| |
Kylee Legge - Monday, October 29, 2012
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
What to do with a flooded market place!
|
|
|
Well my advice might sound too simple to be true but all you need to do is stand out from your competition. The real secret is not what to do but how to do it and the answer to that is not straight forward as there are many different ways you can stand out from your competitors whether you are entering a new market for the first time or have been in one for many years.
Actually some of these secrets I have already revealed to you in previous articles but some are brand new. In case you have missed any I will summarise all into 3 short easy to remember points.
- Learn how – if you don’t learn more about your target market, yourself and your product how can you make sure the three are in tune? The easiest way to stand out from others in what appears to be a flooded market place is to remove all water from the equation so to speak so you stand out like the proactive ‘purple cow’ we have all heard so much about in a paddock full of black and white grazers. You must be the one who has bridged the gap between yourself and your customer by creating a quick and easy way for them to find you instead of charging at them ‘bull like’ with your sales pitch which is sure to fail or worse musing around the paddock waiting for them to find you. Learn who the crowd (both your potential customers and competition) is first to ensure you are equipped to stand out both from them and to them.
- Plan first – once you have learnt all of the above how do you plan to financially achieve this? My advice is wherever possible do everything cashflow positive which involves techniques such as funding your marketing with someone else’s money, charging before you fulfill etc.You don't want to fund any of the marketing costs yourself to find your ideal customers anymore than you want to be chasing them for payment after your product/service is delivered. Never spend more money then you need to and never spend it before you make it.
- Keep accountable – once you have the above 2 steps in place you are ready to basically be an overnight success in any market place except that you are still missing one vital thing - that is accountability. So many people learn what they need to, find a way to finance it and then never even complete step 1 on their plan, others get part way through but never complete the process and worse still some complete the whole process and then never do it again. Simply put – start, don’t stop and repeat what works time and time again. If for whatever reason you can’t keep yourself accountable (which we all struggle with these days so don't think you are alone on this) seek the services of a good coach – they will be work every penny they cost you based on the money they will help you make you otherwise never would have had.
For more information on how to learn what you need to in order to use a book to bridge this gap click here.
For more information on how to run the process cashflow positive click here.
For more information on the kind of coaching we recommend click here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Monday, September 24, 2012
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
Recycle your marketing to promote your book time and time again
|
|
|
Do you want to know how to widen the audience of your media attention? Well the secret is to recycle your marketing to promote your book time and time again. What I mean by that is capitalising on an event by marketing before, during and afterwards - all at not cost to you!
Media attention is one of the easiest kinds of events to do this with. You promote the event beforehand on social media which profiles both you as the expert and the station/publication doing the interview which results in 2 things; firstly more people listening in or reading the article and secondly favour with the host or journalist so they are more likely to invite you back or do a repeat story.
Then of course you do the actual interview giving the people whatever they ask for eg. be available based on their schedule (not yours) happy to start late, run overtime etc. anything they require to make their life easier. Don't openly promote yourself (unless they ask you too which then yes you always put in a plug for you and your business) but focus on providing invaluable information; firstly because you will get a longer segment but secondly because then you have something worth recycling.
Once you have that invaluable product it about syndicating it, that is getting it out to as many people, as fast as possible for as long as possible, those who are your target market that is and the best ways to do that is as follows. Step 1 - Get a copy of the coverage and upload it to your website, Step 2 - write a blog post that ties into that so you can direct people to it, Step 3 - send a newsletter out to notify people about the blog post and Step 4 - promote the blog post on social media.
None of these techniques will cost you anything other than your time but the results from this will be invaluable to you and whatever you are promoting (your book, your business etc.) as you have now got 3 lots of exposure for the one piece of content in 4 different mediums some which are short lived but others will allow that marketing to last forever.
Let's look at a quick example of this based on the radio interview I attended yesterday. Scroll down if you would like to listen to any of the 4 segments that the interview ran for, a brief synopsis of each is underneath.
Radio Northern Beaches Segment 1 – 9:09 mins
- The power of the ‘expert in your field’ credibility book – attracts your ideal client to you time and time again while transforming the lives of those who otherwise wouldn’t have heard of you time and time again
- The importance of ‘pre-selling’ your book – selling your book before it exists online via your webstore and getting media attention at the same time
- Current ebook prices + formats – what different prices work for each of the different distribution methods and what different formats work for each of the different reading devices
CLICK TO LISTEN
Radio Northern Beaches Segment 2 – 8:20 mins
- Children’s ebooks – what’s the best process to take for this target market and how to profile your book
- Steps to successfully publish your book – the similarities and differences between the printed and ebook and which stores to use to sell each to keep up to date with the latest technologies
- The importance of marketing – the kind of returns you can expect if you correctly market your book opposed to just distributing it and how your book can be a business in itself
CLICK TO LISTEN
Radio Northern Beaches Segment 3 – 7:35 mins
- What is a publishing retreat – picking The Publishing Queen’s brain about the nitty, gritty of your book and learning how to pre-sell with live results
- Project management for the writing process – how to write a book in less than 7 days and the secrets about how to express getting your book out of you opposed to the myth of creating a polished product overnight
- How to ‘pre-sell’ your book – the 3 ways and what to do with each
CLICK TO LISTEN
Radio Northern Beaches Segment 4 – 7:07 mins
- Why are people currently buying more nonfiction then fiction? – a cheap way to overcome whatever you are currently struggling with paying for a coaching session verses you profiled as the expert they should go to for the coaching when/if they choose to
- How to craft the title of your book – what makes someone pick your book up and how to capture their attention in a few short seconds
- The current highest selling areas
CLICK TO LISTEN
For more information on the Pre-sale Accelerator Publishing Retreat mentioned throughout click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Monday, August 06, 2012
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
Cashflow Positive Book Publishing
|
|
|
People keep asking me what exactly is ‘Cashflow Positive Book Publishing’ so I thought I would release an article that explained it in more detail.
Firstly it works best if you are a business owner and you are publishing a book as to get credibility as the expert in your field but wish to use it as a marketing tool on an ongoing basis so you can get paid to market (instead of paying to market) your business at the same time. The strategies will work for any book but at the end of the day a cashflow positive publishing, distribution and marketing process based solely on the sales of a $20 book is never going to be as valuable to you as the ideal $20,000 client it can regularly send your way.
Basically it works like this. Firstly if you publish a book on the same subject matter as your area of expertise (ie. what you do for a living) then all publishing and distribution costs become an instant tax deduction – in other words all sales become pure profit! That may be nice but depending on both the costs of your publishing project (which will vary from book to book based on size of book, printing specs, distribution channels used etc.) and your current available capital there may be a shortfall between the two. This is where Cashflow Positive Book Publishing first comes into play as it shows you how to bridge the gap between the two by financing the production and distribution costs out of someone else’s pocket – that’s right you claim the cost on your tax but someone else pays for it; almost sounds too good to be true! The secret is pre-selling your book (ie. that is selling your book before it is printed, designed or sometimes even written) and to do this you must start with the end in mind and market before you start.
How can you ensure the success of your book before you put pen to paper? Simple market first! If there is not a demand for your book don’t release it as otherwise you will have wasted a lot of time and money only to be left with a garage full of boxes upon boxes of unopened books and wondering what you did wrong. If this is sounding like you don’t stress as one of the best things about Cashflow Positive Book Publishing is you can start doing it at any time and make up for the mistakes of your past ( which only occurred in the first place simply because you didn’t know what you didn’t know before you started) however saying this it is always best to begin cashflow positive marketing before you have even put pen to paper so you don’t get any of the unneeded heartache from any time or money accidently wasted.
There are seven stages in the publishing process and distribution is traditionally the 7th but if you want to publish your book Cashflow Positive start with the end in mind and always do it first. Whether you want to distribute your book yourself, online, in bookstores or a combination of all 3 you can begin preselling your book today and that isn’t even the best part. Throughout the whole publishing and distribution process your book sales won’t only fund the cost of your publishing process for you but they will be turning the 80/20 business rule upside down in the process. You will have heard the expression ‘20% of your clients take up 80% of your time’ (and vice versa) but publishing a book fixes this issue for you too. You can’t control who buys your book but what you can control is how every sale works for you. Those time wasting prospects/clients no longer take up your time with their silly questions as their first point of contact is not to speak to you on the phone or in person (as the credibility that comes from having published a book shows them your hourly rate is too expensive for this) but instead of taking up your valuable time with no intention of buying (or worse purchase your cheapest product/service and then harass you for the next 6 months about how to use it) they pay $20 to purchase your book and read how to do it themselves so you no longer need to be bothered by them.
Better yet (and this is the really juicy part of Cashflow Positive Book Publishing) your ideal client pays the same $20, reads the same book and qualifies themselves as wanting to work with you so then approaches you to begin the process as they have already built a relationship with you through your book and have confirmed you are the only person they want to work with and you haven’t even met them yet. That’s right your ideal client approaching you time and time again excited and ready to begin work with you and you did nothing on an ongoing basis to achieve this. You are now truly getting paid to market (and not paying to market) and that is the icing on the cake of Cashflow Positive Book Publishing. With your ideal client being attracted to you on a regular basis you will never again need to spend money marketing your business but will continue to get paid a $20 spotters fee (instead of from you to someone, from your ideal client to you) time and time again. This is Cashflow Positive Book Publishing at its best but seriously it is just pocket money compared to the dollars these high quality, prequalified prospective clients will bring to your business over the complete period of time you service them for.
To find out more about which no cost marketing techniques need to be applied to begin this process for you, your book and your business today click here for more details on my next Cashflow Positive Book Publishing seminar/webinar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Wednesday, October 06, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
I have heard that self publishing is quiet expensive, is this true?
|
|
|
Self publishing doesn’t need to be expensive (though it can be if done incorrectly) however I don’t want to pretend to you it is dirt cheap either as it isn’t. I ensure all projects I am responsible for run at a bare minimum cashflow positive as otherwise what is the point?
It depends what your goals are from there. If your primary goal is to fulfil a dream I would show you ways to re-coupe your money, if a secondary goal was to gain credibility and be known as the expert in your field then I would show you how to run your marketing plan cashflow positive (in other words you get paid to advertise instead of paying to advertise) however if your goal was to make money from your book I would teach you different strategies involving putting your book online so (once set up) it can sell itself and market itself (normally 5-10 mins management per day required) so you can earn a passive income from your book.
A book will not make you a million dollars. The average book though can supplement the average income so if that is not enough for you bring out more than 1 book or the same book in more than 1 format a then you have the opportunity to package.
The key differences between traditional publishing and self publishing are as follows:
TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING
- Your book (more often than not) gets rejected and will never be published
- Your publisher takes the financial risk
- Your publisher reaps all the rewards and you a left with a small commission of $1-$2 per book sold
- You give away the rights to your book
- Ideal if you don’t want to be involved in the process and just get your book out there
- Profit per 1000 books sold approximately - $2000 (paid in commission)
SELF PUBLISHING
- Your book will defiantly be published
- You take the financial risk
- You reap all the rewards and are left with 100% profit from books sold
- You own your own book
- Ideal if you want to be involved in the process, see the results and enjoy the impact your book makes
- Profit per 1000 books sold approximately - $20,000 (after cost of producing the books, freight etc.)
You need to choose which of the above is right for you and your book.
For more information on any stage of the publishing process check out 'The Publishing Queen Reveals All' Book Series.
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
I am selling my book myself but would like to know what other distribution options are open to me?
|
|
|
There are 3 ways of distributing a book; self distribution, online distribution & bookstore distribution. The time goes down but the risk goes up in that same order. What you are currently doing is self distribution meaning selling your book yourself (eg. direct to customer) which uses the largest amount of your time but has the smallest amount of risk involved.
As such the next logical step is to progress into online distribution as that will use less of your time to get the same results. What I mean by that is self distribution is exchanging your time for money eg. you speak about your book and sell copies afterwards. Now it might be a good exchange of time for money (eg. if you speak for 10 mins and sell 10 books at $20 each it's not a bad hourly rate) but it is still an active distribution method. Online distribution is popular because it is passive (eg. sell the same 10 books but do it without needing to talk as the content on your website provides them with the same information they heard to encourage them to buy your book after the talk you didn't do). The advantage of this is you can film yourself talking, have an audio file or even just plain text but once created the information is readily available meaning instead of getting paid per talk you do you make sales on a daily basis and you only needed to provide the information once.
If you want to go to the step beyond that look at bookstore distribution. This will increase the risk as of course you need to supply books to the stores before they have sold (whereas with online distribution you make the sale before you provide the book) but it will once again less of your time as the books sell regardless of whether you talk or not. I do recommend talking though to increase the number of sales every opportunity you get and the best kind of talking is talking to the media. Bookstore distribution will never be successful without a good PR campaign behind it so make sure you are sending press releases to the appropriate media contacts and following up to get the results. Once again why give a talk multiple times when you can do an interview once and let the media coverage as a result of that sell your books in stores time and time again.
For more information on any stage of the publishing process check out 'The Publishing Queen Reveals All' Book Series
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
What should I do at my upcoming book signing?
|
|
|
The aim of a bookstore signing is not to sell books but to sign books. What I mean by that is the whole idea is to get your name out there, get stores ordering copies in and get your face familiar with the locals. A bookstore signing is successful even if no books sell. Let me explain.
Q. How many copies of a book do you sign when you go to a book signing?
A. As many copies as the bookstore owner wants you too (eg. aim for half to evey copy in store).
Q. How many books do you sell at a book signing?
A. Unknown as you are not in control of that.
What happens to the copies that don’t sell on the day. They get a sticker stuck on them saying signed by the author and whether you are there or not that generally moves them through the stores very quickly thereafter. Bookstores don’t generally return books after the author has signed them.
For more information on bookstore distribution, check out 'How to Pitch your Book to Distributors' THE BOOK or 'How to Pitch your Book to Distributors' THE DVD.
For more information on any stage of the publishing process check out 'The Publishing Queen Reveals All' Book Series
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
Where do you do your seminars eg. what venue do you choose?
|
|
|
For those of you wanting to know how to do events for your books like I have been doing this year please find some answers to some commonly asked questions below.
Where do you do your seminars eg. what venue do you choose?
I have a corporate arrangement with Accor so either Novotel’s or Mercure’s generally (depends on what they have in the location).
As it is a free seminar does this mean the perceived value must be huge to fill it up?
Yes you are right which is why I choose venues that have a high perception of value as your choice of venue says as much about you as any other part of your marketing.
I understand you use your events as a platform to speak to your market. Is this correct?
Yes this is also correct. I find getting someone to pay for an event when they have never heard of me before is near impossible however I find after speaking to someone for an hour or so, answering all their questions and providing them with some invaluable giveaways (so they can begin applying their learnt knowledge straight away) it is not only easy to move them to the next natural step in my product range but also allows them to leave a raving fan and this is an invaluable referral source for me.
What is your investment to put on a seminar in relation to your expectation in regards to return?
Local events are good as there is no flight or accommodation costs. I use mostly free to low cost marketing techniques eg. website/SEO, email marketing/database, flyers/networking, cross promotions/joint ventures and referrals from previous expressions of interest/registrants/attendees/customers etc. My big spends re: advertising is I always run a radio campaign in the area 2 weeks before the week of the event in the local area and I do an adwords campaign 1 month before. All of the above methods could be tailored to any budget.
For the event itself: I staff with either volunteers or my team members, rent lapel, hand held mic, cd player, sound system, projector screen and venue and provide tea, coffee and water facilities only as it is not a catered event. Approx cost for mini catering, venue and equipment hire averages around $2500 per event. Once again this could be adjusted to any budget based on choice of venue and how much catering and AV equipment is used.
My expectations for return is nothing as I have found it the past if you expect something in return for giving something away for free then you weren’t really giving it away for free in the first place. If you heart is in the wrong spot eg. not genuinely wanting to help people you will not make money. If the money is irrelevant and the focus correct than the money just naturally flows as a result of the event.
Does this model generates income?
Yes it is very effective. Everyone who comes on the night on averages buys a book for themselves and a friend eg. $40 per person who attended for free (covers the costs). If they buy what I actually want to sell my average sale is $10,000 so 1 customer is worth putting the event on as that is already a 300% return on investment. Regardless what my close rate is on the night though my events tend to have the following results within 2 weeks after the event. 100% of the audience raving fans and referring clients to me I otherwise wouldn’t have had. 25% started some kind of project with me (even if they just paid a small deposit and went on time payments that provides me with ongoing cash flow). I average 50 people at an event so the returns are good. Just make sure you present people with an irresistible offer and give them an easy way to finance it.
To see what I personally do in action register for my next event and check it out for yourself by clicking here.
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
Question - When following up a press release we received 6 out of office replies, 9 returned emails and 4 people who said they never received anything. What am I doing wrong?
|
|
|
Great to hear you are following up your press release. The response you describe is usual which is why we encourage following it up in the first place. You never know when people are going to be out of office, change email address, be too busy to read your release etc. which is why it is so valuable to follow it up.
This process allows you to resend your press release to those who have not received it yet for whatever reason and begin building a relationship with the relevant contacts; author to media which is much more valuable then publisher/distributor to media.
It is standard procedure to email out press releases so make sure you resend it to anyone who has asked for it so they can see if they are interested in doing a story on you and/or your book. The more media attention you can get the better but you won’t get it unless firstly they know about your book and secondly you are persistent in your follow up. Keep doing what you are doing and don’t be disheartened as this is the correct approach to take.
Keep me in the loop and let me know of your successes and/or difficulties.
For more information on bookstore distribution click here.
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
I want to use someone elses teachings to back up what I am saying in my book. How can I legally do this?
|
|
|
This is a good question. By law you only need to change something by 10% in order for it to be your original intellectual property.
As such I would suggest you do the following:
-
Change the quantity of what you are referencing by adding to or subtracting from it eg. the '7 steps to ...' might become '5 secrets you ...'
-
Change the wording so they mean the same thing but use next to none of the same words eg. 'the quick, black dingo was a cunning beast' could become 'the beast in canine shape, dark and speedy was cheeky indeed".
-
Change question/bullet points to sentences and vice versa eg."Why do you think this is the case?" could become "People often wonder why this is the case."
The other half of that same law states so long as it can't be recognisable as the original and the above should ensure you adhere to that as well.
To have your question answered click here
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
Kylee Legge - Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Publishing Queen
|
|
|
I know that you are involved in self publishing, however what we are wanting to do is traditional publishing - can you help us with that sort of thing? How and which publishers to approach?
|
|
|
The short answer is no but let me explain. The reason I specialise in self publishing is because I don’t like traditional publishing as I don't want to see people’s dreams being crushed. The way traditional publishing works is most manuscripts are rejected not because they aren’t necessarily any good but because they were number one too many on the day they were submitted. I don't want to see any more people’s dreams destroyed by rejection letter after rejection letter when most of the time the manuscripts have never even been read.
The second reason I do what I do is because when manuscripts are accepted what basically happens is you give away the right to your book and someone else manages the project and you have no control over it. You are told how your book will look, where you have to be and when and for all the work you put in promoting your book (because they pay the upfront costs they reap all the rewards) you are left with a small commission of $1 or $2 per book.
Self publishing is the exact opposite you fulfil your dreams, you manage your process, you invest your own finances and as a result you reap the rewards. I am here to hold your hand through the whole process educating you as you go along to ensure everything is as easy, efficient, economical and effective as possible.
In summary if you want someone else to fund the process, own the rights to your book, manage the process for you and leave you with a small commission per item then use traditional publishing. Alternatively if you want to fund the process yourself, own your own book, manage the process yourself and reap the rewards of your efforts then self publish.
To have your publishing question answered click here
|
|
|
Share!
Did you enjoyed this article? If so recommend it to your friends.
|
|
|
Subscribe!
Be the first to receive our articles, latest news and updates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
