Get Slightly Famous
One morning, you open your inbox and find several e-mails that will
boost your business. There is an invitation to speak at a local group
comprised of your best prospects. Several emails have arrived from
people who've "heard of you" and inquire about your services.
There is a message from a potential joint venture partner who has
invited you to be a guest on a teleconference that will reach 500
people, all of them prospects. Later that day, a journalist calls. She
wants to write a story about your business, which she heard about on a
radio interview you gave weeks earlier.
Is this a fantasy? No. This could be a typical day in your life as a published author.
More and more business people are realizing the power of writing a book
to catapult their businesses to a higher level. Speakers, consultants,
coaches, therapists and other small business owners are learning that
publishing a book is one of the most powerful marketing strategies
available.
Published authors report that their lives change, often dramatically,
when their books reach the marketplace. When you become an author, you
become known as the expert. When you are known as an expert in your
field, whatever your field, you will find that the world will beat a
path to your door.
A Book Generates Visibility and Attracts Clients
Of all the information products you can create, a book has the greatest
potential to open doors. A book can give you more recognition and
professional credibility than audiotapes, CDs, videos, seminars,
workshops and public speaking.
Since my book Get Slightly Famous (2nd edition) was published last year, I have been amazed at how it has transformed my business.
Publishing my book was a newsworthy event that resulted in tens of
thousands of dollars in new business, high-profile media coverage,
speaking engagements, radio interviews, partnership opportunities, and
too many other benefits to mention.
Prospective clients now hear about me from all over the world. The
media regularly call me, and I appear in newspaper articles and radio
interviews.
Get Slightly Famous is not just my most effective marketing tool. It
has become the core of my brand identity. My book provides a marketing
platform for my business that gives all my marketing efforts a natural,
sharp focus.
Best of all, marketing is not such a struggle anymore.
As a successful author you will find the stress of constantly seeking
new clients can largely become a thing of the past. Clients will seek
you out, ready to pay good money for your services, because you are
seen as a leader in your field. You become their first choice.
It's Not Just a Book -- It's a Business!
Your book is the seed from which you can grow a multi-faceted "empire''
of related products and services, including seminars, teleclasses,
reports, consulting packages, audiotapes, and other profitable
information products.
Imagine selling thousands of books to trade associations as premiums
for their members. Or how about creating a $49-a-month newsletter, a
$995 home-study course, a $499 a year membership web site? Could you
use your book as the basis for a year-long mentorship program for which
individuals or groups that pay thousands of dollars a piece to
participate?
The idea is to see your book as a launching pad for new business opportunities.
Barbara Hemphill used her book Taming The Paper Tiger
to develop a multi-pronged branding strategy. Hemphill offers
organizing skills services designed to reduce stress and increase
productivity. Her business is based almost entirely on her book.
Barbara has used her book to develop Taming the Paper Tiger software,
gain an endorsement by Pendaflex, and found the Hemphill Productivity
Institute. Her company now employs more than 70 Paper Tiger authorized
consultants across the U.S. and Canada.
You can write a book!
Me, publish a book, you ask? Yes, you. It is easier than you might
think, and you don't need to be a seasoned writer to become a published
author.
Writing a successful book is not the easiest thing in the world, but it
is entirely possible. The talents and expertise you bring to your
clients can form the basis of a successful book. If you know your
subject area, and can communicate your ideas in a clear, compelling,
organized manner, becoming a published author is within your reach.
A strategy that works for many is to break the process into smaller
steps by writing a series of articles. They then become the basis for a
book. Or, you can work with a talented freelance writer to help you
express your ideas clearly and with conviction.
The most traditional route is to find a publisher who will handle the
production, marketing, promotion and distribution. This involves up
front work (you write a detailed proposal, a table of contents, sample
chapters and a market overview). Then you shop the proposal around to
potential publishers, either on your own or with the help of a
commissioned agent.
Self-publishing has many advantages over traditional publishing, the
most compelling being greater financial returns for the author. "When
you self-publish, you keep all the profits," says Dan Poynter, author
of The Self-Publishing Manual. "Additionally, you get into print quickly, own the copyright, and take all applicable tax breaks."
On the downside, self-publishing can be expensive. You pay up front for
all the production and distribution costs, and if your book does not
sell, you will be stuck with the leftover inventory. However, if your
book is successful, you will not only have the satisfaction and
advantages of being a published author, you will make more money.
Whatever publishing route you choose, the Internet provides a global
marketplace for your book. Never before has it been so easy to market a
book if you are willing to invest the time and energy to write one.
No comments:
Post a Comment