Selling Is Not a Dirty Word for Authors and Professionals

Selling – a word that strikes terror in writers and professionals. We love to write. We love our work. We love to speak. We hate to SELL.

Our print and ebooks may go unread because we don’t get the word out. Our products and services don’t sell because we don’t include enough benefits in a sales message to give our buyers a reason to buy. Maybe that’s because we imagine the used car salesman or the vacuum sales person. They annoyed us because they didn’t listen, they pushed, and we felt attacked.

When you think of selling, think of sharing the love that went into your book, product, or service and the unique, important benefits it delivers. Think, “Now that I’ve planted this garden, I want to reap its harvest. If I don’t share the word with others, my garden will die from lack of attention.”

If you are like me, you will want to put both your attention and intention on your book, product, or service. Yes, use powerful words to describe your products. Think about using content marketing to let your audience know what you do, your skills, your products and your service. Attraction marketing still sells. The #1 online business trend is posting your content where it will be seen by your specific audience.

Published on December 14, 2011 at 12:41 PM by Judy Cullins

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Discussion Forum Etiquette – Promoting Your Book

by Dave Bricker

These 10 tips on forum etiquette shared by Dave Bricker will make sure your comments in the LinkedIn groups work to set you apart as the trusted authority in your niche or the go to person in your genre. I’m glad to say he’s also in my LinkedIn Book Writing, Self-Publishing and Book Marketing group at www.bookcoaching.com/linkedin

Discussion forums are a powerful medium for promoting your book, your art or your business. Facebook, LinkedIn and other communities are a major source of traffic for blogs and websites, but whether you post directly or embed links in responses to others’ posts, make good forum etiquette a priority. There are important rules to play the forum game by. Break the rules too many times and you’ll lose your community.

Published on November 30, 2011 at 9:10 PM by Judy Cullins

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Three Big Profitable Book Marketing Steps You Can’t Sell Without

You may have concerns like my recent client, Bob. He wants to market all of his books on one site; his website is almost virgin – unfinished, without ways to get his audience of women whose husbands are cheating, to interact and respect him as a trusted authority on infidelity in marriage.

In this 30-minute strategy phone session, he got these answers from me to help shorten his book marketing learning curve in half!

Published on October 26, 2011 at 10:13 AM by Judy Cullins

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What Writing Actions Are You Taking Now for Your Blog or Book?

Do you feel overwhelmed with too much information coming at you for help writing a book? Do you wonder where to start with your blog? What writing strategies you need in order to write a marketable book or a highly read blog? And, how do you get your content finished in a short time?

For each book, blog or other writing project I want to do, each month and each week I write goals, strategies, and writing actions in my “Success Book” organizer. We writers need to first plan a strategy, then take action on it each day, finally to schedule our writing each day – all to write a profitable book or blog post that will help sell our book.

Published on October 10, 2011 at 12:02 PM by Judy Cullins

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What’s Your Rush? A Lesson in Book Event Planning

I know Phil’s work as a book coach. He’s creative and tells a good story. You’ll love this one!

Welcome to the Coach’s Corner!

A man accompanies his pregnant wife to her doctor’s visit. She’s four months along and everything’s been going very well. The doctor announces a due date: March 21.

“Aw, shucks,” says dad. “We were hoping for a Valentine’s baby.”

The doctor nods with a smile. “Well, March will be a fine month, too.”

Published on August 30, 2011 at 1:40 PM by Judy Cullins

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Will the Luck Leprechaun Bring You Book Sales?

You notice the big names making a huge financial success from their books. You may say, “How Lucky. I’m not, I need to catch a “lucky” break to earn more.”

I see this as the Luck Leprechaun Myth.

It looks like magic, doesn’t it? And you still feel you should be there too.

Take a Reality Check to Get the “Luck” you Want for More Book Sales

1. Invest More Time in Your Promotion.

Write and post blog articles to post in LinkedIn discussions, Facebook fan pages, and Twitter that show benefits to your primary audience on why your book is the right choice. After reading your stellar articles, your audience will trust you more and invest time at your site, where you sell your products and services.

Published on July 26, 2011 at 2:16 PM by Judy Cullins

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What Specific Marketing Actions are You Taking This Week?

For each book or joint business venture project, each month and each week I write goals, strategies, and promotion actions in my “Book and Business Marketing Plan.”

This week, I’ve written specific 3 High Level Activities (HLAs) each day in my organizer. I write them the day before so my subconscious works on them all night. I face my HLAs with high energy and an attitude of having fun, usually in the morning.

Here’s My 5 Day HLA Examples…

Mon July 11

HLA 1–Finish my 8 interview questions for my upcoming free book marketing program.
HLA 2–Create a new blog article on the power of blogs.
HLA 3– Finish my updated branding story for my “About Judy” website page.

Published on July 22, 2011 at 12:21 PM by Judy Cullins

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Promote Your Book and Your Message with Teleseminars

by D’vorah Lansky

As an author, providing additional ways for your audience to connect with you and hear the message of your book will grow your business and increase your book sales. Teleseminars provide you with a platform to reach and connect with your audience.

Teleseminars also provide you with the raw material to create additional books as well as a wide variety of other products and programs. From audio recordings—which can be sold as downloads or CDs—to an eCourse or eBook created from audio transcripts, the possibilities are seemingly endless.

A powerful way to connect with your audience and build a relationship is to provide them with ways to hear your voice, your enthusiasm, and your message. This will give them a sense of who you are and provide a way for them to get to know you. Offering teleseminars is an extremely effective way to accomplish this goal.

Published on July 19, 2011 at 4:24 PM by Judy Cullins

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What a Literary Agent Wants From You When you Contact Them

I’ve known literary agent, Michael Larsen, for many years. If you write non-fiction, you’d be lucky to work with him. Here’s what he wants as he responds to an recent email from an author.

Many thanks for writing about your book. Out of necessity, our goal is to sell books to New York houses, and they want writers with a platform and a strong promotion plan. Because we can usually tell from a platform and a plan if we can help a writer, that’s where we like to start.

Published on May 11, 2011 at 11:52 AM by Judy Cullins

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The Missing Link to Online Book Marketing and Business Success

So many steps. So many new learning curves. We dash from Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn without purpose.

Your book is ready for its audience. You’ve joined Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and are commenting away. These actions seem useful, but maybe not. Without a purposeful plan, such as setting goals, you may be wasting time on low priority tactics that don’t bring book sales.

Successful authors and business people all have a marketing plan for a launch and for lifetime residual income. This should be followed by a set of tactics called promotion actions. And included should be a timetable of what do when, and how often.

Published on May 2, 2011 at 9:45 PM by Judy Cullins

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5 Tips to Market Your Fiction Book like Mrs. Fields Cookies

Most authors assume that only non-fiction books can be promoted online, especially on blog articles and posts.

Wait a minute. Fiction writers can too. When you write a great excerpt and post it in your blog, fiction lovers will see it and come back to where you sell your book, whether it be your Print on Demand website or your own.

You can market poetry, a memoir, a mystery, or a novel with short “articles” such as when you write about your main character’s conflicts and get your audience engaged in his or her struggles.

Like Mrs. Fields toll-house cookies, you give a taste of your book free to thousands of people online who love fiction that moves them emotionally and physically. As a fiction reader myself, I love the barriers a sympathetic character overcomes. If fiction is full of action, I will read it.

Published on February 15, 2011 at 11:07 AM by Judy Cullins

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Are you Paralyzed About your Book Marketing?

Maybe you don’t know what to do to bring the biggest return on your time investment (ROI). Maybe you’ve tried the latest tactic because you heard it’s the way to go, and not gotten the results you expected. Maybe you are an introvert, or don’t like pitching, and just wish someone else would do it for you. In any case, you may not have the clear information you need to take the next step to be your own best promoter for your book.

Before you leap to another strategy, review these pre-marketing questions that a good full-service book coach will ask you before you set a promotion strategy:

Published on February 7, 2011 at 9:33 PM by Judy Cullins

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What Kinds of Marketing Are You Doing for Your Book or Business?

Please name your title, then in numbers 1. 2. and 3. And results if you have them.

For my most popular how to books “Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast” and “LinkedIn Marketing: 8 Best Tactics to Build your Book and Business Sales” I love these ways the best.

1. Write 2-3X a week a WordPress blog post relating to your book’s topic.

Make these full of useful information. Why do this? Your targeted web traffic will zoom more than 50% in just 6 months. Mine went from 2000 a month to 4000 a month since I practice what I preach in my LinkedIn book, chapter 5. These visitors turn into book sales after trust is established.

Published on January 21, 2011 at 11:21 AM by Judy Cullins

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Market your Book on a Budget Check and Correct List

Put a “no” next to the ones you don’t have going for you.

1. You have hired a bookcoach or Sherpa that offers books, seminars, and 1 to 1 sessions to make sure each of your chapters will engage their readers to finish and recommend your book. (word of mouth still works).

2. You have created chapter titles that brand you and your business. That’s how the big selling authors of non-fiction do it.

Published on November 24, 2010 at 12:33 PM by Judy Cullins

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Book Marketing – 9 Ways to Get all the Book and Web Sales You Want

Most new book coaching clients who come for book marketing don’t know the big business picture that will assure their financial success.

Two Things I know from 25 years coaching and 11 years online:

1. When your visitor comes to your site, they are not looking to buy, but to check you out. They want to see immediately what you can do for them. No mission statements on the first page. No copy about you. Aim your copy about your book to your audiences’ wants and needs. Give compassion toward your visitor. Understand them, and write copy to attract, educate and entertain them. And, you’ll need to recheck and update your website so that you can sell your books and services there automatically. That also means some long-tail key word knowledge. This all took me about 5 years to master.
2. You need to get more people to know you, trust you and like you before they will come to your site. One way is to use social media marketing to attract your audience to your website where you sell your products or services.

Remember, the web changes all the time and you need to keep up with those changes if you want to be known, revered, respected, and contacted by your primary audience (market).

Published on November 2, 2010 at 8:08 AM by Judy Cullins

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Conquer Your Fear of the Internet to Sell Your Books – Interview

Judy Cullins, 25 year book coach wants to convince you to use the Internet to market your book because it is so cost and time effective. With 25 years of book coaching and 11 years online, Cullins makes some very convincing arguments.

Cullins helps authors learn writing for books, articles, blogs, and
web site sales letters in her many teleseminars, group coaching events and one on one coaching.

Having written 13 ebooks herself along with her “Write your eBook or Other Short Book-Fast” in print at Amazon, she advocates this easily accessible technology as a way for a writer to help build a platform. Her focus is on business people who make no bones about wanting to brand themselves and make some cash selling books. Cullins answered questions via email, including some about the struggle some writers have about turning their writing into a commercial enterprise. Even in her answers you’ll see her deft ability to promote. She says that to sell anything, you must be seen.

Published on October 28, 2010 at 9:10 AM by Judy Cullins

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Create a Wealth Stream with the BIG 3 Marketing Machine

Would you just love to have a 24/7 sales team automatically working for you so you don’t have to even leave your office? Would you like to see how your eBook, special report, and articles or blog posts as part of what I call “The Big Three Marketing Machine”? Open your mind to discover the great power of these now.

One. The Short eBook

I believe in quality, so put some effort into your book to build your reputation and credibility to be the expert in your field.

Your ebook can be anywhere from 20-100 pages of a similar topic as your article and special report. It has sections or chapters. Each nonfiction book chapter will have a title and sub-title reflecting the particular problem you will solve. For each chapter, you will use the “Fast-Forward Writing Technique” (Ch 2 or my writing book) that is a blueprint for creating an engaging chapter with just one edit.

Published on September 10, 2010 at 10:22 AM by Judy Cullins

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Online Marketing Tip – Leverage your Testimonials

After pinpointing 10 top business authors and social media strategists, with whom I had exchanged ideas with, I sent an email asking for testimonials based on my new Linkedin marketing book. When they said yes, I emailed the PDF and got back 10 strong testimonials naming specific benefits. I used a shorter version on my other social media related groups, blogs, and my site. They got a valuable book,
their name as reviewer, and I got invaluable publicity and promotion.

Six Steps to Leverage your Testimonials

1. Shorten them, keeping benefits and post on your Facebook Fan Page (as they will post on theirs) with a link to where your product is sold.

2. Use part of the review on your Web site’s landing page sales letter where your product, CD, audio, video or service is offered.

Published on July 16, 2010 at 9:15 AM by Judy Cullins

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What’s your Favorite Book Promotion and Why?

Here’s my 9 best online promotion tips…

1. Create 5-10 informational and how to articles for Ezinearticles.com that is a high traffic site, so more of your audience will see your information, your resource box that offers a free eBook, newsletter, special report, or YouTube tips at your site. Submit them either to a high-traffic directory or your own blog the minute your book-selling website is finished.

Published on July 12, 2010 at 7:41 AM by Judy Cullins

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Sell Your Book Using Your Table of Contents

Maybe you offer your book’s Table of Contents on your Web site. Alone, it won’t do much, but if you use a benefits approach for each chapter title, you will sell many more books. Here’s what I just sent my coaching a client on her yoga book of seven chapters that may help you too.

One web sales letter headline read:

“Inside each power-packed chapter of
“Write your eBook or Other Book Fast,” Find These Benefits and Features…

Ch. 1. Why Write a Book?

The best way to brand your business with you as the expert in your field is to author a book. It’s cheaper, faster, and better received than CD’s, audios, articles or blogs.

Published on June 30, 2010 at 9:09 AM by Judy Cullins

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(C) 2012 Judy Cullins. Skills Unlimited Publishing.