Three Reasons to Do It Yourself

This morning I packed up a copy of Book Proposals That Sell.  An order for the book came into my shopping cart. I've developed a little pattern of printing the packing receipt, the label and getting it ready to take my post office. When I look at what other authors are doing with their websites, they often send their buyers to Amazon. I understand these authors make this choice because it is easier for them and they do nothing additional and many people already have all the buying details set up on Amazon.

It took me several additional steps to get this book packed up and ready to mail. Why do I bother doing it myself? Here's three great reasons:

1. Make more money through selling directly to the reader than through Amazon or some other places. I purchased these books at a steep discount (something authors need to think about when they contract or create a book). You don't need a shopping cart like I use and can simply use a free PayPal button for the sale. Most readers have a PayPal account so this option is easy for them to use. These readers get the book directly from you and if they prefer it to be autographed, then they have this possibility since they've bought it from the author.

2. Personally touch my readers and add them to my email list. You can learn more details about creating an email list here. My shopping cart is also where I send emails to my list. Every author needs to create and be adding to their email list. More and more editors and literary agents are looking for authors who have email lists and can directly reach their readers.

For my case with Book Proposals That Sell, I have an additional reason. This book has been on the market for a decade. Recently I got a One Star review on Amazon because of the out of date information. Admittedly publishing has changed since this book was first published. Yet the book has over 130 Five Star Amazon reviews. Now I've lowered the price from $15 to $8 and I've “fixed” all of the out of date websites. If you buy the book through my website, then you get these fixed websites through an automatic email (called an autoresponder). Plus you receive other unique bonuses which I've created. Notice my intentional planning: the only way for the reader to get these “extras” is to purchase the book directly from my website.

3. Provide the reader additional value and give them the opportunity to go deeper in this subject area. I wrote Book Proposals That Sell as a frustrated acquisitions editor. Later I wrote and developed other products in the book proposal creation area.  I have a 12 lessons course called Write A Book Proposal. I have a CD package called Editor Reveals Book Proposal Secrets. Finally I have a teleseminar called Proposal Secrets where I interview a number of publishing colleagues about book proposals.

To be honest, packing books is not my favorite task. In addition to having a way for the reader to give you money, mailing supplies like labels and priority envelopes) have to be kept on hand. I've gotten the process down to a few minutes for each one. I'm committed to continuing to mail my own books. 

As an author, you have the greatest vision for what can happen with your book and the deepest passion for it. Let your passion show in how you sell your book. 

Tweetable:

Are you packing and selling your own books? Here's three reasons for every author: (ClickToTweet)

Sell Your Digital Photos & Make Money

Get this: You don’t have to be a professional photographer in order to make money with your digital photos.

That’s right, now even amateur photographers can make money taking pictures. And truth be told, you may already have a goldmine of photos sitting on your hard drive.

Whether you have vacation photos, photos of pets, photos of landscapes or just about anything else, there’s someone out there willing to pay cash for your pictures!

There are plenty of ways to sell your digital photos. Here are three popular ways to do it:

1. Upload your photos to a stock photo site. This is one of the most popular methods. Simply go to a stock photo site like iStockphoto.com and start uploading your photos. You then get cash every time someone buys one of your photos.

There are a few ways to make this strategy more effective, including:

• Finding out what people want to buy. Once you know this, then you can take photos around these subjects.

• Knowing how to advertise your photos. You need to use the right keywords in order to get prospects to notice your photos.

• Editing your photos. Buyers tend to like clean photos that they can upload to their blog, sales page or other web page. Thus if they want a picture of a dog, for example, then they don’t want a whole lot of other stuff in the background of the photo (like your TV and coffee table).

2. Create photo products. Yet another way to make money with your photos is by putting the photos on products, and then selling the products.

Example: You can create and sell photo products such as:

• T-shirts • Wall clocks • Calendars • Posters • Coffee mugs • Jigsaw puzzles

Fortunately, there are a lot of websites that make it easy for you to do this (such as Zazzle.com). Indeed, many of these online sites even let you set up a store to sell your merchandise, meaning you don’t even need your own website to get started making money. And of course you can always have some of the merchandise shipped to yourself so that you can sell it locally.

3. Sell the resell rights to photo packages. Still another way to make money with your photos is by selling your photos to marketers, who then resell your photos to others. In other words, you create a profit opportunity for other people.

Example: A marketer may take a package of 25 of your photos and resell them to web designers. Or maybe the marketer will create websites using your photos and then sell the websites. Or perhaps the marketer will create and sell photo products.

So what’s the advantage to you?

You make money while saving time. Instead of selling your photos one at a time to hundreds or even thousands of customers, you can package your photos and sell them for $100 - $1000 to a handful of marketers. Much easier!

Summary

There you have it – three ways to make money with your photos.

Of course you’ll make more money once you know the details of these methods. And you’ll make more money when you know the other popular ways to make money with your photos. You can download all the details right here inside The 31 Day Guide to Selling Photos Online. I encourage you to check it out because all of the risk is on me. You can use it for 60 days and start selling your photos. This guide is step-by-step guidance to your success in this area of selling photos.

Twist Your Skills in a Different Direction

Many of us have a plan of what we want to do with our writing such as publish a book or write for a publication or get our work out to others online. You’ve worked hard to learn the skill of writing.

Could you take your writing skills in a different direction and find more opportunity and success?

It has happened in my own writing life. At first I wanted to write books yet I wrote magazine articles, radio scripts and many other types of writing. In the midst of heading one direction with your writing, it’s easy to lose sight that your writing skills can be used in a variety of ways.

Today I wanted to write you about one of these other ways. Picture it: Working from home by making your living on eBay^®. No more boring corporate meetings. No more rush hour traffic. No more office politics.

Sound good?

Then you may want to consider starting an exciting career writing and selling products on eBay^®. (Click Here to learn more.)

You can get started in three easy steps...

Step 1 Find a product source.

The key to making money on eBay® is to find low-cost products that you can sell for a tidy profit. Thus you need to find a source of cheap or even free products.Here are three such sources:

• Troll yard sales in your neighborhood. Go early for the best selection. Go later for the best deals on remaining merchandise.

• Look for deals on www.Craiglist.org. Be sure to check out the “free” ads section.

• Find closeouts and other specials. This is where you get good deals on new merchandise, by buying in bulk, buying closeouts, buying from stores that are going out of business, etc.

Step 2: Write good auction titles and descriptions.

Those who make a lot of money on eBay^® know that good photos, compelling auction titles and exciting auction descriptions make all the difference in the world. It takes writing skill to create compelling titles and interesting descriptions.

For instance, just consider these two statements:

Bad Example: “Realistic doll moves her eyes and even cries.”

Versus…

Good Example:“Your daughter’s eyes will light up when you give her this doll! She’ll have so much fun playing with this realistic doll, because the eyes move and the baby even cries.”

See? The first is just a statement of fact and features. The second statement weaves features and benefits together, which makes the description more exciting. And exciting descriptions compel people to bid, which means your auction ends at a higher price!

Step 3: Sell on the backend.

Once your auction ends successfully, you collect your money and ship the product. But this isn’t the end of your relationship with your buyer.

Indeed, it’s just the beginning. That’s because your next step is to include a flier in the shipment, which will promote additional related products to your winning bidder.

Tip: You can also write and send out postcards in the mail later on. And you can offer your customers a freebie – like writing a free downloadable report – to join your online mailing list.

Example: Let’s suppose you’re selling children’s dolls. You can write fliers then send them out to promote additional dolls, as well as accessories such as doll houses and doll clothes.

Now that you have a good handle on how to get started on eBay^®, it’s time for you to discover the secrets of finding low cost products, getting more bidders and having auctions end with high bid prices. You can find all these secrets and more inside the 31 Day Guide to Making Money on eBay^®. This 60-page resource gives you the step-by-step help that you need to start writing in this direction.Get your copy here.

If you are thinking about trying out the 31 Day Guide to Making Money on eBay^®, this is a great time and you can do it RISK-FREE. Get this guide, read it and use it for up to 60 days and you can return it for any reason, just send me an email and I will refund your money. It’s that easy. Get your guide today.

Plan For Your Blog To Succeed

Over six years ago, I started blogging from my passion to help others in the publishing community. My idea was simple: to give my insight about the writing and publishing world. I’m using those words in the broadest possible way so I write about the magazine and book worlds. I highlight new products that I’ve created and what I learn from others. While I never dreamed it would get this big, my blog has over 1,000 searchable entries in it. This place alone has a wealth of material about writing.

Millions of people start a blog with no plan. They have a passion for their topic and begin pouring words into their blog and posting them on a regular basis. I applaud that passion but one of the keys for your blog to succeed is that you have a plan for how your blog will earn money.

I’ve heard of people who turn their blogs into a six-figure income center yet I’ve also watched others start a blog, work hard at it and then eventually abandon it because it didn’t make them a dime.

I’m sure you’d like to be in the former category rather than the latter.

You can increase your chances of doing so but following these three easy steps for making money as a blogger…

Step 1: Create quality content in a hot niche.

People aren’t interested in reading ads or “spun” articles that are nothing more than gibberish. They want solutions to their problems. And that means they need quality content. In other words, they want useful information that solves their problems.

Here’s the key, though: While the information you provide should be useful, it should also be incomplete.

That is, it shouldn’t completely solve your prospects’ problems. After all, if you completely solve your prospects’ problems, then they really have no need to buy what you’re selling.

One way to provide useful but incomplete solutions is by sharing articles that tell people what to do, but don’t go into detail about how to do it.

Example: A marketing blog might have the instruction “buy a good domain name at NameCheap.com,” but it doesn’t get into the details of what it means to buy a “good” domain name. Then the blogger can point to a short report that tells people how to build a website (which includes how to choose a good domain name).

Step 2: Monetize your blog.

You’re already providing useful content. Soon you’ll have plenty of readers eyeballing this content. So before you bring in the traffic, you need to find ways to monetize the traffic. Here are three ways:

* Promote products and services. These could be your own products or affiliate products. If you don’t know or understand the word affiliate, I encourage you to get my free Ebook on this billion dollar industry (click the link in this sentence). Read my Ebook and sign up to become one of my affiliates.

* Sell advertising space.

Example: You can sell a rotating banner ad on the home page of your blog. You can even sell plain text links.

* Get people on your list. Instead of focusing on getting people to buy products or click on ads, you can focus on getting them on your list. Then you can build a relationship with them, which makes it easier for you to sell products on the backend.

Step 3: Drive traffic to your blog.

Your blog is ready to make some money – now you just need traffic! Here are three ways to get traffic:

* Start a Facebook Fan Page. I used a simple tool Facebook Fan Page Engine to build my own Facebook Fan page. You can see my Facebook Fan page at this link. Please click the “like” button and get my free Ebook.

* Get JV (joint venture partners). Then co-promote each other on your blogs, such as by guest blogging.

* Submit articles to article directories such as EzineArticles.com.

There’s not enough room in this article to share with you all the tips you need to know to make a killing with your blog. That’s why you need The 31-Day Guide to Blogging for Bucks. Get your copy here now: http://bucksforblog.com.

Ten Ways to Capture Your Blog’s Passion & Profit

Most people start blogging because they are passionate about their particular topic or subject matter. Each day they pull up to their computer and crank out some more words then post it and go on with their day. Through their blogging, these writers:

* Establish themselves as an expert on their topic

* Begin to gain readers to their writing

* Grow their communication skills through regular writing

While I applaud these three benefits from blogging, take a minute and think about the time and effort you are pouring into your writing. Can you balance that effort and turn a profit from your writing? Whether you are just starting a blog or have been blogging for some time, I want to give you the top ten ways to make money on your blog.

1. Create clever post titles. People don’t come to your blog to read advertisements. Instead, they come to read good content. And their first clue as to whether the content is good is based solely on the titles of your blog posts. That’s why you need to create interesting, benefit-driven post titles.

Example #1: Here’s an example of a ho-hum title: “Dog Training Tips”

Example #2: Now here’s an example of a title that will get people reading your posts: “10 Surefire Dog Training Tips That Will Have You Firing Your Dog Trainer!”

2. Optimize your content for the search engines. Your blog won’t put a dime in your pocket if no one reads your content and sees your ads. That’s why you should seek to optimize your content to pull in traffic from the search engines. You do this by finding out what keywords your market is already searching for in Google, and then including these keywords in your articles two or three times per 100 words of text.

3. Weave product recommendations into your content. Your ads shouldn’t be confined to your blog’s sidebar – you can also put them directly into your content.

4. Post regularly, such as twice per week. Doing so makes your blog “sticky.” It also gives your readers a reason to keep coming back and again and again, which gives you another chance to sell them something.

5. Create regular weekly features. This is another way to get your visitors to return on a regular basis.

Example: You can create a feature called “Friday’s Super Tip,” where you post your very best niche-related tip every week.

6. Make use of your blog sidebar. You can post text ads, banner ads and other graphics, links to your best blog posts and a newsletter subscription form in your sidebar.

7. Rotate products on your blog. Doing so keeps your blog fresh. But it also gives you a chance to track and test your offers to see which ones put the most money in your pocket.

8. Use pictures. You can post relevant pictures in your articles as well as your sidebar, which will work to draw people’s eyes to your content and ads. You can get these photos for as little as $1 each at stock photo sites.

9. Encourage people to subscribe to your RSS feed. People who are subscribed are more likely to become a regular reader of your blog.

Don’t just rely on people subscribing to your RSS feed, however…

10. Get people on your newsletter list. One way to do this is to password-protect some of your best posts, and then offer access to these posts only to those who’ve subscribed to your newsletter list. Another way is through a Feedblitz account. Use the link to set up a 30 days trial. You can set up a simple way for people to subscribe to your blog and receive it through their email. I have over 500 subscribers to my blog using this system.

These tips are just scraping the surface when it comes to making money with your blog. If you want to make real money with your blog, then you need an in-depth guide that shows you exactly how to set up a blog, create content for it and make money with it. You can get The 31-Day Guide to Blogging for Bucks by going to: http://BucksForBlog.com.

Discover Passion and Profit in A Blog

You have selected a topic that you love and started a blog. For most of us, we are passionate about that topic and it is a fun place to write our thoughts. While the word “blog” has become common it started from the term web log or a place on the web to log your thoughts. According to one site, there are over 450 million active English blogs.

I enjoy writing in my blog yet in these challenging economic times, I also see the value in combining my passion with earning some money. Over the next several entries of The Writing Life, I want to show you several different ways you can either start a blog or begin to earn from your blog. And since a blog is so flexible, there are plenty of ways to monetize it.

Here are the top three ways:

1. Sell your products.

This is the most obvious way to make money with a blog: If you have products or services to sell, then promote them on your blog.

You can put permanent banners and text ads in the sidebar. I encourage you to take a moment and look closely at what I've done on The Writing Life. If you click some of the banners, you will see they refer to some of my products such as my Write A Book Proposal course or my book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. You can also weave your product links into your actual blog posts.

Example: Let’s suppose you’re selling a weight loss book on your blog. You can post a “Top 10 Tips for Losing Weight” article on your blog. And then at the end of the article you can include a link to your book, “101 Tips for Losing Weight.” If people like your 10 tips, then they’ll be eager to buy your book.

Why does this work so well?

Because blogging gives you the opportunity to showcase your expertise. When you establish yourself as a trusted expert, people are more likely to buy from you.

2. Sell affiliate products.

Don’t have your own products?

No problem: You can sell affiliate products. That means that you get a commission every time someone buys a product or service through your affiliate link.

There are plenty of big companies that have affiliate programs. One of the most popular affiliate programs for physical products is the a Amazon.com program, simply because your buyers already know and trust Amazon.com.

But if you’re going to sell downloadable information products, then one of the best affiliate programs is via Clickbank.com, where you’ll find thousands upon thousands of products to sell. Best of all, the commission rates are generous. You’ll see them as high as 50% and even 75%! I've written a free 30–page Ebook, You Can Make Money. Just follow the link and get it.

3. Insert AdSense ads.

Still another way to make money on your blog is by showing Google AdSense ads on your site. You make money every time someone clicks on your ad!

Here’s the biggest benefit of this method:

You don’t have to sell a thing. You don’t have to convince anyone to buy. All you have to do is post good content on your site to attract prospects… and you get paid every time they click on an ad. It’s easy!

What’s next?

I’m sure by now you can see that there’s a world of profitable opportunities waiting for anyone who wants to start up a blog.

If you’d like to know what the Internet's wealthiest bloggers know about making money with a blog, then look no further than The 31 Day Guide to Blogging For Bucks. I encourage you to get your copy right now—risk-free since you can use it for 60 days. This guide will really open your eyes to the possibilities!

Yes, You Can

Often I've met writers who are struggling financially. They are looking for a publisher or magazine to publish their work and promptly pay them to solve their mounting bills. Writing can pay but it does not always happen in the way that you presume it will happen. There are many different ways to earn a living in the publishing world.

As a writer, I've discovered many different ways to make money in the publishing world. One of those ways is through advertising other people's products and using an affiliate link. The affiliate industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and is something that any writer can use to supplement their income.

You may have a blog or a website. Have you monetized your website or blog so you have created a revenue stream? Or are you simply putting content online with no expectation that it will make money? If you are wondering, "What is affiliate marketing?" Or "What is Terry talking about?" Then I've got good news for you.

In the last few weeks, I've written a new Ebook called You Can Make Money. A Step-by-step Guide to Passive Income through Affiliate Marketing. This free 30-page Ebook provides the details of how to get started on affiliate marketing. I wrote it and used my own examples and illustrations. I have my own affiliate program at www.TerryInfo.com The program is free to sign up and includes banners and other tools for you to promote my products and earn 50% of the income. I used the Pop up Domination program to make it easy for you to receive this free Ebook. Just go to www.TerryInfo.com and enter your first name and email address. You will immediately receive the free Ebook.

I wrote this new resource to help you understand and use the tools in my affiliate program. The principles in the book are universal and something you can use with many other affiliate programs than mine. I hope you will sign up for my affiliate program then take action and use the tools to make money. Why? Because you will touch people that I will never encounter. You can tell them about my products and lead them to my sales page for the product. If they buy the product, then you will receive an email about it--and I will receive an email about their purchase. After the guarantee period, then you will receive 50% if the income from that purchase.

I believe there is great opportunity--if you take action. Will you?

Answers For The Continual Author Question

I spend the bulk of my work hours talking and emailing authors because of my role as a book publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group. These individuals have many different ideas, goals and dreams for their books. I'm committed to getting each book out into the marketplace with excellence and a high professional standard.

While these authors have many different goals for their books and some of them openly talk about what they want for the impact of the book and the message, one concrete measurement of the impact of their book is the earnings from their book. Whether they verbalize it or not, each author would like for their book to make money. Throughout my years in publishing, I've been involved in many books as an author and as an editor and now as a book publisher.

Wednesday, July 14th, I'll be talking about the topic of how to make money with books in a live teleseminar. I've built a great deal of thought and value into this event. You can sign up free to attend either on the phone or on the live telewebcast. If you can't attend the actual event, go ahead and sign up (even if you don't have a question) because it will be recorded. Everyone who registers will receive the replay link to the recording.

After you enter your first name and primary email address and a question, then confirm the information, you will reach a thank you, confirmation page. On this page, you can return to listen to the live event but also you can download a copy of a new ebook which I've created: Buzz Your Book, Marketing That Matters. Also you can download an action guide and use it to take notes during the live event or when you listen to the replay.

Hope to speak with you on Wednesday.

Find Your Own Writing Niche

Where do you fit in the writing world? How do you discover your particular niche? One of the best ways that I've discovered is to continually read yet be sensitive to looking for your niche. Earlier this year, the second edition of Ready, Aim, Specialize!, Create Your Own Writing Specialty and MAKE MORE MONEY! by Kelly James-Enger was released. I read the first version of this book and reviewed it on Amazon. This week I dug into the second edition and love the principles and detailed information for every writer in it's pages. Whether you are beginning or advanced in your writing career I recommend you consider this book.

Why? Because even if you write fiction, you need to learn about the nonfiction market to help promote your book. Even if you spend most of your time trying to get your novel published, you need the exposure from the magazine world which is predominately nonfiction. You can learn this valuable skill in Ready, Aim, Specialize!, Create Your Own Writing Specialty and MAKE MORE MONEY!

Many writers flounder around trying many different areas of the market before they specialize and find their particular niche. Kelly James-Enger can help you cut down on the learning curve, evaluate your own background and discover your own place in today's market. Her seasoned counsel is priceless. Step-by-step she helps writers tackle the market and understand how to meet the editor's needs (and as a result their reader's needs) to succeed in publishing.

In the process, Kelly covers the top 10 hottest specialties. With each specialty, she gives you insider wisdom to succeed in these markets. More than writing for magazines, she provides the reader with a strategy and game plan to enter the full-time writing life. For example over on page 209, she writes about how specializing helps you build your "platform" (a much discussed word in the writing community). She writes, "Specializing in a subject helps you create a platform as you become an expert in your subject area. The other way to develop a platform is to become a celebrity of sorts, or to get as close to a celebrity as you can. Consider Dr. Phil McGraw. He was a moderately successful "life strategist" who became a household name after he started appearing on Oprah's daytime talk show. His own series soon followed, and now even his wife and son are best-selling authors."

When I read a writing how-to book, I want to turn to an expert--someone who had repeatedly succeeded in finding a specialization. Kelly is one of those writers. She knows about these different fields like health, diet, nutrition and fitness because she writes about them day in and day out. This book is loaded with tips and insight about breaking in then thriving in each specialty. You will want to read and re-read this book.

Most of this entry is the contents of my Amazon customer review. I tried to update it with a new date but Amazon preserved my original review date--even though I wrote it this week.

If you purchase this book and only read the final chapter, and then practically apply this information to your writing life, you will have received the full value (and more) from this book. Kelly gives practical advice for maximizing your freelance income and says, "If you want to boost your bottom line or simply work more efficiently, give these 15 strategies a try" (page 223--and my emphasis on the number of strategies). Just to give you a taste, here's several of these strategies without the important explanations: Negotiate for Higher Rates, Pitch Multiple Ideas, Come Up With Spin-Offs, Look Local and Forget The Muse.

If you haven't figured it out, I like this book and highly recommend it. Kelly knows her stuff and is a living active example of someone who helps others with these types of books.Go to her newsletter page and subscribe to her free publication. Every month I find great encouragement from this newsletter and I know you will as well.