Don’t Be An Expert, Be A Filter (secrets To Selling More Books)
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- July 2nd, 2009 |
- Comments
So, how much would you pay individual to analyze finished your email each morning, deleting the garbage and presenting you with the 5 (out of 500) emails you need to respond to? If you already have individual like that, lucky you! But if you don’t, I bet this sounds like a dream. In the age of a constant flood of information, consumers will pay good money for a filter. So if you deprivation to sell books, be the go-to person for your market.
If you’re inquisitive how to become a filter, give any cerebration to the filters you may not even be aware of. For example, in the book publishing market I can remember cardinal major ones: Dan Poynter and John Kremer. Both of them are filters. Why? Advantageously, they have zeroed in on their focused market and have become the go-to people for everything publishing and marketing. We have organic Author Marketing Experts the same artifact: all book marketing, all the time.
Piece you’ll find filters in different markets, they apportion a lot of the same characteristics. Filters are out thither weeding finished information so you don’t have to, and so they are posting their findings on their site, blog, or talking about it in their podcast. Sometimes they’re doing a combination of all of these things to keep their readers informed.
Next, filters are so laser focused in their market that not only can they filter out the “noise” for you so you don’t have to, they can so compartmentalize the noise into sub-filters. These sub-filters become even more big, and here’s why. Increasingly, we are living in an age of customization. I mean when was the last time you bought an entire CD or read an entire newspaper? More than likely you’re buying your music one song at a time on iTunes, or you’re reading your news selectively or, in many cases, finished RSS feeds that allow you to dab into only the content that you deprivation. We’ll put all of this unitedly in a moment, but for now, start cerebration about the customized element to what you’re doing.
The tools we have at our disposal (many of them free) make becoming a filter extremely easy. Blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, all of these help us to build our filter and hence, build our audience. But before you launch headlong into filtering, consider these quick tips:
Becoming a filter requires dedication, but the benefits will pay off in distance you can’t imagine (and many that will fill your bank account). When I talk about dedication, what I mean is *you* must read every publication that’s out thither on your issue so your reader doesn’t have to, and more than that, you should read outside of your area of expertise because you never know where the big ideas will come from. Accept an afternoon, once a month, and devour your reading material. I read an average of 27 magazines a month. Yes, it can be overwhelming (at times), but the upside is that you are constantly staying dialed into your market. That’s the first block to becoming a filter.
Be crystal clear about what you’re filtering. If you’re motion in a huge market like, let’s have automotive, you probably don’t deprivation to talk about every single car that’s out thither or being developed. Perhaps you deprivation to focus only on hybrid vehicles. Now your direction is clear. Once you have this direction, your site should reflect that. Your site should be the first marketing piece you look at as you’re developing your focus.
Next, ask yourself if your book is a filter. If it’s not, it should be. Being a filter is tougher for fiction authors of course, but you non-fiction folks should have no ail leveraging this into your books.
Blog, podcast, and compose, compose, compose on trends, reviews, hot new ideas and things that are so-so. I always tell people that I am my own attempt lab. If you deprivation to attempt something new in marketing, check with me first. It’s likely that I’ve already proved it on myself. In fact, all of our programs are built from things I proved first. If I don’t like it, or it didn’t activity, I won’t sell it. That’s a filter. And I’m not just talking about filtering block you can offer to a client, be objective! Be a filter for the competition, also, and by all means, send people to other vendors if they can offer what you can’t. Remember, the customer/reader came to you first.
Make customization your best friend. So, let’s consume our car example again. Let’s have you wrote a book on hybrid cars and your computer is all about hybrids as is your blog, newsletter and podcast. But now you have built your brand sufficiently, and it’s time to break out into new areas. How about this: ebooks for focused markets. Quick and easy tips, like “Buying a hybrid for seniors” or “Buying a hybrid for families.” The key to remember is that each of these markets has its own circumstantial needs. When it comes to buying a car, the needs of a family are different from those of a adult or single.
What’s your brand? Everyone’s a brand, even Nora Roberts. Becoming a filter will help you brand yourself. Remember that people don’t buy a book, they buy a brand. If you’re clear on your brand, you’ll sell more books. Figuring out your branding doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be focused. I’m not talking about the kind of branding that requires hours of logo development. I’m not even talking about a brand that’s necessarily original. Yes, you deprivation to be single, but the key isn’t doing something no one else is doing, the key is doing it better.
So how can you become a filter? What’s your market and focus? Perhaps you’re cerebration that you can apply any of these principles, but not all of them. That’s OK! The abstraction to remember is that being an expert is pass