How To Sell
Books By Mail
Now that you have written
that attractive report, how are you
going to sell it? Perhaps
you have already tried by placing a
carefully written classified
or maybe a large display ad, then
waited for the postman
to pile the flood of orders in your box.
What happened? The odds
are 100 to 1 that you came up with a
couple of orders for all
the time and effort. Why? You see
continuous ads, small ones
and full page $4,000 ads in
newspapers, and magazines
offering books and information. Many of
them are repeated over
and over again by the same advertiser. You
know that they are making
it or they could not continue to
advertise month after month.
How are they making it when you
don't seem to have any
luck?
By examining the operations
of these successful people we find
that they use several simple
and easy methods to produce
excessive profits in the
Mail Order Book Selling Business. When
you know these methods
and put them to work for yourself you will
find that you too have
the opportunity to make big money in this
business.
To start yourself on the
road to success in writing your own
books and reports then
selling them...Anytime and every time you
think of an idea or book
title, write it down immediately.
Regardless of how idiotic
it may appear to you at first, it could
be the ingredient you need
to start you on the way to a fortune.
File your notes and look
them over periodically. You put yourself
in a position whereby you
have a good chance to come up with an
idea or a title that will
be a real money-making "Blockbuster."
If you are writings are
about your own experiences on an
inspirational or how-to
subject, consider writing the book as
well as the ads that sell
it, in the "first person". This gives
the reader the feeling
he is getting personal communication and
is not just a number in
a computer.
Many in Mail Order business,
including ourselves, have indicated
that it is not a good policy
and often a waste of time and money
to advertise in a general
daily or weekly newspaper. This is true
under ordinary circumstances,
but we find that when you have a
real "strong" title it
pays to place conservative "test" ads in
the newspaper in order
to learn the results quickly. However one
must keep extensive records
in order to compare results and
determine if they may have
a winner.
When tests indicate you
have a winner, all that is left too do is
expand the advertising
in the proper media and fill orders. It is
advisable to structure
the price of your book so an offer will
stand an advertising expense
of at least one-half of the selling
price. You need to spend
this much for advertising in order to be
successful.
A 100% guarantee is a
must in the book selling business. Not
everyone who purchases
your book, regardless oh how "great" it
is, is going to benefit
from it. There are always a few who will
want their money back.
You must have a unique guarantee which
reassures them they haven't
spent their money until they are
satisfied. This can be
done in many different ways, such as
holding their checks for
30 days or longer before depositing
them.
For the author/self-publisher,
selling by mail is really the only
way to go. The production
costs are low because the value is in
the information, not necessary
in the number of pages written.
Mail Order is one of the
finest businesses ever for the little
guy who wants the opportunity
to try for the big "bucks"! All
you have to do is test
with just small expenditure, correct your
mistakes and let the business
expand itself!
Action pictures used in
your ads get fabulous results if handled
right. Especially productive
are ideas showing your product in
action. Search out the
drawings and pictures used in better ads
that run month after month
to learn what effective copywriting is
all about, then use the
same ideas for your comparative
publication.
If you are able to write
a "self improvement' book or handbook
with very valuable information
and at the same time make it
lively, witty and interesting,
you could have the makings of a
million dollar winner.
After your first tests prove reasonable,
determine if a more reasonable
price structure will produce
better net profit through
appealing to a large audience. When you
find it hitting real
good, promote it in every way possible.
Send out several hundred
copies to book reviewers to get
write-ups in as many publications
as possible. Learn to deal with
the many small booksellers
and bookstores, or cooperate with some
large distributors to get
the books out through their normal
channels.
As you grow and progress,
build up and maintain your name lists.
Make them available to
other firms who wish to make offers to
proven buyers.
When you find the right
combination (title, body and ad), a lot
of money can be made in
a short time and it is a great thrill to
write and ad, test it,
and see the money pouring in from your own
creative ability.
The large publishing companies
use a shotgun approach, publishing
many titles when profiting
from the few successful ones. They
can't begin to market effectively
all the many books on their
list and try to sell your
book through them is generally futile.
Do it yourself and control
the entire operation. If it doesn't go
you can cut if off before
heavy promotional expenditures bury
you. You remain flexible
and diversified when you are your own
publisher.
Run some small classified
advertisements in the Wall Street
Journal and other good
publications, to get inquires. When enough
books are sold to more
than cover the cost of the ads and
mailings, slowly, as the
profits build up, run more and larger
ad. As sells prove your
publications to be winners, you can run
full pages ads in national
magazines, inviting direct orders with
a coupon included in the
ads.
Remember, as you sit down
to write, the information should be
about something in which
you are knowledgeable and interested, or
something you have throughly
reasearched. It must have some value
for the readers and they
should benefit by having read it. If it
is not helpful to the reader
and the benefits are not there,
sells cannot be sustained.
In summary, your book
must fill a genuine need; the price
structure must be correct,
there has to be a large or mass market
for the information in
your book, your advertising must be
believeable, you must offer
a strong guarantee, you must test
throughly before investing
substantial amounts to promote and
sell the book.
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