I had to keep updating the manuscript because technology is constantly evolving.”

“I found myself pregnant a few months into writing the book. Nearly every photo of me in the book is me 13-17 weeks pregnant.”

“I predict more digital sales, but I hope people buy the physical book because it’s a handbook. It’s so visual.”

“I’m really excited to meet the Brit + Co community of women who love anything creative on this book tour.”

“If you’re writing a non-fiction book you want to have some expertise in your domain. “

“If you have a social following and can write well, don’t think you can let an editor clean up your work. You have to write your best and let them clean up the grammar.”

“People will have a book for years to reference again and again. It’s a way to engage with a brand over the years. There’s a ton of knowledge that I wanted to share.”

“I’m really excited about the future for 3-D printers for clothes. You can download a design, scan your body, and this machine will weave together the fibers and create a shirt.”

You can get Homemakers:  A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation on Tuesday, March 3 at Brit.co/homemakers

Make sure to join Randi every Wednesday for Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg only on SiriusXM Channel 111 at 12pm ET/9am PT!

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