The Real Value of your Book

There is something that is not immediately apparent to budding authors and that is the real value of your book and the added financial advantages it will bring. I am not referring just to the typical 10% that you can expect from traditional publishers, (or the 20% to 90% that you could expect if you self publish), you can expect in earnings. What I would like to highlight here the “spin offs” that a book generates and that you as an author will accumulate.

First of all there is the enhancements it will bring to your social life with the dinner invitations and speaking engagements you are offered. As an author, your perceived standing will increase and as it does, so will the potential to raise your fees. If you are already earning an income from “Speaking” in some form, then having your name on a book, or better still, a series of books, (even as a joint author), will allow to charge more for your services. This is because people will see you differently. Do not be vain enough to think you are suddenly special or better. You are still the same person, but now you will be able to charge what you are really worth.

As an expert who has written a book, you will find it easier to write and get paid for newsletters and columns, you may even get asked for your comments by the media if your books have a bearing on a topical or current event. You will be able to charge for consulting in your chosen field, hold workshops and chair events. In fact, you will find that just been an author will open many new doors for you both socially and financially. If you already support a charity, the added prestige of being an author will allow you to give even more back to the community.

These are just some of the often unconsidered benefits of writing a book, that should figure into your decisions and long term plans when choosing the topics of your writing. When you start writing your books, you must think where you want to be in five years time, and if your chosen subject will take you there, be it lecturing or conventions. If you are writing with a mind to financial success, you must make the hard decision about how much “mileage” your book will have.

Writing a book is not just a creative process of self discovery that will change you internally. It will also produce unexpected benefits and changes to your life, both financially and socially.

This is the real value your book holds for you.

 

Have you got what it takes?

There is only one way to be successful in selling on-line and that is by hard work. Persistence and dedication are two qualities that are needed to succeed in anything. The great thing about the Internet is that you stand just as much chance as making it as the big corporation, because at the end of the day, it is down to how good is your website.

Here it does not matter how big you are but how much effort you put into making it the best website you can. The good news is there is a lot of help out there and compared to other start up businesses, selling on-line can be started very cheap. There are literally millions of customers out there, all you have to do is build a website that they will want to buy from.

There are also lots of people out there trying to sell you ready made businesses, apparently they run themselves, 24 hours a day, no stock, affiliate based income, you can go to sleep, on holiday and still earn money. Just stop and think about this a minute, would you invest your hard earned money in buying a shop, fill it with cheap stock, put part time assistants behind the counter and then go holiday and have them to post you the cheque?

Would you expect to come back to a thriving business. Anyway is this what you really want? To succeed in on-line selling you have to work hard and work smart to create a website that will attract visitors, a website that people will want to buy from.

You have to work hard to make sure that they are happy and that they will want to come back. You have to give them such a good service, have such a content rich site that they not only keep coming back but they tell their friends as well.

Here is a unique opportunity, you can reach millions of customers around the world. At the other end of your keyboard is a direct sales channel to the future customers of your business. If you wanted to reach even a tiny proportion of this customer base in the past, you would have to produced thousands of catalogues, get them produced, printed and delivered. Even if you had gone the direct mail shot route, it would have taken a terrific outlay in time and money. Think about it, Millions of potential customers a few clicks away.

This has got to be worth a little bit of effort on your part. The difference between successful selling online and a mediocre business is not what they sell but how hard they work to sell it. I am sorry if this is not the answer that you wanted to hear but it is the truth.

You could try selling Five Pound Notes for a Pound but unless people know how and where to find your website and that you are making this amazing offer, you simply will not sell any.

You need to be constantly improving your website and promoting it. So the simple answer is, in a world wide market, with millions of potential customers you can sell also most anything. The really important factor is not what you sell but how you go about selling it.

First you should decide on what sector of the public you want to sell to. This strategy is called "Niche" marketing. Work to develop a niche website and then sell to your visitors products they want to buy. The most important factor here is firstly the actual size of the niche you are appealing to and secondly, the strengths of your competition.

Ideally you should try and find a niche market that is small enough for you to dominate but large enough to provide you with good sales. For instance if you decided to become an Antiquarian bookseller, you would be facing a lot of established traders with huge stocks. What if you searches through the book collectors forums disclosed that there was a big following for Rumanian Folk Dancing books. You would stand a very good chance of becoming THE website for Rumanian Folk Dancing but to keep your customers satisfied you would also have to post articles, news, club meeting dates, as well as selling them the books you have sourced.

So, here is a very important tip, choose a niche that you are really interested in yourself. Building up a successful website will still be hard work but you will enjoy it. Those people that I have met that get up in the morning and look forward to the day's work because they are doing something they love are among the happiest and vibrant people I have met. They have all told me they feel truly blessed.