Blogging, Writing, and Publishing

Recently I came across a Facebook post of an article from the Tennessean called, Ex-CFO who slammed Chick-fil-A now on food stamps ( article here ). I had originally read the article to learn of this Adam Smith's fate and see how he fared after being held accountable for his actions; I learned much more. The post described how an executive fell from grace after recording himself verbally abusing a Chick-Fil-A employee. The article told the story of how he had been immediately fired from his high paying job, moved to a new state to take a new job, only to be fired from that one as well. The interesting nugget is buried at the bottom of the article. Apparently Adam Smith is also learning the fine art of marketing . A lesson hard to learn, but necessary none the less. In the last paragraph Smith talks about his book A Million Dollar Cup of Water , a memoir of his professional collapse.  Smith describes (tongue in cheek) how he is surprised at how his book can ha...

When websites, blogs and social media are set up correctly, niche authors can check marketing stats regularly and adjust techniques based on the data. That's because on line marketing venues provide traffic reports detailing the amount and type of visitors during a selected time frame. These statistics can help determine which articles or blog posts were more effective, where the visitors came from and how long they stayed. This information is very helpful to also determining the best keywords to use to drive traffic to your blogs. One way to get feed back on website and blog efforts is to track page visits with Google Analytics as outlined  in Chapter 7 of Get Rich in a Niche . Research results often and adjust your marketing efforts according to the best reports. Many social media, article and blog hosts including Facebook and ezinearticles.com  provide monthly reporting providing valuable information. Be sure to sign up for this service and check the facts often. ...

Writing a book isn’t easy and shouldn’t be something an author rushes through, no matter what pop publishing culture tells us. What goes on paper is a result of tireless effort. Depending on your motivation and personality, it may seem easier to put together a course or write an article or two for a newsletter, blog or other publication. Here are four proven ways to help you write and publish in a specialized market and establish yourself as a niche expert. 1.   Writing takes time Writing a book length manuscript is difficult; but we make it look easy. Despite advice given in self-publishing books, writing is a commitment. It takes time, devotion and some solitude; much of which a full time professional does not have a lot of to begin with. This endeavor is not a sprint, but an endurance race. The difficulty of formatting a book may not be as tough as setting aside time and committing to writing words on paper. As an author/publisher, you have already identified niches...

I love to watch the Olympics and see how Team USA performs against the rest of the world. While watching the international competition, I not only celebrate with the champions, but I tend to look at how they became successful. The simple answer is that competition is just another step in the journey. The athletes didn’t just wake up and perform spectacular feats; they incorporate winning performance into their daily rituals. They became world class athletes based on conditioning, determination and dedication spun from plans, goals and dreams. If an athlete breaks records or fails to qualify, the success or failure isn’t the onetime performance, but the milestones that led them there. They didn’t just wake up as champions, they prepared. Champions also exist in business. Again, they just don’t wake up as winners; they prepare to win. Their ideas are more contagious than others. They influence major decision makers. They set milestones that mark waypoints to success. Self p...

World class marketing can be easily executed by self publishers and authors. It is one thing to be good at writing, know the self publishing industry and capable of getting books to market. It’s quite another to become recognized as a leader in your niche industry, recruit assistance within industry and become recognized for the good work. In the second example, your efforts perpetuate themselves as you earn trust; others become force multipliers and quickly engage and support your vision. One way to ensure such success is to cross product market. One way to do that is through professional branding. Of itself branding is not the answer to instant success, but does complete the picture. For example, there are many authors who are very influential and well respected; their work stands alone. Cross product marketing for them would continue to demonstrate their dedication to their industry, technical competence and leadership. When you achieve a recognizable brand, such that your...

You can find suppliers on the internet to fit almost every need and Google is a great search resource. This will help you find a vendor who provides resources to a broad customer base. Once you find a capable vendor, you can design the product specifically for your niche base. Remember that you are creating a product to sell and not a publicity gimmick or marketing campaign. For example, I use a vendor to make magnets. Since the magnets are an industry "best practice item", I can address needs of a  built in niche market. I am not providing magnets for a campaign or featuring Red Bike Publishing’s logo for give away items or door prizes. Those ideas are expensive and are marketing efforts for those with big budgets. To find a supplier, search by key word. For example, to find someone to make magnets, I enter, “magnet, signs, two sided magnet”. After selecting search, you will find many of the available providers. Compare t...

Blogs are another way to connect with your customer. However, they are harder to maintain because more regular input is required. Think of a blog as a diary or journal type of entry. More input and shorter articles are better so save the longer messages for newsletters and your book. For simplicity and efficiency, consider having multiple media social networks. For example use newsletters, blogs and books to feed similar content and material. You can get your own blog by setting up an account with www.blogspot.com, www.wordpress.com or any other provider that fits your needs. I run two blogs using wordpress. com and blogspot.com. I like the features of wordpress.com because you can make it look like a website and add as many pages as I need. I like BlogSpot because I can customize the blog to look more like my current website. Both are very popular with great looking pages. When you start your blog, be sure to include as much i...

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 ...

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 t...

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 “J...

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 creativ...

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...

     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 gi...

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"....

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 p...

Our newest book 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? We’ll show you how to create a huge presence and become the in demand expert. Teach your subject in continuing education courses Write cap...

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 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 ...

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 fin...

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 ...