How do you get paid more for everything that you know and do? You become known as THE expert on a given topic. How do you do that? One very good way is to write a book. No, not an ebook - an actual print book. “What’s wrong with an ebook?” I hear you asking.
The […]
Written on September 29th, 2006
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How do you get paid more for everything that you know and do? You become known as THE expert on a given topic. How do you do that? One very good way is to write a book. No, not an ebook - an actual print book. “What’s wrong with an ebook?” I hear you asking.
The answer lies in the fact that anything that is too easy is not considered very valuable. That’s why doctors and lawyers get paid more than taxi drivers and waitresses. The “barriers to entry” make it more “expensive” to become a doctor or lawyer, which makes being a doctor or lawyer a scarcer skill, which allows them to charge more for that skill.
Anyone can write and publish an ebook. To do that all you really need to do is:
It really is THAT easy, and therein lies the problem.
Thousands of people have published “junk ebooks” that aren’t worth the electrons they’re “printed on!” If you’re like me, you probably have dozens of these on your hard-drive right now. You know… free ebooks that sounded great, but when you downloaded them, you quickly discovered that they were worth exactly what you paid for them. These ebooks often contain out-of-date, inaccurate, or commonly known information. The very worst ones are those written by people who have no idea what they’re talking about, so they repeat inaccurate information that they found elsewhere.
Don’t get me wrong. Ebooks are a great tool. I use them for viral marketing, as a handy training tool, and even as for-sale products. Since ebooks are cheaper to produce, you will sell them to people who don’t want to pay the higher price for a print book, or to people who simply don’t want to wait to get them in the mail.
The big difference in writing a print book is that people perceive someone who has written a “real” book differently. People assume that writing a book is hard work, so when they hear that you’ve published a print book, they attribute lots of great qualities to you. They reflect back upon when writing and publishing a book was a BIG challenge.
My friend, Elsom Eldridge Jr., author of “How To Position Yourself As The Obvious Expert In 90 Days Or Less Without Spending A Fortune On Advertising,” taught me all about why writing and printing a book is a very powerful way to firmly establish yourself as an expert on a topic. Being considered the expert on a topic does mean that you can charge more for what you do, say, and produce.
I recently did a teleseminar-interview with Elsom on this very topic. You can grab the MP3 recording and/or the PDF transcript of this interview from my website at: http://WillieCrawford.com/write-a-real-book.html
It’s my free gift to you 
If writing a real book allows you to better brand yourself as THE EXPERT, then why don’t more people do it? I think many people simply think that it’s too expensive. I’ll let you in on a secret…
… My first physical book was a cookbook. It’s 184 pages, and contains 250 of my own recipes. I simply made a list of recipes, typed them out, had a cover designed, found a few graphics/photos, and had it printed. I now sell this cookbook from my website at http://Chitterlings.com/cookbook.html for $16.95 per copy plus shipping and handling. The secret…. it costs me less than $1 each to print these books.
I simply went on the Internet and found a number of printers, then I compared prices. Since one of the least expensive ones I found was a short drive from where I live, I scheduled an appointment to go over and discuss my project. In volume, these books were so cheap that I ordered a mini-warehouse full. You don’t have to visit your printer to set-up your project - I did just because they were so close.
I chose a cookbook as my first project because I couldn’t think of anything else at the time. A cookbook is easy to write, and if it’s on the right type of cooking, it should sell well. You can find more information on how to easily write and produce your own cookbook at:
http://WriteACookbook.com
That’s where I have the transcripts and MP3 from a teleseminar I did with two other cookbook authors on that very topic.
If you don’t want to order lots of copies of your print book, you don’t have to. There are companies that do print-on-demand. They will print as few as one copy at a time, and then drop-ship your order right to your customers. A print-on-demand printer that I work with a lot is at:http://WillieCrawford.com/print-on-demand.html
Ok, so it’s not that expensive to write a “real” book, or to turn your ebook into a print book. However, you need more reasons to go through all of that trouble.
Well…
As you can see, ebooks are “ok” but the real professional also publishes his books in print form. Hopefully, you see that it’s not very difficult or expensive. Now that you know, you can separate yourself, in the mind of the consumers, from the perception many may have of ebooks. You’ll brand yourself as a serious professional and an expert.
Copyright 2005 Willie Crawford
About The Author
Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, Master Network Marketing Trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple, easily modeled systems. An example of such a system that you can study and duplicate is at:
http://ProfitMagician.comWe’ll Fix That Later…Ron Hutton
Wife: “Hey honey, the brakes seem to be leaking on my car.” Husband: “We’ll fix that later.” (BAD ANSWER)
Wife: “Hey honey, how’s the new website coming along?” Husband: “It’s up and live! It may not be perfect, but we’ll fix that later.” (GOOD ANSWER)
Wife: “Hey honey, the sewer is backing up and the toilet is overflowing all over the master bathroom floor.” Husband: “We’ll fix that later.” (BAD ANSWER)
Wife: “Hey honey, have you started with that electronic newsletter you were talking about?” Husband: “I did! The first issue went out yesterday. It’s no Pulitzer Prize candidate, but we’ll fix that later.” (GOOD ANSWER)
Wife: “Hey honey, the dog just ‘blew chunks’ all over the pile of freshly folded laundry.” Husband: “We’ll fix that later.” (BAD ANSWER)
Wife: “Hey honey, did you ever finish the ebook you had hoped to write?” Husband: “Ya baby!… and I’ve sold 4 copies from my Google AdWords traffic just today.” (GOOD ANSWER)
“We’ll fix that later.” Incorporate this short little, very powerful sentence into your vocabulary today. These are not swear words. It’s a deadly trap to get caught in the mindset that everything needs to be perfect before you ever announce anything to the world.
Look around the internet… ~ How many ugly websites do you see? ~ How many cheesy ebooks have you downloaded? ~ How many glitchy software applications do you use every day?
Perfection is an illusion. It’ll never happen. Don’t let the pursuit of perfection become an ideal that results in inaction.
Jim Rohn tells this story…
A man was visiting a neighbor’s new home site. The neighbor had been collecting building materials on his bare vacant lot for years now. He’d amassed an incredible collection of lumber, windows, plumbing and lighting fixtures, doors, concrete block, shingles, siding, drywall and much more. Everything was stacked in mountainous piles around the barren dirt lot.
The man said to his neighbor, “It looks like you’re going to have quite a house here.”
The neighbor replied, “Just wait till you see the rest of the stuff I’ve got coming.”
The moral of the story is stop collecting “stuff” and start building something. Do it now. Forward motion, even just a little, will have profound effects on what you see in the days ahead.
Copyright 2005 Ron Hutton
About The Author
Ron Hutton is a 20 year sales and marketing veteran with a passion for coaching and training. Subscribe to “GoThrive Online”, for big juicy marketing tips in small, easy-to-chew, bite size servings. 17 Free Cool Tools… http://www.gothrive.com.
Written on September 29th, 2006
Read more articles on E-books.
