The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Jennifer Melnick Carota of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania writes:

“I am an expert bargain shopper and ‘give-ologist’ known as the Gift Therapist. I have a ton of fun teaching folks how find fabulous gifts on a shoestring budget.

“I recently combined all of my bargain shopping tips and gifting advice into my first book titled ‘Shop Smart, GIVE MORE’ and I  have been asked to speak about it next month at a regional Women’s Expo in the Pittsburgh area.

“I have purchased table space where I will sign my books throughout the two-day event, but wondered if your Hounds had any creative ideas on what other types of informational products I could develop and sell at the Expo, as well as the upcoming gift giving season. 

“The event begins October 11th. Yikes!

Posted In: Business Promotion, Information Products, Publicity for Niche Markets, Special Events
posted On: 9/23/2008: 11:52 am: By Joan
Comments: 14 Comments

Every week, it seems, I see authors who pour three or more years of their lives and entire bank accounts into writing and publishing a book.

Then, six months after it hits the shelves, they’re drained of all energy and money. So they give up, start thinking about their second book, and the whole ugly mess starts all over again.   

I wish every author wouldn’t put word to paper unless they complete this assignment. List all the ways you can make money from your book, other than from the cover price of the book. 

—How about a board game that continues where the book has left off?

—What about a wall or desk calendar that focuses on the photographic aspects of the book’s topic, or a desk calendar with excerpts or pithy quotes each day, taken from the book?

—Can you create a workbook for readers to tackle, complete with specific assignments, after they’ve completed the book?

—What about a free ezine devoted to your topic? You can monetize it by using it to market not only the book but other products and services such as consulting.

—Can the written book be turned into an audio book? Remember that your audience has different learning modalities.

—Can you convince a company that sells something that solves a problem for people who are likely to read your book to hire you as a media spokesperson?

—How many sub-topics within the book would lend themselves to short special reports that you could write and sell as low price-point electronic downloads?  I explain exactly how to do this in “Special Report #20: How to Write and Market Profitable Special Reports.”

—Can you host a boot camp for readers to teach them something related to the book topic?

—Can you produce CDs or DVDs that tie into the book?

—What about creating a keynote presentation? If you hate the thought of speaking, join Toastmasters.

—Can you offer consulting services for people who need in-depth advice and help that goes far beyond what’s in your book?

—Through paid teleseminars, could you offer guest experts that would lecture, and then answer questions, from people on the line? The topic, of course, would tie into your book. (See “How to Host Teleseminars and Create Profitable Products.”)

–Is a topic within your book perfect for a White Paper? Perry Marshall has an excellent free email course on how to “Attract More Customers with White Papers.”

–Can you create a reference guide that dovetailis with the book?

–What about a home study course?

Lots of those ideas work, too, for fiction authors. One of the biggest mistakes I see authors making is not thinking about multiple strems of revenue they can create AFTER they’ve published the book.

If this idea if foreign, or uncomfrotable, my friend Adam Witty, can help. He’s hosting a marketing conference for authors Oct. 3-4 in Charleston, South Carolina.  He will teach authors how to “unlock the invisible income streams surrounding their book.”

Adam invited me to speak at the conference but I politely declined. I promised myself a few years ago that I’d drastically curtail travel, a lifestyle choice. 

But my mentor, Tom Antion, will be there. He’ll speak on “How Authors Make Money on the Internet….for REAL.”  Also, Cadian talk show host Wayne Kelly will teach the finer points of media training. Many of the multiple streams of revenue in my list above offer numerous opportunities for publicity—and when journalists call for an interview, the author must be ready.!

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Information Products
posted On: 8/27/2008: 10:19 pm: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

When a blogger asks you for a free copy of your book, ebook, CD or other product, resist the urge to say, “If you want it bad enough, buy it.”

You wouldn’t say that to a journalist who called asking to review your book, or a music reviewer who called asking for your new CD to review, would you?

Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot blog emailed me this afternoon asking if he could have a copy of my ebook “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases” to review.

 Instead of saying yes immediately, I visited his blog, took a look around and liked what I saw. I concluded rather quickly that he’s the expert he claims he is and that his readers, who follow him for his small business marketing tips, are indeed part of my target audience. 

I was having problems with my email this afternoon so I called him instead and we chatted for a few minutes. Later, I sent him the ebook. He emailed me back and told me he wrote about me on Twitter:

“Press release tutorial. Free via email or buy the ebook. http://tinyurl.com/pwnu7 Just talked to the author, Joan Stewart. Super nice.”

He hadn’t even read the ebook yet and already he’s giving me publicity on Twitter. 

Even though most bloggers don’t view themselves as journalists, you need to pay them the same courtesies you would reporters, editors and broadcasters. In some cases, publicity generated by bloggers can be more powerful than publicity in the mainstream media because unlike the MSM, bloggers love to link to each other. (See “How to Pitch the Best Bloggers and Create a Publicity Explosion.”)     

By the way, I’m always super-impressed when bloggers take the time to call and introduce themselves. The same goes for potential joint venture partners. A telephone call lets me hear the enthusiasm in their voice (or not). Even after a short phone call, I feel like I’ve really connected with them.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Blogs, Information Products, Publicity on the Internet, Social networking
posted On: 4/23/2008: 9:28 pm: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Shirley James of Ormond Beach, Florida writes:

“A partner and I have developed an activity-based trading card for tween girls (ages 7-12) called, UgoGrl at http://www.ugogrl.com/. The cards encourage them to become physically active, mentally challenged, creatively inspired, and socially responsible.  This is accomplished across six catgories of real-life fun.  Each card has a tip, suggestion or idea to try.

“Our target market loves them, but the problem is getting them into the marketplace.  The major retailers purchase trading cards through a pay-on-scan contract–a situation that requires more capital than we have, and more risk than we are willing to take.  We added a shopping cart to our website 18 months ago but the sales have been slow.  We need help developing a strategy to educate parents and tween girls about our product.

“Our second product was developed as a means to earn enough capital to advance the UgoGrl Activity Cards.  We developed a line of paper air fresheners with artwork from the cards.  We have just fulfilled a chain-wide order for Wal-Mart.  Our ‘Get Fresh’ Mood Enhancing Air Fresheners are now on the shelves!  It has been a huge success for us, but we’re faced with the same problem–how to market them on a shoestring budget.

“Hounds, please help us out!  We are two fortysomething stay-at-home moms, each with four kids.  We need a home run.”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Information Products, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 4/21/2008: 6:04 pm: By Joan
Comments: 12 Comments

One of the most important things I learned during my Internet marketing career was that people prefer different learning modalities.

Many professional speakers, for instance, are auditory learners. They like to listen to audio recordings on CD or their MP3 players. Authors, on the other hand, are wordsmiths and often prefer edited  transcripts of recordings. 

When I started creating CDs, I ignored the occasional question “Is this available as a transcript?” More and more readers kept asking it. So I finally got smart and hired a transcriber. Offering a  product in two formats—CD and electronic transcript—gave me the chance to upsell customers who bought either version.

Most CDs and transcripts sell for $39.95 each. If you buy the CD and want the transcript, too, you can have it for only $10 more, and vice-versa.  All those $10 sales really add up over time. 

That’s one of the strategies that Cathy Stucker, The Idea Lady, teaches. She’s a whizz at coming up with ways to retool and rework content to create similar or complementary products. 

She was my guest during a teleseminar recently on ”How to Turn Content into Cash” and shared lots of her tricks on how she turns one product into multiple products.

We even talked about specific vendors we both use when creating products, and time-saving tips to make the job go faster. And we had an interesting discussion about how we make money from people who get our information products for free from their friends. 

You can listen to the recording at http://www.PublicityHound.net/contentcall

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, Information Products, Writing Articles
posted On: 3/17/2008: 3:51 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments