Red Bike Publishing

Traps and Snares-The Ranger Handbook

2012-03-01T19:38:00.002-06:00

For an unarmed survivor or evader, or when the sound of a rifle shot could be a problem, trapping or snaring wild game is a good alternative. Several well placed traps have the potential to catch much more game than a Ranger with a rifle is likely to shoot.

a. To be effective with any type of trap or snare, you must

• Know the species of animal you intend to catch.

• Know how to construct a proper trap.

• Avoid alarming the prey with signs of your presence.

b. There are no catchall traps you can set for all animals. You must determine what species are in a given area and set your traps specifically with those animals in mind. Look for the following:

• Runs and trails.

• Tracks.

• Droppings.

• Chewed or rubbed vegetation.

• Nesting or roosting sites.

• Feeding and watering areas.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Roles of an Army Leader

2012-02-27T22:11:00.002-06:00

Leaders will have numerous roles and responsibilities throughout their time spent serving. Some will
be commanders, staff officers, or senior civilians. Some will serve as platoon sergeants or first sergeants.
Others will be recruiters and instructors, leading through example, and seeking out and training
tomorrow’s leaders. Duty assignments may include time on a joint task force or as the member of a team
seeking answers to future challenges. Whatever their role, Army leaders must have the character, presence,
and intellect to do whatever is asked of them

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

2012-02-27T22:10:00.002-06:00

John and Sandy entered the hut as Numah and Tucker fearfully withdrew. Marta, having fought long and hard on behalf of the boy’s welfare, fell into the waiting arms of Sandy, and let herself sob with frustration. “We’ve got to do something, Sandy. He won’t even listen.”

“We’ll do something. Don’t worry,” Sandy replied.

John kicked at the dust and pretended to look at something on the ground.

“I’m sorry, John, I didn’t mean to lose control in front of you. I’m just frustrated,” said Marta.

Marta saw the witch doctor snicker, then continue with a professional but I-know-what-I’m-doing, and-you’re-too-simple-to-¬recognize-greatness attitude.

“Don’t worry, Marta, I understand what you have been through. I’ve been through less frustrating situations, but didn’t handle them nearly as well as you are this one. At least the doctor is still standing.” Sandy laughed.

“Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t ruled out violence.” Marta allowed a chuckled.

Marta saw recognition in Mewpa’s eyes. He often referred to Sandy as the white medicine lady, having been present on many occasions as she looked into the eyes, ears, and mouth of Marta. This woman had the power to gaze into the inner soul of a person. Very powerful medicine to him, and she possessed a skill that made her a very worthy adversary.

Marta hoped Sandy would take charge of the situation. Marta could reason and that was to no avail, and John could only aggravate the situation. By taking Marta’s side, they could very easily cause the village to choose loyalties. Not a situation to get in the middle of, for it could only cause hardships for missionaries throughout the region. Sandy was the best hope; diplomatically speaking.

“Marta, please translate to the medicine man. I think I can solve this on a nurse to doctor professional basis,” Sandy said.

“I’ll do whatever I can – anything to change his mind.” Marta wiped her eyes.

“You have worked so hard to heal this ill boy. You have spent many hours, tirelessly struggling to end his affliction, as any caring doctor or parent would. You have treated him with the utmost respect, dignity, and all the power that you possess,” Sandy began.

Marta was grateful that Sandy took a few breaks to allow her to translate. “Yet he grows weaker in spite of your excellent care. His sickness is too strong.”

The ceremony came to a gradual halt as the medicine man seemed to struggle with something within. It seemed as if Sandy’s words finally began to sink in.

“What do you expect me to do?” Mewpa asked.

“I have something called antibiotics. It is good medicine that will kill the fever and infection. If you will allow me to give this to the boy today, his fever may be gone before the sun goes down. If his fever is gone by tonight, John can fly him out and his bone can be repaired properly. If we don’t, he could die,” Sandy said.

“I will let you work on him, but approve everything with me,” Mewpa replied.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is an author of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

4 Easy Steps to Becoming a Sought After Author

2012-02-23T19:28:00.000-06:00

Recently a friend shared her dream to get into “publishing”. I listened intently as she described her desire to write articles and becoming a published author. I’ve read her work in some of our locally published magazines and have no doubt that she would make a great writer. I also recognized that she was where I found myself a few years back; full of ideas, but nowhere to publish them.

The first inclination is to do what many budding authors have done; purchase a copy of the bestselling writer’s reference book. The book is a great place to develop ideas and sell articles. It also provides a good service with great details on which publisher is purchasing which articles and for how much. However, the reference cannot guarantee that you will have the platform to actually sell an article.

After a few years of buying these books, I recognized the growing trend of many magazines not taking on new authors and paying less than ever before if they did buy an article. Why? Because of the changes in publishing brought on by the internet.

Never fret, you can still find great opportunities in these reference books, or, you can adapt and overcome.

The following steps are what I employed to go from desperately seeking author to sought after niche writer. More and more, emails arrive asking me to write exclusively for well respected publications.

So, how can you go from searching for opportunities to easily sell articles and be an “in demand” author?

1. Start a blog. Honestly, this is a no expense and healthy way to get your name out there as a recognized expert. It takes some time and a lot of articles, but you’ll get your writing practice as well as fill your hunger to create. Make sure your blog’s articles are about your subject matter and not about you. If you love to make cookies, share your favorites in easy to follow steps. Offer help and fun solutions not bragging.

2. Start a newsletter. You can use the same material, but with a newsletter, you can write longer articles as well as capture contact information. Again, make the material about your subject matter.

3. Create a multi-networking online presence. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and etc to create communities of like minded people. If your expertise is cookie making or party planning, create communities and groups full of others with similar passions.

4. Make sure your blog, newsletter and networking are fed twice a week. Keep them updated and make sure to keep looking for and inviting people who are interested in your topic.

You’ll have to write a lot of articles before people start relying on you and reading your articles. But don’t give up. Before you know it, you’ll have a following. Publishers will recognize your following and ask you to write for them.

LEADERSHIP EXTENDS BEYOND CHAIN OF COMMAND

2012-02-23T18:13:00.000-06:00

While Army leaders traditionally exert influence within their unit and its established chain of
command, multiskilled leaders must also be capable of extending influence to others beyond the chain of
command. Extending influence is the second leader competency. In today’s politically and culturally
charged operational environments, even direct leaders may work closely with joint, interagency, and
multinational forces, the media, local civilians, political leaders, police forces, and nongovernmental
agencies. Extending influence requires special awareness about the differences in how influence works.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

4 Steps to Becoming a World Class Writer

2012-02-21T17:52:00.001-06:00

Chances are that you are already gainfully employed and are involved with other life matters. You are probably considering following both your dream of writing and owning your own business. You’ve probably
explored both, but hesitate because it really doesn’t make sense to take on another job while spending 40 hours a week of your life being miserable. So, do something you love in your professional and personal
lives. The same goes for the business you want to start.

Passion is hard to define, so I’ll draw up a scene from what got me started:

“I have a great idea that will help other people earn the certification!” I exclaimed to my wife, almost immediately after telling some great news.
“Wait a minute, let’s get back to the certification,” my wife replied, redirecting the conversation. “You passed the exam?” Her smile demonstrated how happy she had been for me.
“Thanks. Sorry about changing the subject,” I replied. “I know that you were pulling for me.” I hugged my wife one more time before continuing. “It’s just that I passed it so easily. It’s not that I’m so smart, but I
was able to find the answers so quickly and I think I can help other people do it. I can make a difference in someone’s life.”

So, exactly what is passion?

1. Conduct an inventory-For me, it was two-fold; a desire to write and a strong urge to teach. Both of these skills I had learned on the job and through discovering more about myself. Conduct a personal inventory and see what you love to do.

2. What skill, ability, or personal success really excites you-What do you just love doing that you can spend a lot of time with and you don't even watch the clock? Is it reading, helping, designing, running, creating? Find out what it is and learn to develop and teach that skill to others.

3. Develop a platform-This is the key ingredient. Become the go to person for that skill and let everyone know about it.

4. Focus on what you learned about yourself. Lack passion and lack of really knowing what I had wanted to do will hinder your dreams.

Using my example, let me continue:
I spent a lot of time developing my passion of writing. though I knew I loved writing, noone is going to be too interested in ramblings. I had to focus on a topic or skill to match my passion of writing with.

Not too long ago, I had left a lengthy career in the army. While in service, I had served in intelligence, transportation and wrapped up my career in recruiting. By far the most difficult but rewarding had been
my service as a recruiter. Tell a soldier to take a hill in the heat of battle and they’ll do it and exceed whatever standards you give. However, tell them to successfully encourage people to volunteer to leave everything
they know to become a soldier...that’s a tougher task. Army recruiting is where I learned about real marketing.

Prior to my departure from the army I had bought and read all of the books I could on marketing, sales, interviewing and resume writing. Almost everything I had read revealed the same message: Find something
you are good at and do it. Once I left the army I spent a few months pondering my future and reading more books. I enrolled in a class on how to start my own businesses. Aside from learning how to develop business plans, we heard presentations from successful business owners.

Again, the message was clear: Find something you enjoy and do it. However, this time the message hit home. I met many local business owners who poured all their efforts into something they enjoyed.

After passing that exam, I knew I could help others. I became a man on fire, writing my first best selling book in the national security genre.

Let's wrap up.

I love writing
I learned about marketing
I learned about security
I passed an exam
I love helping others

I took what I love and used it to teach what I had learned to fulfill a dream.

So, what gets you going?

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

A Broken Leg by Any Other Name...

2012-02-21T17:36:00.000-06:00

The next morning, John set Buttercup down for a bumpy but otherwise perfect landing at the Tarampura airstrip. He made a mental note that the strip of land carved from brush and trees would have to be groomed before it got out of hand. He also noted Marta wasn’t there to greet him.

“Hi, John! Are we going to fly on this nice day?” Tucker asked.

“I don’t think we can. The nurse and I still have a lot of villages to visit,” John said.

Numah smiled a bashful greeting.

“Where is Marta? Doesn’t she come to greet friends anymore?” asked Sandy.

“She want us to bring you. She fight with the village doctor,” Tucker said.

They climbed hurriedly to the village. They could hear Marta yelling loudly in the local dialect. When frustrated, she threw in intermittent English.

“What do you mean waving these feathers over him? This isn’t going to do any good. Just give it up and let me help,” Marta begged.

The witch doctor just grunted and continued his magic. Multi¬colored sacred bird feathers fluttered with the timed flicks of a nimble wrist as Mewpa ran them the length of the injured boy’s body. The young man was covered in skins and flower blossoms. Smoke spiraled upward from the scented candles on each corner of the mat he lay on, as if the sickness would drift away with the rising columns.

The young boy’s right leg lay at an odd angle, just below the knee. A simple splint of bamboo, secured with long grass, had lost its effectiveness as it began to unravel.

Marta insisted on evacuating the pitiful boy by air, to a facility where he could be properly treated. She couldn’t understand why Mewpa refused. His stubborn pride would not yield to pure logic. She could tell the patient was very sick and probably close to death. No amount of pleading could stir the consciousness of the elders, or even the family members. Nobody, not even the converts, would ever cross the will of one of the most powerful men in the village.

“Look, I know you mean well, but sometimes you have to go to other sources of help. He is going to get sicker. He needs medicine, and his leg needs to be fixed,” Marta begged.

“There is nothing more powerful than my medicine. I will heal his sickness, then we will fix his leg,” Mewpa replied, unfazed.

“We’ll do something. Don’t worry,” Sandy replied.

John kicked at the dust and pretended to look at something on the ground.

“I’m sorry, John, I didn’t mean to lose control in front of you. I’m just frustrated,” said Marta.

Marta saw the witch doctor snicker, then continue with a professional but I-know-what-I’m-doing, and-you’re-too-simple-to-¬recognize-greatness attitude.

“Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t ruled out violence.” Marta allowed a chuckled.

Book Ideas

2012-02-16T18:34:00.000-06:00

If you have published your first book, you now have the experience to publish more. If new books are within the same genre or specialized area; great for you. That just means that your first customers just might
be repeat customers. If you can come up with additional books or products relative to the needs of your current audience, then you may have guaranteed future success. Additionally, customers who come to
know your business through current marketing efforts will hopefully buy all of your book and product selections.

Here are a few ideas for adding books to your publishing library:

1. Try turning you print book into an eBook as a spin off product or vice-versa. For example, I began selling my ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manual as an eBook. Since the certification exam offers an online testing option, I planned on customers buying the book and practicing taking the test online. I created the book using Microsoft Word and converting it to Adobe Acrobat. It was a good product that customers could buy directly from me. I had originally sold it on eBay and my web site. Sales were slow, but soon picked up enough to gain my full attention.

2. Consider other publishing alternatives. Not every eBook reader can read all eBooks. Some read only Adobe PDF or product unique proprietary software. Consider multiple eBook venues such as Amazon’s Kindle and Barns and Noble’s Nook.

If your book is a reference book, cataloge or study aid, consider breaking it up into parts. I created a pocket sized version ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manual and now sell even more copies as ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manual, Pocket Edition 1. Then, make that an ebook.

Interview other potential authors and publish their books. If they are in the same industry, you'll have a built in audience.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Influences on Leadership

2012-02-16T18:20:00.000-06:00

Each day as a leader brings new challenges. Some of these challenges are predictable based on
experiences. Some are unpredictable, surfacing because of a situation or place in time in which Soldiers
find themselves. Leaders must be prepared to face the effects of stress, fear in combat, external influences
from the media, the geopolitical climate, and the impact of changing technology.

Some of these factors are mitigated through awareness, proper training, and open and frank
discussion. The Army must consider these external influences and plan accordingly. An effective leader
recognizes the tools needed to adapt in changing situations

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Do You Think God Knows My Mom is Sick?-An Excerpt from Commitment

2012-02-11T11:31:00.000-06:00

Marta reflected on her visits with John – how she had enjoyed them, and how matchmakers popped up out of the woodwork. She had waved them off, not taking their comments seriously. She and John had insisted there was nothing to become excited over. John was her pilot, a link to the outside world. He brought her mail, supplies, and good conversation. But she had to admit, she looked forward to those visits. She refused to admit that these feelings were out of romantic notions, even if those like Tucker noticed differently.

“Do you think John likes to visit here to my mother?” the twelve¬ year-old asked.

“Maybe we can ask him later.” Even he has his suspicions about us, she thought, feeling ambushed by the question. They walked down to the dock for the boat ride to the leper colony.

Within twenty minutes, a boat chugged up river. Smoke belched skyward in dirty cotton puffs as the diesel engine reversed, then revved to dock the boat. Marta smiled a welcome as Eric Schneider tied his craft and lowered a plank. Marta accepted his invitation to load as he made a swooping motion with his hat.

Eric had been navigating the Baliem River for the better part of twenty years. “Always wearing khaki pants, knit shirts, and a navy blue hat trimmed with a patent leather brim. He arrived in Irian Jaya with the Dutch army back in the 1950s as a gun boat officer, and fell in love with the natural beauty.

“It is well to see you again,” Eric said in his milkshake thick accent. After years of private business on the Baliem River, Marta was his favorite passenger.

“Looking sharp, Eric?”

“Ladies love a man in uniform,” Eric replied.

Floating down the river was always an adventure. Startled deer and wild pigs drinking from the river darted from behind river plants as the boat rounded a bend. Water snakes swam by, and occasionally, a crocodile. Such scenery sounds, and smells always helped the trip go faster. A few hours later, Eric docked the boat, helped the passengers off, and floated away.

Marta and Tucker stayed around and waved the TULIP away, watching it drift slowly while collecting themselves for a difficult visit.

Marta took Tucker’s hand as they walked to Delany’s Colony. They passed between huge upward sloping hills surrounding the valley. Emerald green highlighted the brilliance of blooming plants, more commonly orchids, Javanese edelweiss, and ginger.

Tucker looked up and spoke, “Do you think that God knows mother is sick?”

Marta continued to walk, holding his hand all the while. “Yes, he does. He doesn’t like that she’s sick, but he knows it.” She knew where he was going with the questioning. She had the same questions when her husband was suddenly taken from her, but she wasn’t sure she had the courage to answer Tucker.

“If God knows she is so sick, why doesn’t he help?”

“God didn’t do this to your mother, Tucker. I believe he let it happen for reasons only he can give,” Marta replied.

“But why have to let it happen to mother?” he sobbed.

Marta stopped and held him for a few minutes until he quieted down. “God loves you and your mother. We don’t know why this is happening to her, but you have to have faith and pray for God’s will and our understanding.”

“I do that, but I still have these questions. I know God is merciful and strong, that why it is so hard to believe this happens, even to mother. But I am not mad at God, I am sad,” Tucker said.

Marta couldn’t have been more proud of him. Mentally, he was growing into a young man quicker than she was ready, one of amazing courage and conviction.

“Do you think John visit my mother, if I invite him?” he asked a second time.

“Why don’t we wait a little before inviting him? The time will be right for that soon enough, and I’m sure he will be glad that you gave him this honor of meeting your family,” Marta replied.

“He has already met my family.” Tucker allowed himself a small smile.

“Oh yeah?”

“You my family, Marta,” he said hugging her again.

We've done all we can

2012-01-27T11:14:00.000-06:00

“We’ve done all we can. We’ll let the medicine and God do the rest. Why don’t we catch our breaths now?” said Marta.

“I could use a breather.” John followed Marta to a cool spot in the shade of her hut. Business as usual, he thought as he watched a couple dig up sweet potatoes. “Steve is probably wondering what the blur was going through the middle of Tiom.” John laughed reflectively.

“Waiting for you was painful,” said Marta.

“I haven’t stopped rushing until just now. I radioed for the medicine, and Steve had it waiting. He handed it through my window right there on the runway. Next thing I knew I was flying back,” said John.

“I think my heart has stopped pounding. You may just be a hero. Who knows what would have happened had you not been here.”

“I’m sure everything would have been fine.” John looked at her approvingly.

“Don’t sell yourself short. I’m glad you were here. I think you were right the first time,” said Marta.

“When?” asked John.

“When you came today. I think you were right about people happy to see you,” said Marta.

Her piercing eyes studied John’s, leaving him uneasy. He tried to hold her gaze, but shifted out of nervousness. Did she just look at me differently?

“If he survives the night, he should make it,” said Marta.

They talked until late in the afternoon, sharing stories of their beginnings, and similarities living in jungle climates. Marta laughed a lot, John noticed. Their conversation flowed easily, having much to say. Reluctantly John looked at his watch, then to the lengthening shadows of the Moake mountains.

“I’ve got to go. Do you want to check on your patient in case he needs anything?” John asked.

“I don’t think there is anything else he needs,” Marta shrugged.

“Rachel put in extra anti-venom, just in case you can’t find yours. Anything else you might need?”

“Maybe a new battery for my radio,” said Marta.

4 Ways to Market Fiction

2012-01-27T11:09:00.001-06:00

I've shared with you many possibilities for free online marketing and brand awareness opportunities with niche and specialized industries. Success is possible after you develop a platform and your audience trusts you.

Well, what about fiction? Same formula applies, develop a platform and your audience will trust you. Though the formula applies, you may find yourself starting over if your fiction does not involve your core specialized market audience.

For example, my core niche audience is security professionals. They are interested in my "how-to" books, articles and blogs. However, as a whole, they are not interested in a novel about missionaries in Indonesia. I could get luck writing a thriller novel featuring a main character performing in the niche industry, but I can generally expect to start all over with a new platform. So, how does one create a buzz, gather an audience and sell their fiction? Here are 4 ideas.

1. Start a blog featuring snippets of your book. If you haven't finished your book, then post what you've done as you progress.

2. Create a blog featuring your books protagonist. It could be a diary, thoughts, expressions or reactions to actual scenes in your story.

3. Create a twitter account for your character and feed your blogs into your tweets.

4. Create a Facebook page featuring your book and another featuring your protagonist. Be sure to feed your blog posts to your Facebook pages.

That's it. Just be sure to update weekly and watch your audience grow.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

3 Ways to Become a Rock Star in Your Niche

2012-01-19T18:23:00.000-06:00

The secret to niche marketing is to become a rock star in your specialized industry. Though the majority of the world do not recognize your name or brand, those in your industry will. When I was younger, I enjoyed garage bands or what people call indie bands today. These groups created a unique sound not enjoyed by mainstream music lovers. However, to their faithful, they were on the top of the list.

Your goal should be the same. Like indie bands, your goal isn't to try to get your music to the masses. Most indie bands avoid mainstream audiences like crazy. They love and play to their audiences in small and sometimes unsavory venues. To get ahead in your niche, your sold out concert might just be a handful of people attending your readings, classes or blogs. You can't afford to, nor should you try to reach the mainstream consumer. Your target is multiple sales and contact with your faithful audience.

You can be well known and respected within a niche industry. The funny thing is the fame can result from all
free campaigns, while you never need to pay for advertising.

Here are just a few ways to do so.

1. Teach a course-contact the local college, continuing education, community center or niche related business with adequate teaching space. All you need is a location and a medium to help professionals in your niche learn more about their industry. You might team up with a professional organization as a sponsor and avenue for awareness.

2. Become the go to person-Write a helpful blog or newsletter. This may take a while to gain recognition, but it is one of the best ways to reach your target audience. People are more willing to accept you as an expert if you've published professional, tidy, accurate and helpful articles.

3. Write an ebook or print book-As you write your blogs and articles, teach your courses and work to gain influence in your field, work on your book. Your other endeavors will create the built in audience necessary to launch your books and products.

Guest speak-Lead a seminar, discussion or increasingly popular workshop. This will allow you demonstrate your skill, communicate your ideas or provide encouragement to other professionals. Providing compelling topics will help establish your credibility.

Though you might not command the attention of millions, you can have a strong army of faithful followers. Focusing your attention on meeting the needs of that fan base can help you market, provide products for and reach your core group with less effort and more effectiveness.

For more examples, see Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Set the Example, An Excerpt from Army Leadership

2012-01-13T14:16:00.000-06:00

Setting a good ethical example does not necessarily mean subordinates will follow it. Some may feel
that circumstance justifies unethical behavior. Therefore, the leader must constantly monitor the
organization’s ethical climate and take prompt action to correct any discrepancies between the climate and
the standard. To effectively monitor organizational climates, leaders can use a periodic Ethical Climate
Assessment Survey combined with a focused leader plan of action as follows:

Begin the plan of action by assessing the unit. Observe, interact, and gather feedback from others, or conduct formal assessments of the workplace.
Analyze gathered information to identify what needs improvement. After identifying what needs improvement, begin developing courses of action to make the improvements.
Develop a plan of action. First, develop and consider several possible courses of action to correct identified weaknesses. Gather important information, assess the limitations and risks associated with the various courses, identify available key personnel and resources, and verify facts and assumptions.
Attempt to predict the outcome for each possible course of action. Based on predictions, select several leader actions to deal with target issues.
Execute the plan of action by educating, training, or counseling subordinates; instituting new policies or procedures; and revising or enforcing proper systems of rewards and punishment.

The organization moves towards excellence by improving substandard or weak areas and
maintaining conditions that meet or exceed the standard. Finally, periodically reassess the unit to
identify new matters of concern or to evaluate the effectiveness of the leader actions.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Snake Bite-An Excerpt From Commitment a Novel

2012-01-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

The days seemed to melt into each other as John learned the intricacies of his new plane. He enjoyed the privilege of flying the only yellow airplane in the nation; the main reason he named her Buttercup. Even people deep in the forest who had no affiliation with missionaries felt a sense of ownership when they saw the plane fly over.

“I’ve come to know the sound of your plane,” Marta said.

“That’s what the Johnsons said at my last stop. It’s really nice to be wanted.” John beamed.

“Are you so sure it’s you everyone wants to see?” Marta teased.

“All right, so everyone wants to know what I have in my cargo bin. I feel like Santa Claus year round.”

“I guess it’s good to see you too. I need to use my English now and again so I don’t forget,” said Marta.

“That’s so nice of you to say so.”

John enjoyed the game they often played with each other. The lines around her eyes when she smiled told him of the joy he had brought to her. It was such an easy smile, and he didn’t have to try hard to give it to her.

“I’m just kidding, I hope you know that,” Marta said.

John nodded, still smiling. He noticed Marta staring into the distance as if interrupted by a thought. “Anything wrong?”

“No, I’m just…sometimes I’m just homesick.”

“And you miss your husband?” John immediately regretted being so abrupt.

Marta nodded quickly in agreement.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She blinked tears away. “This scenery just reminds me of his death, the pain, and the reality of hoping I can continue.” Marta walked around the yellow plane, feeling the rounded edges of the high mounted wings and stepping over the large tires. “At the same time, these people are my friends. I have translated some of the Bible for them and taught them English, and God has changed a lot of lives.”

“I agree,” John said.

“I know this is the place for me, but it’s hard when I get homesick. I do love it when you come to visit.”

John was happy to see her smile, though a little apprehensive. I hope she doesn’t expect me to stay forever.

Tucker suddenly ran up, panting under the sudden exertion. John put his hand on the breathless boy’s shoulder. Tucker’s eyes darted wildly as he tried to regain composure.

John looked at Marta for reassurance, but she shook her head, offering no clue.

“What’s up, Tucker?” Marta asked.

Tucker still couldn’t reply. John sat the shocked young boy down and helped him put his head between his knees. Soon, his breathing deepened and slowed.

“You will help?” Tucker suddenly exploded to his feet spouting something only Marta could understand.

“Let’s follow him. Someone was bitten by a snake,” Marta said over her shoulder.

“All three were out of breath by the time they reached the other side of the village. Rising smoke from smoldering cooking pits did little to help them breathe, and scurrying piglets tripped them up as they became tangled under foot. They continued trotting a hundred yards down a well worn jungle path to a crowd gathered around Mewpa, the medicine man.

John saw that they were restless and Marta had a pained expression on her face. She rested her chin in her hand as she looked from Mewpa to a man clutching his right forearm.

“It’s a good sign if he is bleeding,” said John. “If he’s lucky, the venom will bleed out. It must’ve been a big snake.” A bloody knife on the ground proved his assumption wrong.

“It may not be well for him,” said Marta.

“It looks like they have him wrapped up nicely. The medicine man probably has it all figured out,” said John.

“There’s not much he can do to treat it, except wait it out. If we are lucky, the poison drained out. If not, it could be a long night. We lost someone last year to a snake bite,” said Marta.

The stricken man yelled in protest as Mewpa tried to get him to his feet. John felt sorry for the man, yet alert to the jungle’s hidden dangers. A woman rushed to the man’s aid and helped walk him toward their dwelling.

A few feet later, the man fell hard as his muscles seized. His body lay shaking but rigid and sweat dripped from his pores. Even above the shouts of frustration and sadness, John could hear the man’s teeth grinding powerfully together.

“I’ll be back.” John heard Marta yell before running back to the village.

He didn’t respond, but jerked his sleeve from his shirt in one adrenaline powered pull. A button flew from his cuff as he ripped it from his wrist. He forced the man’s mouth open before balling the material and jamming it between his teeth. They waited.

Wave after wave of spasms jerked the man’s body. John and the medicine man held him down. Up close, John smelled their sour body odor.

The wait was long as John had nothing to say, nor any way to say it. He had never been alone with the Tarampurans, and he doubted conversation was possible. “Anyone know where Marta went?” he asked in quiet desperation.

“She went to hut,” someone replied, surprising him.

“I can’t find it. I can’t find it.” Marta fell by John a moment later.

“Find what?” asked John.

“My antidote. I’ve looked everywhere.”

“Call Tiom, maybe they can fly some out.”

“I tried. No one is answering,” said Marta.

“I’ll go,” John heard himself say before running toward the plane. He outran Tucker, who trailed after him.

How to Market With a Full Time Job Without Committing an Ethics Violation

2012-01-10T18:33:00.000-06:00

An entrepreneur in a small niche market can provide solutions with little cost. Because you have the right skills, you can do so much with little cost and risk. Here's what you need when writing a book, publishing either yourself or through other non-traditional alternatives is a real possibility.

1. A great book idea that needs to be developed

2. An identified customer base

3. Method to inform and provide your target market with valuable resources

4. Ability to balance career, family and other commitments.

Now you have a burning desire to fulfill this dream on top of everything else? Well, it’s definitely possible.

As a professional, you have a code of ethics to live under. What you do will often affect your reputation. So, how can you possible market to the people that you might already have a business relationship paid for by your current boss?

Get buy-in from your full time job. Ensure that your employer has no problem. It may be possible as long as you don’t use company resources or time. But make sure, you don't want to get fired. For example, suppose you are employed full time as a mid level safety supervisor. You also are very active in an Occupational Safety and Health Administration related professional organization. You have discovered an incredible way to help people become better safety managers and increase safety awareness. You write a book, publish a newsletter and start a little side business.

If you follow the latest trends of marketing and sales techniques, you might do so at your professional detriment as you become a nuisance to fellow professionals. Instead of becoming a person of influence in the safety industry, you are considered an aggressive sales person and one to be avoided. Even worse, you get a reputation for doing so on "company time". So, how do you balance a professional reputation while building your personal business empire?

For those of you who already run your businesses, you can employ book selling strategies that will get your book noticed without you becoming a distraction. You can provide a great book with a certain amount of anonymity mixed with a little niche popularity and without gaining a reputation that could harm your other accomplishments. You do so by helping. Offering a valuable product that is not otherwise provided.

In niche publishing, your goal is not to become a celebrity, but an expert. Build upon the expertise by helping others, and the book sales will follow. I know this because I am possibly one of the worst face to
face sales persons ever. I believe in my product, but because of conflicting life roles, I find it difficult to go through the requirements to make direct sales. I worry about seeing my bosses at conventions, seeing
peers at professional luncheons, and being penalized for using company time to sell my product. That gives me only after work hours to sell.

You might feel the same. So, how do you create such an opportunity?

Through a strong on-line presence that brings your potential customers to you. By doing so, your brand can become synonymous with your industry. Potential customers will see you as an industry expert with real solutions serving your niche. But if you do it wrong you be perceived as an opportunist. More articles are forthcoming.

See Get Rich in an Niche for help with writing, publication, sales and marketing
plans that allow you to be yourself, protect your professional status and provide a great service.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

2 Steps to Become Viral

2012-01-05T19:57:00.000-06:00

One day after a professional organization luncheon, I was stopped by a colleague. She told me that she had been searching for security information. She stated several times that her keyword searches brought her
to my ezinearticle.com articless. This then led her to my websites. Talk about success, I was able to help her and build awareness of Red Bike Publishing at the same time. I also know that she is discussing me in
professional circles. This will keep the buzz up and didn’t cost me anything. I also use the same articles in blogs, newsletters and other publications; a lot of impact with a little time investment.

1. Use "Social Media" or similar function to share newsletters and articles. When you write your newsletter or article using online services, be sure to tap those articles into your social media pipeline. Many offer options to automatically update your status on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

2. Be sure to also create a signature block or author resource box that appears at the end of your articles, and will automatically be inserted into your articles, newsletters and blogs. For example, at Ezinearticles.com, you can create an over-arching signature block to go with all of your articles, or customize several different author resource boxes to fit your various needs. Try it with blog posts as well. That way, when your articles go viral, so will your signature block complete with point of sale, contact info and website information. See below:

For more complete marketing information, see the book Get Rich in a Niche; The Insider's Guide to Self-Publishing in a Specialized Industry.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM.

Someone's Got a Hold on Me-An Excerpt from Commitment the Novel

2012-01-02T20:58:00.002-06:00

In her hut, Marta lay staring at the grass roof; it had been a fitful sleep. Bouts of fitful tossing were triggered by images of John. She wasn’t sure if he would fit in, or remain on Irian Jaya, but she hoped he would stay. She couldn’t believe her feelings for this man, and passed them off as curiosity. After all, he was fresh and full of conversation. But she had met men and women who came to visit as evangelical missionaries, preaching for a short time before moving on. Pilots, doctors and other medical persons came, as well as the Peace Corps and United Nations workers. None had the allure that John already had over her. He seemed to own some part of her, and she wasn’t ready to give it over. She had to get him out of her mind....her heart. No, she couldn’t admit he had her heart. She finally rolled from her bed for the short trek to the stream where she washed. On the way, she saw John and the old man. She saw him smile and trot toward her. He looked like he had also had little sleep, something she attributed to being in new surroundings. She wondered if he could tell she hadn’t slept either.

“I just shared a strange sunrise with that man over there. He is the saddest, quietest person I have ever seen. What’s his story?” John asked.

“He does that every morning without fail. He wakes and watches the jungle until the sun comes up. Several years ago, some of the villagers were kidnapped. He believes if he keeps up his vigil that his wife and son will return,” Marta replied.

John looked back in time to see the sad man shuffle sadly away.

Steve flew in an hour later to pick up John. John was glad to see him, and knew there were other missionaries to meet, and much more work to do. Steve declined a cup of coffee, opting to get back in the air.

They made three stops before finally landing in Tiom, just a little before the sun set. John was tired, and he felt it as he climbed out of the plane. Even with all the stops, and all the people he continued to meet on the way, he could not forget his experience in Tarampura, nor his hostess Marta Springer.

Enter the bad guys-Excerpt from Commitment-A Novel

2011-12-29T17:21:00.000-06:00

CHAPTER 10

High in the mist-filled mountain tops two figures danced excitedly around their chubby friend. Another tall and lanky character observed it from under the wide brim of his bush hat. He allowed himself a rare smile. The boys have earned some excitement.

“Bart found the ore. Finally, he did something besides trying to kill us with his food,” Charles said excitedly, much to Bart’s dismay.

“My food gave you the strength to carry on. Didn’t it, Angus?” Bart said, looking hopefully to the boss.

“Kissing up to him won’t get you much,” said Roger. “But finding this gold will.” He grabbed the short and stout Bart in a headlock and rubbed his dirty hair heartily, excited that the months of mining had finally been rewarded.

Bart smiled in his goofy manner, enjoying the much needed praise.

Roger and Charles let out a roar of pleasure as they tossed the baseball-sized rock back and forth.

“Knock it off for a minute,” said Angus. The quiet droning of an engine alerted him. He squinted solemnly into the first bright sunlight in weeks. “It’s that pilot. I hope his presence doesn’t interfere with our resupply efforts.”

***

Down in the valley, sun-drenched Tarampura was beautiful. Greens and reds radiated from the jungle, proud that the rain had pulled away its obscuring veil. The villagers cleaned their areas diligently. Mud was caked on everything; the Dani were busy with clean up.

As Steve’s plane came into sight, they smiled, and then went back to their tasks. A plane landing was an all-too-familiar scene these days. Many still greeted it and some of those who did got a ride.

Marta noticed the stranger flying the plane and realized it must be John. She watched him step out of the plane. He was quite handsome in khaki pants and dark blue pull-over shirt. He carried himself well and had a determined look. This man could easily be stereotyped behind the yoke of an airplane.

Numah caught up with her, followed by Tucker. “He a pretty man,” Numah whispered.

Marta blushed slightly. “Oh, I hadn’t even noticed.”

Two Great Marketing Tools For Niche Authors

2011-12-23T12:05:00.000-06:00

Developing marketing tools for small niches

Whether or not you use all or some of the recommended ideas, ensure your efforts are all connected with one effort feeding the other. This is how you increase awareness with expending the little time and energy
you may have available.

1. Always have your point of sale at your website with links to your social networks, blogs and other marketing and sales sites.

2. Include your website, blog and other places customers can find information about you in your email signature. As you send email, your signature block creates a buzz.

Find out more detailed "how to" information in Get Rich in a Niche available everywhere.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

3 Ways to Finding Your Niche Audience

2011-12-20T21:15:00.000-06:00

Guess what, niche marketers can command top search engine results for free. Many marketing tools are available for you at no cost.

1. Article writing and interacting on social media networks can result in
top search engine rankings.

2. Add key words and phrases to your websites, blogs and newsletters that search engines pick up on really works. Your challenge is to find a possibly elusive market and send them the right message.

My market is hard to find; many in the security niche do not have an online presence and mailing lists aren't always available. By nature, members of some small security niches do not participate in social network and limit internet behavior activity. However, what I have learned creates an advantage for niche marketers.

3. All professionals have email addresses issued by their corporations, belong to professional organizations and are hungry for education.

I also know their varying experience levels and many are appointed to their positions as an additional duty. Though I can’t find obvious personal contact information or a specific “security” presence, I can find them using non-traditional methods. So, how will you find yours?

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Expensive Marketing that does NOT Pay Off in Niche Markets

2011-12-16T09:10:00.000-06:00

This is where it gets dicey. I am recommending just the opposite of what all the online marketing gurus are suggesting, but please read completely before you make a decision about your next marketing move.

Don't Pay for Expensive Social Networking Ads
While popular brands and products can earn money through such advertising campaigns, small niches may not.
That's the idea of social networking; a niche marketer should be able to make sales without spending money. Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and others offer services to help you get to the top of the search engine results. Many advertise with Google using Adwords or Pay Per Click. When customers use a keyword search, your website is featured prominently in the search engine results. Additionally, some create an advertisement that displays in the search engine’s results margins. When potential customers click on either the advertisement or the search engine result, the advertiser pays the agreed upon rate. The advertiser can control how many times their information is displayed and how much they are willing to pay per display.

Here's the Danger-If your site is prominent after a Google search a customer may click on it. However, if your site does not offer the products the potential customer thought she would see, she will navigate away from your site but you still have to pay; quite a risky endeavor for a niche marketer. The same holds true while advertising with LinkedIn and Facebook.

For example, if a business uses pay per click to sell “security” products, they could realize more and more potential customers visit only to leave without making a purchase. Even if they use focused keywords, the wrong clients could still visit, costing the business money. The advertisement may show up at the top of all security searches surpassing the other vendors. However, if the customer visits the sight anticipating a different security product, the business has wasted time and my money as the potential customers move on.

Here are some great niche marketing ideas that don't cost a dime:

Offer Free Products at Professional Seminars
Improve Networking Skills
Brand the "PanAm" Way
Create Multiple Facebook Pages

For more great tips, see our new book Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Before you spend money, be sure your audience is specifically targeted in the campaign.

2011-12-12T21:07:00.002-06:00

There are already a few strikes against paying to advertise your book through an email campaign to libraries and bookstores. The first is that books are distributed through a process that self-published and print on demands are excluded from. Librarians and bookstores receive a book’s information from the Library of Congress and distributors. If your book is not in the CIP process as described in Get Rich in a Niche, chances are great that it will not be picked up by librarians and traditional books stores.

Others take advantage of your hopes and dreams by claiming to have connections and inroads with major buyers. In fact, they collect your money, add your book information to a database with several hundred
others and email it to their points of contact. The points of contact may not even be a result of a personal relationship, but simply a collection of email addresses. You then are tied to the hope that somehow the recipient of the email is going to take to time to look at all the books and pick yours. The reality is librarians and book stores already have an acquisitions system in place. Avoid this type of business as all you will do
is lose money.

It took a while for me to realize this. I’ve read tons of self-publishing and marketing books, paid for advertising to hundreds of thousands of recipients without realizing sales for those particular efforts. Many marketing leaders and authors earn a living writing about the success of internet advertising. They claim that you should be buying mailing lists for libraries and bookstores, email campaigns and magazines to successfully sell books. However, these methods just don’t work and are non-applicable to niche marketing. Others claim that the internet is an untapped gold mine and all you have to do is make a product, pay a fee and sit back and collect millions of dollars.

There are some reputable services that in and of themselves, are not bad. However, they don’t always work for niche marketing. In my experience, they just didn’t target my market and their models were not appropriate for my niche. Before you spend money, be sure your audience is specifically targeted in the campaign.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Why Niche Authors Should Not Advertise

2011-12-07T13:36:00.000-06:00

Effective book marketing involves becoming a rock star in your specialized industry. You may have found your place in a specialized niche. Though the general population may not know you, you should be well known within a specialized industry. The funny thing is the fame could be possible from all the free campaigns you should be involved in and never paying for advertising.

Personally, while niche publishing, I’ve seen no results from some of the wasted funds committed to advertising and marketing meant for wide customer bases more traditional products.

When is such traditional advertising effective?

When there is an appeal to a massive audience. Those in this position can spend millions of dollars for premium advertising space knowing that their product will sell and they will recuperate the expenses. For example, everyone in the civilized world wears clothing, lives in some sort of dwelling, enjoys some form of entertainment and expects a certain quality of life.

Watch TV, listen to the radio, and open a magazine. You will probably see the similar types of products advertised. The products aren’t typically introduced for the first time to the market. Instead, similar products are jockeying for their position at the top of the sales within their category. Providers of household cleaning products, food and beverages, restaurants, automobiles, airlines and other products with mass appeal pay with confidence knowing their advertising will result in low risk sales. Chances are that the majority of viewers, hearers and readers of the advertisements will have a legitimate need to buy the product. They will be able to measure a return on investment. There aren’t many who advertise books or niche products; it’s too hard to find a customer.

3 Ways to Better Book Planning

2011-12-05T10:40:00.004-06:00

Many of you are not rich...yet. Your book isn’t published and you may not yet have the customers necessary for great sales. You probably have full time jobs, might travel regularly, have a family that needs your

love and attention, chores and responsibilities at home and in the community.

Pace yourself-Setting goals and milestones is incredibly important. However, the nervous breakdown that follows too tough of a schedule is never worth it. Never write a book or build a business at the cost of your job or your family.
Commitment-Get buy in from others you have invested time with. Writing is an addition to your schedule that will add stress to your life. Part of your planning should be getting an agreement with anyone you are committed to. The agreement should benefit everyone. Families and relationships need love, communication and patience. Commitments in the community, church, clubs, and social organizations are also important. Let everyone know that you may have to rearrange your schedule, cut down on some events, or otherwise make yourself available to writing until you finish the project. Be sure to give something in return. It’s not all about you.
Planning Chapters-Find a quiet or quieter place to concentrate and write your book. I find the writing process easier if I preplan my book. The bulk of the work I do in preparing my books take place with a notebook and pen. I do a lot of pre-planning in my head as well. I usually outline a chapter on one side of a piece of paper. If my book is eight chapters long, I have eight pages of paper. I guess I am a product of my times because my book plan looks like a presentation. I use bullet comments for chapter topic supported by further bullet comments for the supporting ideas.For example, here is a snapshot of my planning page for this chapter. This was a first draft outline and has changed somewhat. However, it was enough to get me started:

Chapter 5 Write a book

Introduction
Define a problem
Pressing issues that you can resolve
List Solutions
How have you solved the problems
Research
Research includes social networks
Interact-Ask questions; provide feedback
Learn from others and provide feedback
People will learn to recognize your name
Format
Introduction
Supporting sections
Summary
Book Cover
Summary

I’ve planned books on my back porch table while watching my children play on the swing set. Slow times of the day also provide good opportunities to draft book outlines. I’ve even sought inspiration while jogging.The point is, book outline design doesn’t demand more than a few sheets of paper and focus. Learn to manage time well, respect your commitments, and don’t over schedule your valuable time.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

3 Ways to Build Credibility By Teaching a Course

2011-12-01T20:57:00.000-06:00

Residence classes

This is a real opportunity to build credentials and create a real academic presence. Traditional education opportunities are solid and recognized ways to get your message out. Teaching provides a return on investment but takes hard work and persistence to get started. Also there are two different avenues. You can host these classes yourself, or you can get them sponsored.

Host the Residence Class Yourself

Just like self publishing you can control the product. You have the freedom to create and do not need to seek approval from anyone to get started. You choose to set up the class time, the material, the advertising,
and everything else you need to start a successful course. It also means that you have to bring in the resources yourself. For a residence class, you will need a classroom or similar environment, curriculum, projector, screen, training aids, certificates and supplies. There is a terrific possibility for high overhead costs. Unless you already have the means, you may need to rent space.

You will also need to be prepared to conduct a lot of administrative tasks. These include advertisement, registration, payment, copies, course material, setting up contracts for rooms, agreements with students,
and creating a compelling reason for students to come to you. This will require a significant amount of organization, discipline and follow-through.

Organization/Business/University Hosted

This is a great way to gain instant credibility, earn an income and teach without having to worry about the administrative tasks. When sponsored, the space, advertising, registration, payment and graduation certificate
requirements are already taken care of. You can also negotiate a good salary. I teach a 24 hour course over a few weeks and one of my books serves as the textbook. That adds up to a nice paycheck. The process
is already institutionalized and all you have to do is show up; sort of.

Find out more in Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Secrets for Follow-on Book Ideas

2011-11-16T08:50:00.000-06:00

Book sales happen when the book is a good product, you have a sound strategy, a detailed plan and a point of sale. You may even have developed successful spin-off products. So what else can you do to capitalize on this momentum? Why not another book and more spin off products?

The opportunities for success may continue to manifest and you may find yourself ready to quit your day job. Some remarkable experiences may come up that provide new ideas for you to grow as a professional and offer additional messages to your customers and potential new customers. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to maintain newly created momentum from your writing and marketing?

1. Remain open to new ideas, but stay focused on reality. Several people

have contacted me about other great opportunities. One offered a great

salary to join his organization part time. I was flattered, but it required

travel and would take me away from what I love doing.

2. Keep focused on your core competencies, abilities and goals. Enticing opportunities will come up. You don’t have to say yes to every opportunity. Set your boundaries and just make sure opportunities line up with your goals and capabilities. Otherwise, they are simply distractions.

3. Your book and spin-off products should relate to your niche.

You’ve devoted time, sweat, tears and money into your original product. The follow-on book should be a next step in the progression of your business. You’ve got the following, now just offer another successful alternative.

As a niche author and publisher, you’ve spent your efforts in a particularly small subject, and have learned some valuable transferable skills. Why not share them in follow-up industry related books, classes, seminars and etc.

3 Effective Ways Niche Authors Maintain Focus

2011-11-15T07:57:00.002-06:00

Authors who work in a niche market can’t afford to lose focus of goals. Your efforts are only successful when you get the desired results. To get rich in a niche, you have to make sales. For example, meeting and greeting is nice and it has its benefits, but creating a point of sale counts. Learn how to protect your time and do what is critical to attract your market and entice customers to buy. It’s not easy to convince others that you are the expert. However, the successful niche marketer isn’t be easily distracted. The market is so small and every move counts. Intense focus means not giving up when:

1. Tried and true marketing efforts don’t work-You may have to create your own marketing plan by becoming a presence by going places your market frequents such as professional events, websites, link exchanges and social networking sites. Then invite them to your website. The marketing plan should be flexible and have a backup in place when you miss the mark.

Contact information may be hard to come by. Experiment and keep trying different ways to get contact information. Continuously discover new ways of identifying your specific market from the crowd of faces. You want your efforts to attract buyers or influencers.

2. Writing ideas come slow-you’ve got to be committed to getting the

message out regularly and timely. Blogs, newsletters, and posts on social

network sites help get your message out. You just need a few hundred words about your topic. Go too long without input and people begin to forget about you. You want to stay in the front of your customers’ minds. If they don’t remember you, they won’t buy from you or refer you to others.

3. Sales begin to wane-You’ll have peak months where you celebrate, but there will be many where your products don’t sell. You may chose to sit it out and see what happens next. But that would jeopardize your sales. It’s important to understand why sales are declining and prepare for such events. Are your articles on point? Has your website lost positioning on Google? Have other niche related books exceeded your success on Amazon? I’ll show you how to prevent or counter such occurrences and be ready to win in your market.

When you are zeroed in on a goal, your purpose is effortlessly committed

to reaching it. This requires a good plan with measurable milestones.

Without an agenda, you may wander off the successful path and

become quickly lost and tangled up in a jungle of ineffective actions.

For example, if you know that going to a professional seminar will produce

leads for your newsletter or products, then go with the goal in mind of introducing yourself and collecting as many business cards as possible. If you are setting up a booth to sell books, then your goal may be to hold discussions of the benefit of your books and products and get a response. Both examples can easily become expensive failures if you do not engage potential customers in the right call to action activities. Wasting time at the buffet table or engaging in non productive conversations is the sign of a lack of a plan.

Exerpt from Army leadership Implications For Organizational Leaders And Unit Commanders

2011-11-11T13:52:00.000-06:00

To be effective team builders, organizational leaders and commanders must be able to identify and
interact with both formal and informal teams, including—

The traditional chain of command.
Chains of coordination directing joint, interagency, and multinational organizations.
Chains of functional support combining commanders and staff officers.

Although leading through other leaders is a decentralized process, it does not imply a commander or
supervisor cannot step in and temporarily take active control if the need arises. However, bypassing the
habitual chain of command should be by exception and focused on solving an urgent problem or guiding
an organization back on track with the leader’s original guidance

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Bug Man-An Excerpt from Commitment-A Novel

2011-11-11T13:49:00.001-06:00

“Let’s help them,” Tucker said, grabbing John’s hand and pulling him toward the commotion in the forest.
     The village surroundings had been busy with the sound of leaves crunching, vines cracking, and rhythmic chants for the past 30 minutes. Tucker led laughing gleefully as they went to investigate. Finally they found twenty men pulling on thick vines as they advanced the progress of a huge sago palm toward the village.
     “It is big, John. It will bring us lots of food. The kind you eat a lot of last time,” said Tucker.
     “I don’t remember eating food from a tree. What do you mean?” John asked as he stepped in behind one of the men.
     Both John and Tucker were now struggling with the cumbersome tree. They made slow progress as the tree scraped across the jungle floor inch by inch. Awkward at first, John soon fell in with the rhythm of the cadence and found the load easier to bear.
     “We will bring the tree close to the village and pull it apart. It will die and soon the big bug will come and lay egg,” said Tucker.
     “What kind of bug?” John already dreaded the answer.
     “The bug that is big and we use wings for our decorations,” said Tucker.
     “It sounds like a scarab beetle. What do you do with the eggs?” asked John.
     “They grow the worm,” replied Tucker.
     “Not the grubs! You mean I’m hauling a grub tree!” said John.
     “You like them, yes?”
      “I like them, no,” John replied.
     “The man who ate all the worms says he doesn’t like them,” Tucker translated tauntingly for the benefit of the others.
     “Why are they laughing?” asked John.
     The men continued to cackle as they remembered that famous night.
     Startled, birds fluttered away, and small monkeys shrieked in protest from treetop perches as the laughter permeated the jungle.
     “Have your laugh, but remember the saying of Americans. ‘You are what you eat,’ bug man.”

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

Drawing Attention to Your Facebook Pages

2011-11-02T09:52:00.000-05:00

You may remember an earlier post describing why and how you might create a Facebook page for each of your books or products. Using my publishing company as an example, I created a page for my company, each of my books and a group that hosts a professional certification.

Did you know that you can log into your individual pages and use make comments and “like” other comments as that entity?

Here’s an example: I have a Facebook Page called 80s Movie Reviews. To generate interest with other people who enjoy the 80’s genre, I searched Facebook with the keywords: “80’s, 80s, 80s music”, and etc. Once I find those pages I make comments on their wall and “like” them using my 80’s Movie Reviews profile.

Here’s how you do it. Select your page. On the right hand column toward the top is “Use Facebook as _”Your pages name”__ page”. Once you make the selection, any comments, shares, likes and etc will be attributed to your page and not your regular profile. Instead of people seeing “Jeff Bennett likes this page”, they say, “Cool there’s an 80s movie review page, I’m going there.” And, they did.

This technique has increased visitors to my blog and Facebook pages by 200%. Imagine what it can do for your book, product or fun trivia page. Hopefully it will feed the publicity mill and give your pages the attention they deserve. Don’t forget to include a link or call to action for potential customers to buy your products.

Do this for all of your pages. Once finished, might want to revert back to your normal profile. If so, go to the top right corner of the Facebook window and select the down arrow. Click “Return to ____page” to reset your Facebook page to its original configuration.

For examples, come visit my pages, if you enjoy them, please “like”:

80s Movie Reviews

Red Bike Publishing

Commitment-A Novel

Insider’s Guide to Self Publishing

US Army Leadership

Don't Forget To Ask- 5 Ways to Draw Attention to an Sell More Books

2011-10-23T14:03:00.000-05:00

Perhaps like me, you've published many, many articles, creating awareness of your books and products. You've didicated time in establishing yourself as an expert and creating an environment mutual trust with your potential customers. However, there is also another piece of publishing; the sales.

Maybe your Facebook pages, newsletters,Twitter and LinkedIn accounts testify of all you are and have to offer. All posts are driven by articles relevant to the industries you write for. If so, then you are doing the right things. However, the part lacking is the call to action. You could haev all points of sale on each website, blog and newsletter page. A point of sale is often a benign or passive picture, event or notification of a product. A call to action creates a decision on the part of the reader.

Here are 3 recently used ways to increase awareness of books and products.

1. Send free copies of books in support of related professional organizations. For example, Red Bike Publishing sends at least seven titles to seperate conventions and seminars. These result in significant sales spikes. In addition to passive sales opportunities, be sure to ask for recognition as a sponsor in publications, websites and programs.

2. Sponser a seminar. I send free copies every year to the Annual Advanced ITAR Compliance Conference. As a result, I get access for interviews, articles, recognition on mailers, websites, programs, displays of my books and much more. This also results in sales of the ITAR.

3. Write articles for other newsletters and blogs. I've been invited on several blogs to write article on my niche expertise. These include clearancejobs.com and AskTop.net. These are national level opportunities that sometimes pay per contribution, but always pay in exposure.

Here are 2 ways to use calls to action to increase your sales. See if you can notice the difference between "point of sale" and "call to action".

1. Use your mailing list. I use icontact.com for my newsletters and to capture mailing addresses. This allows me to program messages and other corresponsendence. I primarily use this service to send out weekly newsletters. However, I just started sending out information and purchase links for each of my books. This reinforces the advertisements I use in my newsletter, but focuses efforts on helping the reader to make a decision of whether or not to buy.

2. Call local stores to carry your books. My largest efforts are with online bookstores. However, some of my books have appeal to independent book store visitors. I've began calling to ask them to carry my books. So far, I am drumming up interest and creating a call to action in new areas.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR and The NISPOM

Hiding

2011-10-19T20:50:00.000-05:00

The leader, dressed in a loincloth and wearing a necklace of bones and ornamental feathers, motioned for one of his subordinates to try the doors. The lackey finally figured how to open the pilot’s door and curiously played with the controls and buttons. He tripped the main power switch, activating the electronic gyro. The slow electrical windup suddenly turned into a high- pitched whir sending everyone scuttling for cover.

John snickered at the comic relief, but only briefly. He needed to get Steve back to safety, and he knew the natives would soon recover from the scare. He rose to help Steve and timidly headed toward the plane. John ducked as the leader turned in his direction and pointed the others to fan out. John knew the leader had sent out a search party. He pushed Steve down and jumped to his side, quickly pulling the poncho over them. At least the ponchos are green, John thought. Lying there, he heard the brush around him parting as a few people crept through it. They stopped within a few feet and talked. John could see their dirty feet from under the poncho and prayed they would leave before the sun revealed their hiding place.

Time passed slowly that morning. The natives searched for hours before finally leaving, or at least that’s what John hoped they’d done. The sun was higher in the sky and began burning off the rain water that fell the previous day. Once again fog and steam started to form, leaving John hoping for a gentle breeze to disperse it.

There, In The Jungle...an excerpt from Commitment-A Novel

2011-10-10T13:13:00.000-05:00

The sun painted streaks of pale blue and yellow through the morning sky. Birds were awake, singing to anyone appreciative enough to listen. The moon was full and bright as it still sat high in the western sky.

John listened intently. He was used to the sounds of the jungle, something he would actually miss. Gone were the distractions of machines. However, he prayed that they would soon be getting back to the plane that would take them back to their world–civilization.

Suddenly he was aware of something new–silence. The singing had abruptly stopped, but why? Birds go silent as a survival instinct, he thought. He listened more intently, as the ground would be soft, muffling any footsteps.

There! In the brush – a slight movement. He focused his eyes to one side of the dark, heavily vegetated area hoping to catch something in his peripherals. Behind about fifty yards, vines and branches moved in one direction as a few stealthy figures filed through. John estimated six people moving in the direction of the clearing. With any concentrated effort, the group would discover them. He nudged Steve, who had suffered with a fever since midnight.

“Wake up,” John whispered, placing his hand over his buddy’s mouth. He waited a moment for Steve to recover from the surprise. “There are people heading our way. You’ll have to keep quiet.”

All Steve could do was nod his head in agreement.

The half naked group, armed with spears and bows and arrows, and one with a stone ax, fanned out once they neared the clearing. They moved in unison like a well-rehearsed infantry unit. Someone gave a bird call upon seeing the camouflaged airplane and the rest moved cautiously toward the source of commotion.

John saw them move slowly toward the plane, and huddle around the leader. They looked for tell-tale signs of trouble, then regrouped as the leader gave instructions. On cue, they began removing the bushes and curiously rubbed their hands across the smooth surface of the plane. Some of them swung from the wings and struts, while others played with the control surfaces until the leader yelled a warning.

Networking Skills

2011-10-03T18:38:00.000-05:00

Experience, commitment and practice are the best qualities to prepare the professional for the necessity of good old fashion networking. Networking is especially necessary in industries like publishing where customers, colleagues and co-workers value trust and quality.

A career in writing and publishing and challenging enough, especially in a specialized area or niche. The work is important, and readers count on the niche publisher to provide needed books and training. The publishing and writing professional requires a high degree of interaction as paths cross in collaboration or through online sales. Online sales require time to develop trusting working relationships and getting to know important connections in a timely manner is important.

So, how do we accelerate this networking curve?

1. Foster relationships online and in social networks. Get to know customers, fellow publishers and business unit managers related to your expertise. Develop trusting relationships that allow exchange of information.

2. Become active in professional publishing and writing organizations. Niche authors and publishers have a lot of experience that is definitely worth sharing. There may be others having similar challenges and may be able to give fresh insight. You may find yourself helping others as well.

3. Become known by writing articles or teaching classes. Publishing in professional journals or teaching a “how to” seminar will get you recognized as an expert and trusted person.

4. Look for opportunities to network with business leaders, police, firefighters, public safety, local and national government agencies and any other members of the community.

5. Consider joining committees, volunteering in the community, or sharing your expertise outside of your organization or career. For example, you could demonstrate how a non-profit organization can properly format a pamphlet or publicize using social media.

It doesn't take much to network; just willingness to both help and to learn. What you contribute is invaluable and you are never too old to learn from others.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

The Secret Stays in the Cabin-An Excerpt from Commitment

2011-10-02T13:30:00.000-05:00

“Okay, I’ll demonstrate flying through these passages before these clouds get too low,” Steve yelled over the roaring engine. “Do you see the break in the mountains ahead? Fly to those, staying as far right as you can.”

“I’m staying to the right, and I don’t mind telling you this is a little nerve racking.”

“I’m with you, but this is the only way to some of the villages.” Steve knew John would have a hard time at first. “Just remember to stay to the right. That way if you find you may have mistakenly flown the wrong passage, you will have ample room on the left side for maneuvering.”

“Well, I can tell you that this barely leaves enough to turn. I’d hate to have to make a hasty U-turn or other emergency procedures,” said John.

There was only a mile of flying space between mountain–plenty of room for turning a car around, but an airplane is another story. The perception of speed was great as they passed within twenty-five feet of the mountain to the right. The trees and tree top houses were a blur along the mountain side.

“About the U-turn you mentioned earlier,” Steve shouted. “About 18 years ago one of our own was flying a missionary family through a similar passage. They were headed south to do a revival near Agats. He was heading out of the Maoke Mountains, when he realized nothing looked familiar. He rationalized that he must have gone down the wrong valley.”

“How come he didn’t climb out and get his bearings?” asked John.

“Because of similar weather conditions. The pilot opted to continue the route. Visibility was horrible when suddenly a large object loomed before the plane. Instinctively, the pilot initiated a climbing turn hoping to fly back,” said Steve.

“I guess since he was on one side of the valley, he made it okay,” John guessed.

“No, he wasn’t. At that time, pilots were flying down the center to avoid being too close to a mountain; however, the rules have since changed. Anyway, what I am about to say to you must stay between us. It was given to me in good faith, but I feel you should know. Deal?”

“It won’t leave this plane,” John pledged.

“The pilot attempted the turn and almost made it, but the right wing clipped the trees, dragging the plane to the ground. There was only one survivor, and he was found a few days later still at the site. The pilot and Mr. and Ms. Heatherly died. Their son, Jason was the only survivor.”

An Excerpt From the Novel Commitment

2011-09-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

“What'd you do that for?” Angus yelled.

“He was going to eat me,” the overweight Bart whined a little too loudly. He still had his shotgun poised over his head.

“No he wasn’t, you fool. He probably heard all the commotion you made and came to investigate,” said Charles.

“What in the world was this aborigine doing up at this time of night?” Bart complained, laboring for air.

“Probably guarding the camp from lads like us,” Charles chided.

“Keep it down! Did you have to hit him so hard? I think he’s dead,” Angus chastised.

“I said I didn’t mean to. You shouldn’t have brought me here. You should’ve left me to guard the camp instead of Roger,” Bart continued to whine. “This stuff scares me and I hate walking through it. I can’t believe you made me come.”

“We needed someone competent to stand by at camp. We didn’t think you could cause trouble under supervision,” Charles continued.

Angus dug into his back pack and pulled out an ornament he took from an Asmat warrior he found long dead, and dropped it where the body lay. “This should clear us of any suspicion. C’mon, we’ve got to move the body.” Angus’ mind was working now. “You two, take an arm and follow me.”

***

Marketing Pan Am Style

2011-09-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

Marketing Pan Am style

If you belong to any social networking groups, Linked In, Facebook, Twitter and etc, you are probably anticipating next week’s TV pilot episode of Pan Am. Particularly relevant is how you may have become aware of this new TV series; primarily as a result of social network marketing. The huge awareness is driven not by huge TV commercial plugs, but by social networking using the following 5 methods:

1. Create awareness on as many social networking sites as possible. As covered in “Get Rich in a Niche” it’s not the expensive advertising that gets potential customers, but rather opportunities available to target a potential audience and create a community for them. Pan Am has a page on Facebook full of pictures, videos and important TV show facts. They also have a Twitter account with regular tweets referring to the show.

2. Introduce each of your products. Pan Am successfully introduced each of their characters individually with a small back story via posts and tweets. By the time the show airs, hundreds of thousands of viewers will already have a bond and understanding of the planes, the staff that flies and supports them, uniforms and life in the early 60’s. Facebook fans are invited to and regularly interact with their own stories of working with or flying with Pan Am.

3. Hold contests and give away free products. People who opt in to follow on Twitter or like on Facebook are automatically enrolled in a contest to win a prize. What is that prize? A carryon bag emblazoned with the Pan Am logo. Even the prize creates product awareness.

4. Brand everywhere and at each opportunity. Whatever you Tweet or posts, make sure it has something to do with your product. As mentioned earlier, brand your contest prizes. Pan Am also worked with Pandora, the internet radio sensation, to create a station featuring songs from the early 60’s. The radio station is called Pan Am and covers music from the same time period as the TV show’s setting.

5. Make sure your blogs, tweets, and posts feed each other. When Pan Am puts out information on a social media site, it automatically feeds the other. Whatever gets posted on Facebook gets tweeted on Twitter.

Using the above 5 steps can help you create a marketing plan as powerful as that of Hollywood. Take a look at what the Pan Am series is doing and find something valuable to use from their experience.

The Comics, another way to attract your niche market

2011-09-19T17:55:00.000-05:00

I wrote this comic to help defense contractors understand the importance of not altering or modifying their security containers (safes). To do so is in violation of the national industrial security program and can cause the GSA approved container to lose its certification. What ideas do you have to make learning fun?

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

5 Steps to More Book Sales

2011-09-11T21:41:00.001-05:00

Here are 5 ways to present yourself as the "go to" person on anything.

1. First of all you need to present a a unique need or product that has not been provided. This could be as a result of a missing education, information, study programs, or guidance within your industry or area of expertise.

2. Provide answers. Sadly, though many people may have identified the need only a few have solutions. You should be able to provide the answers that help customers reach their professional or personal goals.

3. Others recognize you as the expert?
You've identified what is lacking in industry, showed how you can help. Now, demonstrate how customers can succeed.

4. Determine a price. What will others be willing to pay for this knowledge? Is there anything that you can offer for free to help build credibility and become “go to” person?

5. What are some concrete ways that you can get your message out? Develop your website with a sales message and video (see http://www.redbikepublishing.com for examples).

Teach your subject in continuing education courses
Write captivating articles
Share articles and websites online and at Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

For more detailed information, consider getting Get Rich in a Niche-The Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Niche Market. My book is complete with planning tools to help you establish yourself as a niche expert/leader. I developed a personal plan to become a security expert within 5 years and made it 2 years early. My book also shows you how to earn money from spin off products, newsletters and blogs. It is complete with planning tools to help you develop spin off products.

I began with my security certification book and that led to three related books, training, magnets and other paying products.

Join my newsletter for more good writing and publishing ideas.

Be, Know, and Do, Elements of Army Leadership

2011-09-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

Leadership, the most essential element of combat power, gives purpose, direction, and motivation in combat. The leader balances and maximizes maneuver, firepower, and protection against the enemy. This chapter discusses how he does this by exploring the principles of leadership (BE, KNOW, DO); the duties, responsibilities, and actions of an effective leader; and the leader's assumption of command.

1-1. PRINCIPLES. The principles of leadership are BE, KNOW, and DO.

PRINCIPLES. The principles of leadership are BE, KNOW, and DO.

BE

• Technically and tactically proficientTechnically and tactically proficient

• Able to accomplish to standard all tasks required for the wartime mission.Able to accomplish to standard all tasks required for the wartime mission.

• Courageous, committed, and candid.Courageous, committed, and candid.

• A leader with integrity.A leader with integrity.

KNOW

• The four major factors of leadership and how they affect each other are--

---Led

---Leader

---Situation

---CommunicationsThe four major factors of leadership and how they affect each other are--

---Led

---Leader

---Situation

---Communications

• Yourself, and the strengths and weaknesses in your character, knowledge, and skills. Seek continual selfimprovement, that is, develop your strengths and work to overcome your weaknesses.Yourself, and the strengths and weaknesses in your character, knowledge, and skills. Seek continual selfimprovement, that is, develop your strengths and work to overcome your weaknesses.

• Your Rangers, and look out for their well-being by training them for the rigors of combat, taking care of their physical and safety needs, and disciplining and rewarding them.Your Rangers, and look out for their well-being by training them for the rigors of combat, taking care of their physical and safety needs, and disciplining and rewarding them.

DO----

• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions; exercise initiative; demonstrate resourcefulness; and take advantage of opportunities on the battlefield that will lead to you to victory; accept fair criticism, and take corrective actions for your mistakes.Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions; exercise initiative; demonstrate resourcefulness; and take advantage of opportunities on the battlefield that will lead to you to victory; accept fair criticism, and take corrective actions for your mistakes.

• Assess situations rapidly, make sound and timely decisions, gather essential information, announce decisions in time for Rangers to react, and consider the short- and long-term effects of your decision.Assess situations rapidly, make sound and timely decisions, gather essential information, announce decisions in time
for Rangers to react, and consider the short- and long-term effects of your decision.

• Set the example by serving as a role model for your Rangers. Set high but attainable standards; be willing do what you require of your Rangers; and share dangers and hardships with them.Set the example by serving as a role model for your Rangers. Set high but attainable standards; be willing do what you require of your Rangers; and share dangers and hardships with them.

• Keep your subordinates informed to help them make decisions and execute plans within your intent, encourage initiative, improve teamwork, and enhance morale.Keep your subordinates informed to help them make decisions and execute plans within your intent, encourage initiative, improve teamwork, and enhance morale.

• Develop a sense of responsibility in subordinates by teaching, challenging, and developing them. Delegate to show you trust them. This makes them want more responsibility.Develop a sense of responsibility in subordinates by teaching, challenging, and developing them. Delegate to show you trust them. This makes them want more responsibility.

• Ensure the Rangers understand the task; supervise them, and ensure they accomplish it. Rangers need to know what you expect: when and what you want them to do, and to what standard.Ensure the Rangers understand the task; supervise them, and ensure they accomplish it. Rangers need to know what you expect: when and what you want them to do, and to what standard.

• Build the team by training and cross-training your Rangers until they are confident in their technical and tactical abilities. Develop a team spirit that motivates them to go willingly and confidently into combat.Build the team by training and cross-training your Rangers until they are confident in their technical and tactical
abilities. Develop a team spirit that motivates them to go willingly and confidently into combat.

• Know your unit's capabilities and limitations, and employ them accordingly.Know your unit's capabilities and limitations, and employ them accordingly.

Get your own printed copy of the US Army Ranger Handbook from Red Bike Publishing
Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing. Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel". Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook". See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of: Army Leadership The Ranger Handbook The Army Physical Readiness Manual Drill and Ceremonies The ITAR The NISPOM

5 Ways Indie Publishers Can Maximize Internet Exposure

2011-09-06T07:08:00.001-05:00

Is your indie publishing company positioned for success? These 5 takeaways can help your company, products and books before a broader market. Building a strong presence and leveraging your friends, shareholders and other parties interested in your posts to broadcast your writings can create huge momentum. For example, suppose you have a blog that provides information about your publishing company or a niche book. You blog an article about your latest book. It feeds to your Facebook page and your friends "Like" it or provide comments. Soon others might become interested and your audience increases.

However, if you are in a nice industry, only a certain audience will actually benefit from your posts. This is the audience that you educate and provide great books to. They join your LinkedIn groups, Facebook pages and follow your tweets. You've got a good thing going, your audience is faithful, continue to buy your books and comment on your posts.

But what if you write another book or provide a product outside of the circle's interest. What if your niche is in plumbing and your new book idea is "How to Self-Publish"? How about a new novel? Will the audience be interested in your new offerings?

Probably not, but there is something you can do. Whether you are an author with one book or an indie publisher with a niche subject matter, there are some things you can do to maximize your internet exposure for new books topics while still providing to your faithful market. Try these 5 ways to maximize internet exposure:

But before we start, you should already have a blog, twitter account, Facebook page and Linked In group for your existing book or company. If not, get it started then:

1. Add new blogs and dedicate each one to each book's topic. For example, have a web presence for my publishing company and niche books. However, I've created a blog for my novel Commitment. I like to use blogger, www.blogspot.com, for each of my blogs. They are easy to use and you can make additional income with advertisements.

2. Create a new Facebook page for each book. I've synchronized my blog with Commitment's Facebook page. Once you do, you can have the Facebook page update your Facebook personal profile. This will help those outside of your niche get exposed to your other offerings.

3. Add new LinkedIn groups for each of your books. They can be by genre or just join other groups with the same genre.

4. Continue to use your current Twitter account to broadcast Tweets of all your books.

5. Put it all together to reach those outside of your niche get exposed to your other offerings.Each time I post the blog, the Facebook page gets updated, it also feeds into my Indie Publishing Facebook page and my personal Facebook profile. The Facebook pages are poised to update my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. That way my niche group and a broader scope of potential customers are exposed.

That's it. Keep reaching your niche market and never let them go. However, as you write new books or take on new authors, promote those opportunities.

5 Steps to Creating a Book Trailer Video

2011-09-05T14:08:00.001-05:00

How to create a book trailer video

I’ve seen some great video ideas and am recently joining the many who post videos about their books or companies. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the fun and adventurous videos I’ve created that feature an idea and not books. These videos include Zombie vs. Ranger and How Not to Get a consulting Job. These videos are meant to be fun and entertaining and don’t even mention my products until the end.

However, I still can’t discount the effectiveness of a good old fashioned (well recent fashion anyway) video featuring a specific product or book. Great graphics and the right type of music can combine to create a compelling reason for a viewer to take action. This action could include buying a product, visiting a website or signing up for a newsletter.

Whatever call to action you want from your video, make sure to make the video worthy of watching. Here are five great tips for making a video trailer:

1. Invest in video software. There is great software that turns your pictures and videos into well organized, packaged and presented products. They also offer free versions. However, I recommend investing some money on the entire package. You can get a good one for under $60. The free versions only allow a minute of video, hardly enough time to get the job done.

A good video package will allow you to perform graphic tricks like zooming, create text right in the video, highlight important parts, add soundtrack or voice over and package the video for presentation in many formats. It’s all simple to do without having to invest in training. You can learn it as you go.

2. Download great pictures for your video. A video doesn’t always mean you will have motion. Sometimes it’s composed of a collage of images. I recommend creating an account with Istockphoto.com and buying high definition photos. You can search images and videos by subject and category. Find the ones you like and pay from $2 to download them.

3. Create a Youtube.com account. You will need a platform to host your videos. Once you create a video, upload it to youtube.com . From there, you can share it with the world. Make sure you create relevant keywords for search engines to find. Here’s a bonus. Consider using an ejunkie.com account not only for pay carts, but to insert videos into your websites and social networks. If you have an ejunkie.com account, you can “brand” your video and embed it into your websites by copying the code from ejunkie.tv and pasting into your blogs, websites and Facebook pages.

4. Post your videos on Facebook, blogger and website pages. This is a great way to make your videos known to people who would not otherwise know about it. Don’t wait for folks to use keywords to stumble across your video. That could take decades. Instead, take matters into your own hands and upload the videos to your sites.

5. Share your video with the world. Post to your wall and share on Twitter, LinkedIn, email, Google pages, Blogs and everywhere you have contacts and friends. If you are luck and depending on the effectiveness of your network, they will share as well.

Videos are a great way to showcase your work. They can be created in an hour or two and can feature your product in many different venues.

Take a look at these two blog posts for an example of videos you can shoot. http://www.redbikepublishing.blogspot.com/ if you scroll down, you will see a video called, Don't Be This Consultant. I filmed it to publicize Get Rich in a Niche.

The next video is called Zombie vs Ranger. I put this video together to sell the Ranger Handbook. I filmed both videos myself using my Droid II Verizon Motorola phone.

Five Ways an Indie Publisher Can Use High Power Teams

2011-09-02T19:44:00.000-05:00

Maybe you think you are alone, fighting the one person fight that many leaders face. However, you would be wrong to assume that just because you are the only employee of your indie publishing company and the only author that you have to take on so much alone. There may be a way to solicit help without having to pay a salary. So how does the business owner create a teaming environment or create a program where no one works there?

Through High Power Teams

High power teams (HPT) are the most effective types of entities. Where groups form, storm and norm, HPTs go further to create a body more capable than any individual. They do this by agreeing to rules and primarily keeping in mind that throughout any process or problem, it’s not about the individual, it’s about the group. This allows the organization to benefit as a whole as each member sacrifices their individual desires. The members do not lose or give up the individuality that makes them unique. It does not stifle individual creativity. What each individual sacrifices are selfish desires and the need for self importance.

High power teams (HPT) consists of a small number of people with complementary skills. Individual members of HPTs are committed to a common goal and hold themselves mutually accountable. This structure and assembly of individual core competencies, skills and capabilities create a superpower stronger than any one person could ever be.

The charter defines the standards the HPT will perform under. It provides the purpose vision, norms, goals, expectations and procedures. The charter is the rudder that keeps the group focused and forms the basis for group discipline and accountability. For example, if someone arrives late or makes fun of another member’s contribution, corrections can be made by referring to the charter. Additionally, if the group loses focus, the members can refer to the vision and goals.

While the charter provides the fundamentals other dynamics provide the groups personality and incredible effectiveness. Typically, all groups go through a forming, storming, norming, and performing, but that’s where a group’s effectiveness ends. There is a distinct difference between groups and teams.

Teams build on the four stages by engaging collective performance, positive environment, holding individuals and the entire group accountable for charter guidelines and taking advantage of complementary skills. This again increases effectiveness and provides results associated with the capabilities of the HPT.

Anyone can form an HTP and especially so for highly effective formal and informal leader. Let’s for the sake of relativity, consider an author or even an indie publisher. An indie publisher who happens to be owned and operated by the one and only author is going to be limited by whether or not the author can release control of decision making. The owner/author may have vested interest in their particular books, even though other books might sell better. Such thoughts can keep the company from growing to its potential. So, how can an HPT help?

Start with the charter. A leader can form an HPT from fellow authors, shareholders, other publishing companies or anyone who might be interested in pitching in. As owner, you can invite others to join and form the group. Once in the group, the individuals begin to discuss the vision, norms and etc. Such topics to tackle might include book topics, taking on new authors, marketing, advertising, whether or not to form an S or C corporation, whether or not to have a publishing party, and how to grow the company for starters. A multi organizational HPT can bring depth and breadth to a stagnant publishing program.

The difficulty for some owners will be to sacrifice their will and turn over problems for a group to solve. That’s natural, but one of the benefits is that your company is now part of the HPT’s DNA and not just yours. The effective group will have capabilities beyond what you can provide. If run correctly, the tradeoff is perfect and the results impressive.

Here are recommendations for forming an HPT

Engage-Invite interested parties and canvas your network and determine who might be interested in joining this group. You may need to build publishing or writing relationships with allies who might help you recruit effective individuals

Focus-Develop a game plan and respect other members time. You can increase effectiveness with a charter as described above

Accountability-Have meeting minutes and document your work and products. Be sure to capture all important decisions and who will act on them. When the group assigns responsibilities to individuals, they tend to come through

Followup-Let the group know you appreciate their efforts. Better yet, assign credit to your group

Have fun-This is a time to allow creativity. Remember, you invited them, let there be less of you and more of the group. Who knows what they will come up with

Five Writing Resource That Provide Niche Publicity

2011-08-24T11:44:00.000-05:00

As a niche expert, you may find traditional methods of marketing do not provide the exposure you need. Sure, you might be a big name in your organization, hobby, profession or club, but the level of specialization will determine the type of advertising and marketing necessary to reach your audience.

For example, your niche may only have 2000 potential customers nationwide. If you can reach the 2000 and sell your products, then you'll have a potential career. Though 2000 readers may seem small to a traditional publisher or marketing company, it is a treasure to an indie organization who can meet the needs of customers.

Forget taking out ads in papers, spots on radios, or paid space online; unless they are guaranteed to reach only your audience. Many cannot do that as often marketing lines are blurred. It's easy to target model builders. If you provide books with general security appeal, you might be able to place advertisement almost anywhere to meet a demand for home or vehicle protection. However, the level of interest may prove more difficult if your books are about protecting VIPs. Your best avenue would be to find these professionals and meet them there.

Using our example, I'll list five highly effective methods of finding and marketing to your niche industry.

1. Find existing organizations related to niche-Use a search engine, the library or other method to research blogs, magazines, ezines and groups.

2. Use the search results to target existing organizations and their publications. Write articles about your specialty that gets your message out and solves problems. For example, you may find a professional organization made of members who protect executives, events, politions or actors.

3. Write articles for publications unrelated or loosely related to your specialty. You could provide an article to a magazine for captains of industry, CEOs or high visibility clients. These publications are for the VIPs and not your fellow professionals. They could include articles on where to eat and stay. Your contribution might provide information on how to protect themselves and their reputations.

4. Create a group on LinkedIn and invite others to join. It's easy and free to create a group once you are a member. Create groups related to your niche and have invited many fellow professionals to join and they'll invite others. Post links to articles, blogs and other writings. Contribute to conversations and create a huge presence of yourself that highlights your capabilities.

5. Create a newsletter and collect contact information. Use your publicity methods to not only call attention to your product, but also to create a way to get their information. Once they sign up for your newsletter, they can begin receiving niche related information to help them be better at what they do.

The point is, traditional marketing doesn't always work with specialized groups. The groups are small and hard to target. Your challenge is to find them and create and an attractive environment and a way to discover you. It is challenging to write articles, update blogs, and provide newsletters to create an online presence. However, some of the work can be recreated. For example, you can write a blog and feed it into your LinkedIn group. You can used that information to generate discussion and interest. Additionally, the blogs can be compiled into your newsletter.

Porters Five Forces Explains Why you should become an Indy Publisher

2011-08-17T17:20:00.001-05:00

According to Porter's Five Forces Model, you can successfully start your writing, consulting, publishing or other niche business on the internet. You can enter your hobby, interest or business into the market place with opportunities to earn great amounts of money with little risk and cost. Porter’s Five Forces are Buyer Power, Supplier Power, Threat of Substitute Products, Threat of New Entrants and Competitive Rivalry within your industry. These are the elephants in the room. Successfully identify them and your business plan will begin to mature.

Buyer power is higher when buyers have more choices. Businesses are forced to add value to their products and services to get loyalty. Many loyalty programs include excellent services that customers demand on-line. Customers want to solve their problems and many times they are more successful on-line than on-phone. Also, we see internet savvy businesses springing up offering more valuable goods and services at lower costs.

Supplier power is higher when buyers have fewer choices from whom to buy. The internet offers more choice with the increasing amount of websites. Additionally, associates programs promulgate the offerings. They don’t increase the supply, they increase the awareness of the supply, which also affects supplier power.

Threat of substitute products or services is high when there are many product alternatives. Websites allow more exchange. Want to be a coach, consultant, author, supplier or teacher? Market yourself as an expert and start a webpage. As long as you can develop trust and deliver, you’ll be successful. If you gain market share over your competitors, you have now become a substitute product.

Threat of new entrants is high when it is easy for new competition to enter the market. My company was easy to set up and books are easier to put into publications. This is great news for Indie Publishers. In Red Bike Publishing’s case, I bought my business license for less than 50 bucks, opened an account with Lightning Source for less than an $100 and put out new titles for around $100 each. That’s only for print books. I put out eBook titles at no cost. The internet opens competition, now we have to deliver.

Competitive Rivalry within an industry benefits the customer. Certainly if you open a new publishing, author, consulting or other niche business your competition will be working to beat you. With the internet, your strategy is building trust, getting good reviews and selling products. Earning customer trust, having them return and purchase multiple times and viral marketing are keys to beating your competitors. With the internet, your customers can remain anonymous while you are more vulnerable. Customers are able to leave reviews in any one of a million places without revealing themselves. Obscurity sometimes leads to brutal reviews without repercussions.

My advice; take advantage of the wonderful opportunities for engaging your entrepreneurial interests. Turn your interests into successful avenues of income with business startups. You can enter your business online with few barriers to entry. Use the Five Forces model to identify competition, make a plan, and implement the process.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing http://www.redbikepublishing.com.

Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. Published books include: "Get Riche in a Niche-An Insider's Guide to Self-Publishing in a Specialized Industry"-Red Bike Publishing

Stepping out of the ordinary-Developing innovative and no cost publicity

2011-08-15T18:34:00.002-05:00

I stumbled across a great way to communicate with my audience; humor. Laughter makes us feel good and what a better way to teach than inject some opportunities to giggle, laugh or get crazy. There are a few ways to market other than just writing. I've been populating my blogs with video, cartoons and mock advise columns.

Take a look at these two blog posts for an example of videos you can shoot. http://www.redbikepublishing.blogspot.com/ if you scroll down, you will see a video called, Don't Be This Consultant. I filmed it to publicize Get Rich in a Niche.

The next video is called Zombie vs Ranger. I put this video together to sell the Ranger Handbook. I filmed both videos myself using my Droid II Verizon Motorola phone.

I also created a comic for my security niche. It speaks to some of the frustrations a security manager might experience. It helps create a bond between me and the customer. This bond could lead to more trust.

Next is an advise column (hopefully funny):. I wrote this to market the Army's Physical Readiness Training book. The advise has nothing to do with the question, but provides some comic releaf:

Dear Warrior Man,
These days, money is tight. Whenever I come home from a work travel event,my kids run up and greet me warmly. However, I know they are only looking for a present. We all have to do our part to save money and I can't afford to buy them presents everytime. How do I prepare them for this let them?
Signed
Traveling Blues

Dear Blues
The Rower exercise improves the ability to move in and out of the supine position to a seated posture. It coordinates the action of the trunk and extremities while challenging the abdominal muscles (Figure 6-62). Starting Position: Supine position, arms overhead and feet together, and pointing upward. The chin is tucked and the head is 1-2 inches above the ground. Arms are shoulder-width, palms facing inward, with fingers and thumbs extended and joined. Cadence: SLOW Count:

1. Sit up while swinging arms forward and bending at the hip and knees. At the end of the motion, the arms will be parallel to ground, palms facing inward.

2. Return to the starting position.

3. Repeat count 1.

4. Return to the starting position.
Check Points: At the starting position, the low back must not be arched excessively off the ground. To prevent this, tighten the abdominal muscles to tilt the pelvis and low back toward the ground. At the end of counts 1 and 3, the feet are flat and pulled near the buttocks. The legs stay together throughout the exercise and the arms are parallel to the ground. Precautions: This exercise is always performed at a slow cadence. Do not arch the back to assume counts 1 and 3.

Hopefully these will spark some innavative ideas for you. If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Red Bike Publishing's Security Book

2011-08-15T18:15:00.004-05:00

DoD Security Clearances

Can you keep a Secret?
Do You Know How to Get and Keep a Security Clearance?

Turn your passion for business into work for the government. Discover what you need to know about how to get a security clearance and perform on classified contracts.

Who this Book is For:

Have you seriously considered what it takes to get a security clearance you need to become a cleared contractor employee or build your business as a cleared defense contractor? My book answers the tough questions:

How do I get employed if I can’t get a clearance and…

….I can’t get a clearance unless I am employed.

The truth is, the government publishes information on how to get a clearance. However it’s not easily accessible nor is it easy to interpret.

You need a clearance to get hired. Your business needs a facility clearance to perform on classified contracts. However, you can’t get hired unless you have a clearance. Your business can’t perform on classified work unless it has a facility clearance.

Confused yet?

Perhaps you are one of the many who have questions about getting a security clearance. Maybe you are interested either as an employee or business owner in getting a security clearance, but don’t know how to get started.

A little clarity from the bureaucracy

My name is Jeff Bennett and I am board certified to protect classified information. I teach the Industrial Security Management Course at University Of Alabama Huntsville and am the author of the “go to” book DoD Security Clearance and Contracts Guidebook-What Defense Contractors Need to Know About Their Need to Know. After 25 years in the Army and industrial security business, you can say that “I’ve been there and done that”.

I wrote this book with you in mind. I specifically address the requirements of defense contractors operating under the Department of Defense oversight. The Insider’s Guide to Security Clearancestakes you through the security clearance process.

Other than government regulations, there are few published books addressing security clearances. Insider’s Guide to Security Clearances provides answers to what it takes to get a clearance or prepare for work on classified contracts.

It will assist the college student studying industrial security or homeland security, upstart companies looking for work, and new industrial security employees with understanding the fundamental demands of a career in Industrial Security.

Having been tasked with the mission to research all that I could about Security Clearances and the Facility Security Officer (FSO) position at a government contracting firm, it was difficult to find resources on the topic that were available for the up-and-coming FSO. In this book, Mr Bennett gives clear and concise answers to help guide the way for those that haven’t been in the industry for long or at all. And with the Kindle edition, it was easy to have the book with me for reference whenever I needed help with knowing which forms to use, what acronyms stand for, and what is the next step in the Security Clearance process. I highly recommend this and other RedBike Publishing books on the subject – they are quite helpful for those new to the industry and those that are refreshing their studies. Amazon.com Review

What you should know:

Employees and defense contractors seeking a security clearance are often uninformed on how to get them. Some think that security clearances can be granted to allow them to be more employable. Businesses compete for classified contracts to be more competitive. However, security clearances are granted only on a contract and legitimate government work that requires access to classified information.

Don’t just take my word for it, check out the interview

How to get a security clearance

Benefits of owning Insider’s Guide to Security Clearances
Understand what it means to be a cleared contractor
Organize and get your facility clearance faster
Keep your security clearance
Who the most important employee is
Perform on classified contracts

Insider’s Guide to Security Clearances is divided into chapters with you in mind. The way our book differs from other security clearance books resides in following chapters describing what to do once a clearance is granted. We can’t promise to help you get a clearance. Getting a security clearance depends on whether or not you or your business is trustworthy and you have products or services needed by the government or another contractor. This book only provides an overall view that is covered in more detail in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual(NISPOM) and the book, DoD Security Clearance and Contracts Guidebook-What Defense Contractors Need to Know About Their Need to Know, both available from Red Bike Publishing.

I’ve organized this book with chapters walking the reader through registering as a defense contractor, the facility security clearance and personnel security clearance process, the required appointed positions, the National Industrial Security Program and how to protect classified information. For example, once a facility clearance is granted, a Facility Security Officer (FSO) must be appointed to manage the security of classified information and contracts. This book addresses the general FSO duties that may be assumed by the business owner or an appointed cleared employee. It also lets the non business owner reader know what to expect once they get their security clearance.

Insider’s Guide to Security Clearances teaches you the security clearance process. I can’t guarantee that you will get a security clearance, but my book will lead you through the process. All coordination for the security clearance process should be conducted through the government, Defense Security Services and a Facility Security Officer.

All this for only $7.95

Here is the abbreviated Table of Contents

Chapter 1 How the Security Clearance Process Works
How Defense Contractors can Get Facility Security Clearances
Oversight of classified contracts

Chapter 2 Personnel Security Clearances (PCL)
How Personnel Security Clearances are Granted
The Continuous Evaluation Process
The Adjudicative Process
What happens when the security clearance is granted
What you can do when a security clearance is denied
What to while waiting for the investigation and adjudication

Chapter 3 The Industrial Security Program
A National Level View of Protecting the Nation’s Secrets
How the U.S. Government assigns classification levels 33
Protection of Classified Information

Chapter 4 Managing the Security of Classified Contracts
Identifying Customer Requirements
Interpreting Requirements in the DD Form 254 and NISPOM
FSO Training
Briefings
Annual refresher training
Reporting Security Violations
Career Advancement Opportunities
Becoming a cleared contractor
Helpful Websites

You can buy from Red Bike Publishing or Amazon.com

If you choose to buy from us, you can pay by credit card or paypal by selecting the “Add to Cart” button:
1. Click the “Add to Cart” button.
2. You will be taken to PayPal’s website and should see this product listed. On this page you must login with your PayPal account OR press the “Continue” button to enter your credit or debit billing information. You do not need to have a PayPal account to purchase.
3. Please read carefully and follow all of PayPal’s instructions for completing your transaction.
4. After you finish your transaction, you will be directed back to the product. If the page does not load after 5 seconds, please click the provided redirect link given by PayPal.
5. If you have any problems with the transaction, please contact us immediately at editor@redbikepublishing.com

Dear Warrior

2011-08-11T19:38:00.001-05:00

APRT Get it here

Dear Warrior Man,

These days, money is tight. Whenever I come home from a work travel event,my kids run up and greet me warmly. However, I know they are only looking for a present. We all have to do our part to save money and I can't afford to buy them presents everytime. How do I prepare them for this let them?

Signed

Traveling Blues

Dear Blues
The Rower exercise improves the ability to move in and out of the supine position to a seated posture. It coordinates the action of the trunk and extremities while challenging the abdominal muscles (Figure 6-62).

Starting Position: Supine position, arms overhead and feet together, and pointing upward. The chin is tucked and the head is 1-2 inches above the ground. Arms are shoulder-width, palms facing inward, with fingers and
thumbs extended and joined.

Cadence: SLOW

Count:

1. Sit up while swinging arms forward and bending at the hip and knees. At the end of the motion, the arms will be parallel to ground, palms facing inward.

2. Return to the starting position.

3. Repeat count 1.

4. Return to the starting position.

Check Points:

At the starting position, the low back must not be arched excessively off the ground. To prevent this,tighten the abdominal muscles to tilt the pelvis and low back toward the ground. At the end of counts 1 and 3, the feet are flat and pulled near the buttocks. The legs stay together throughout the exercise and the arms are parallel to the ground.

Precautions: This exercise is always performed at a slow cadence. Do not arch the back to assume counts 1
and 3.

Ask the Warrior

2011-08-11T19:32:00.001-05:00

Ranger Handbook

Dear Warrior,

I have been suspicious that my wife is hiding my candy. I know I am a little overweight, but I have a plan to diet. In the meantime, I can't find my stash. Should I confront her about this?

Signed,
Heavy and Hungry

Dear Heavy,
With training, equipment, and the will to survive, you can overcome any obstacle you may face. You will survive. Understand the emotional states associated with survival. "Knowing thyself" is extremely important in a survival situation. It bears directly on how well you cope with serious stresses, anxiety, pain, injury, illness; cold, heat, thirst, hunger, fatigue, sleep deprivation, boredom,loneliness and isolation.

a. Memory Aid. You can overcome and reduce the shock of being isolated behind enemy lines if you keep the key word S-U-R-V-I-V-A-L foremost in your mind. Its letters can help guide you in your actions.

(1) S - Size up the situation, the surroundings, your physical condition, and your equipment.

(2) U - Undue haste makes waste; don’t be too eager to move. Plan your moves.

(3) R - Remember where you are relative to friendly and enemy units and controlled areas; water sources (most important in the desert); and good cover and concealment. This information will help you make intelligent decisions.

(4) V - Vanquish fear and panic.

(5) I – Improvise/Imagine. You can improve your situation. Learn to adapt what is available for different uses. Use your imagination.

(6) V - Value living. Remember your goal - to get out alive. Remain stubborn. Refuse to give in to problems and obstacles. This will give you the mental and physical strength to endure.

(7) A - Act like the natives; watch their daily routines and determine when, where, and how they get their food and water.

(8) L - Live by your wits. Learn basic skills.

Ranger vs. Zombie

2011-08-06T09:54:00.000-05:00

Zombie vs. Rangers

Zombies are everywhere...can you take care of it?
You can if you knew how to set up ambushes, dress properly, survive off the land, call for fire and set traps.

The ranger handbook is full of great military tactics and advice that helps in any situation.

What do Rangers, Hunters, Campers and Extreme Adventurers Know?
Leadership
Operations
Fire Support
Demolitions
Movement
Patrols
Machine Gun Employment
First Aid
Appendices detail resources and quick reference cards. Extensive glossary and index included. Illustrated throughout.
Bring this with you on your personal adventures or to improve soldier skills.
Ranger Handbook $19.95

RANGER CREED:
Recognizing that I volunteered as a Ranger, fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession, I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor, and high esprit de corps of the Rangers.
Acknowledging the fact that a Ranger is a more elite Soldier who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land, sea, or air, I accept the fact that as a Ranger my country expects me to move further, faster, and fight harder than any other soldier.
Never shall I fail my comrades I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong, and morally straight and I will shoulder more than my share of the task whatever it may be, one hundred percent and then some.
Gallantly will I show the world that I am a specially selected and well trained Soldier. My courtesy to superior officers, neatness of dress, and care of equipment shall set the example for others to follow.
Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission, though I be the lone survivor.
This book is also a great resource for authors, writers, actors and producers who want to learn more about the army.
Red Bike Publishing understands that the Ranger Handbook is available online. However, if you want to avoid paper jams, double sided printing, hole punching, and binding, consider getting our book store quality product for a professional appearance.

Please read before you finish your purchase…

Now you have choices. You can buy from Red Bike Publishing, or select the Amazon.com or other bookstore links.
If you choose to buy from us, you can pay by credit card or paypal by selecting the “Add to Cart” button:
1. Click the “Add to Cart” button.
2. You will be taken to PayPal’s website and should see this product listed. On this page you must login with your PayPal account OR press the “Continue” button to enter your credit or debit billing information. You do not need to have a PayPal account to register.
3. Please read carefully and follow all of PayPal’s instructions for completing your transaction.
4. After you finish your transaction, you will be directed back to the product. If the page does not load after 5 seconds, please click the provided redirect link given by PayPal.
5. If you have any problems with the transaction, please contact us immediately at editor@redbikepublishing.com

Paperback-Pocket Edition $19.95
8.5”x11”
432 Pages
ISBN:97809816240
Red Bike Publishing

How to become a niche expert-A look into our self-publishing book

2011-08-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

Are you tired of reading blogs and websites claiming that if you just write a book, you’ll make millions?
Are you weary of buying books that have the same old claims of “do this and you’ll make millions”?
Many of these claims sound like wonderful ideas, but they just don’t always work out. Books, novels, niche ideas and specialized industry products require unique and innovative marketing strategies.
Some of the hype asks vulnerable authors to pay money to be included on a mailing list to librarians and book stores. You pay, provide book information and hope they choose yours out of the hundreds they receive. Hope is not a strategy. In truth, librarians and book stores get their products from distributors, not email referrals. Most self-publishers are not in the system.
Some claim that they can provide THE mailing list of people who “want” you to email your book information. In reality, these “customers” aren’t expecting your product. Your information is sent to folks who have no idea of who you are or why they should buy your book.
I know how you feel, because I was burned. I followed their advice only to find myself out of money and patience.

A little truth

There is money to be made providing great books to customers in niche industries.
My name is Jeff Bennett and I am the owner of Red Bike Publishing. I started my company by writing and self publishing a book to help people get their ISP security certification.
Traditional publishers couldn’t market to my small niche and I received many letters of rejection. They weren’t rejecting my product, just the small market. However, I’ve built a good business selling books to people who want to earn their certification.
Self publishing can be a very lucrative choice. Traditional publishers can afford to produce books for 3500 clients, but you can’t afford not to.

Have a great idea, product or book? Before people buy, they need to trust you.

Perhaps you are like me. You have a great idea for a book or idea, but need the little push to get it started. To sell books, products and ideas, you have to build influence and credibility. A few years ago, I was trying to follow-up on some work. I called a fellow professional for information. This person did not want to speak with me because they did not know who I was. I vowed that within five years, I would be an expert in my field and people would know me…

I made plan and achieved results in two years

Now, I am the author and publisher for niche security topics. I teach the Industrial Security Management Course at University Of Alabama Huntsville and am the author of the “go to” book DoD Security Clearance and Contracts Guidebook. After three years as a publisher, I can honestly say that “I’ve got it down”.
Are you looking for real ways to increase your credibility as an expert? Whether you consider yourself an entrepreneur, author, consultant or working professional, you have to be believable and influential.
Order Get Rich in a Niche from our site
Same great information to your e-reader for the introductory price of $2.99. But hurry, this offer will expire on October 1, 2011

Also Available on Amazon.com Kindle (scroll down)
Get Rich in a Niche shows you how to be influencial in your industry with three well explained steps:
1. Become an expert
2. Publish your book
3. Market your book

Jeff’s recommendations really boosted the sales of all of my books including, “Their Blood Runs Cold” and “Snakes of the Southeast.” Anyone with a published book will profit from Jeff’s innovative ideas in “Get Rich in a Niche.” Whit Gibbons, Herpetologist, Author and Retired Professor of Ecology, University of Georgia and Senior Research Ecologist, Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL)

Don’t be this guy:

Become an Expert:

Perhaps you have observed a unique need or product that has not been provided. Maybe you notice that there is a lack of information, study programs, or guidance within a particular area. You might even have the answer inside of you that will help people get to where they need to be or reach some sort of professional or personal goal. Success depends on whether or not you meet an important step; to become recognized as an expert.Are you an expert?
If so, you’ve successfully asked and answered the following questions:
What is lacking in my industry?
How can I help?
Will others be able to understand the plan?
Will others be willing to pay for this knowledge?
Is there anything that I can offer for free to help build credibility and become “go to” person?
What are some concrete ways that I can get my message out?
I’ll show you how to create a huge presence and become the in demand expert.

Teach your subject in continuing education courses
Write captivating articles
Do the things that get your name recognized by your market
Use social networking effectively
See book for more

My book is complete with planning tools to help you establish yourself as a niche expert/leader. I developed a personal plan to become a security expert within 5 years; I made it 3 years early. Below is an actual figure from the book and blank customizable blank pages are included in the appendices. I used these to plan his company and spin off products and includes them to show you how. Join our newsletter and I’ll send you an electronic version.

Publishing

Self-publishing is a respected avenue for authors. Traditional publishing doesn’t always meet niche industry needs. Even if all the customers bought books, there wouldn’t be enough sales to warrant the huge financial, time and resource commitment required of a traditional publisher. This is a great opportunity because niche markets have a built in audience with little to no competition. These markets may consist of only a few thousand people and have needs that aren’t being directly met by traditional publishers. That’s where you come in.
This is different from other self-publishing books. Marketing in a niche is trickier than when offered to more generalized audiences. This book will show you how to apply lessons from successful marketing techniques the author has used and without added business costs.
Whether or not you are engaged in a business, you can begin a publishing company or writing career with little upfront costs. You can simply engage already available resources such as your computer, internet provider and desktop publishing software. If you already have the basics, then you can begin immediately and develop a great business without going into debt.
Let’s dispel some myth’s to help you understand why it’s important for a niche expert like you to embrace self-publishing.
“This book is a great resource. I am using what Jeff teaches to write my first book about Gee’s Bend quilts.” Lovett Bennett, President Gee’s Bend Foundation.
This book will show you how to:

Establish your company
Write a book day by day
Create your book as you build credibility as an expert
Format your book
Self-publish your book

Marketing

Forget what you’ve learned about marketing. While others advertise their broad ranging products spending freely, niche marketers have to use more intense focus. Using traditional marketing techniques will cause you to lose money, time and market share.
This book demonstrates how to sell your book by:

Leveraging your steps to becoming an expert
Creating huge online presence
Getting great results with no marketing expenses

Jeff’s book also shows you how to earn money from spin off products, newsletters and blogs. It is complete with planning tools to help you develop spin off products. His security certification book led to three related books, training, magnets and other related products. Below is an actual figure from the book and blank customizable blank pages are included in the appendices. Jeff used these to plan his company and spin off products and includes them to show you how. Join our newsletter and we’ll send you an electronic version or just click here to download.

Myths

You have to write a book to be an expert

Not true, Get Rich in a Niche shows you how to write a book while on your journey to becoming an expert. This book also shows you how to become a recognized expert in your field, all at no cost.

You have to publish with a traditional publisher to be recognized as an expert

Not true. If you write a good quality book that meets your customers’ needs, no one really cares if you are self-published, niche published or traditionally published.

You have to buy expensive software to publish a good quality book

Not true. You can publish a high quality and informative book using software that may be already uploaded on your computer. Microsoft Word or other compatible documents make great publications and this book will show you how.

You have to spend a lot of money on editing services

Not true. You can get good quality editing for absolutely free and the results are just as good as with expensive editing. Think about this; how many errors have you found in the last book you read? Even college text books and technical publications have errors.

You can put together a book and they will come

Not true. Even though Get Rich in a Niche demonstrates low and no cost ways to publish, you still need to have a good quality book and the ability to find your audience and build trust. This book shows you how to create relevant books that sell.

You don’t have to market because the web will bring folks to you.

Not true. The web might identify that a book exists, but you have to lead your audience to the books. We will show you how to create a presence that your audience just can’t resist.

You have to spend a lot of money for marketing

Not true. You can make your niche audience aware of your products just by being visible. You can be more effective teaching and sharing information than just by advertising. This book shows you how to be on the top of the search engine results without investing any money.

Your books have to be in book stores to make sales

Chances are your books will never be in a book store. Because of small number of customers interested in your books, the book stores will not be interested in buying your books. Your concern and success should be online sales. For example, suppose your core niche audience is made up of 2000 customers. That’s not enough business to interest a traditional publisher or a major book store. However, depending on your niche, your books could sell for up to $50.00 each. That’s a potential of $100,000. This book will show you how to do so and get ALL of the sales minus print charge. You could lose half of the profits by putting the books in a traditional book store.

Please read before you finish your purchase…

You don’t need a PayPal account to purchase our books. Just select the add to cart and you will be led to the PayPal site where you can purchase with your personal or corporate credit card.
Now you have purchasing choices:
You can buy from Red Bike Publishing or Amazon.com
If you choose to buy from us, you can pay by credit card or paypal by selecting the “Add to Cart” button:
1. Click the “Add to Cart” button.
2. You will be taken to PayPal’s website and should see this product listed. On this page you must login with your PayPal account OR press the “Continue” button to enter your credit or debit billing information. You do not need to have a PayPal account to register.
3. Please read carefully and follow all of PayPal’s instructions for completing your transaction.
4. After you finish your transaction, you will be directed back to the product. If the page does not load after 5 seconds, please click the provided redirect link given by PayPal.
5. If you have any problems with the transaction, please contact us immediately at editor@redbikepublishing.com

Get Rich In A Niche

Publishing success can be yours.
Learn to create a following, write a book and become a publisher.
All the best
Jeff Bennett

Sometimes you've got to slow down to speed up.

2011-08-01T08:29:00.001-05:00

I’ve just returned from an excellent vacation at Gulf Shores, Alabama. I always look forward to getting away with my family for some time now. It’s been a terrific opportunity to get away from the day to day activities of writing, publishing, designing and of course my other full time jobs. Though I enjoy what I do, there comes a time to relax, recharge and rededicate.

Part of that recharging includes reading. I recently bought a copy of the book “KaChing” by Joel Comm. This book is outstanding and a light read. I read and took great notes on how to recharge my business and find additional ways to reengage customers as well as attract new customers to my website. This includes improving my websites and blogs.

My relaxation would not have been complete if my business was not automated. While on vacation, I continued to fulfill sales, send out newsletters, twit and update facebook. The sales were automated as I use a great service called Ejunkie. Ejunkie takes care of my shopping cart and downloads all of my eBooks immediately after the customer orders it. I just set up requirements ahead of time and Ejunkie automates the rest.

My newsletter and emails were fulfilled by icontact. I just built the email and newsletter requirements ahead of time and programmed their timely releases. Some have commented that I shouldn’t be sending newsletters or updates from vacation, work, conferences and etc. I tell them I don’t, it’s all handled for me by my people. It’s great to know customers are taken care of while I am away.

Rededicating is easy when my mind is relaxed. Spending time with my wife, children and friends helps me to focus on what is important. As my wife and I have time to talk about dreams, funding college and paying off the house or talk about our charities we fund, I begin to realize a real purpose for Red Bike Publishing. It helps me to create focus, tighten marketing plans and create new products.

Five steps you need to know to help build your platform; all for free

2011-07-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

The best marketing is free. You can generate a buzz about you and your books or products using these five steps. These steps help produce impact full results and increase sales. They won’t cost you anything and are the core ingredients to viral marketing.

Develop spinoff products-If you already have a book in any form whether conceptual, unfinished, in production or out of print, you have a platform for spinoff products. These products can be related T-shirts, stickers, follow on books, study cards, training slides and much more. Download our spinoff tip generator to help you use your existing or future product to create more opportunities.
Speak and teach-People are hungry for knowledge. If you’ve become an industry export, hobbyist or some sort of aficionado, you have something to teach. This is especially true when you’ve published. Whether with a traditional publisher or self-published, you’ve got a book out and you can teach at least two topics. Publishing gives you valuable information on your specialty topic and the writing and publishing process. Talk to your local college, school, professional organizations and town halls. See what opportunities you can create. Perhaps you can even consult in your niche.
Form alliances-Friends, businesses, organizations, and people in similar niches can be business multipliers. Form a partnership, share products, develop affiliate opportunities, give referrals, sell each other’s inventory and etc. Leverage relationships to help spread your product awareness.
Join organizations-Professionals tend to flock together. Join with organizations that compliment your business. There are many industries, organizations and groups that meet to socialize. These meetings can be locally or coordinated through social media like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.
Get interviewed-There are a surprising number of small industry based organizations with newsletters, PODcasts, radio programs and other media who are dying for interview subjects. While major media may not cover your area of interest or expertise, there may be a micro organism with the reach and influence you need. If one doesn’t exist, create your own opportunity.

You may have heard you need to make money to spend money. In many cases this is true. Authors spend money to create titles as factories spend money to create and offer more products. However never ignore opportunities to make money with free marketing techniques. Try these five steps and see what they can do for you.

Know your talents so your talents can make you known

2011-07-20T07:21:00.001-05:00

"I graduated with a degree in psychology with a minor in business and now I'd like to become a consultant," our server told us.
My colleagues and I had just finished a consultation helping a company protect their intellectual property. Now were unwinding in a popular Penn State establishment.
"What would you like to consult?" I asked.
She thought for a moment and continued with "I still need to go to grad school, then I'll have the experience I need to consult."
"I see, so college is the key?" I asked.
"The way I see it, sure."
I continued to observer her quietly as she worked through the restaurant. I noticed that she had a certain way with her patrons and that she drew the attention of other employees. More than once someone came to ask her opinion. Though she wasn't a manager, she carried herself as an authority and seemed to really enjoy her job.
She had education, looks, confidence and had a contagious personality. These were definitely qualities that would contribute to her success as a business consultant. However, there was one missing vital part; what would she consult in? She had no idea.
She was young and like many young people she expressed that once she finished college she would be attractive as a consultant. In other words, the degree opened the doors and the experience was secondary. This is a common mistake as our society correctly emphasizes the importance of education. However, she would still need some experience at a task, job, hobby or life skill. She didn't know it, but she was ignoring one of her most obvious abilities.
"My buddies and I have been consulting for a while. We really enjoy what we are doing because it's something we know well and we can teach it effortlessly. So, let me ask you a question,why do you need to go to grad school?" I asked after enjoying my meal.
"To get a better education, discover what I would like to consult in and so people will want to hire me."
"I think those are great goals and you should definitely attend grad school. However, have you ever considered building a consultation business on how to run a restaurant?"
Her eyes widened almost as much as the smile on her face. She got the message. Her passion, experience and talent would open the doors for her.

Self-Publishers bring value-I'll prove it

2011-07-09T09:59:00.003-05:00

I just read one of my business reports and am finally coming to the realization that Red Bike Publishing is more than just a vehicle to provide my security books. Red Bike Publishing began as a means of providing books to my small niche customers. I began writing books for an audience that was just too small for traditional publishers to engage with. Their business model could not allow them to print such a small amount of books; it would cost too much.

I began writing and publishing my books with great success. Along the way, I found many spin-off opportunities to include publishing other's books. Now it looks like event though I've written and published five of my own titles (using almost 20 ISBNs for differing formats), I've also successfully published six other titles. Three of those titles have contributed to tremendous sales. To date Red Bike Publishing is proud to have provided over 600 books to our customers in calendar year 2011. Guess what, none of our books are in bookstores.

Incredibly, these books were not offered by traditional publishers for various reasons. I've realized as an author that the hundreds of rejection letters I've received over the years are now communicating something new. They weren't rejecting my books or ideas on merit; they just didn't fit their business model. As an author, the books that I write do provide value. As a publisher, I realize that I do provide value to the community. Continuous and growing sales, repeat customers and mail from satisfied professionals prove that there is room and need for niche publishers.

As a result of publishing, I am offered writing assignments, consulting and teaching opportunities, and the sell new products. I am also planning an early retirement while also actively giving to others with incredible needs.
Maybe you can too. Self publishing isn't for everyone, but if you have the time, manuscripts and energy, maybe you can start your own publishing company. If not, consider submitting manuscripts to Red Bike Publishing for consideration.

Why Write a Book

2011-07-02T10:43:00.000-05:00

Why Write Your Book?

Books are an excellent and inexpensive way to reach your target. Whether or not you want a career as a writer, or you want to launch your products through writing, your book will launch you. Readers regard authors as experts. Anytime an author writes, is quoted, or publishes, people tend to lend credibility. The pen is mighty and powerful in launching careers and products; a truth that applies to novels, references and how to books.

Your book could be about you, your product or solely your message. Whatever the subject matter, the book should highlight your expertise in an area, your message and any related products. Why write a book? Some of the following purposes may help you find the answer:

You have a message no one else has made known.
You are an expert in a field where no books exist (highly possible in a niche).
You know how to do something that you wish everyone else in the niche could do.
You want to build instant credibility.
You want to change an industry practice.

Successful authors have written to meet some or all of the above personal and professional goals. I wrote my book ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manual because I had passed a test that many others feared to take. Our field has well over 10,000 eligible professionals, but only a hundred were certified at the time. I wanted to demonstrate to others that though they may already have the required experience and know how, I could lead them to the hurdle the confidence obstacle. I wanted to take the mystery out of how to study for and take the examination and instill confidence that moved professionals to certify.

What’s your message? Do you have a burning desire to instill confidence? Do you want something changed and are you able to articulate the path to change? Can you help someone improve their professional standing? If so, you may be ready to write and publish The Book on (your subject here). Get Rich in a Niche will show you exactly how to do that.

It really works

2011-06-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

I would like add one additional important bit of information to the four steps of using keywords. These key word ideas will help you draw more traffic to your website. However, they should be used with a bit of finess with amazon.com.

Of course, I am writing about "Tags". Tags are an excellent way to draw amazon.com customers to your amazon.com book pages. Where keywords that you might use with the google link, bring customers to your website and further to your amazon.com book page, Tags will help you bring your book to the eyes of those who search for books exclusively on amazon.com.

I added one additional step to my Tags idea. When filling out Tags, look at your competitor's books and if it relates, add their tags to your book's tags. If you bought Get Rich in a Niche-The Insider's Guide to Publishing In Specialized Markets, you would understand where to find tags on your book page. In short, scroll down to the section that says "Tag your book". Then start typing in relevant words and phrases.

For example, one of our bestselling books is a re-print of the US Army Ranger Handbook. It was written by the US Army and can be downloaded for free. However, it is such a useful book that many want it in print. Our version is one of the best selling of all published copies, because of how we use "tags".

Additionally, our worst selling book was US Army Drill and Ceremonies. It wasn't until we applied all Tags steps that this book quickly rose to the top of sales..

Use the right keywords

2011-06-27T22:18:00.000-05:00

Authors and self publishers should have an informative website and an easy to use point of sale. It's important to understand how to draw your audience to your website and your point of sale. To do so, your market should be able to find you and your books. The best way for your audience to find your website is to use comprehensive keywords.

Keywords are what drive search engines to your books. Blogs, websites, Facebook pages, LinkedIn updates and Twitter posts should be as keyword rich as possible. When your market or prospective customer searches for expert advice, solutions or just good reading material, they might use Google or other search engine to direct them to a good source. Using good keywords will almost assure that the search engine will bring them to you.

A good source for researching keywords can be found a https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Use this website to help you discover which keywords people use to find products they are interested in. SInce I am a niche expert in security topics, lets use a search to discover what my customers are looking for.

Step one: I go to the website: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type "industrial security professional certification"

Step two: If my niche is large, I will select "only show ideas closely related to my search terms". However, this reveals to narrow of a search (only one entry). So, leave the box unchecked.

STep three: Select search

Step four: When the information populates, click on "global monthly searches" this will give organize the results of your querry by listing most popular searches at the top.

I then go to my Amazon.com book pages, website, blogs and other web and social networking presences and ensure the most popular keywords are used.

Go get 'em.

Jeff

Step three: I select "search"

The Characteristics of a Niche Expert and Publisher

2011-05-29T15:11:00.001-05:00

In niche publishing, your goal is not to become a celebrity, but an expert. Build upon the expertise by helping others, and the book sales will follow. I know this because I am possibly one of the worst face to face sales persons ever. I believe in my product, but because of conflicting life roles, I find it difficult to go through the requirements to make direct sales. I worry about seeing my bosses at conventions, seeing peers at lunches, and being ostracized for using company time to sell my product. That gives me only after work hours to sell; that’s family time. In fact, my sales techniques practically talk people out of my buying my book. Why, because I want to help people first and sell books second. This book will assist you with writing, publication, sales and marketing plan that allows you to be yourself and provide a great service.

Instead, I’ll explain how to sell books within your niche based upon your reputation, expertise and ability to fill an educational void. When people hear of you, they will already know about your book. You will also learn how to overcome tough situations as you work with professional and hobbyist organizations.

Here are some charactoristics of successful niche experts:

Entreprenuer

See a problem and offer a solution

Bright

It takes brains to figure out a solution and make it affordable, valuable and appealing to a particular customer.

Thick Skin

Writing to a niche market proves difficult when a technical know it all offers her critiques.

Politician

How you react to unfair reviews and criticism.

Friendly

Create positive and fair reviews when speaking or writing of others and their products. If you can’t give a good review, don’t give one.

Focused

Authors who work in a niche market have to maintain strict focus. Your efforts are only successful when you get the desired results.

Creative

Your market may not be easily identifiable, ideas that capture your target’s imagination may be elusive, and your audience may be difficult to sell to, but at least you are creative.

Have a Message

That passion is a burning message that screams, "I can help make your life easier" or "How do you live without me?"

How to be come a niche expert and market your books

2011-05-20T17:05:00.001-05:00

Our newest book

Become an Expert

Are you an expert?

If so, you’ve successfully asked and answered the following questions:
What is lacking in my industry?How can I help?Will others be able to understand the plan?Will others be willing to pay for this knowledge?Is there anything that I can offer for free to help build credibility and become “go to” person?What are some concrete ways that I can get my message out?
We’ll show you how to create a huge presence and become the in demand expert.

Teach your subject in continuing education courses
Write captivating articles
Do the things that get your name recognized by your market
Use social networking effectively
See book for more

Jeff’s book is complete with planning tools to help you establish yourself as a niche expert/leader. He developed a personal plan to become a security expert within 5 years; he made it 2 years early. Below is an actual figure from the book and blank customizable blank pages are included in the appendices. Jeff used these to plan his company and spin off products and includes them to show you how. Join our newsletter and we’ll send you an electronic version.

Publishing

Establish your company
Write a book day by day
Create your book as you build credibility as an expert
Format your book
Self-publish your book

Marketing

Leveraging your steps to becoming an expert
Creating huge online presence
Getting great results with no marketing expenses

Get Rich in a Niche-The Insider’s Guide to Self-Publishing in a Specialized Market — Red Bike Publishing

2011-05-20T17:02:00.000-05:00

Get Rich in a Niche

Publishing Myths

You have to write a book to be an expert

Not true, Get Rich in a Niche shows you how to write a book while on your journey to becoming an expert. This book also shows you how to become a recognized expert in your field, all at no cost.

You have to publish with a traditional publisher to be recognized as an expert

Not true. If you write a good quality book that meets your customers’ needs, no one really cares if you are self-published, niche published or traditionally published.

You have to buy expensive software to publish a good quality book

You have to spend a lot of money on editing services

You can put together a book and they will come

You don’t have to market because the web will bring folks to you.

Not true. The web might identify that a book exists, but you have to lead your audience to the books. We will show you how to create a presence that your audience just can’t resist.

You have to spend a lot of money for marketing

Your books have to be in book stores to make sales

Chances are your books will never be in a book store. Because of small numbers of customers interested in your books, the book stores will not be interested in buying your books. Your concern and success should be online sales. For example, suppose your core niche audience is made up of 2000 customers. That’s not enough business to interest a traditional publisher or a major book store. However, depending on your niche, your books could sell for up to $50.00 each. That’s a potential of $100,000. This book will show you how to do so and get ALL of the sales minus print charge. You could lose half of the profits by putting the books in a traditional book store.
Get Rich in a Niche-The Insider’s Guide to Self-Publishing in a Specialized Market — Red Bike Publishing

When Your Niche Audience Finally Finds Your Self-Published Books

2011-05-14T14:35:00.000-05:00

So, What happens when those lucky customers finally find your books?

When people find you or your product, they tend to rave. Comments, recommendations and praise will probably contain some of the following phrases:

"I was wondering when this would be available."

"I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about it earlier."

"I can’t wait to get mine."

"Why doesn’t ________ (enter name of professional organization or influencer ) endorse this product?"

"Why have we not heard about this before?"

The above responses are real and were not coerced, just a natural response of the discovery of long awaited products. In this blog and in my upcoming book Get Riche in a Niche-The Insider's Guide to Self-Publishing for a Specialized Market, I'll show you how to purposefully create and market your product for your audience to discover.

Identifying Solutions and Filling a Void-Self Publishing

2011-05-07T08:43:00.000-05:00

Vacuums Exist

Perhaps you have observed a unique need or product that has not been provided as I had those few short years ago. Maybe like me, you notice that there is a lack of information, study programs, or guidance within a particular area. You might even have the answer inside of you that will help people get to where they need to be or reach some sort of professional or personal goal. That all depends on whether or not you meet an important step; to become recognized as an expert so that people will come to you for that answer.

As I had discovered in my profession, there is a system in place; meet the pre-requisites, register, take and pass the certification exam. However, the void was huge in the confidence building for potential candidates and marketing to those candidates. Some professional organizations have tremendous programs to help others become certified, but this certification was new and virtually just getting off the ground. I had finally found a way to “fit in” and help.

Getting Started

Begin by asking yourself the following questions:

What is lacking?

How can I help?

Will others be able to understand the plan?

Will others be willing to pay for this knowledge?

Is there anything that I can offer for free to help build credibility (become “go to” person)?

What are some concrete ways that I can get my message out (this book will help you find those ways)?

Finding a solution to the void should be relatively simple and the discovery should stir some passion within you. Forcing a product where a need doesn’t exist or trying to fill a gap where you don’t have expertise will make your task terribly daunting. Filling the vacuum with products that people want and will pay for should be a natural occurrence. The product should be easily recognizable and create a eureka moment when your target audience finds it.

Be Proud Niche Publishers

2011-01-27T19:31:00.001-06:00

So how does your independent publishing company compare with the traditional publishers or authors of traditional publishing companies? Are you one of those who compares and try to justify your niche publishing and marketing with more traditional methods? What if I told you that you might be on the wrong track? What if I told you the service you provide is needed, especially in small markets larger companies can't support. Your customers need you; they count on you.

When I first started writing, I knew I had a great topic. I provide practice test questions for a small group of security professionals. The certification is available for a core group of 3,000 registered members to possibly 30,000 practicing professionals. I approached a few publishers, but they said the market was too small. It would cost too much to produce a book that they may take a loss on.

They also said the book was a great idea. So, I started my own publishing company. I am not paid royalties, but the entire sale of the book minus printing. I've sold hundreds of books, proving I've met customer needs.

The lesson is, don't get caught up in the discussions of which publishing model is more viable; they all are. Value depends on the market, not the provider. Niche and independent and self-publishers should be proud of their craft. Don't apologize for your plan, don't be timit. Grab and protect your market share. Your audience depends on you.

First of all, get a blog

2011-01-21T20:14:00.000-06:00

Marketing niche books includes getting a blog. You can build free blogs using blogspot.com or wordpress.com. This is a sample of my blogs, which is free, and brings book business (and consultant requests).

On my blogs you’ll see amazon.com associates gadgets. Customers can go straight to amazon.com to buy your books. With associates, you can get paid by Amazon.com as well. Also I recommend that you create an email account and post it so fans can get in touch with you. You can create a free email using gmail.com, yahoo.com or an existing website. Just make sure to check everyday. I’m sure your fans will want to get in touch with you.

Be sure to post an article or two every week. Each article can have key words that Google will pick up and lead others to your blog which should then point them to your website.

Books — Red Bike Publishing

2010-12-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

Great resources for military authors. Finish that novel with the best references available.
Books — Red Bike Publishing

The Birth of Red Bike Publishing

2010-11-24T17:10:00.000-06:00

The evolution of Red Bike Publishing

I felt the need to write this background information to help you better understand my motivation to teach and understand how to start a business. If you have no idea what you want to do for a business, my experience might help. My background had led me to write my first security book and marketing it using the website www.ispcert.com and the publishing company Red Bike Publishing at www.redbikepublishing.com.

I wanted to teach other security professionals how to study for the exam and increase their chances of passing. One vital ingredient to this business’ success is that there are no other study guides and the certification is new. I began selling eBook version of the study guide ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manual on my website and eBay. I started some advertisement in our professional organization’s newsletter and began to draw interest. Sales were limited and after making adjustments in price, they began to escalate. My business plan called for publishing only the eBook to simulate a real test taking environment. However, my customers feedback led me to change my publishing plan to bring more credibility to the book.

Going to Print

I realized this book needed to be more readily available than on my website and eBay. I could better help by putting it on Amazon.com and other bookstore sites. I began by researching other self-published authors and asking them a lot of questions. Fitting the mold of true entrepreneurs, they volunteered to help me in any way they could and told me their stories. William Henderson, the owner of Last Post Publishing gave me tremendous help. He is a definite success at niche marketing and self-publishing. I used his advice to start Red Bike Publishing, found a printer and distributor to work with and put it in print.

Sales continue to climb and I learned how to market my product and listened to the market for spin-off product ideas. The journey has been inspiring as I have met others in the business whom I would have not met otherwise. Aside from a good supplemental income, I helped people become certified. I communicate with many of my customers and I am motivated to try new ideas. They frequently send new ideas, reply to my surveys and offer advice and support.

Now, I would like to teach you the rest of the lessons. My intent is to give you the facts and let you experiment on your own business and ideas. What I am about to teach you has been proven over and over and taught in many different venues. I just wanted to compile it in a short book to whet your appetites for success. You won’t find any hype here, just ideas that work. I wish you the best of success as you implement these ideas. I also hope you will share your success.

Why Get Started in Niche Writing

2010-11-20T11:35:00.000-06:00

I am writing to teach leaders in specialized areas how to make write, publish and sell books to niche markets. This blog will reflect on and use passages from my upcoming book. We hope to be helpful and also to bring awareness to our upcoming book. A niche market is simply marketing in an area of specialization. These markets may consist of only a few thousand people and have needs that aren’t being directly met by traditional publishers. That’s where you come in.

This is different from other marketing books. Marketing in a niche is trickier than marketing to more generalized audiences. While reading, you should be able to apply lessons from successful marketing techniques that I have used. I’ve been able to apply these techniques without added business costs (I’ll address the topic of the money I’ve wasted through traditional advertising methods). Many of these lessons came by way of what I learned while earning my MBA as well as what I’ve experienced while developing my business.

Whether or not you are engaged in a business, I hope to encourage to start a writing business with a little upfront money. Most resource are probably already available to you (computer, internet provider and desktop publishing software). Other expenses include less than five hundred dollars of up front publishing costs that I’ll explain later. If you already have the basics, then you can begin immediately and develop a great business without going into debt. You can begin the business in the black, no debt and earnings within 30 days. The earnings that you make can be put back into the business and spent according to developing needs.

This book will be divided into nine chapters demonstrating where to begin, suggestions on how to write and publish your book, how to bring awareness to your business, providing great customer service and how to grow the enterprise. This is a book that will help your business age gracefully and give you a return on your investment consistently. I know, because I have done it and I want to show you how.

A Little Background

Chances are that you are already gainfully employed and are involved with other life matters. You are probably considering following both your dream of writing and having your own business. You’ve probably explored both, but hesitate because it really doesn’t make sense to take on another job while spending 40 hours a week of your life being miserable. Do something you love in your professional and personal lives. The same goes for the business you want to start. Passion is hard to define, so I’ll draw up a scene from my most recent experience:

“I have a great idea that will help other people earn the certification!” I had exclaimed to my wife, almost immediately after telling the other great news.

“Wait a minute, let’s get back to the certification,” my wife had replied, trying to redirect the conversation. “You passed the exam?”

Her smile had demonstrated how happy she had been for me. She recognized that the long hours of study had finally paid off.

“Thanks. Sorry about changing the subject,” I replied. “I know that you were pulling for me.”

I hugged my wife one more time before continuing.

“It’s just that I passed it so easily. It’s not that I’m so smart, but I was able to find the answers so quickly. I think I can help other people do it. I can make a difference in someone’s life.”

Can you see the passion there? I was onto something. I had written books, started a few small businesses and was struggling with some new ideas, but nothing had clicked. I knew the reason was lack of passion and lack of really knowing what I had wanted to do. I had been warned with the message repeatedly. But now, I was finally on to something.

First, let’s talk about the message of passion and how I had learned it. Not too long ago, I had left after a lengthy career in the army. While in service, I had served in intelligence, transportation and wrapped up my career in recruiting. By far the most difficult but rewarding had been my service as a recruiter. Tell a soldier to take a hill in the heat of battle and they’ll do it and exceed whatever standards you give. However, tell them to successfully encourage people to volunteer to leave everything they know to become a soldier...that’s a tougher task. Army recruiting is where I learned about marketing.

Prior to my departure from the army I had bought and read all of the books I could on marketing, sales, interviewing and resume writing. Almost everything I had read revealed the same message: Find something you are good at and do it. Particular books included : What Color is Your Parachute; Brag, the Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It; Confronting Reality; Knock ‘Em Dead and 48 Hours to the Work you Love, to name a few.

Once I left the army I spent a few months pondering my future and reading more books. I enrolled in a class on how to start my own businesses. Aside from learning how to develop business plans, we heard presentations from successful business owners. Again, the message was clear: Find something you enjoy and do it. However, this time the message hit home. I met many local business owners had found themselves working really long hours doing something they enjoyed.

One business owner stands out from the others; he believes in giving back. As the man stood in front of the class he explained that business ownership takes a lot of smart work. The owner has to invest time and self and must especially get buy-in from the family. They must be able to give and help others succeed. Then, he gave everyone in the class a $50.00 bill and the names of two books that he recommended us to buy. Though I won’t be handing out $50.00 anytime soon, I’ll give you the names of the books: The E-myth Revisited and Now, Discover Your Strengths. Both books are powerful and definitely fundamental in learning about how to work on a business (not in the business) and how to know what your strengths are and focus on improving them (not your weaknesses).

In my journey to finding the right business I took a job in security. It was fun and I could use my strengths and the transferable skills I had learned in the army to begin a new niche career. As I learned about my job I also developed a new goal; to be considered an expert within five years.

I enjoyed the career and begin applying my skills to being a better employee and checking off steps in my goal to be an expert. I enrolled in an MBA program, taught career classes, joined a professional security organization and began studying for their certification.

Interviews with Niche Experts

2010-11-15T19:59:00.001-06:00

Welcome to Red Bike Publishing's Niche Expert Blog

I recently interviewed Bet Hoffman, president at Market Appraisal Services. She is a niche expert in the field of Real Estate Appraising. In this interview she lets us in on the particulars of her niche and how she became to be an expert. She has worked hard and followed a strategy that has propelled her to the top in her field as well as identified her as an expert in her field. Now Beth has a few books lined up that will teach others in her field. She has created a platform, identified her market and is teaching others and is getting into Niche Publishing. We look forward to seeing her become even more successful.

To see her interview, just click on our interview tab.