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Get ‘em Hooked on Your Book

So you got your book published. Congratulations. Having a book in print helps you build your credibility as an expert in your field.

But if you’re relying on your publisher to promote your book, you’re in for a real shock. Unless you’re a celebrity or well know writer like Stephen King or Mark Victor Hansen, you’ll be lucky if they include you in a press release with other authors.

A large part of promoting your book is promoting yourself and making sure your name is recognizable to your target audience. While you may not reach John Grisham status, you can go a long way to establishing yourself as the expert on your subject matter by becoming heavily involved in the community for which you write.

If you want your book to become more than a blip on Amazon.com, you’re going to have to do some of your own publicity.

1) Write some more: To promote your book you need to make sure everyone knows that you wrote it and you need to peak their interest enough to make them want to buy it. To do that you should write press releases and articles about your book’s topic and submit them anywhere that holds your book topic’s audience.

2) Network: Attend meetings and special events everywhere you can to meet people who would be interested in your book, then talk about it. Make sure you have a short ‘commercial’ all ready to say to anyone that shows the least bit of interest in your book. Convince them that if they only buy one book in a year, yours is the one they should buy!

And remember, networking doesn’t mean offline events. You need to network online as well. If you are active on list servs and bulletin boards that relate to your book’s topic. Mention the book in your email signature.

3) Arrange public appearances: Call up bookstores to arrange for a reading and book signing. Also, approach those who organize events that are related to your book’s topic and ask them if they’d like you to speak. Experts with free time are very hard to come by. They’ll probably jump at the chance to have you contribute.

4) Use an email campaign: Ask colleagues with strong email lists to help with this for the most impact. Write an email that drives people to Amazon.com to buy your book on one particular day. (Just make sure that day isn’t when the next Harry Potter or anticipated next best seller is scheduled for release.) You and your colleagues email it out. Depending on how big the email lists are, you could see your book become an Amazon best seller.

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What’s A Query Letter?

Do you know what a query letter is? If so, you are of a rare breed-a writer. Most people don’t. I discovered this when I created “Instant Query Letters” software. “What’s a queer letter?” they ask. The sad thing-they aren’t joking.

Query letters are a major part of your life if you are a freelance writer. Almost every request for magazine articles includes the statement to “query first.”

We know that this means to send a detailed summary of the article to the publisher. You should never send the completed manuscript until it’s requested.

I decided to ask a few editor friends about their preferences when it came to querying. They told me that a great query letter must do five main things:

-Grab attention immediately.

-Summarize your article or book idea in the most compelling fashion.

-Emphasize why YOU are the best one to write about the topic.

-Show your professionalism.

-Display your writing credits.

First, I highly recommend beginning your opening with the first line or two of your article or book. It immediately draws the editor or agent’s attention to your idea. Since you’ve probably sweated over the perfect beginning anyway, why not let it do double duty?

Second, make your points quickly, yet concisely. Don’t drag out your story idea. Build excitement in your recipient to WANT to read more about this fascinating story.

Third, tell why you are so knowledgeable about the topic. Why did you choose the topic? Are you querying about an article about dogs? If you are a professional trainer, then say so. Are you suggesting a “How To…” book? Tell your qualifications.

Fourth, you should always present yourself as an intelligent professional. Be sure that your writing tone is confident without sounding arrogant. Always double- check your grammar and spelling. Many editors have stated that they will not deal with writers that do not show enough pride in their work to use a spell-checker!

Finally, toot your own horn! This is where you get to brag about your writing accomplishments. Most editors will appreciate the fact that you’ve written something that has been considered good enough to be published.

If you are a new, unpublished writer, there’s still hope for you. Many editors are looking for new talent. Don’t mention that you have not been published. Simply make it clear that you have enjoyed a particular article recently published, then name the article and state how your article idea would mesh with the magazine as well. Actually, that’s a good idea for all queries to include!

Now that you’ve gotten a handle on the five important query letter components, what are you waiting for? Find a magazine that publishes your kind of writing, query it right, and spend the time waiting for your response by creating new queries. That way, no matter what the reply, you can always have fresh ideas to send out.

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Cross Promoting Techniques that Work

Cross promotions are not a new idea. They have been used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale, as the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. The system is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system, where people traded items rather than using money. How can anything primitive fit into the online world of Internet marketing? Very easily. Cross promotions are, simply stated, a trade of advertising space. Instead of paying for advertising space on a site, you would place their ad on your page and yours on theirs. There are many ways to use cross promotions in your internet business that can be an effective and cost efficient way to advertise.

One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective when doing cross promotions with a company that is similar to yours, however you should be sure and never link to a page that is in direct competition with yours. One of the best things about link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring in hits from the sites that are linked to your page to when determining the ranking. Therefore linking to a more popular site, can not only increase your advertising, and traffic, but also increase your search engine ranking.

When customers or potential customers subscribe to your ezine you can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions. On the same page that the customer

subscribes to your ezine, make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company’s ezine. You can even exchange ad space in ezines, and provide recommendations for those whom you cross promote with. You might even want to exchange column space in one another’s ezines.

Writing free articles that inform customers or potential customers with information that is useful and accurate can create a reputation for you and your business. Soon readers will come to know you as an expert on the subject. In these articles the author uses a byline to help promote his site. Bylines can be a way to use cross promotions as well. You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend another’s product.

If you have been considering writing an ebook, a joint venture could mean increased profits for you and the person you are partnering with. Cross promotions through ebooks are an excellent way to allow for a wider topic and to promote both your business and your partner’s business. The ebook should contain information that will benefit both businesses and still be helpful to the reader. A good example of using cross promotions through an ebook is to a site selling used video games partnering with a site selling gaming devices. These are two subjects that would interest the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.

You should keep in mind that the recommendations that you make are a direct reflection of you, so choose your cross promotional businesses carefully. Also keep in mind that it would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site to another as a way to “shop around.” Since this is usually not beneficial to you, never link or recommend a site that is in direct competition with you. Instead, recommend those who are similar, such as health and life insurance.

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Basic Color Theory Scrapbooking Ideas

Looking for a simple, versatile scrapbooking idea that can make your pages interesting and great looking? Try using the color wheel that you learned about in grade school to design well-coordinated eye-pleasing pages that really shine. The simple color theories that you learned in grade school can serve you very well in scrapbooking today, and after reviewing the basics you’ll be ready to create an unlimited number of great looking pages.

Remember the color wheel? Colors arranged in a circle, similar to a rainbow, and all of the colors related? Red combines with yellow to make orange, yellow and blue combine to make green, and red and blue make purple, remember? Visit your local craft store and invest in a simple color wheel to get you going. Most of the art departments will have one, and EK Success now makes a fancy one just for scrapbooking. Any color wheel will allow you to use these simple ideas.

Let your picture be your guide in choosing a color scheme for your page. Choose one color from the photograph to be your “key” color. It may be a color from a flower in the foreground, or the color of the shirt your child is wearing. Whatever you choose, it will be the starting point for your color themed page design.

The first color scheme is monochromatic. Say you’ve chosen the blue of your son’s eyes. Since every color comes in many values, choose two or three additional values of the blue color you want to use. You may choose one lighter value and one darker value, or two lighter or darker values, it’s up to you. Now do all of your work on the page in these three colors. The result will be restful, calming and cohesive. Your page will be pleasing to the eye and stylish, no matter how you accessorize.

Choosing two or three adjoining colors is called an analogous color scheme. These combinations tend to be either warm (from the red side of the color wheel) or cool (from the blue side of the color wheel). They are pleasing to the eye, restful and attractive. Certain combinations lend themselves very well to different themes as well. Consider a combination of red, orange yellow and orange for a striking fall layout, or a combination of icy blues and purples for a frosty winter page.

The third basic type of color scheme is complimentary. Choosing colors across the wheel from each other creates contrast and is a good way to make the items on your page stand out. On a blue page, mat the photos in orange and use orange toned accents and your details will really stand out. Red and green are also complimentary, another reason that those Christmas pages are usually so striking. Every color on the color wheel has a compliment. Consider basing your page on one color and accent with its compliment for a striking, impressive effect.

The basics of color theory that we learned in grade school are worth reviewing when you’re looking for ideas to get started on your next scrapbook page. Invest in a color wheel and put those great papers to work for you!

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Private Label Products: Trend For The Best?

Lately, private label products have made a tremendous impact on the U.S. market, affecting almost everyone, from producers to retailers to consumers. Private label products are products whose name or brand solely belongs to a specific retailer (e.g. Wal-Mart and Marks & Spencer). Let us say that you are in a grocery store. At first, you see all those gourmet sandwiches with brands that have long been familiar to you. Then you go to Marks & Spencer and lo and behold, now they are selling the same type of sandwiches too!

Private label products have grown significantly in Europe, especially in the Western half, and now it is making its mark in the United States. Private labels can be divided into sub groups: store brands are products where the retailer’s name is a strong factor in its packaging and marketing aspects; store sub-brands are products whose connection to the retailer is minimal; umbrella branding is a strategy where a retailer uses only one private label for different product categories and finally there are individual brands in which one private label is accorded to one product type.

The advantages are of course numerous, to all key persons involved. For the retailer, one of the most obvious pros would be the increase in sales. In addition, since it is his or her own private label, the retailer then has the freedom to create its own marketing strategy, have more control over its stock inventory and possibly use it to gain a more positive image to the public. And with a positive image, this would of course lead to stronger customer loyalty. Naturally, having a private label for one’s product would mean investing a lot of money so the retailer must be sure that it has the capital needed for such a venture. Secondly, most people still view private label products as something synonymous to lower quality products so this is another issue that the retailer must try to combat as they launch their new line.

For producers and suppliers, the advantages of producing private label products for a retail company is less visible but still present, nonetheless, For one, they get rid of most of the entry barriers of producer usually faces as they try entering a market because they’re supplying directly to the retailer itself. Secondly, for cash-strapped suppliers, manufacturing private label products will let them enter the bigger and higher end markets. The downside of all these of course is when a product does not perform as expected. Low profit could then affect the relationship between the supplier and retailer.

For the consumer, the advantages and disadvantages are almost equal. Most private label products are cheaper than branded products. This would translate to lower expenses for consumers, something that not everyone would doubt welcome. However, if the quality of the products is sub-standard, as some private label products are, maybe you are not getting the best of the deal as you have originally thought.

At the end, everything comes down to quality. Since price-wise, private label products have the upper hand, the only ace branded products have in their sleeves would be a more superior quality. However, if a reliable retailing company backs a private label product, the quality is usually equal to those that are branded. All one has to do is to CHOOSE WISELY.

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How the Bracket Came to Be

The word bracket is not commonly used in everyday language. One may go through a full life and perhaps never even get to use the word bracket. This may lead one to the conclusion that the word bracket is not quite that useful. On the contrary, it’s more common than one realizes and perhaps more useful than first recognized.

Volt in

Among several synonyms of the word bracket is a very common word-group. There are groups everywhere, at any given point in time and space. This is a direct result of people’s predisposition to label and organize. When a person or things are put in a group, it is therefore put in a bracket.

Despite the word bracket and group being synonyms though, it is not common to use the word bracket to describe a peer group for instance. It sounds funny to say, “This is my peer bracket”.

Therefore, the use of the word bracket must be utilized only with certain groups.

Reproduce and use

We learn multiplication in grade school and incidentally, this may very well be one’s first concrete encounter with the concept of a bracket.

On the blackboard, the teacher will illustrate objects inside a bracket to visually explain the principle of multiplication. In this case, we see objects grouped into brackets. The teacher will separate the same apples into different sub groups and enclose them in a bracket to keep the same apples apart.

Souk for the soul

Outside of the classroom illustrations, a bracket is also used to group things into categories. It is used for instance in Marketing to categorize a target market or in plain words, a group of people who should buy a particular brand.

This is the way for brands to know better than to sell disposable diapers to a teenager whose sole pre-occupation are boys and the latest fashion.

The super sorter

A bracket is then used to divide and group a market to make marketing efforts easier and more focused. So that the group that is most likely to be the buyers are further sorted into brackets of age, gender, socio-economic class, and so forth.

A bracket is very valuable to marketing as this decides the way something is sold and bought. Imagine a world without brackets-everything would be so random and arbitrary.

As first established, it is human nature to label and organize, so much so that it tends to become an obsession. Take beer for instance. There are several types of beer under one umbrella brand. There’s the light beer for people who don’t like the heavy feeling of booze but want the same buzz. Then there’s the beer with the stronger alcoholic content for the hard core drinkers. There’s the diet beer to follow the latest low carbohydrate diet fad. Then there’s the plain regular kind for the plain old regular type folks.

All those types of beer to choose from, thanks to the the bracket.

Let there be light

According to the Bible, in the beginning there was nothing. Then from nothing, came light and we could see everything and then came the need to identify and segregate.

Without labels and categories, all things far and wide would just be the same, with no identifying differences. There will be no need for several types of beer that in the end will just make you drunk no matter what type it is. No need to first divide the same apple illustrations on the board only to multiply them together later.

Thus, the bracket was invented.

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Lessons from the Dying