Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 30, 2017

Here are some tips from Chris Anderson, president and curator of TED about making a memorable TED talk. These points are excerpted from his upcoming book, TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking.

 

1)      Ask yourself if you have something to say. Focus on identifying the kind of idea that a listener would receive as a gift.

2)      If you have landed on something solid, the next step is to slash back the scope of your talk so that you unpack that idea properly. The single biggest mistake speakers make is to try to cram too much in. Everything you say should be related to your main idea.

3)      Give people a reason to care. Make a human connection and stirs their curiosity. Use intriguing, provocative questions to explain why something needs a closer look.

4)      Build your case piece by piece, using words and concepts familiar to the audience. Metaphors make the complex easy digest. Stories help to bring people with you one step at a time.

5)      Finally, practice

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 29, 2017

"Get involved in your company. Learn to become the best person you can and to make your company the best it can be." Andres Ruzo, CEO and Chairman of LinkAmerica

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 28, 2017

You may hear." There is no money left in this year's budget. I'll get back to you in 1Q 2018."  If so, reply using the Feel/Felt/Found technique to reduce tension before you sell: "I understand how you feel, Ms. Prospect. Others have felt that way, too. But what they found is that when they used the quiet, fourth quarter to set up a promotional campaign, first-quarter sales increased well over the previous year. Here is how we can do that…"

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 27, 2017

The Golden Rule is "Do unto other as you would have them do unto you."  That does not apply to book marketing. Instead, apply the Platinum Rule, "Do unto others as they would do unto themselves." Help buyers solve their problems, not yours, and you can sell more books

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 26, 2017

Inventor and engineer Elon Musk has successfully started four billion-dollar companies: PayPal, Solar City, SpaceX, and Tesla. To launch them — and to answer any complex question — he uses the same approach each time, he told Rolling Stone reporter Neil Strauss. It's "the scientific method," Musk said. "It's really helpful for figuring out the tricky things." He describes his process this way, according to Strauss:

 

1. Ask a question.

2. Gather as much evidence as possible about it.

3. Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to each one.

4. Draw a conclusion based on cogency in order to determine: Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what probability?

5. Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion.

6. If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then you're probably right, but you're not certainly right.

 

Musk utilizes these six questions any time he needs to come up with an idea, solve a problem, or decide to start a business. He values this kind of evidence-based decision making, and criticized individuals who can't separate fact from fiction

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 25, 2017

Inventor and engineer Elon Musk has successfully started four billion-dollar companies: PayPal, Solar City, SpaceX, and Tesla. To launch them — and to answer any complex question — he uses the same approach each time, he told Rolling Stone reporter Neil Strauss. It's "the scientific method," Musk said. "It's really helpful for figuring out the tricky things." He describes his process this way, according to Strauss:

 

1. Ask a question.

2. Gather as much evidence as possible about it.

3. Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to each one.

4. Draw a conclusion based on cogency in order to determine: Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what probability?

5. Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion.

6. If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then you're probably right, but you're not certainly right.

 

Musk utilizes these six questions any time he needs to come up with an idea, solve a problem, or decide to start a business. He values this kind of evidence-based decision making, and criticized individuals who can't separate fact from fiction

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 24, 2017

After all you had to eat yesterday, have a piece of marketing PIE today. Book marketing is as simple as PIE if you Plan what you will do, Implement that plan and then periodically Evaluate your progress and make any changes that are necessary. Know where you are at all times relative to where you want to be.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving:

May your troubles be less.

Your blessings be more.

And may nothing but happiness

Come through your door!

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 22, 2017

Everything you ever wanted to know about the history of the book may be found in "The Book," by Keith Houston.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 20, 2017

Make the "APSS Sales Performance Promise" to yourself.    I will...

     Set a goal and do it,

     Make a commitment and honor it,

     Find a need and fill it,

     Find a chance and take it.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 20, 2017

Not all motion is forward. You may be on the right path but heading in the wrong direction. Evaluate your progress periodically and make necessary course corrections.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 19, 2017

According to the Wall Street Journal (Nov 7, p A13), "our expectations influence the outcome" when negotiating. Enter each event with a positive expectation.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 18, 2017

A Readers Digest example of a new headline for a classic book: "German doctor becomes the first to perform a full-body transplant. Just don't ask where the brains came from."  (Frankenstein)

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 17, 2017

Books are Fun is now Collective Goods. Display-marketing companies (http://www.collectivegoods.com, formerly Books Are Fun) buy large, non-returnable quantities of books and gifts directly from publishers at discounts up to 80%. Then they sell the directly to consumers through displays at the buyers' locations (schools, corporations, daycare centers, etc).  

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 16, 2017

Given limited amounts of time, money and energy, begin by defining the ultimate readers who are most likely to be interested in your content, and why. Then think about where they shop, work, go to school or congregate. This will direct your prospecting and marketing efforts and create the criteria against which you can qualify and prioritize your prospects. Bad things (poor reviews, printing glitch, typos, etc) can happen to good books. Plan for what you will do if that happens to yours

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 15, 2017

I have a spelling checker,

It came with my PC;

It plainly marks four my revue

Mistakes I can knot sea.

I've run this poem threw it,

I'm sure your please to no,

Its letter perfect in it's weigh,

My checker tolled me sew.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 14, 2017

An old adage tells us that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. But what if that step were in the wrong direction? The traveler would waste unnecessary time, energy and money going the wrong way. Plan your book-marketing actions for 2018 so you are on the right path, going in the right direction next year. Particularly, plan for special sales to non-bookstore buyers

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 13, 2017

Increase your chances of success with innovation test drives. Use your website to test cover designs; send a limited mailing to test your direct mail (list, timing, offer, pricing) before sending it to a larger audience; test headlines and book titles among people in your social network.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 12, 2017

If you want to sell 100,000 books through bookstores this year, you need to find 8300 new buyers every month. Or, you could find 10 corporate buyers who would each buy 10,000 books. Or 20 buyers who each by 5,000 books. Or two who each buy 50,000. It can be done -- others have done it. Find an assortment of buyers in businesses, associations, schools, non-bookstore retailers and the military. As an added benefit, they may re-order the same quantity in the future, creating a source of recurring revenue.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Weekend – November 11-12, 2017

It is important to stand while at your exhibit. If you sit, then stand only when people come up to you, it can appear as being aggressive. This was proven in a recent article in the "Harvard Business Review" According to the article, "Our research shows that people feel more negative toward stimuli when the stimuli appear to be oncoming." This theory was even tested with the happy-face emoticon. It was rated as "very positive," but the ratings declined when the emotion was perceived to be approaching.

 

The theory was even applied to speaking before a group. Many speakers believe that listeners will react more favorably if the speaker gets out from behind the podium and approaches them. "But an undercurrent of negative feeling will increase as you get nearer" to the people in the audience. "They feel you are invading their space." According to the authors, "You might be better off starting a speech near the audience – maybe a short distance from the front row – and staying there." And, "Beware of moving toward people or shoving a product in their direction. Their evolutionary instincts will kick in, and their opinion of you or the product will start to fall."

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 10, 2017

Yo-Yo-Ma was by age 30 regarded as one of the world's finest classical cellists. He has since branched out, and in an interview in the Harvard Business Review he was asked,"How did you handle childhood fame?" He answered, "When I was a child, people said things to me I wish they hadn't. "You're such a genius." That's dangerous. The best approach is to have a healthy confidence but also the self-knowledge to ask, 'What do I and don't I do well?' so that you can be the architect of your own life." 

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 9, 2017

Should you write about what you know and love, or write about what will sell? The answer is, "Yes." Your passion for your topic can be your ticket to greater well-being as much as it should be a key to exceptional market performance.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 8, 2017

A Readers Digest example of a new headline for a classic book: "New symbolic drug is turning Londoners into violent maniacs. Guaranteed to make you the evil, two-faced life of the party." (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 7, 2017

According to today's (Nov 7, p A13) Wall Street Journal, "our expectations influence the outcome" when negotiating.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 6, 2017

Selling to retailers (bookstores and non-bookstore retailers) requires that you manage the distribution channel. Customer satisfaction (and word of mouth communication) depends on your distribution partners delivering incremental value that leads to a positive end-user experience. Selling directly to non-retail buyers gives you more control over value creation.

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 5, 2017

According to Fortune magazine, "Grow your business more quickly by getting input and ideas every day, whether through product reviews or posting content. The more brains you enlist inside or outside your company to help you tackle whatever big opportunity or challenge you are facing … the greater your odds of shaking up your industry." Join an APSS Mastermind Group --  www.bookapss.org/MastermindGroup.pdf

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 4, 2017

Here are some tips from Chris Anderson, president and curator of TED about making a memorable TED talk. These points are excerpted from his book, TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking.

 

·         Ask yourself if you have something to say. Focus on identifying the kind of idea that a listener would receive as a gift.

·         If you have landed on something solid, the next step is to slash back the scope of your talk so that you unpack that idea properly. The single biggest mistake speakers make is to try to cram too much in. Everything you say should be related to your main idea.

·         Give people a reason to care. Make a human connection and stirs their curiosity. Use intriguing, provocative questions to explain why something needs a closer look.

·         Build your case piece by piece, using words and concepts familiar to the audience. Metaphors make the complex easy digest. Stories help to bring people with you one step at a time.

·         Finally, practice

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 3, 2017

"Three lessons from a pencil: 1) Pain always sharpens you, 2) Everything you do leaves a mark, and 3) What's inside you is useful, not what's outside." Shelley Hitz

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 2, 2017

"Many of us think of salesmen as people traveling around with sample kits. Instead, we are all salesmen, every day of our lives. We are selling our ideas, our plans, our energies, our enthusiasm to those with whom we come in contact." Charles M. Schwab

Book-Marketing Tip of the Day – November 1, 2017

"Life is about success, not perfection… and so is marketing." Rob Eagar