Independence for Every Writer

For many years, I’ve been working within the publishing community whether as a magazine writer, a book author, a magazine editor, a book editor, a literary agent and now a book publisher. I’ve developed products and books to train others to easily enter the publishing community, work with others and achieve their publishing dreams. This entry may seem a bit contrary to this focus. I continue to be a strong advocate for working with others. It is through the team approach that your writing improves and you can do much more than you ever could on your own.

Yet I also encourage you to start something independent of the magazines or book publishers.

Why?

While I believe it is good to work with others and the strength of the team process, creating independent products and services also has value for every writer and should not be ignored.

For example, some publications pay on publication or months after they have accepted your article. While many beginning writers don’t think about it, often traditional publishers pay once a year or the best they do is to pay quarterly or four times a year.

If you create the products yourself use a tool to collect the payment, then you immediately receive the payment for selling the product or service.

Many writers are struggling to wonder how to earn a living at their writing. One answer is to begin writing and selling small reports. My 84-page Ebook, The 31-Day Guide to Making Money Writing Small Reports gives step-by-step instructions.

From working on this Ebook, I’ve got a list of small reports that I’m actively working to put together and get online.

Just stop for a few minutes and think about it. What information product can you create that would be a help to others? Take a few minutes and write down some ideas. Maybe you already have the content in your blog entries or in answers that you give on a specific forum or for a group. You’ve invested the time and energy to learn this unique skill and with a little bit of effort on your part to rewrite it, you can create this small report. Then you can sell this small report and help others.

Also in selling this small report online you also create your own independent business effort. Imagine how much more attractive you will be to book publishers if you have already established a connection to your audience or readers?

The process is not complicated or difficult. Each writer can do it. In fact on this Independence Day, I recommend that you create your own plan of independence. It might start with reading my risk-free small report. As I wrote toward the bottom of the sales page, you can buy this report with my 100% money back guarantee. You have nothing to lose and your independence to gain.

How to Write Articles That Sell Your Short Reports

I wanted to follow-up on my article about 5 Keys to Writing and Selling Small Reports. Some writers create products and then use loosely related articles to sell those products. You might sell a few using that method. But you’ll sell a whole lot more if you use closely related articles to market your short reports.

Here’s how it works…

Step 1: Choose a Topic

If you want to sell a lot of “feature length” articles (i.e., short reports), then you need to choose a proven topic. That means you should sell reports that are similar to solutions that your market is already buying.

You can find out what your market is buying by visiting marketplaces like the Amazon.com marketplace (and their bestseller lists) and the Clickbank.com marketplaces. In both cases, look for products appearing at the top of the search results and/or at the top of the categories when you browse.

These are your most popular, best-selling products. You’ll want to create a short report on a similar topic. Ideally, you should give your report a special twist or make it unique in some way.

Example: If you see a lot of bestsellers on the topic of helping brides-to-be slim down in the three months before their wedding, you can create a report and accompanying article about how to slim down safely and quickly in two months.

Step 2: Write an Article on the Topic

Once you’ve chosen your topic, then your next step is to write a 400 to 600 word article on this topic. Your goal is to provide useful yet incomplete information. That’s because you want your readers to solve their problems by purchasing your report.

Example: In continuing with the weight loss for brides example: You might create an article called “Three Secrets to Getting in Shape for Your Wedding.” Those three secrets will prove useful to the reader, but she won’t be able to lose enough weight unless she knows all the secrets contained in your report.

Step 3: Craft a Compelling Conclusion

Next, you need to craft a conclusion that gets readers to click through to your short report sales page. To do this, offer a benefit to those who click through, such as the quick and easy to solution to their problems.

Example #1: “Who else wants to look stunning on her wedding day? Click here now to discover how to lose all the weight you want before your big day!”

Example #2: “Whether you fit into your wedding dress or not depends on whether you know these seven fat-melting secrets – click here to ensure you too look drop-dead gorgeous on your wedding day!”

Step 4: Create a Short Report on the Same Topic

Next, you need to write a short 7-15 page report on the same topic. While a short report can’t solve all your prospects’ problems, it can solve one specific problem.

Example #1: Your short report could teach future brides how to drop 20 pounds before their wedding day.

Example #2: A marketing report could show people how to make money using Twitter.

Example #3: A dog training report could teach readers how to ease separation anxiety in their furry friends.

Once your report is complete, you need to select a payment processor such as Clickbank.com, PayPal.com or 2Checkout.com. Then write a sales letter, include the payment button and upload the letter to your domain.

Step 5: Submit Your Articles… and Sell!

Now you’re ready to use your article to drive traffic to your site!

You can:

• Submit this article to EzineArticles.com, ArticleCity.com, GoArticles.com, ArticleAlley.com and Buzzle.com.

• Use it as the basis of a HubPages.com or Squidoo.com page.

• Post it on niche forums (where allowed).

• Upload it to your blog.

• Recruit affiliates and let them use it to market your report.

• Post it on social media sites.

Summary

You too can make money online, just as quickly as you can write an article and a “feature length” article. And the sooner you get started, the faster you can use this simple strategy to drop money in your pocket!

In this article, I’ve given you some of the key factors about how you can write and sell small reports. For many more details and dozens of ideas, check out my risk-free Ebook, The 31-Day Guide to Making Money Writing Small Reports. You have nothing to lose and a world to gain in my view—if you take action.

5 Keys to Writing & Selling Small Reports

Almost daily I speak with writers who have great passion for the printed page. These writers have dreams of getting their books published and building an audience. They have invested time in writing their story and getting it on paper. Yet they lack something critical: financial resources to be able to publish their book. They are stuck--and often unable to see that they are stuck and how to earn more money and get out of their situation to move forward and achieve their dreams.

I want to show you a different route to achieving your passion. It might not be an obvious path but it is a tried and true one which will allow you to get your material printed, touch an audience and earn the money to get your books into print.

Your dreams can be accomplished through writing and selling small reports. I've pulled together a new 84-page resource to teach you step-by-step how to do it. This Ebook is called The 31-Day Guide to Making Money Writing Small Reports. If you follow the link, you can immediately go to a page where you can instantly receive this report. It is backed with my no questions asked 60-day guarantee so it is a risk-free offer.

You don’t need to spend months creating a home study course in order to make money online.

Instead, you can make money in as little as 24 hours, simply by creating small reports. You can then sell them quickly to your own list, on your blog, using affiliates, by posting ads on sites like the WarriorForum.com and so on.

Here are five keys to making a fortune with these small reports…

1. Choose a Current Hot Topic

If you want to make a lot of money quickly – and if you want to build your customer list fast – then choose a current hot topic.

Doing so will help your report attract attention on niche forums, blogs, social media sites. You’ll even bring in traffic from the search engines.

How do you find a hot topic? Like this:

• Follow conversations on niche forums to see which ones are getting a lot of views and passionate replies.

• Read niche blogs to see which topics are getting plenty of comments and discussion.

• Keep an eye on the Clickbank.com marketplace to see what types of products are flying off the virtual shelves.

• Go to Amazon.com and look at the bestsellers in your niche.

2. Use “How To” In Your Title

The words “how to” are like a magic trigger that draws people to your report.

Just look at the difference between these titles:

• House Train Your Dog in Three Days vs. How to House Train Your Dog in Three Days

• Make Money Online vs. How to Make Money Online

• Get Rich vs. How to Get Rich

3. Offer Plenty of Tips and Examples

Choosing a hot topic and a great title will draw prospects to your order page like metal shavings to a magnet. But once they crack your report open, you need to wow them.

That’s because satisfied customers become repeat buyers.

How do you satisfy them?

a) First, you better deliver everything you promised on your sales page (and more).

b) Secondly, you should make your content easy to understand and digest by providing plenty of tips and examples.

So instead of simply telling someone to “write a good headline,” you should provide examples of good headlines (e.g., “The secrets of…”). Or instead of telling someone to cut 250 calories from their diet each day, you can give them ten tips and examples of how, exactly, they should do that.

4. Write a Part 2

One way to attract a flood of new buyers for your small report is by creating an enticing “Part 2” that you give away for free to all who purchased Part 1.

If Part 2 is even better than Part 1, you’ll have customers raving about it all around the niche… and you’ll have new prospects lining up to buy.

Example: You create a report called, “How to Get 30,000 Visitors to Your Blog.” You can then create Part 2: “How to Get Make $30,000 From Your 30,000 Visitors.” Part 1 offered your customers a desirable result (getting 30,000 visitors). But Part 2 offers an even more desirable result, because now your readers will find out how to turn those customers into cash!

5. Create a Tiered Pricing Structure One way to increase your conversion rate is by creating a sense of urgency. You can create this urgency by offering a tiered pricing structure.

Here’s an example:

• The first 100 customers get the report for just $10. • The next 100 customers get the report for $15. • Everyone after the 200th customer pays $20.

To make this tactic even more powerful, be sure to use a script that continuously updates the number of copies left. That way people really feel the fear of loss as they see the low-priced copies being snapped up.

Summary

You can make a lot of money by providing solutions to a hungry niche in the form of a small report.

You can further increase your income by using the five tips you just discovered! And the sooner you get started, the faster you can start pocketing that cash! I encourage you to take action on these five tips and your situation will begin to change.

Also check out The 31-Day Guide to Making Money Writing Small Reports. I believe it could be a valuable turning point to achieving your publishing dreams.