Seth Godin: When Publishing Ebooks, Shorter Is Better

In an email today, Seth Godin of The Domino Project wrote the following:

My theory about non-fiction books is validated. When they’re electronic, people vastly prefer short ones.

I think holding the book in your hand gives you one measure of value (heavy!) while reading a short one electronically gives you the satisfaction of knowing you finished it.

I agree with Seth. With electronic books (ebooks in any format), shorter is better.

With print books, hefty still has a premium quality to it. Just try lifting my 1001 Ways to Market Your Books - a good workout any time.

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

I love the eyeballs course. Clear, easy to implement, and rich with resources. - Rick Maurer, author of The Magic List

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Promoting The Magic List: The First Steps

Guest post by Rick Mauer

My book, The Magic List, is a free ebook based on a simple tool I developed to help my clients see where people might support – or resist – them as they start to lead a big change in their organizations.

Here are three reasons why I wrote the ebook:

1. Give my clients a quick way to begin to apply the concept of the list in their own work.

2. Get the book in as many hands as possible in order to generate interest in my consulting and speaking services.

3. Attract a publisher who would be interested in an expanded version of The Magic List (this is the least important goal).

I posted the ebook last month. To date, people have clicked on the book 1,357 times. It has been downloaded somewhere between 1,000 and 1,100 times. I have no way of knowing how many of those people might have downloaded the book and sent links to their own circle of colleagues.

Here is what I did to get the ball rolling:

Title: I hired copywriter David Garfinkel to suggest a title. In addition to giving me a title and a sub-title that I love (The Magic List: Secrets of Successful Organizational Change), he gave me copy for the cover that I think will draw people in.

Timing: I timed the publication of the e-book to coincide with a keynote I was delivering on that topic to a group of organization development professionals.

Twitter: I tweeted about the ebook a couple of times so far (and will continue to send tweets related to the book). I was glad to see that some people retweeted the link. One of those people has a Twitter list of nearly 5,000 names.

Email Newsletter: I sent an email newsletter out to about 4,500 people. I mentioned it in that newsletter twice since the book went live.

Personal Emails: I sent personal emails to a select list of my contacts with a link to the ebook. Most of these emails included some personal message so that they would know that I was writing to them and not sending out a blast e-mail.

LinkedIn: I mentioned this book on LinkedIn. (500+ people).

Facebook: I posted a link on my business Facebook page at http://www.FaceBook.com/rickmaureronchange (275+ people)

Open Source Project: Before starting the Facebook page, I created the Change Management Open Source Project. It had over 1000 members at the time I made the switch to Facebook. I sent an announcement about The Magic List to that original list a couple of times.

Speaker Bureaus: I sent a hard copy of the ebook to a list of about 40 speaker bureaus. I wanted them to see just how good the book looked. (My designer did a great job.) I figured that they were likely to at least open an envelope and see the cover. I thought that just sending a link in an email would have a much lower open and click-through rate.

I plan to continue all of the social media activities listed above and expand that work by applying John Kremer’s 15,000 Eyeballs approach. This article is the first step in that process.

About the Author

Rick Maurer is an advisor to leaders in mid-sized to large organizations on ways to build support for change. In addition to this ebook, he is author of Beyond the Wall of Resistance (1996 and 2010), Why Don’t You Want What I Want? 2002), and Feedback Toolkit (1994 and 2011).

You can email him at rick@rickmaurer.com. You can read and download The Magic List at: http://www.rickmaurer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/TheMagicList-V1.pdf.

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Neither Is Right

Al Franken has been running a series of Facebook ads encouraging people to sign a petition about healthcare. His ad reads as follows:

Republicans think your employer should decide what health care you get. Sign here if you think they should butt out of your health care.

Now, that's fine and good - but very distorted. Here is how a Republican ad might read if they followed his distorted pattern:

Democrats think a nameless unapproachable bureaucrat should decide what health care you get. Sign here if you think bureaucrats should butt out of your health care.

Same inflammatory language. Both inaccurate. But that's politicians when they use words to inflame.

If you click on Franken's ad, you are sent to a petition that reads:



Again, here's how a Republican response could look:

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Petition: A Nameless Bureaucrat Is Not My Doctor

Dear Democrats:

Nameless bureaucrats are not my doctor. My health care choices are none of the government's business - and none of yours, either.

Seriously - what's wrong with you guys?

Democrats want to put nameless bureaucrats in charge of your health care.

Are bureaucrats doctors? Probably not. And even if a bureaucrat is a doctor, do you really want bureaucrats deciding what kind of health care you're able to get? Think DMV and food stamp offices.

If Democrats get their way, you could be denied coverage for end of life choices or any other treatment bureaucrats don't feel like you should have. Think 16 oz. diet cokes.

Don't let Democrats turn nameless bureaucrats into your doctor. At least you can talk to your boss.

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Now, personally I don't want my boss to decide my health care choices (although, in my case, I am my boss so, yes, I do make those choices, but if I worked for someone else, I wouldn't want them making my health care choices).

But I also don't want nameless bureaucrats making my health care choices. Actually, this scenario is scarier to me because bureaucrats hide behind rules. Not just government bureaucrats but also corporate bureaucrats. But at least with corporate bureaucrats, you can always choose to opt out. With the new Obamacare rules, you can't. That's sad.

I don't usually rant about politics, but the distorted use of emotive language by Franken rankled me - just as any other distorted use of emotive language would.

And, truth be told, I'm saddened by the Supreme Court ruling today. It opens the door for government intrusion into all areas of our personal lives. Not just a crack but wide open. Very disturbing.

John Kremer

F Scott Fitzgerald on How to Make a Fortune

Here is a great tip on how to make a fortune from one of America's greatest novelists.

"The cleverly expressed opposite of any generally accepted idea is worth a fortune to somebody." - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald



Think about that. Don't always swim with the flow. Sometimes, it's good, smart, and profitable to go against the flow. It might be worth a fortune to you.

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

Blog Tour Palooza: http://www.bookmarket.com/blog-tour-palooza.htm - How to carry out a blog tour or virtual book tour that gets millions of impressions, builds your brand, and sells thousands of books. $297

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Seth Godin on the Coming Book Publishing Crisis

Below is an excerpt from a blog post Seth Godin wrote over at The Domino Project:

I did a show at the NBC headquarters in NY a few weeks ago. I’m guessing that it costs them about $6,000 a minute to make a news show in the studio. That counts the painters, set guys, three camera operators and their assistants, lighting guys, producer, executive producer, on-air talent, makeup people - all working from some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

Cable shows cost less. And now online shows are being made by people like Demand Media for the cost of about $2000 a minute. Video podcasts and professional YouTube stuff is down to, I’m guessing here, less than $500 a minute.

What happens to the market leaders when there’s no restriction on what gets on the air and when the competitors have a cost basis that’s 10% of yours?

The same thing just happened to books. A New York City publisher probably needs $2000 a page to acquire, edit, typeset, print and distribute a book (making up a number from thin air). A self-published ebook author needs $1 a page.

If the viewer/reader doesn’t treat the two products as fundamentally different, if reading or watching one is a replacement for the other, then a crisis is right around the corner.

John's Comments: But a crisis is only around the corner for the big publishers who spend way too much on publishing books by celebrities and not enough on books with real substance.

That's the real crisis: The total lack of true book curation by the larger publishers. Where are the great book editors of the 1930's?

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Reba McEntire on Succeeding in Life

To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funnybone. — Reba McEntire, country singer

Related Articles:

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Kindle Ebook Giveaways: Are They Worth It?

Are the Kindle ebook giveaways enabled by Amazon's Kindle Select program worth doing?

On May 8 and 9, 2012, Steve Miller offered his personal finance book, Enjoy the Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It, free for two days as a Kindle ebook.

According to Steve, he didn't really do anything else to promote the giveaway except for small mentions on a book marketing listserv and a book marketing forum.

Here are the results of Steve's Kindle ebook giveaway:

First day ebook downloads - 327 people downloaded his ebook on the first day.

Second day ebook downloads - Over 17,000 people downloaded the ebook on the second day.

Increased ebook sales - After the freebie promotion, he went from selling 1 ebook a day to 12 ebooks a day consistently.

Maintaining ebook sales ranks - 4 weeks after the ebook giveaway, Enjoy the Money! still ranks #1 or #2 in the Kindle ebook store for real estate ebooks. It also ranks #5 for career ebooks and #7 for investment ebooks.

Increased Amazon income - These sales increased his Amazon income by $500 per month.

Paperback book sales - He did not see any immediate increase in sales for the paperback edition of Enjoy the Money!

Long-term paperback sales - But, over time, he has seen sales of the paperback increase from 3 copies the week before the giveaway to 16 sales during the first week of June (which he attributed to the Kindle giveaway promotion in May).

If you'd like to read Steve's entire post on the Kindle ebook giveaway, check out http://kwmccabe.blogspot.com/2012/06/want-to-sell-more-books.html.

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

Blog Tour Palooza: http://www.bookmarket.com/blog-tour-palooza.htm - How to carry out a blog tour or virtual book tour that gets millions of impressions, builds your brand, and sells thousands of books. $297

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Amazon Bestseller Campaign: The Inside Secrets to Becoming a Real Bestselling Author on Amazon.com: http://www.bookmarket.com/amazon.htm - You can create a true bestseller on Amazon using the step-by-step guidelines included in this multimedia course. Was $297, but now only $97.

New York Times Bestseller Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/newyorktimesbestsellers.htm - This program offers unprecedented access to the most up-to-date book marketing resources and insider tips to help any author create a New York Times bestselling book. Was $297, but now only $97.

3 Reasons to Social Network to Build Your Author Platform

Guest post by Nina Amir

Social networking can be a time sink, but it doesn't have to be. More importantly, social networking is a publicity must for any author. There are platforms to be built on social networks. You can build one there.

If you want to build your author platform, start here:

Create a Fan Base on Major Social Networks.

Set up profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. Your fans on these networks might later purchase your book. They also may circulate the information you post—the links to your blog posts, the date of your book release, the times and places where you are speaking or teaching. This allows their followers to read your status updates and click on your links, which, in turn, increases the chance that new people might check you out, read your blog, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you, purchase your book, etc.

Develop Expert Status.

Every time you participate in forums and groups, such as those on Facebook and LinkedIn, or in any way post information about your topic, you demonstrate your expertise and give other people in those groups, forums, and social networks a chance to notice this. They will look at your profile. They will click on the links you have provided and then possibly choose to subscribe to your blog, follow, or connect with you on a social network, or in some way become fans.

Increase Your Searchability.

Work to increase the searchability of your name, your book title, and your website or blog. Each time you join a network, you create a profile that includes a link that can be found in search engines. This profile also may have a place to link back to your website or blog, which can increase traffic to your blogged book. Most profiles also can include your name, your book title, and your website.Because social networks already rank highly in search engines, your profiles make all of your information more findable via searches.

All three of the above features of social networks are key reasons why you need to get involved in social networking.



About the Author

The author of ten books, including How to Blog a Book, Nina Amir is an editor, consultant, and coach. Her clients’ books have sold 230,000+ copies and landed deals with top publishers. The founder of Write Nonfiction in November, she writes four blogs and two Examiner.com columns.

For information on her services, visit CopyWright Communications. To find all her blogs, go to http://www.ninaamir.com.

Not Everything That Counts Can Be Counted

Not everything that counts can be counted.

You can count sales. You can count fans and followers. You can count pins and tweets.

But you can't count passion. You can't count commitment. You can't count engagement. You can't count real relationships.

- John Kremer, author



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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

Blog Tour Palooza: http://www.bookmarket.com/blog-tour-palooza.htm - How to carry out a blog tour or virtual book tour that gets millions of impressions, builds your brand, and sells thousands of books. $297

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Amazon Bestseller Campaign: The Inside Secrets to Becoming a Real Bestselling Author on Amazon.com: http://www.bookmarket.com/amazon.htm - You can create a true bestseller on Amazon using the step-by-step guidelines included in this multimedia course. Was $297, but now only $97.

New York Times Bestseller Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/newyorktimesbestsellers.htm - This program offers unprecedented access to the most up-to-date book marketing resources and insider tips to help any author create a New York Times bestselling book. Was $297, but now only $97.

Seth Godin: A Book in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush

Guest post by Seth Godin

For books under $20 (which means just about all ebooks), all that matters is volume. Not margin, but volume.

A book in the hand of a reader is far more likely to lead to another book sold. Bestsellers become bestsellers largely because lots of other people are already reading them.

I know that sounds silly and self-referential, but it reflects the social nature of books. We like to read what others are reading.

So, if you sacrifice half your volume so you can make twice as much on every copy sold, you’ve done nothing smart.

Second, for more and more authors, the book is a calling card. It leads to a movie deal, or a speaking gig, or another book contract, or consulting, or respect, or a better class of cocktail party. That means that the true margin on each book is more and more of these external benefits, not the dollar or three made on each copy.

Yes, you can make a living writing books. But you either need to write a lot of them (Isaac Asimov wrote 400) or sell a bunch of each title. Even better: Make a margin on each book that has nothing to do with the selling price.

The price of the book and the profit margin made on each book are secondary to this goal of making a dent in the conversation among your chosen audience.

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Forbes Celebrity 100 - Congratulations to the 5 Book Authors

Congratulations to the five book authors who made this year's Forbes Celebrity 100 list:



#37 - James Patterson, thriller novelist - $94 million, with 14 new books in 2011.



#66 - Stephen King, horror novelist - $39 million, with two new books in the past 12 months.



#79 - Janet Evanovich, mystery novelist - $33 million, with one new book in the past 12 months.



#82 - John Grisham, thriller novelist - $26 million, with several new books in the past 12 months.



#85 - J.K. Rowling, fantasy novelist - $17 million, a down year for the billionaire author.

Of course, there were other book authors also on the list (who are known more for their work in other fields): Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, Glenn Beck, Tina Fey, Donald Trump, Tiger Woods, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Ellen DeGeneres, Jay-Z, David Letterman, and Eva Longoria (among others).

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15,000 Eyeballs Internet Marketing Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/15000eyeballs.htm - Ten lessons on how to get thousands of impressions for you, your book, your blog, or your website. $50

Blog Tour Palooza: http://www.bookmarket.com/blog-tour-palooza.htm - How to carry out a blog tour or virtual book tour that gets millions of impressions, builds your brand, and sells thousands of books. $297

Real Fast Book Marketing: http://www.bookmarket.com/realfastbookmarketing.htm - How to sell 100 to 200 copies of any book in two weeks or less. $97

Book Marketing Magic: http://www.bookmarket.com/novelmarketing.htm - How to market novels, children's books, memoirs, and more. $48

Amazon Bestseller Campaign: The Inside Secrets to Becoming a Real Bestselling Author on Amazon.com: http://www.bookmarket.com/amazon.htm - You can create a true bestseller on Amazon using the step-by-step guidelines included in this multimedia course. Was $297, but now only $97.

New York Times Bestseller Program: http://www.bookmarket.com/newyorktimesbestsellers.htm - This program offers unprecedented access to the most up-to-date book marketing resources and insider tips to help any author create a New York Times bestselling book. Was $297, but now only $97. 

Little Free Libraries: Join in on a Great Idea

I saw an article the other day on a movement started by Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin. It's a great idea.

To honor his book-loving mother, a former teacher, Todd mounted a miniature wooden one-room schoolhouse on a pole in the front yard of his home. He packed it full of books and left a little sign: Take a book - Leave a book.

Within days, even with cold rainy weather, dozens of people took him up on his idea - taking books to read, leaving other books to share with other people. That is how the Little Free Library movement began. There are now thousands of such Little Free Libraries in more than 40 states and 20 countries around the world.

Not only are these Little Free Libraries building more readers, but they are also building closer communities, great friendships, and literate neighborhoods.



To find out how you can be a part of this great movement, check out their website at http://www.littlefreelibrary.org.

Also check out their great gallery of home-made Little Free Libraries from around the world: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/galleries.html.

Enjoy!

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