Tips Guides Resources

How many times have you heard the term KISS ? It means, Keep It Simple, Stupid! It is directed against people who are windy in both their writing and speaking. How many times have you attended a meeting where the speaker puts you to sleep? How many times have you read a thirteen page resume? In each case, the speaker or writer has turned you off.
In order to win in this present day competitive marketplace, the one thing you do not want to do is lose your audience. A speaker or writer will invariably violate the cardinal rule of any presentation — keep it brief!

According to a recent Associated Press survey, Americans are running out of patience. We can’t stand to wait more than five minutes on the phone. We start fuming in long grocery lines. You must acknowledge this reality in your talks, e-mails, phone calls, or presentations. Get to the point fast.

How do we get to the point? Here is how we do it.
Former GE Chief Executive Jack Welch demanded simplicity from his managers. Welch would ask them to prepare one-page answers to strategic questions. I’ve seen longer memos between individuals planning lunch. Business with Welch was simple. If you were a windy writer or speaker, Welch would advise you to clean your desk and be out the door in five minutes. No need to make things complicated, according to Jack Welch.

Great leaders keep their conversations no longer than necessary. They expect the same from others. Sybase CEO John Chen once said the mark of a leader is the ability to articulate a message that is passionate, clear, and concise.

Remember that famous battle report from World War II. It read “Sighted sub. Sank same.”

Here are seven suggestions for you for effective writing. There are many more than just these seven ideas, but these should get you started.

1. Avoid using passive voice. It is anemic and lacks punch. With such ineffective writing, your readership will lose interest and fall asleep. It suggests to your audience that you are a sheepish follower rather than a strong leader.

2. Avoid using long sentences. These will send your audience into dreamland very quickly. Do not overwork connectors such as “and” or “but.” If you are describing a list, use bullets or item numbers.

3. Avoid using cliches or jargon. You may understand what they mean, but your audience may not comprehend what you are trying to say.

4. Make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. If your audience suspects that you are an illiterate fool, seeing your writing will erase all doubts.

5. Break your text into paragraphs. Each paragraph should have a theme or topic. You should say what you want to say, then move on to the next topic. If your article covers a wide range of topics, use an outline. Your audience will immediately recognize if you are well-organized or if your presentation is windy.

6. Get to the point of your presentation immediately. Do not expect your readers to go through fifteen pages of text before they reach your main idea. You will lose them after Page Three.

7. Keep your presentation interesting and avoid repetitive sentence structures. Imagine reading something like this:

John bought Mary a dog for Christmas. Sam bought Susan a dog for Christmas. Susan bought Eric a dog for Christmas.

Your readers are not in first grade.

Mastering good writing skills is not difficult. You have to work at it almost every day to achieve proficiency. You will find that as your written and verbal communication skills increase, so will your earnings.

Bob Carper is a veteran information systems consultant specializing in verbal and written communication. He holds a BS and an MBA degree. If you are interested in getting your friends together to improve their writing skills, please visit http://www.secure-webconference.citymax.com

As a self publisher you can market and promote your book on a shoestring budget, thousands of independent publishers have done it; be careful about your promotion and marketing dollars and don’t plunge into unknown waters — test, test, and test some more. Self publishers need to have a good marketing plan to sell books and it should be written prior to writing your book and in place a year prior to publishing your book. Your book selling, book marketing, and book promotion planning should begin before the manuscript is completed.

Mail a press release to at least 1000 print and broadcast contacts just prior to publishing your title and again and again after you publish; you can never send too many. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media.

Make sure you have at least one good press release, written in AP style, which you can send out for the lifetime of your book. Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book’s website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases.

Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories. Don’t underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales.

Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your website. Make sure your sales letter or flier is first class; this is your formal presentation of your title to the prospective buyer. Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book.

Your sales letter or flier should include an eye-grabbing headline, the benefits to the buyer, the book features, book sales information and testimonials. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed. Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book’s topic to drive customers to your website.

Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic. I’ve seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don’t advise it in the beginning — get your feet wet first so you know what you’re doing. Arrange to speak at local, regional and national events that relate to your book topic; bring books along and have an associate sell them at the back of the room.

It’s important to publish a website that focuses on your title; you’ll be able to refer editors and customers and all interested parties to your book information with the click of a mouse. You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition. If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way.

Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs. Women buy more books then men; see how you can fit your book into the women’s market.

Be your own publicist and send a press release along with a review copy of your book to publications in your book’s genre and to book review magazines. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets.

Now promote, promote, and promote your book some more! Use your book promotion and book marketing dollars wisely; go after the free and cheap resources daily. If you apply yourself every day and you promote your book like crazy, you can achieve that ultimate goal of selling thousands of copies of your book, many self publishers have done it.

For more information on book marketing tips and selling more books go to http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com founded in 1982, specializing in help for authors, self publishers, ebook and book publishers with tips, advice and resources, including information on media, library and other mailing lists, and press releases - online, wire service and offline distribution

It’s one thing to write a book, but an entirely different thing to write one that’s saleable, viable, and marketable. With careful planning you can market, promote, and get (free) publicity (publicity is always free) on a limited budget; you can take the cheap and easy way. In today’s publishing environment, a book’s success depends greatly on a strong marketing plan.

Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly. Your book press release should not be written as you would a sales letter or flier, it should be written for the editor and tell about your book in a factual way, no opinion or glowing remarks. Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords.

Send out the same press release to the editor of your local daily newspaper every week until you are called for an interview or are written up. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book’s website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases.

Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media. Send out at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month.

Make sure your sales letter or flier is first class; this is your formal presentation of your title to the prospective buyer. When you get a nice write up or feature about you and/or your book, have it laminated and set it up on an easel at trade shows. Print and online publications provide longevity to your marketing campaign in terms of having something tangible for people to reference ongoing.

Your sales letter or flier should include an eye-grabbing headline, the benefits to the buyer, the book features, book sales information and testimonials. Women buy more books then men; see how you can fit your book into the women’s market. Place free ads periodically for your book’s website on Craigs List in different categories to drive even more traffic to your website.

It’s important to publish a website that focuses on your title; you’ll be able to refer editors and customers and all interested parties to your book information with the click of a mouse. Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book’s topic to drive customers to your website. Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your website.

Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed. Contact non-bookstore booksellers and offer to leave books on consignment.

Arrange to speak at local, regional and national events that relate to your book topic; bring books along and have an associate sell them at the back of the room. Local radio shows and television appearances are good but are often forgotten within hours of the broadcast; make sure to make or get a copy of any television broadcast for future promotions.

Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book. Be your own publicist and send a press release along with a review copy of your book to publications in your book’s genre and to book review magazines.

The success of any book marketing effort depends on a good book and just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too. If you apply yourself every day and you promote your book like crazy, you can achieve that ultimate goal of selling thousands of copies of your book, many self publishers have. One of the biggest problems self publishers and book publishers tell me about is the hundreds of books they have in inventory they haven’t set up a marketing plan for; don’t let this happen to you — get prepared now.

For more information on book marketing tips and selling more books go to http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com founded in 1982, specializing in help for authors, self publishers, ebook and book publishers with tips, advice and resources, including information on media, library and other mailing lists, and press releases - online, wire service and offline distribution

Publishers know they can save a lot of money joining others in joint or cooperative mailings. Co-op mailing is not a new concept or idea, but finding other publishers who want to mail to the same lists isn’t easy.

A free service is helping publishers sell more books through cooperative mailings with other publishers. Publishers submit listing information, as to what kind of mailing they want to do, the nature of the books or items they want to promote, and contact information. DVDs, audiobooks, CDs, software and other items work easily here too. The information is published each month free in a newsletter for entrepreneurs and publishers - ‘Helen Hecker’s Biz Hotline.’ We aren’t involved in helping with any arrangements you decide on. We only help you find others who are interested in joining with you by publishing the information in the newsletter, free.

You arrange with others and send out your fliers in co-op mailings to, for example, public libraries, independent bookstores, new age bookstores, children’s bookstores, hospitals, hospital gift shops, elementary schools, high schools, college libraries, college newspapers, colleges & universities, various departments in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and universities, to medical libraries, military libraries, museums, and Christian and religion-related lists, etc.

You arrange with others and send out your press releases to daily newspapers, editors, travel columnists, health columnists, medical columnists, weekly newspapers, major magazine and trade publications in the genre field of the book - business, health, medical, disability, travel publications, etc. I’ve mailed several of my own press releases, successfully, in one business-size envelope third class ( bulk mail) for many years, promoting several of our books, videos, DVDs, titles and services and reaping a ton of orders for us in return. We’ve had thousands of write-ups -articles, items and features in many publications over the years. I think the envelopes are opened in the mail room and the editors never see the envelopes that press releases come in. Also they’ll never know if it arrived by priority mail, first class or third class (bulk) mail.

For many years I ran a sideline fee-shared cooperative mailing service to help our publishing company branch and other publishers, promote titles and sell more books through press releases to the print media (newspapers and magazines, for example) and news releases to the broadcast media (radio station talk shows, TV shows, Oprah, Today show, Good Morning America, etc.) Also we sent fliers to libraries, schools, hospitals, hospital gift shops, newspapers, independent bookstores, new age bookstores, etc.

The costs to do a co-op mailing are established by you and your co-op partners, for the amount necessary to do the mailing, then divided up and paid for well in advance of the mailing. This would include the cost of buying and printing #10 business-size envelopes, the cost of renting the labels, postage cost determined by the weight of the piece and other factors, and cost for the mailing house to do the mail out. All fliers are shipped directly to the mailing house with instructions on the box as to which mailing it’s for. The lead person gives them instructions so they know the boxes are coming.

We’ve always had good results from cooperative mailings and many others have reported they have too. Publishers need to know what markets their genres fit into. No two books or products are exactly alike. So one can’t compare the outcome for titles of books in mailings others have done, to their own titles and potential outcome.

Doing co-op mailings is a good way for book publishers, self publishers, (entrepreneurs and other types of business owners too) to distribute their press releases and fliers, and to save a lot of time and money. And this free cooperative mailing service is a good way for you to find other publishers with the same marketing goals.

Helen Hecker helps book & self publishers, heads Twin Peaks Press, a PR, offline-online marketing, mailing list, consulting, publishing co. Do AP press releases. Publish books, ebooks. Helen Hecker’s Biz Hotline for biz owners. Free co-op mailing service. Since 1982.
http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com