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I invite you to enjoy my archived blog posts on. For more Carol Adler Writings, please visit Letters of Creation.
For more information about my ghostwriting, book doctoring and editing services, please visit GhostwriterCaroladler. For publishing services, please visit Dandelion Books, LLC.  If you’re looking for THE SELF-LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, shop no more. Here’s a One-of-a-Kind Self-Love App that is easy to install and even easier to use.
YOU’LL LOVE IT… THAT’S A PROMISE!!! ===================================================================================== Self-Love App for Your iHeart Available at Amazon and Dandelion Books ===================================================================================== Read this book and follow the simple 7-Step Guide to Self-Love. For the rest of your life, you will experience tons and tons… and tons of joy, freedom, energy and zest!! So… what should you do with the overflow? Share it with your loved ones! For the past 40+ years, I have ghostwritten and book-doctored 90+ books for healers, therapists, spiritual teachers and life coaches on the subjects of self-empowerment, self-realization and self-awareness. What a wealth of material I’ve garnered from all of these experts! As I mentally sorted out and cataloged all the amazing tools and techniques for *finding the perfect partner, *achieving optimal health, *healing painful relationships, *manifesting abundance, *releasing addictions, etc., etc., I soon realized that all of these highly successful methods are traveling on the same tracks and headed toward the same destination. That destination is Self-Love. If “all roads lead to Rome,” in this high tech age of smartphones and other mobile devices, shouldn’t there be an App for making that Self-Love journey in less than a nanosecond? ASK AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN Thanks to the spiritual teachings of Matt Kahn and revolutionary book, Whatever Arises, Love That, I now had the wings I needed. Here’s the Secret Sauce: All we have to do is embrace the full spectrum of our feelings—all of them—and LOVE OURSELVES FOR BEING HONEST AND VULNERABLE ENOUGH TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE FEELINGS. No need to sweep them under the carpet. No need to try and cauterize them or pretend they don’t exist. Acknowledge your anger, anxiety and angst and love yourself for your honesty. This is the Heart and Soul of the Self-Love App. In this eBook you will find all download and installation instructions. Somewhere in the deepest part of myself I know if I cry out
I will always be heard wherever beauty is both the end and beginning of terror and every moment swings on the same pendulum of Forever. We humans are immortal. No one can steal our birthright. The Connection is direct and cannot be broken. Know that each part of us is conceived from the same ectoplasm that deemed us special—and this is the paradox: Unblemished Soul married to Invincible Mind. Is it not the same dilemma that we in our innocence brought to the altar of ourselves when Destiny raced through our veins, driving us to swear “until death do us part”—never realizing this bonding was already sealed in the annals of our flesh? Passion irremediable! Never acknowledging that somewhere in the farthest corner of our Heart we have always known who we are, yet in our stubbornness refused to listen to that Other Voice… refused to acknowledge that part of us that is a thousand-voice chorus—a single “Yes”? --Carol Adler, from Chaconne, copyright 2016 Is it not this quickening that plucks at the strings of our very being
as if tuning them up for some magical moment when nothing matters but this palpable feeling of total immersion: unattached to past or present, existing somewhere in the ethers beyond ourselves and that urgency to do and be more of ourselves, always emulating “Another”: Is it not this longing to live, to die—and somewhere in-between to create-- that is at the very core of who we are and why we are here? Do we not recognize these breadcrumbs, these physical reminders that march before us like storybook illustrations of a distant recollection captured through the lens of the Universal Viewer? Yet how can we relate to what we have not yet become? How can we sort out these multiple existences? Maybe we should compose a eulogy that at each inception can be worn on our wrist as a bracelet that identifies specific demonstrations of each mortality. “Here lies love, a forgotten sentiment at the bottom of the box of multiple lifetimes: scarabs, acorns, gilded lilies, gemstones with surfaces worn smooth as the tumbled mementos melded into a litany of echoes chalked on the walls of the Temple of Silence. No, I think not. Better that we move gracefully into the gilded halls without posturing or pretense. Better that we let the excitement slowly creep up on us, surprising us with symphonies of exotic sounds transmuted through frequencies that by their very nature seep into the deepest part of ourselves, subtle and pervasive. --Carol Adler, from Chaconne NIGHT SONG
If there should be crying that nobody hears or hands that spill empty eyes that spell fear then let me be chosen to fill those hands and dry those tears. Let me be appointed to put up stakes drop crumbs or leave something behind so when night closes in refusing the dawn when hope that was given is already gone at least I can lend you from the sigh of the wind or sweep or a wing soaring upward a little grace a little sign.[1] [1] First Reading, by Carol Adler (Northwoods Press, 1981), reprinted in Arioso: Poems by Carol Adler Dandelion Books, 2010). LAUGH, INNOCENCE!
How laughter can open us! Bells ringing in the clarity of widening space-- Recklessly spilling out, shattering the past, erasing fictive boundaries. Laugh, innocence, laugh! Whirl us into a breathless spin and dance us into a pas de deux of spirit and soul—the heart’s directive: dare to let go! --Carol Adler, from Chaconne, 2016 Almost every day a new book or online marketing guru appears with yet another Success Formula for selling your book(s).
I’ve lost count of how many books and articles I’ve read on the subject, and how many tools and techniques I’ve tucked away in my mind or archived on my computer. The fact is: There is no one way because ultimately what works for you may not work for anyone else. Or, what works for everyone else may not work for you. The reason for this soon becomes obvious. Each of us is unique. Each of us has a unique way of presenting ourselves and our material. On the other hand: Here’s a check-off list of ToDo’s:
The more clearly you can identify your target market, the easier it will be to determine what type of marketing will work best for your book. For example, if your target market is young people and professionals who may do a lot of text messaging, your book will be a perfect candidate for viral marketing, social networking, blog development, etc. You CAN do it! You may always remember the first time someone you don’t know—not your Aunt Susan or your sister or grandmother, but a total stranger—clicks on the “Buy Now” button and orders one of your books. It’s a triumphant moment, and even if you’ve been strategically building a website, sales and promotion pages and doing everything possible to get the traffic snowballing, when it finally happens, you’ll find yourself shaking your head in amazement. That voice inside yelps excitedly, “Internet marketing actually works!!” I remember back in the early nineties crowding around a computer while an Internet marketing expert brought up a tiny black and white photo of a wrist watch. Jubilantly he informed us that one day it would be possible to sell almost anything on the Internet. Who would be the magician, we wondered. At the time there was no way for anyone to find the wrist watch, learn more about it, pay for it, and arrange to have it shipped. That was only a few years ago. In the late 90s, I ghostwrote and published a book for a company that was selling rejuvenation products and services. Amazon was so new, most people had never heard of it. When I told my colleagues that I’d placed their newly published book in an online bookstore, they thought I was crazy. Who would ever go to a website to buy books, they joked. Why should they, when they could drive over to a Barnes & Noble or Borders, pick up whatever they wanted and carry it home with them? Instant gratification versus waiting for a book to be shipped seemed to be a much better option. How times have changed! Consider today the cost of gasoline, parking meter or parking lot fees; the time, energy and inconvenience of driving to a shopping mall or plaza to buy a book when you can sit down at your computer and in a matter of minutes order your book and have it drop shipped to your doorstep, often free of charge. (If you want it shipped overnight, you may be happy to pay extra for that service.) Today most of us are acutely aware that brick & mortar bookstores are having serious financial problems. The large chain establishments have resorted to becoming mini department stores that stock stationary, candles, toys, games, bath salts, aromatherapy, etc., AND books. Most of these stores also sell beverages and pastries. Online bookselling has become a billion dollar industry. Print on demand digital technologies are rapidly replacing archaic offset printing, warehousing and distribution procedures. Direct marketing delivers most of the profits first to the author and publisher. Cutting out intermediaries has created a much more desirable business model. We now know the power of the World Wide Web, Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines. We also know that many people have been able to quit their day jobs and make sizable monthly incomes on the Internet. Hard copy books that are printed “on demand” are an excellent product to sell from your website if you’re willing to stock and ship them yourself. Advantages: You’ll make more money than selling them through Amazon.com, bn.com, Ebay and other online stores. Disadvantages: Packing, picking and shipping require person power. At first, if your web traffic is small, this may not be a problem. However, as your business grows, it can be a chore. If you’re selling several books, you will also need storage space. In addition, you may feel that it’s necessary to get a toll-free ordering number. This requires personnel to answer the phones if the orders start to come in thick and fast. Another challenge is competition from established online stores. Possibly they offer discounts that you can certainly match, but if they also offer free shipping, after you’ve deducted the printing cost, your own shipping costs from the print on demand company to your office, and cost of both shipping materials and postal fees (plus labor, unless you want to offer your own labor free of charge), whatever’s left may not seem worth it. An excellent option is to sell your books through online stores such as amazon.com, alibris.com and bn.com. Join their affiliate programs and use your affiliate-embedded link whenever you promote your books from websites, blogs, lenses and other places. The online bookstores will stock your book (charging your print-on-demand company for the printing cost only when a book is sold) and do the picking, packing and shipping. Of course they’ll charge for these services, but it will be worth it in the long run when you get into volume sales. Experiment with Online Joint Ventures When you include a joint venture in your book marketing campaign, you add value to the customer’s order without asking them to pay more for your book. Everyone loves bonuses; the word "free" is magical and can also imply specialness—you the seller are giving us the buyers a special deal. Why? Because we’re smart (and special) enough to be here at the right time and place. And why are we really special? Because we chose to buy your book. Subconsciously, the feeling of obtaining anything "free"—no strings attached—may also give us permission to do or be something or someone more than we would ordinarily be willing to commit to or believe in. “Free” allows us to take risks. We take off the mufflers of inhibition and blast the world as loudly as we can: "FREE! FREE! FREE! Count me in! Don’t leave me behind!" Joint ventures have a carnival air about them. Lots of fun and excitement, big crowds and everyone spreading the word ABOUT YOUR BOOK. For you, the author/entrepreneur/therapist, all this high energy floats upward and outward. Expansion broadens your playing field by adding potential opt-in email subscribers to your list. Several of those lists can total in the tens of thousands and deliver many more sales than anticipated. Joint ventures build a community of colleagues supporting each other’s endeavors. How the JV works Let’s say Sally, a marriage and family counselor, has an ebook on time management for working parents with young children. You are a hypnotherapist and your book is about releasing stress. Your two books are a wonderful match. You suggest to Sally that she offer a free excerpt of her ebook as part of your list of buying incentives. In your sales sheet or squeeze page, you will include a brief promotion paragraph for Sally’s book, a photo of Sally and a hyperlink for downloading her free ebook excerpt. Sally’s autoresponder page where your buyers will download her free bonus may contain promotional material about her consulting services. It may also promote her new DVD on parenting, or other books and products she’s developed. Sally will support your joint venture by sending out a promotional email to her opt-in emailing list. The hidden message is: if these opt-in email subscribers respect Sally, they will trust her judgment in recommending the products and services of her colleagues. This message is often right on target, and that’s the beauty of joint ventures. Several people on Sally’s list will subscribe to your site and possibly buy your book. Every time you add other bonus or joint venture partner to your sales campaign, you multiply your potential for shoppers (and buyers). You agree to support each other’s sales campaigns by offering a free item to each of your squeeze pages. Joint ventures have joint benefits. In addition to boosting the campaign by offering buying incentives, joint ventures also provide free publicity for the generous donor. Whenever the buyer accepts a joint venture partner's free gift (after making the purchase, of course), they will land on that partner's autoresponder downloading or shopping cart page. Behind the scenes, you or your webmaster will have worked out the logistics of offering a commission to each of these joint venture partners whenever a sale comes in through one of their opt-in subscribers. If you need help creating a joint venture, contact one or more of your favorite Internet marketing gurus and they’ll be happy to refer you to the company they use. Or if they’ve developed their own joint venture software, you may be able to purchase it (after you subscribe to their opt-in email list!). Check out the websites of some of the most successful Internet marketers. If you join their email subscription list and copy their procedures, you will know exactly how to include a joint venture in your book marketing campaign. Membership Sites You already have a membership site once people have subscribed to your opt-in email. Your site would be considered a public one or open to everyone. A different type of membership site may charge an entry fee and block off a special section “for members only.” The goal is to create an online “home” for the paying subscribers and to encourage these members to “come home” to this website daily or at least several times a week. To maintain a private website, the owner makes a commitment to post new articles, blog entries, responses to members’ feedback commentary, and other fresh material almost daily. Attrition rate tends to be high for sites of this nature; people will join and participate for awhile. Then at a certain point, if the material starts to repeat itself or if it doesn't hold their interest, they'll unsubscribe and look elsewhere. In some ways, this type of membership site is similar to a group therapy session. It works exceptionally well for people who like to air their problems publicly, and also for those who are looking for online companionship. Free social networking sites often work just as well for these people. On a much higher level are private member sites run by competent professionals. A typical model is a blog run by a well-known journalist on the Beltway (Washington, D.C. area). He manages to get scoops almost daily, so his material is always juicy. Members are only too happy to pay a fee to read it. This type of blog is also perfect for selling books. Some private membership sites do not charge a fee. For security or other proprietary reasons, the owners do not wish to welcome the public. Obviously these sites exist for information only, and would be categorized non-commercial. You now have all the tools you need to write, publish and market your articles and books on the Internet. If all of this seems like too much trouble… You don’t have to do any of it. You don’t have to promote your published book at all, if you don’t want to. If you own a trucking business, a bicycle repair shop, bed and breakfast, organic fruit and veggie store, you don’t have to necessarily build an online business for selling your book. Other online services may be listing your business in their directories and this may be sufficient for you to get noticed. Remember: your book is ALWAYS important as an introduction to you and your business. How you choose to publish, promote and distribute it is a personal matter. I feel as though I’ve only started to cover the bases; there’s so much more I could tell you… and by the time you read this section about marketing your book online, much of it may already be out-dated. I do know, however, that when you decide to write your own book, you will have one of the most exciting and exhilarating rides of your life! In more ways than you can possibly imagine, your book will open doors for you: both inner and outer. Try it, and see. “Let him see you performing with love, some confident daily task…” Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies, translated from German to English by Stephen Mitchell
If only we could be faithful to what we have already become; shedding labels that insist on limitation; embracing dreams that dredge up the past as “loving acceptances”: If only we could have met that other part of ourselves before being sworn into this pre-assigned role of guilt and regret… determined to grow into Definite Somebodies, “lest we forget”! Like a mistaken identity pinned to our absence at Family Reunions by self-righteous relatives, we are a recurring nightmare faithfully showing up at each confusion with a checkbook and pen… --Carol Adler, from Chaconne, copyright, 2016 A couple years ago I started to advise my clients to self-publish, or open their own publishing companies, rather than publish with Dandelion. I wasn’t trying to shoot myself in the foot; I just needed to be honest. I sincerely felt they would make more money and have more control of their project if they self-published.
It is indeed a fact that if you open your own publishing company you’ll make the most money from book sales. You will sell your books through the print on demand system, with no intermediary distributors or wholesalers taking 60% of the profits. You will have the benefit of by-passing warehousing or inventory and fulfillment fees. I suggest publishing your books in both hard copy and ebook formats. Invest in a website—one that you or your staff can design and build yourself. Build a website with SiteSell (SBI) Build a website with SiteSell, http://www.sitesell.com/publishing8.html. The founder of SiteSell, Dr. Ken Evoy, is a genius. SiteSell or SiteBuildIt is by far the best bargain on the Internet and is guaranteed to give you less headaches than any other web building program. I’m still almost computer illiterate, since I’ve focused 99% of my attention on the content part of the book industry: writing, doctoring and editing books. However, with the little knowledge I have about web design and html (the code used for writing web pages), I’ve created over 200 SBI pages for my two websites, http://www.write-to-publish-for-profit.com and http://dandelion-books.com. The only help I received was development of the initial home page “look and feel” template. For my first website, I also had a certified SBI professional complete the initial keyword search for me, since I didn’t have any experience with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I did all the keyword development thereafter, which was easy because SBI provides user friendly templates and clear instructions. To build a web page, all you have to do is follow the instructions and adjust the page content according to the SBI “analysis” check list. Ken Evoy provides every tool you need for designing, building and maintaining your website. He also shows you how to pre-sell, get traffic and link the site to social networking, video, audio, etc. SBI’s support manuals are great and so are their forums. Believe me, even if you don’t know anything about building a website, you’ll have a great experience with SBI. One other bonus: SBI is an affiliate business. If you like to market online, this can be another side business. SBI also provides mountains of support materials for showing you how to be a successful affiliate marketer. If you don’t have the time or inclination to build and maintain your own website and your business doesn’t have its own IT team, you can contract the services of certified SBI staff to do the work for you. Their rates are extremely reasonable—much lower cost than most web design and development companies. And, as I mentioned previously, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing the website is built for monetization. Bottom line: If you build your website yourself with SBI instead of contracting a professional company to do it, you will be fully empowered to make all changes and revisions yourself. You can easily update the pages. If you’ve ever paid someone to do this type of work, you know the fees can be whopping just for minor adjustments that you could have easily done yourself if your websites were SBI self-built. Professional web design and development companies do a great job, if they also build marketing into the website at the outset. That’s a big “if.” I built six websites with different companies and paid thousands of dollars for their services until I finally “got it,” i.e., that I wouldn’t have a functional website that attracted attention from the search engines until the keyword identification was properly built into each page… and until each page was developed according to SEO and keyword specifications. I may take the gold medal for having built more non-functional websites than anyone in business… but maybe not. I’m well aware that thousands of people have been through the learning curve on building and maintaining websites and blogs. Although my websites do not look like Silicon Valley masterpieces, I know their content has value. I also know the pages are written to reflect my personality, my values and what I want to tell the public and potential clients about my products and services. Build an online empire If your goal is to sell books and make a lot of money, it can be done. Make sure you consult with knowledgeable gurus. Like every industry, the Internet is filled with “questionable wannabees”; you may have already learned that. You will need to build into your website the following:
Your primary goal is to build a large opt-in email list for return customers. Learn how to build a squeeze page to sell your separate products, and diversify. Sell CDs and DVDs; harvest each of your products in several different formats. Create joint ventures with friends and colleagues in order to build your email list. Network as much as possible. You cannot possibly do all this yourself. Either hire a staff or go to a website such as guru.com to request help from the thousands of freelancers who do that type of work. Contract with a few of the experts. Remember to pay them well; they’ll be loyal and do good work if they receive good pay. Asking a writer to develop articles for $1.00 an article is unreasonable just as it is unreasonable to ask them to develop 50 articles in a week. The same holds true for blog and newsletter writing. Don’t skimp or you’ll end up with shoddy work. And remember… the key to success is having:
BEING A QUALITY PERSON My personal opinions about writing, writers, publishing and the book industry in general.
What I believe in: ***Quality content ***Quality writing ***Quality publishing Notice how many times I’ve repeated the word quality. I stand behind quality work and quality service. I give my all to my clients and I want them to know that. I am deeply committed to delivering a product that looks good and reads well. If my clients aren’t satisfied with the drafted material I’ve completed for them, I reassure them we’ll start over. I’ll be there for them until we get it right! The same standards hold true for my publishing business. We are a boutique co-publishing company, which means that unlike most online turnkey web businesses that produce whatever is submitted and call it a book, we accept only a small percentage of the manuscripts that are submitted to us. I or a competent member of my staff personally read a portion of every manuscript. Usually I can tell within the first 20-25 pages whether the author is on target with their material, has something valuable to say and is saying it in a unique way. I do not intend to be dismissive, but after awhile, it becomes obvious if a work is not yet ready to be published. Some writers may submit a work that has potential but may still need a great deal of work. Often, however, they are unwilling to admit this (“my word is the word of God… don’t you dare change one word, etc.”). If I feel a work isn’t ready for publishing but the author feels otherwise—if they really want to get a book out there, I suggest they go to one of the many turnkey online companies to publish it. Rates are reasonable and some don’t charge anything at all. I don’t know who’s paying the salaries of their book designers, editors and proofreaders, but if their business model works for them and they’re making profits, all the more power to them. I do know, however, that I wouldn’t entrust my work to an online self-publishing company that promises free editing and proofreading. If you shop around, you’ll find a variety of co-publishing and publishing service packages as well as self-publishing ones. I offer consulting services for those who are confused about the different packages or about the wording of a publishing contract. Recently I served as a publishing consultant for a man who was about to sign with a co-publishing company that offered an interesting contract. They did not charge for editing, proofreading, book cover and interior design and layout. Their only fee was for the purchase of 500 books—at print cost. They also offered wholesaling and distribution. This meant the books could be sold not only online but also through brick & mortar bookstores. To fulfill the brick & mortar bookstore requirement, as I mentioned earlier, this meant the books would have to be printed offset rather than digitally. (It is an industry requirement that only books that are printed offset are entitled to be placed in brick & mortar bookstores.) This publishing company also offered free marketing and promotion services. I was amazed because it seemed to be the best of all possible worlds and yet I couldn’t understand how they could make any money. The book in consideration was 600 pages—twice the size of a standard book these days. Most digital or online publishers would suggest that it be divided in two or cut down to approximately 300 pages. The reason for this is the simple mathematics of digital printing. The unit cost for a print on demand book always stays the same, regardless of how many books one prints—unless one prints over 3000 books at a time. The unit cost will then start to drop. However at that point, often the book will be printed offset—a longer process without the benefits of digital printing—because the unit cost will be even less. A book that is 600 pages in length would have a very high print cost because the unit cost is based on the total number of pages. In order to make significant profits, the publisher must charge at least three times the print cost, to allow for retailer discounts (online bookstores usually discount the list price). The high retail cost would influence sales significantly. Many editors candidly state, “If you can’t say it in 300 pages, it’s not worth saying.” In other words, it is critically important to learn how to be succinct. Readers are turned off by books that become repetitive and boring. Most often, unless the book requires extensive footnotes, quoted material, diagrams, photos and graphics, I’ve discovered it could easily be given a good barbering. Added to all of the amazing benefits of publishing with this particular company was the author’s compensation. He would be receiving all the revenues from book sales after the distributor had deducted their share! I studied the contract, reviewed it with the author, asking many questions, and could find nothing wrong with it. I did ask the author to have the publishing company send him a marketing plan, but apparently they were unwilling to do so. They merely told him they were going to conduct an “aggressive campaign.” That was the only red flag, but it was a big one. The term “aggressive” is meaningless unless accompanied by a document that spells out exactly what the publisher plans to do, how much money they intended to invest and how they plan to do it (with a time line). Shortly afterward, I edited an exceptionally long manuscript for a client. Since it was a textbook and not what is called by the industry a “trade book” or product for general consumption, the length was permissible. After I’d completed editing the work, my client asked if Dandelion would publish it. She was eager to get top sales for it; in fact, she even envisioned it as a best seller. Of course, she wanted to see it on the shelves of the brick & mortar bookstores. I don’t like to disillusion an author because I could always be wrong. Let’s say I was 99% positive that this book did not fit best seller requirements. First of all, it was an esoteric book that had the potential for being banned or censored by some religious groups. Second, even if censorship would work in favor of delivering sales from the curious and clueless, these individuals would find her book difficult to read. I mentioned previously that it would be classified as a textbook. It was not a trade book. It was not for the general public. Any book that will probably not appeal to the masses usually has little potential for hitting the best seller lists, or even for getting top sales. Clearly, my client had not visualized her readership when she listed her goals for this book—or, for that matter, when she set out to write it. I told my client it was an exceptional book; that was true and I felt honored to have had an opportunity to edit it. However, I told her frankly that I didn’t see how my publishing company could get many sales for it because the work had such a select (and narrow) readership. Also, since we print our books digitally (print on demand), brick & mortar bookstores wouldn’t sell it. I suggested she send her manuscript to the “amazing publishing company” whose publishing contract I had just reviewed. It seemed to answer all her needs, and the price was certainly right. She did as I suggested, but—here’s the clincher—the “deal” they offered her was considerably different from the one that was given to the man whose contract I’d reviewed. She was asked to purchase 1,000, not 500 copies, and they asked her cut the book size in half. If she didn’t want to do that work herself, they would do it, for a fee. Also, she would not receive all the revenues from sales. Again, no marketing plan was forthcoming, yet the word “aggressive” was included in her conversation with the company’s director. I was puzzled by the discrepancy in the two publishing contracts, so I contacted the man who had consulted with me. Following is the information I did NOT know until then: The publisher was in fact doing a first print run of 1000, but one of the man’s clients who was a long-time best-selling author with this publisher, was paying for half the books, or 500 copies. This meant the man only had to buy the other 500. The celebrity author planned to give away those 500 books to his fan club. (Did you note that? Did you also note that this client is a best-selling author? I forgot to mention that he is also a marketing professional and a member of the National Speakers’ Bureau.) This promotion plan already gave the man a head start for his sales, since the best-selling author’s fan club included some heavy-duty marketing people (in addition to himself) who, the publisher was well aware, would get behind the book and promote it through all of their own venues. I don’t know yet if this story has a happy ending, since the book was just published, but the “profit” question for the publisher was easily solved. The publishing company was making so much money on their celebrity author’s books, they could afford to give his friend a good deal—especially if that celebrity author made a commitment to buy the first 500 copies and do some significant marketing and promotion for it himself. Later, I learned that the publishing company did no online marketing and promotion for the book. Although the author has a website, he was not informed that it might be a good idea to promote (and sell) the book on that site. He is not particularly computer savvy and knows nothing about social networking and online promotion strategies. Apparently the publisher doesn’t consider online marketing particularly important, so it was not included in their “aggressive marketing campaign.” Since the book was written to support this practitioner’s desire to enhance his client base, both offline in his physical office, and online through teleconferencing, in my humble opinion (IMHO) I believe it would surely be in his best interest to link his website to the book. The reason for citing this example is not to try to find fault with this particular publisher, but to urge you to research your publishing choices carefully. Ask questions. Get definite answers. If someone is getting a better deal than you, as in this case, find out why. Be a good detective. |
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