Blogging, Writing, and Publishing

Does your specialized market have written guidance or requirements such as state or federal regulations, policy or procedures or any other publication of rules? If so, you might be onto something. So, you've got backing at a certain level requiring an action by your audience. You can piggy back on these necessities to bring a compelling need for your market to "act now". 1. Research the most significant points of the regulations, policies or procedures. Write them in bullet form so you can easily put them to use. Don't try word for word, most regulatory language is just too lengthy to work with. You just want to skeleton to build your body around. For example, a regulation states that sensitive government information is to be stored in an approved save (this is a paraphrase). 2.Search for implied opportunities. Regulations spell out requirements, but there are also some soft guidance or other opportunities as well. In my experience, people seem to work under best ...

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 possib...

Perhaps like me, you've published many, many articles, creating awareness of your books and products. You've dedicated 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 orga...

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...

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 powe...

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...

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 ...

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 entir...

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 ...