Profit from the Leap: Self Publisher to Business Publisher

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Susan Raab

“Should I find a publisher or should I self-publish?” Emerging authors often anguish over this question. Caught up in the mass-market dream of traditional trade publishing, they’re blind to their own power to publish, accepting without question the demeaning “self publishing” label.

Wake up to your true power! A book publisher is limited to publishing books for the retail channel. But you can publish your expertise in many media types, in many channels—a book of course, but also audio CDs, articles, your blog, your web site, special reports, e-books, information products, speeches, workbooks, videos, home study systems, webinars, mentoring systems... the list goes on and on.

You have the power to build a business around your content, so recognize yourself as a business publisher. Then leverage the publishing forms and technologies that work for your business—that work for you.

• “How do I want to interact with people?” What kind of interactions do you enjoy? If you enjoy standing in front of a classroom, maybe your first product is a training workbook. If you enjoy coaching one-on-one, maybe it’s a series of audios with a workbook.
• “What’s the easiest way for me to reach people now?” If you work face-to-face with local clients, you probably want a physical product. If you work with people nationwide, you probably want a product they can download from your web site.
• “What are my strengths?” If you’re a great writer, by all means create books, e-books, blogs and reports. If you’re an ace at thinking on your feet, audio interviews will show off your quick wit. If you’re a spellbinding storyteller or speaker, video will convey your dynamic physical presence.

Once you’ve created the products, you have to market them.

Emerging authors often balk at the idea of becoming business builders. “I want a publisher to do the marketing.” But the truth is, publishers don’t do enough marketing to make you successful. In fact, they prefer to publish the work of those who’ve already proven they can market themselves!

Marketing is a skill you can learn. It opens the door to true financial freedom, where you hold your destiny in your own hands. With so many inexpensive and cost-effective ways to reach out over the Internet to those hungry for your content, creating a business around your expertise is easier than ever before.

Don’t wait for a publisher to magically put their confidence in you. Be confident in yourself, and put your power to publish to work creating the business and life of your dreams.

For Business: Measuring how fast your ideas roll

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Susan Raab

“Is it worth it?” As an entrepreneur wondering whether to invest the money to “up” the production values on your content, you need to know what difference it will make. But metrics that prove the value of good writing get more and more scarce as you move down the product funnel.

When you’re trying to attract new leads and prospects, good marketers carefully track the results of campaigns. Although there’s more to a campaign than copywriting (notably, the offer and list), internet marketers especially leverage their power of split testing to isolate the effect of each factor. What they’ve learned makes them rabid about the quality of their copy. They know it creates results, whether clicks or sales.

Small business owners setting up their websites, if they think about measuring results at all, hope to avoid the costs simply by adding experienced marketers to their team—marketers whose experience includes measuring results. In this way, they get the benefit of knowing “what works” on a small business website without paying for the research.

When tackling the development of an information product, a speaker, coach or other content expert rarely seeks metrics that prove “what works.” As life-long learners, content experts all too often have a blind spot—they assume they already know what works and don’t go looking for metrics or experts. Instead, they treat writing and editing as commodities: something to bid out on eLance.

And they don’t measure the results. Seeking testimonials, they structure their exit surveys around the results their ideas and content produced. They don’t measure what percentage of their customers “got it” or at least got enough of it to attempt to produce results. Unless they track how many failed to complete their programs, they’ll never know how clear content improves completion, customer satisfaction and revenues.

Does anyone measure these results? You betcha. Remember a decade ago, when personal computer software came in boxes? I worked for a software company whose biggest, most reliable payday came when releasing a new version to be snapped up by eager repeat customers. To increase that payday, we gathered the metrics that revealed what made customers loyal.

Satisfaction came from increased productivity, which depended on speedy knowledge transfer. You might have heard, “nobody reads the manual.” But in our customer base, almost half of them did.

We discovered “those who read” were more profitable customers than those who didn’t. They were more likely to read promotional materials, find success with the demo versions and buy the product. They were less likely to call for support and more likely to figure things out on their own. They were more likely to share what they’d learned with other customers and become product champions.

Sales went up, support expenses went down and loyalty abounded because we gave readers clear content at those critical points. We saw the difference editorial excellence makes over adequacy, and measured the results in revenue.

Are you measuring how fast your ideas roll? Your marketing campaigns are the best place to start. But don’t stop there. Build your information product revenues with editorial excellence that makes your content clear and accessible to a larger percentage of your target market.

To make connections: Help them achieve their goals

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Susan Raab

Having trouble getting people to read your stuff or take action on your web site? Remember, one factor unites all the content disciplines: the human condition.

All content consumers are human. We all have problems. We need help and solutions. When I’m reading along wondering, “what’s in it for me?” I’m looking for something that will help me make progress towards my goals.

So show me you understand my predicament! Once I know you care about it, I’ll be ready to listen. You’ll have credibility.

Here's how to apply this in your business today.

In social media, find groups of people who have problems you can solve. Go hang out with them and sympathize, then send them to your site to discover the shining golden path to successfully achieving their goals.

On your web site, show your visitors how well you know the problem, how expert you are at solving it, and how delighted your clients and customers are with the results. Then offer to put them on that shining golden path… via your product and service funnel.

In your product and service funnel, GET YOUR CUSTOMERS TO THEIR GOALS AS QUICKLY AND RELIABLY AS POSSIBLE. It doesn’t matter whether your funnel includes coaching, online presentations, live events, information products or web applications. Getting them to their goals—getting results—is the key to building loyalty. Good design and communication speed up the process.

Your action: go back and review the last piece of content you created. Does it grab your audience by their goals? Let me know!

3 steps to an easy-to-scan paragraph

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Susan Raab

Build paragraphs that get your point across fast. Site visitors scan until they find what they're looking for; only then do they start reading. To keep them happily zipping along:

• Make your point in the first sentence. That's all a scanner reads, so don't build an argument with your conclusion at the end. Put your conclusion first.
• Keep sentences short. Use action verbs and speak directly to the reader.
• Keep paragraphs short. Two or three sentences should do the job. If not, chunk your ideas down.

Brevity builds loyalty. Keep it short and sweet and they'll be back for more.

For self-publishers: Google v.s. Amazon in ebook distribution

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Susan Raab

Google announced that they're partnering with Sony to compete with Amazon's Kindle. A worthy partner: Sony has a long history with e-books and readers, with development going back to their joint venture with Gary Kildall the early 1980's here in Monterey.

Google vs Amazon seems a worthy fight for us all to follow, but I'm pretty sure Google will win on this one. Their goal is to scan and index everything ever written. If they're successful, the world will never again suffer a tragic intellectual property loss on the scale of the burning of the Alexandria library because all knowledge will be secure on redundant servers. No lack of ego there.

But what does this mean for self publishers? This week Patricia Hamilton of Park Place Publishing invited me to speak to the Central Coast Writers. So many of the writers there are still trapped in the "But I need a publisher!" mindset. Bless Patricia's heart, she was there to deliver the news that self-publishing is a viable option.

I was there to talk about Social Media Marketing, and so I did. But I wanted to scream at those people:

In the future, the only way you'll get to control your intellectual property is if you publish it yourself! Trade publishers are in thrall to Google. Google wants us all to create as much FREE content as possible, so they can index it and sell advertising.

Publishing used to be about a media type: This is a book publishing company, a magazine publishing company, a TV channel, or a radio station. Nowadays, anyone with a personal computer (thanks again, Gary) can do any of these things. Publishing is reorganizing around EXPERTS and their CONTENT.

An expert who self-publishes retains control of his or her IP. Each media type—books, videos, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, and on and on—becomes a profit center or income stream. Yes, in social media, we give away a lot of content. But remember to keep control of the core. YOU need something to sell!

For Social Media: Ride the Mighty Wave

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Susan Raab

Did you know 200,000 people per day are joining Facebook? Just this month-January 2009-they zoomed past 150,000,000 users. Even more remarkable, Facebook says half their users check into their accounts every day!

As free technologies like Facebook flatten geographic barriers, you have the revolutionary new power to reach out to new people and lead them--lead them to become new customers or repeat customers.

In this down economy, businesses are leading the stampede to social media because:

1. It's a proven web traffic generator. You can measure how many new leads it sends to your company's website.

2. It increases your exposure to your target audience-they get to see you in action. It's easier than ever to find communities that share and support the same goals and values as your business. And when group members see you join in, collaborate, share ideas and give feedback, their interest and your conversion rates climb.

3. It builds positive brand association and awareness. As you participate in these new networks and communities, you can use authentic conversations, sound and video to engage people in your vision like never before. This loyalty can turn a customer into a customer for life.

4. It's measurable. You can track and analyze how many social-media driven leads join your mailing list or buy your products. You can see and understand your return on investment. And your investment is low because most of the tools are free.

5. It connects you with partners. One of the fastest ways to grow your business is to "joint venture" with other businesses who already have a following in your target niche. You can find potential JV partners and get to know them more quickly via social media than waiting for the next tradeshow or association event.

Ready to join the stampede? Great! Visit LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and open your free accounts. Then come back here for some tips for effective social media content.

For Social Media: How to show you're a leader

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Susan Raab

Before you charge off and create a lot of content for your new friends on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, remember this is SOCIAL media-you must employ some etiquette and follow the ground rules. If you want people to follow you online, you have to be a true, heartfelt leader, so...

Don't preach! The users are in control, and they're sick of traditional ads and marketing. You can destroy your online reputation pretty quickly with self-serving posts, and without a good reputation, no one will listen to you.

Be authentic. Share enough personal information to make the story of your commitment to your cause engaging and credible. Let your altruism and values show. Let people know why you care enough to help them.

Establish credibility. Share your expertise and knowledge. Share how you've helped others. Share opportunities to learn and grow. Add value and new ideas to the conversation.

Build relationships. Be free with your complements and encouragement. Notice what individuals in your target community are doing and get involved if you can. Recommend your new friends whenever possible-they'll return the favor.

Be strategic. Lay out a strategy for achieving your goals and stick to it. Temptations to try fun applications will abound; don't waste your professional time on them. Choose your new friends carefully. You'll be judged by your associations.

Be consistent. Set aside regular times to participate in your new communities. Keep yourself visible. Make sure your message always aligns with your purpose, the clients you serve, and the vision your business is bringing to life.

These skills may be new to you, but they should seem familiar. Even though with social media you'll learn a new way of conversing and connecting, and find yourself in a world where news travels faster and in stranger ways than you can imagine, the reasons people gather around their common interests and causes hasn't changed at all. Show true leadership and they will follow you.

For Business: Where did all the Desktop Publishing jobs go?

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Susan Raab

Once upon a time long ago-way back in the 1980's--there was a desktop publishing revolution. Tasks that once were done over a period of months by artistic specialists like editors, proofreaders, page designers, layout artists, indexers and plate photographers could suddenly be done by one person in a matter of weeks, even days.

Companies rushed to hire the rare birds who had all mastered all these crafts, because without them the tools didn't provide the promised leap in productivity. Especially among software companies whose competitive edge depended on getting to market quickly, these corporate publication specialists could make a decent living.

Well, what happened to them? The demand for their skills vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Once online pages started offering all that free content on the World Wide Web, HTML became the reader's media of choice. The era of the aesthetic desktop publisher yielded to the technical webmaster and page production once again became a team sport.

Today, another revolution is underway. You no longer need to pay a webmaster to publish a page on the web. All you have to do is sign up for Facebook, WordPress, Ning, YouTube and countless other free services.

But you still have those same old publishing problems. What are you going to say? How will you get your message across? How will you make those connections with your readers?

You need those corporate publication specialists to help you, and I've found them. They've become Virtual Assistants or other virtual professionals.

The past two weeks it's been odd, the number of pubs specialists who used to work for me who have called, laid off, networking, hoping I can help them find another job.

To them I say, "Look at the Virtual Assistants. Look how the demand for help with Social Media Marketing is growing. Look there."

Their eyes light up. "Thank you Susan. That's very valuable information--really valuable."

Indeed it is. It has helped them, and now I hope it will help you. If you want to leverage your publishing skills in today's economy, the life of a Social Media Marketing Specialist may be for you.

My friend Craig Cannings can teach you how. Visit his VA Classroom site now and check out his February offering.

Make friends with the future and don't look back.

http://tinyurl.com/cw-social-marketing

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