Whether you are just starting or almost finished with your print or eBook, you wonder, “What step to take next?” Who can help me find the right publisher? Who can partner with me to make my book a solid seller? Check out your choices to be sure you get what you need.
Many writers think that all they need is a good editor and their book will be ready for publishing and promoting.
Maybe you think you don’t have enough time to write it yourself? A ghostwriter can take over and finish the research and get it out.
Think about another choice: Bookcoaching. Before you write too many scattered chapters consult with a coach who knows your book category, who your market is, and where to find them.
Your book coach also knows what makes up a saleable title and can help guide you to write a great seller by knowing your thesis, your audience, your “tell and sell,” and the correct introduction. When you incorporate these essential “hot-selling” points before you write many chapters, you will then write a compelling, organized, easy-to read page turner.
Don’t hire a ghostwriter before you know exactly what you need to write, publish, and promote a great-selling book.
If your book is almost finished, you must hook your potential readers with the solutions you know will serve them. Knowing your audience before you write the book helps you write focused, organized, and compelling copy. Do you know the rules for writing a saleable book? Too many “I’s” and linking verbs like “is” and was” slow readers down and make them bored. They want vital verbs and specific nouns. If they don’t receive multiple benefits, they will put your potential great book down and won’t recommend it to friends or associates.
You already know that word-of-mouth works, yet takes a year or more to really get up steam. Many authors quit too soon because they don’t know how or don’t want to promote their book. An experienced book coach can give you the real picture before you put time and money into your book. She can also make you aware of easy marketing and promotion that takes only a few hours a week at home or in the office. And, you can delegate it all to an assistant.
Maybe, you just want to get your book done. An editor can fix your grammar and even your disorganization, but can an editor help you get your book published and promoted, and know which way is the best for you?
Think about what you want–a saleable book whose audience will flock to it because it totally helps answer their questions or solves their challenge. And, entertains too. Editors are not trained to think about the benefits your book will give your audience. They don’t know how to market as you write. Check with your book coach who will point out your brilliance and show you your benefits and features in ongoing phone and email sessions.
Remember that only benefits sell. This is the end result your reader gets after reading your book. Results sell. Features such as what’s inside the book-steps, charts, tips, interview, pictures, or quote explain, but do not sell.
When you don’t know why your audience should buy your book and you can’t tell them in a few sentences either in print or in person, they will back away and keep their wallet or credit card inside their pockets or purse.
Hire your editor after you contact a book coach. When your chapters do not have a consistent format with questions posed as headings and answers in the copy below, a line editor cannot make your work sell just by changing a few sentences. Even a developmental editor needs format to help make your book the best it can be. Even a ghostwriter will need this format.
If authors want their book to succeed, they need to choose the right partner.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including “Write your eBook Fast,” and “How to Market your Business on the Internet,” she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says…and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
There are several ways to jump start sales for a new work of fiction, but one of the most effective selling points is your sales letter. With the proper format and layout, your marketing letter can do a majority of the selling for you, just leaving you with the task of getting eyes on your letter. Most traditional publishers rely on submitting your book title and description to all the major bookstores, but if you self-publish your fiction, this will give you a leading edge to start racking in some great sales.
Writing a sales letter is a simple eight-step process that involves a little bit of marketing and writing skills. With the proper format, this can not only attract your readers, but can also interest them so much that they simply have to buy whatever it is you are ultimately selling.
In order to market your fiction in the best possible fashion, you must first determine the angle of your marketing piece. By angle, I mean the unique approach you will use to gather your reader’s undivided attention. An angle is a component that captures your reader’s attention with an astonishing twist that keeps them reading your sales letter once they start. It can be a true story related to your book such as how you came up with the story idea, or something else to that nature. It can most certainly be an actual exciting excerpt from your book that makes readers beg for more by the time they finish reading the first paragraph.
The next crucial component, and probably the most important, is your headline! You’ve been to the store and seen those outlandish tabloids lining the bookracks, haven’t you? Each of them contains fantastic headlines so outrageous that you just have to pick them up and read the farfetched stories they are trying to sell. Amazingly, they work and tabloids rake in millions of dollars each month selling those fiction stories.
It’s amazing how a single headline can be so intriguing that you have to open up the paper just to see what it’s all about. The same goes with your fiction sales letter headline. Your headline needs to reach out and grab your reader’s attention. This will usually be the first thing your reader sees that starts them reading the rest of your marketing letter.
Your intriguing headline can be a short excerpt from your story such as follows: “John felt a soft scrape across the top of his left shoulder. The air in the room escaped as he slowly turned to see…” This particular headline makes the reader curious as to what John saw once he turned around. Make your headline so strong that your reader wants to continue reading to find out more!
The next component of your sales letter is an opening that adds drama and completes your angle all in two to three paragraphs following your headline. Your opening is important because it makes your visitor feel as though you are talking directly to them. Use the word “you” a lot throughout your opening. Also, start your opening with a salutation such as “Dear fiction reader” or “Dear mystery enthusiast” to call attention to your audience. Remember, you are talking to the person reading your letter. Don’t think of it as a bunch of people reading it; think of it as one person reading it. Your sales letter opening should introduce your story and give a brief description of what your story is about; however, don’t give away too much information. Keep your readers in suspense.
Your next step is to explain to your readers how they will benefit from reading your story. You should tell the reader the entertainment value of your book. Think about how you would benefit by reading your book, then think about how they can benefit. Everyone wants something of value if they are expected to pay money for something. Add value to your book during this stage of your sales letter.
Since you are the author of the fiction work, you are consequentially assumed partial of your own work. A simple solution to set your readers at ease is to add a testimonial or two that raves about your book. A simple way to get testimonials is to give a copy of your work to a few people for free on the condition that they let you know what they thought about it. Quote them word for word about how they felt about your masterpiece and add this to your sales letter as your next step in the process.
If you notice, most best selling novels have a page or two dedicated to brief testimonials from various media sources saying how good their book is. Prospective buyers want to hear from others about what they thought. Don’t use negative remarks, as this will kill any attempt you may have at selling your book. Use these negative remarks as constructive feedback to potentially make your work better.
A properly written sales letter should be similar to a query letter you submit to a literary agent. With all letters, you lead to a conclusion. The next step, therefore, is to conclude your marketing letter with a closing statement. You should try to tie the closing statement in with your opening to make your letter flow. This is also where you add an action element into your marketing piece. A typical desired action can be to subscribe to your newsletter, visit your book’s website, or download a sample of your book; the list of potential actions is limitless. Remember, the key focus of your entire sales letter is to make your readers want to read your book, so send them where they can view a sample of your book, or ultimately buy your book. You can also send them to a mailing list signup where they will consequently receive a link to your book’s purchase page. Complete your closing statement with your name and book title directly underneath it as your signature.
You’re not done yet. Next you should re-establish your sales pitch before completely ending your sales letter. Add a P.S. to the bottom of your marketing letter to capture your reader’s attention one last time. Touch back upon your angle and benefits your readers will get from your story. The way people read your letter is starting with your headline, reading your opening, skipping to the bottom to see who wrote the letter, and naturally the P.S. at the bottom. This is an expected tendency of someone reading your advertisement, so ensure you emphasize what actions you want them to take somewhere within these areas.
Finally, put your sales letter to work by placing it on your home page of your web site word for word where your work is ultimately sold. This is what is going to captivate your potential buyers when they visit your web site and make them want to purchase your book. In addition, you can use this letter as an email advertisement or newsletter broadcast. Don’t mention “buy my book” or “you must purchase your copy of my book today” anywhere in this marketing letter. This is selling and may turn people off. It is already implied that you want to sell your book. Just tell people why they should buy it, not that they should buy it, and they will buy it.
Think of your sales letter as walking onto a car lot to buy a new car: A good salesman won’t tell you that you have to buy the car you are looking at. They romance you into buying the car by telling you all the great benefits of the particular car you are interested in. Romance your potential readers the same way and you will sell more books than if you simply tell them to buy your book.
Jason Moser is a self-published author and web developer. For more information related to this topic or how to write and publish fiction, visit http://www.write-and-publish-fiction.com.
An effective and compelling way to market your business is through the use of success stories. What exactly is a success story? How does it market my business? How can I get started with my own success stories?
Consider the following:
What exactly is a success story? A success story briefly describes how your business served a client/customer and what results the client/customer achieved. Think of this as a real life example of how your product or service helps customers achieve their goals or solve a problem.
How does it market my business? A compelling success story will include the original client problem or goal, the specific product or service used with the client, and some tangible results that occurred. Prospective customers can better understand what your product or service does and most importantly, see some actual results. This will make it even easier for them to make the “buy” decision.
How can I get started with my own success stories? 3 simple steps will get you started:
1. Write a brief description of your best success story. Include a. Problem or goal b. Solution implemented c. Client testimonial. This can be a few paragraphs at the most.
2. Get permission from the customer to use the success story and testimonial in your promotional materials along with actual company names and contact information. If you don’t have permission, use generic industry categories to describe the company and position names to describe any people that may be involved.
3. Use the success story in the following ways a. Your website b. Your brochure c. Press/News release d. ezine or newsletter e. Article for publication f. Face-to-face exchanges and speeches.
Remember to ask for testimonials with all your clients/customers! Over time you will add new success stories to your portfolio as your business grows and the list of satisfied customers increases. Most satisfied clients are very willing to help in this way. Take a few minutes and add success stories to your marketing toolkit today!
Copyright 2004, Charlotte Farrior
Charlotte Farrior of Coaching Connection (http://www.corporatecoaching101.com) and Founder/Team Member of Solo-E (http://www.Solo-E.com) is a corporate and professional coach. She works with professionals, entrepreneurs, directors, and executives to define and achieve the personal and business goals they set for themselves. She coaches in the areas of goal setting, skill development, priority management and career transitions.
Find more articles like this at http://www.Solo-E.com, the lifestyle-inspired online learning and connection community. Visit now to receive a free copy of our special report, The Four Secrets of Solo Entrepreneur Success, plus a complimentary 30-day membership.
Copyright 2005 Glenn McDonald
Cross promotions are not a new idea. They have been used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale, as the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. The system is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system, where people traded items rather than using money. How can anything primitive fit into the online world of Internet marketing? Very easily. Cross promotions are, simply stated, a trade of advertising space. Instead of paying for advertising space on a site, you would place their ad on your page and yours on theirs. There are many ways to use cross promotions in your internet business that can be an effective and cost efficient way to advertise.
One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective when doing cross promotions with a company that is similar to yours, however you should be sure and never link to a page that is in direct competition with yours. One of the best things about link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring in hits from the sites that are linked to your page to when determining the ranking. Therefore linking to a more popular site, can not only increase your advertising, and traffic, but also increase your search engine ranking.
When customers or potential customers subscribe to your ezine you can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions. On the same page that the customer subscribes to your ezine, make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company’s ezine. You can even exchange ad space in ezines, and provide recommendations for those whom you cross promote with. You might even want to exchange column space in one another’s ezines.
Writing free articles that inform customers or potential customers with information that is useful and accurate can create a reputation for you and your business. Soon readers will come to know you as an expert on the subject. In these articles the author uses a byline to help promote his site. Bylines can be a way to use cross promotions as well. You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend another’s product.
If you have been considering writing an ebook, a joint venture could mean increased profits for you and the person you are partnering with. Cross promotions through ebooks are an excellent way to allow for a wider topic and to promote both your business and your partner’s business. The ebook should contain information that will benefit both businesses and still be helpful to the reader. A good example of using cross promotions through an ebook is to a site selling used video games partnering with a site selling gaming devices. These are two subjects that would interest the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.
You should keep in mind that the recommendations that you make are a direct reflection of you, so choose your cross promotional businesses carefully. Also keep in mind that it would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site to another as a way to “shop around.” Since this is usually not beneficial to you, never link or recommend a site that is in direct competition with you. Instead, recommend those who are similar, such as health and life insurance.
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