Blogging, Writing, and Publishing

Which works better, paid advertising or free internet opportunities? I still think (and have the numbers to back it up) that informative and attractive blogs provide the best marketing for your book. After all, you are the expert on your book and who else better to talk about your book than you. I recently ran an experiment with LinkedIn and Facebook. If you’ve read Get Rich in a Niche , you might remember that I loathe advertising. Against my better judgment I reluctantly decided to once again pay to advertise my books and publishing company. Using Facebook, I created four ads; three for books and one for Red Bike Publishing. Each ad is a pay per click ad and I set my limit to $10.00 a day. I gave each ad a max of a $100 limit before pausing it. I also limited my ads’ exposure to demographics likely to buy my book. For example, for my security clearance books, I set the ads to be visible for 22-55 years old and/or small business owners and/or professionals with technical backg...

Can your books get you noticed at work? My boss recently called me into his office. "Shut the door," he said. "I need to have a quiet discussion." I quickly shut the door with anticipation. "Congratulations, you've been assigned the supervisor position you applied for. We boarded your resume and out of all the candidates, you were best qualified. The leadership trait you excelled in was writing communication; especially your impressive publications. Your resume and books really set you above the others." No kidding, there I was getting kudos at work for the publishing company I ran at home. Unfortunately, I hear to many comments from authors who claim not to be motivated by money or any other gain other than the pride of publishing. Personally, I find payment as a reward for good writing to be very motivating. I also find the prestige of being recognized by readers and invited to speak on niche topics rejuvenating.  Why else d...

One reason authors and independent or publish on demand (POD) publishers should not spend money on advertising is distribution channel limitations. Since POD and many non-traditionally published books are documented differently with the Library of Congress, they are excluded from the same channels as traditionally published books, thus creative marketing effort are necessary. 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. More distribution channel opportunities are becoming available with Lightning Source and Createspace, however, without the CIP, books may be excluded. Some predators and aggressive book marketing agencies try to persuade authors to pay for their connections and inroads with major buyers. In reality, all they do is add you...

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...

Selfpublishing in a niche industry is a good solution. Many times the niche is just too small for traditional publishers to address. There are few barriers to entry and technology has made it very affordable. Authors can physically write a book and make it available. However, to create a good name and develop a pristine reputation takes more work. Incorporate the following steps successfully launch your self publishing or indie publishing projects. 1.  Have a message Is your message passionate; a burning message that screams, “I can help make your life easier” or “How do you live without me?” Such a message should be yours exclusively and available everywhere and trustworthy. It doesn’t have to reflect the current practices or industry standard to be accepted. In wrote my first book “ ISP Certification-The Industrial Security ProfessionalExam Manual ” after earning my certification. I developed my own study material that gave me the confidence to pass. I wrote th...

Self-publishing can be very rewarding, but success can be hard to measure. In a niche industry it is important to keep expectations in perspective. There is really no need to market, advertise or brand unless you have a genuine way to discover how many people are buying your product and they are coming from. The following are two great ways to measure your marketing and sales success. 1.  www.google.com/analytics-Create or sign into your Google account. You already have one if you have Gmail or use blogger.com/blogspot.com. If at all possible, try to use the same account for Gmail, blogger, analytics, adwords and all Google applications. I did not do so and now have to log into several different accounts to get all of my data. There’s no way to change it once you do. Analytics provides great traffic data. It reports audience detail, advertising information (if you use advertising), traffic sources, what folks are viewing, how they found your sight, what keywords they searched...

You might already know how to write policy for your company that reflect your vision or even federal or other regulations. That might very well be an easy task for you. Policies are important, but remember that  the policy itself should not be the catch all solution. Just as your awards and kudos compliment your capabilities, the policy should complement the processes and procedures you have in place. Policy tells what should happen and is in itself easier to write and have approved than the how to do it found in processes and procedures. Even if you do not know how to write policy, you may be able to download samples from the internet or borrow those shared by fellow professional organization contacts. What won’t be so easy to find is policy tailored to your specific needs and how to incorporate them into company business. That will require teamwork with other business unit managers or business partners. Some of the reading audience might understand better than othe...