Writing, producing, and promoting tips booklets for marketing, motivating, and making money.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
I just want to give away my booklet or sell it 'back-of-the-room
Yes, you CAN do that. And there's not a single thing wrong with it either. It promotes good will, allows the reader to test-drive you and your material for not a lot of money when you sell single copies, acts like an expanded business card, and adds "author" to the list of your descriptors.
But wait, there's more.
Think about what happens when you sell a whole lot of copies to a large group. I'm talking thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of copies. (and yes, those are totally possible numbers.) Not only are you making some handsome money for the sale. You are also being paid for your marketing materials.
Each and every copy that gets distributed by that large quantity buyer promotes their own product, service, or cause while also promoting you. And you were paid for the right for that group to promote you. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.
Which would YOU rather have? You may still decide to only give away copies and sell single copies as back-of-the-room products. Just let that be a conscious decision you make rather than one out of ignorance of the large scope of possibilities.
You want to at least have my material called "How to Promote Your Business with Booklets." It gives you a painless path to doing what I just described.
The lead article in the next issue of my monthly ezine is about selling booklets to professional and trade associations. I'm giving you a heads-up about this because it is probably a market you haven't considered. Or maybe you have and you weren't sure how to go about positioning your booklet with them so they would see the benefits to buying booklets from you. [Hint: it is about how they can make mission-related, non-dues income from your booklet, no matter what kind of budget they have or don't have.] This heads up is so you can start thinking about what flavor associations are likely candidates to approach about selling quantities of your booklet to them. The next issue of the ezine is still a week and a half away (June 6), so this gives you plenty of notice.
Booklet Brilliance and Brainstorming Tuesday, May 31, 2005 New York City -- A WEEK FROM TOMORROW! -- Dear Colleague,
Are you still thinking about it? (or is this the first you've heard about it?) You really don’t want to miss this. Today is the day to act.
Here's a golden opportunity to catapult your booklet and your business to the next levels. Only 20 people are accepted to attend this unusual event -- spending the day with 19 other people and me in New York City. It’s ONE weeks away.
And wait 'til you see the price. You won't believe your eyes. I have no idea when I'll do this again in New York. Be sure to jump on it right away before it passes you by.
Each time I’ve done one of these events in cities around the country, without exception, every attendee has walked away with more new do-able ideas, strategies, and contacts than they ever thought possible when they came in the door that morning.
Now it’s your turn, whether you’ve started a booklet, completed it, or are just thinking about doing one, whether you’re a gifted marketer, believe you know little about marketing, or are somewhere in between.
· Enjoy personalized attention on writing, producing, and marketing your booklet. · Experience a full day together for slightly more than a single hour of consulting. · Elicit suggestions from 20 enthused people who also want you to succeed. · Explore directions for your booklet and your business you wouldn't have considered.
Course requirement: Must own a copy of "How to Promote Your Business with Booklets" (manual or entire home study kit) prior to class. This way everyone already has the basics about booklets and is ready to explore those next steps of large sales, large rewards, and growth of your business.
The day is shaped and structured based completely on the feedback I get from each person before we are together on May 31 That assures your getting what you need and want, and allows you to offer suggestions to others. You'll have the others' information before arriving so you can be thinking about it, too. We can effectively maximize our time together with only 20 people.
Our day together is at:
SLC Conference Center 352 7th Ave. @ 30th St. – 16th Floor New York, NY 10001 212-244-8888
The date is coming up fast – just one more week. If you are not one of the first 20 people to register, your name goes onto a waiting list on the off chance that someone cancels.
Oh yes, the price. Its only $197 for the entire day of 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
To register for this exciting event, select from the three options offered here:
· Phone me at 858-481-0890 from 9:00AM to 5:00PM PST (San Diego, CA) · mailto: Paulette@tipsbooklets.com · move directly to our shopping cart product page http://tinyurl.com/522dn In your email, be sure to include the following information:
Your Name Your Phone Number Your Address Your Credit Card Number Your Credit Card expiration date
There are eateries in the area for our short morning and afternoon breaks, and for lunch. See you soon!
Regards, Paulette
P.S. – Be sure to pass this on to invite a colleague to attend with you!
P.P.S. – Remember this may never get back to New York City again.
Find out who is talking about you in their blog by going to http://www.technorati.com and entering your name. The search mechanism is case-sensitive so be sure to use an upper case letter at the beginning of each of your names.
Until another useful piece of info comes by that's worth sharing with you, Paulette http://www.tipsbooklets.com
Several times a month, someone asks how much I think they can make from a booklet. It's oh so tempting to respond with something like 'how high is up?' However, I do hold back on that.
I've personally made well over a quarter of a million dollars, specifically in booklet sales. That's before we talk about the products and services that were sold as a result of the booklet. And that's not a singular set of experiences.
Years ago, I had a client who was a very successful family lawyer. He wanted to increase the revenue of his practice and the quality of his cases. He never intended to sell his booklet. His purpose for creating a booklet was to put into the hands of high-level referral sources like judges, mediators, and therapists. His practice doubled within six months.
Another client licensed a booklet (a PDF file!) to a corporation for $30,000. Are you picturing that? A PDF file for $30,000.
A professional association made $25,000 in peripheral sales of a tips booklet to help support their activities, with very part-time volunteer efforts on the part of some of its members. The booklet also promoted the association's entire industry and the members whose tips were represented in the booklet. There's no way to tell how much money was grossed by all the various aspects involved with that booklet.
Last week a person in a workshop I delivered was having trouble imagining the ability to make sales like I described above. By the end of the workshop, there was a different perspective about what's possible.
...the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean, isn't it great when someone contacts you and says "So-and-so suggested I get in touch with you because you are THE go-to person for this." Yes, this does come under the category of Amazing Grasp of the Obvious, I know. So why am I taking the time and effort to write about it? The short answer is because I think it's slipped the mind of most booklet authors and it bears reminding, for everyone's sake.
When was the last time you told a decision-maker that even though they didn't want your booklet that you knew of someone else who probably had exactly what that decision-maker would want? I'm guessing you most likely haven't done that in awhile, if ever. You have your reasons, ranging the gamut from concern that someone else is taking a sale away from you (which you didn't have to begin with) to it just never dawned on you.
So, think about what it's like to be on the receiving end of a referral, for a sale that just falls into your lap. The decision-maker contacts you and you hear some variation of "I understand you've got an excellent booklet about (fill in the blank), and I'm interested in reviewing it because we may want to buy 5,000 copies from you.
Now, I am not talking about being an altruist here, though that's not the worst thing any of us could be. I AM talking about good business. I'm talking about making it easier for yourself, your clients, and your colleagues. I'm talking about potentially making a commission or finder fee for passing along the referral if that way of doing business suits you.
Next time you find yourself in a situation where you have the ear of a decision-maker for booklets or their derivatives, think beyond your own booklet. Think about expanding the sale. Think about over-delivering, whether your own booklet is a match for that decision-maker or not. If you need introductions to other booklet authors on some specific topics, contact me. It's very likely I can connect you to someone.
That comment shows up periodically, and did again this week. My immediate thought is something along the lines of "Oh yeah? Hmm, how interesting." Of course, that's the edited version of my thought. :-)
Even when a person has written a novel, I can think of ways to create a tips booklet that can help market that novel plus become its own new source of revenue. THOSE are the purposes of a booklet, in my opinion.
A booklet is a way for the reader to test out the information of the author, to see if it's something that leads to wanting more of what the author's got. It's a way to gently approach a topic that may be otherwise overwhelming or brand new. It's one format of the material, which can then be embellished, expanded, or otherwise modified by the author.
A booklet is NOT the consummate reference on a given topic. A tips booklet, in particular, is NOT a narrative philosophical statement or observation of something. It's a tips booklet, with how-to's in it.
I mentioned a novel. Let's say you wrote a novel, set on a rural farm in midwest America, and you want to sell lots of copies of that novel, which common wisdom says is a challenge to do. One way to do it could be by writing a tips booklet about ways (tips!) to live a happy, fulfilling, and interesting life in rural America, or on a farm. That would certainly give the reader of your book more of a connection to what your book is about, wouldn't it, especially when you include some specific invitation that looks something like "for more about living on a farm in midwest America, you'll enjoy reading our book, "Life in a Corn Field."
Or you are interested in featuring the accomplishments of some noteable people of current or historical times. Instead of a treatise about them, it could be very useful to create a tips booklet that includes guidance based on what those people did to accomplish what they accomplished, for others to mirror in their own lives.
Once in a rare while I find a topic that simply does not lend itself to a tips booklet. It's usually something in science or math and focused on theory. It's at that moment you'll see a glaze come onto my face. Otherwise, let's talk about what your tips booklet is and can be.
The speaker for this past Saturday's monthly meeting of the Publishers and Writers of San Diego (an affiliate group of Publishers Marketing Association) was from a regional traditional publisher and distributor, talking about traditional book distribution and wholesaling.
Since I'm not a traditional publisher, I always listen with a translator mentality, seeing what can be converted for the booklet business. Something of value always happens. This time I got both new information and confirmation.
The confirmation was reference to a book being sold to a BMW dealership to be used as an incentive for people to come in and test-drive their car. I'd recently suggested that very thing to the author of a time management book for dealerships who sell SUVs to harried soccer moms.
The new information was a field called Destination Management. I'd never heard of that industry before. Among the many things those professionals do is select the contents for the amenities baskets waiting for conference guests in hotels. There's lots of booklets that could be ideal for that market.
