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1314 : STEP TWO – GENERATING NEW IDEAS

book versions. You might want to match the customer guarantee angle
with the book’s cover. This might lead you to consider signposting
clearly on the cover the similar titles which would most appeal to
particular readers. Or you might want to print an endorsement from
children’s current role models.

what does a book jacket have in common with a delicatessen? In
addition, you could stick with the book’s jacket, but match it against
the supermarket’s delicatessen. How could you improve the
marketing potential of the cover by making it more like a
delicatessen? This forced association might lead you to applying the
numbered ticket system used in the delicatessen to the launch of a
numbered, limited edition print run of a particular title or series, all
of them with an added-value element such as the author’s signature
or a free prize entry. The forced association might also lead you to
consider whether you could personalise the book’s cover at point-of-
sale.

The possibilities really are endless. The tasters on the delicatessen
counter might prompt you to provide a sample chapter to allow parents
to try out the book on their children at home. A sign for personal
shoppers might prompt the idea for a telephone reading service.

go for quantity and don’t judge You should work through all
possible combinations from both lists. As the example above shows, the
forced connection between two apparently unrelated elements can
generate a significant wealth of first-level ideas which can be screened
and developed further. As ever with divergent thinking, the intention is
to generate ideas in quantity while suspending all critical judgement
which inevitably inhibits the fluency of your idea generation. There is
plenty of time left in the process for analytical left-brain thinking to
perform its evaluative task.

mental workout four – free association Free

association is the most basic of all idea-generation techniques, with one
idea being used to generate another, which then sparks off another and
so on. In contrast to the earlier force-fitting technique, free association
relies heavily on chance, together with your past experience and
current frame of mind, for its effectiveness.

The success of this technique relies upon your ability to let go and
allow one thought or concept to lead to another. It is important to