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We were away last week on our annual beach vacation, and it got me thinking about how the mix of my reading materials has changed. I brought with me some novels that I wanted to read, but also printouts of several Internet newsletters I hadn't previously found time to read.
I'd say about a third to a half of what I read now is online, mostly Internet newsletters about writing, ecommerce and auctions. I wondered if the habits of others have changed as much, or if I'm just an "early adapter."
In case you're wondering why these musings are relevant to this issue, it's because we're running a Q & A with Jim Cockrum. Jim has found a way to make a lot of money selling what we in the biz call "info products": e-books or "special reports" on certain niche topics of interest.
They usually contain information that you can't find in the bookstore, because 1) the industry changes too quickly to translate well into a print product with long lead time; and 2) they're published by individuals or small lean 'n mean firms who don't want to go the traditional publishing route. Sometimes it's because they want to retain all the profits to their book sales, or they wish to bypass the long involved publishing route, or for other reasons.
So read Jim's story, and give some thought to what special knowledge you might spin into an info product of your own. They're easy to produce, easily relistable on auction sites, have little to no overhead, and, my favorite feature, 100% of the profit is yours!
Speaking of books, I wanted to remind everyone to check out MyEZsale's Bookshelf, and click on "Bookshelf" on the menu on the left, or go to http://www.myezsale.com/cab/pages/bookstore. And, if you have book recommendations to make for the shelf, please send them my way! We'll be constantly adding to it as we go along.
Our other featured piece is about something we all need to generate to keep our sales humming: word of mouth. Only, in this case, it's "Word of Web," as GotMarketing.com founder Lynda Partner aptly describes it.
Just as those books, newspapers, and info products all compete for mindshare, all the products out there are competing in crowded fields for market share. How can you harness word-of-mouth to make your product plant a seed of need (or want) in your customers' already crowded brains?
Some folks are using a concept called "viral marketing," where people are encouraged to forward the message on to their friends. Lynda shows us the right way to go about this, and pitfalls to avoid.
I'd be interested to hear from you about your own "mindshare." What things make the cut into your own brain? Your local paper? Internet newsletters? The backs of cereal boxes? Feel free to write me about it. See you next issue!
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