One fateful day I listened to an interesting teleseminar in which Alex Mandossian interviewed a man name Dr. Alex Loyd on something called The Healing Codes, a revolutionary way to look at health and healing. (It has nothing to do with Eastern or Chinese medicine, chakras or meridians, by the way. You can listen to that same teleseminar here.)

Little did I know where that teleseminar would lead me, years later.

First, I was utterly fascinated by The Healing Codes. I eventually got them more than two years ago, and I have an amazing healing story to tell. (You can email me and I’ll send it to you, diane at wordstoprofit.com.) It’s a whole new paradigm for healing, but every day studies are coming out that validate that Dr. Alex Loyd truly has discovered something revolutionary. (Interestingly, though, King Solomon talked about this 3000 years ago.)

Now I am working with Dr. Loyd on The Healing Code book, which will come out early next year. Yes, it’s interesting how one teleseminar can change one’s life.

That teleseminar led to physical, emotional, and spiritual healing for me. But there’s more.

It was another teleseminar that changed my life as an author and business person-and by the same person, Alex Mandossian.

That teleseminar was the Preview call for Virtual Book Tour Secrets, in 2006. I immediately saw how elegant that system was, how perfect for using as a centerpiece for marketing one’s book. I took Alex’s VBT course, began doing Virtual Book Tours for authors and publishers (more info here), and that opened a whole new career direction for me.

Having experienced the quality of training I got through VBT Secrets, I wanted to take the more in-depth Teleseminar Secrets course as soon as I could. It never disappointed me.

You get so much from Alex Mandossian’s training as a student. For instance, you can get some free video training right now, by signing up for his pre-training.

The Preview Call will extend the training. And if you go for the whole course, just  look at all the bonuses, all the testimonials. It really is that good. And as an alum, you get to take it over and over every year at no cost. It truly is an investment. It paid me back within three months.

Alex says he turned his yearly income into monthly income in three years. It’s been two years now for me. As I looked at my figures, I am amazed to say that I’m on track for that myself!

What can a teleseminar do for you? Attend his Teleseminar Secrets Preview training and find out for yourself. These Preview calls are truly worth $99, as he gives you very actionable steps that you can take to the bank. But you won’t have to pay $99, since I got you a VIP discount of $79, so it’s only $20. And you can listen to it again and again. You’ll get an Action Guide to take notes on and review later.

I urge you to attend the Preview call on December 3. And if you possibly can, if this is a time when you can invest in yourself (remember, I only recommend things I truly believe are investments that will pay off for you, literally), then take the course. If you can’t do that right now, at least put into practice what you learn on the Preview call and save up your money to take the Virtual Book Tour Secrets in the summer, or Teleseminar Secrets a year from now.

UPDATE: I am offering a free Virtual Book Tour and 7 other bonuses for those who sign up for Teleseminar Secrets. Details here.

Who knows-maybe this will be the teleseminar that changes your life, too. Or maybe you’ll put on a teleseminar yourself from what you learn, that will change someone else’s life forever, as Alex Mandossian’s teleseminar with Dr. Alex Loyd changed mine.

(But I really want you to listen to it before tomorrow night, and I’ll explain why.)

I know I’ve been talking about Virtual Book Tours a lot this week, because I think it’s just such a great way to promote a book.

Last year, I did an interview with Alex Mandossian about Virtual Book Tours, and I would like you to listen to that asap.

In the interview, Alex said that often the lesser-known authors sold more books with a VBT than more well-known authors. Find out why.

On that call, I grilled Alex about how VBTs work, how and why they were invented and …

Listen in, and remember that the VBT Preview call is tomorrow night–Thursday, July 2. I got you a special discount, and there’s another special gift for you just for signing up for that Preview call (which is a training unto itself, I promise).

Note that when you sign up for the course, you will receive special additional bonuses from me that will ensure you WILL make the most of your VBT.

“How well can one apply the VBT to non-self-help and non-business books: e.g., science fiction, narrative non-fiction, biography, nature stories, etc? (All the examples on Alex Mandossian’s website are of self-help or business owners.)”

Yes, I believe a Virtual Book Tour can be effective on nearly any kind of book. Alex’s examples are geared mainly to the market he’s most interested and experienced in, i.e. business and self-help, but his principles apply to nearly any kind of book (with the caveats mentioned below.)

With his training, I myself have done Virtual Book Tours for a range of book topics, from the art of parenting boys , to whether common church practices are really pagan in origin, to what’s so great about Christianity, to how to find God in everyday life (the topic of my own VBT on Abundant Gifts). (See www.virtualbooktourexpert.com for samples of Virtual Book Tours that are NOT on business, success, etc.)

Any book on any topic that can engender questions is a candidate for a VBT.

I’ll admit, fiction is a bit of a tough nut to crack. Success with a VBT would depend on whether the author and/or publisher have a list to promote to. If they do, then a VBT could work for fiction as well.

For instance, if the publisher has a newsletter they send out to people who are interested in fiction, they could promote the VBT in that way. In fact, it could be a regular feature of the newsletter, with snippets from the interview or even a short, pre-interview audio that people can listen to right away, then sign up for the VBT. In the same way, a newsletter can promote a podcast taken from the VBT.

The issue with fiction is that there’s usually not a “hook,” a felt need that would get the reader to feel compelled to listen to the author interview. However, a VBT can work for a popular author who is promoting a new book to the current list. There are also creative ways to team up with nonfiction “experts” to talk about a subject the novel addresses.

For instance, I have an author friend, Latayne Scott, who wrote a novel about Mormonism. She also happened to write another book about the same topic (with another publisher) that was nonfiction. She could easily do a VBT featuring both books, gathering questions from people about Mormonism. During the Virtual Book Tour, she could weave in examples from her novel to illustrate her points.

In this case, the same author wrote both the fiction and nonfiction books. But if she were just a novelist, Latayne could have found an expert on Mormonism and the VBT could have dealt with the topic from a “story” and a “more factual” perspective.

About the only thing this kind of VBTs would probably not work well for children’s books or poetry.

For more about my own experience with VBTs, plus the bonuses I’m offering with Alex Mandossian’s Virtual Book Tour Secrets course, go to www.virtualbooktoursforauthors.com.

That’s why I want you to listen to a different class this week other than my Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminar.

I am working on something exciting that will show you how to create a global audience for your message.

I’ll tell you about that soon enough, but in the meantime, I want you to take the Podcast Secrets Preview training on Thursday evening.

This 2-hour training is going to lay a foundation I want you to have for when I show you how to create a global audience.

It will give you some steps, upon which I’ll show you how to build an author platform, for being “well heard and well paid

for what you know and love to do.”

It is 2 hours (maybe longer, knowing Alex Mandossian), it is taught by Alex and Paul Colligan, and it will cost you $20 with the VIP discount I obtained for you.

If you can’t make the live training, you will be able to listen to the recording within 24 hours. And you will have that recording, and your notes from the Action Guide, to refer to forever.

As I said in my recent blog post, podcasting may be one of the easiest and fastest ways to establish your author platform.

Author platform is what will allow you to be well heard and well paid.

Audio and video are increasingly effective and popular.

Knowing how to use these venues will give you the edge in getting your message out there.

And I know no one better to teach you than Alex and Paul. I took Podcast Secrets last year, and will attend it this year with video in mind as well. (My most recent foray into that will be posted at www.abundantgiftsblog.com as soon as I can get to it, assuming technology works as it should.)

I hope you will take advantage of this training. (Yes, it is a preview of the entire Podcast Secrets course, but the way they do preview calls, you will get a lot of valid training out of the preview itself–or you get your money back.)

I hope you will avail yourself of this important step toward becoming well heard and well paid.

Imagine people flocking to your website to sign up for your newsletter.

Imagine orders coming in for your book every day. (Or leads for your business, or sales, or …)

All because you learned how to do what may be the quickest way to establish an audience: start a podcast. (You’re probably familiar with what a podcast is by now, but in case you’re not, read my article, “What is a Podcast and Why Would an Author Want to Podcast?”)

A podcast is a great way for authors or aspiring authors to create that all-important

“platform.”

With a podcast, you can reach a lot of people, and you can measure how many people download your podcast. This allows you to know the factors that go into that “platform” that publishers look for: number of people reached, over time.

If you can say that 30,000 people download your podcast every month, that’s a pretty impressive platform.

Publishers may well take notice. The first thing they ask me, when I approach them about a client’s book idea, is, “What’s their platform?”

In fact, podcasting may be THE easiest way for an author to build a strong platform.

But how do you get going?

Glad you asked!

This coming Thursday, Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian are going to teach you how to get started in the Podcast Secrets Preview Call. You can access it at www.podcastsecretspreview.com.

I took the Podcast Secrets course last year, and I can tell you, it’s excellent.

One of the things they teach you, right from the start, is how to monetize your podcast.

In fact, I took Podcast Secrets because I had just started a podcast.

The course showed me that, in fact, what I was doing was not monetized correctly for my business. Had I not taken Podcast Secrets, I would have continued pouring time into something that was fun, but not profitable.

I now know how to make it worth my time.

And you will, too, if you take this training.

I got a $79 discount on your tuition, so you only pay $20.

That’s $10/hour for training that you will be able to go back to again and again-you get the replay within 24 hours, so even if you can’t listen in live, you will gain the benefits.

If you’re technologically challenged, no worry. One of the things I liked best was that it’s very step by step.

I was just looking over my notes from last year’s Preview Call. Here’s some of what was covered:

• 8 reasons for creating a podcast
• 7 ways to make money from your podcast
• How to produce podcast content quickly and easily
• Where to find the time to podcast
• How to get your podcast promoted by Apple
• How to get others to listen to your podcast
• How to find out who your audience is, so you can better serve them
• How to tell if your podcast is worth your effort
• How to get your podcast listeners to take the action you desire (sign up for your list, buy your book, etc.)
• What makes a podcast listener buy?
• . . . and more (Alex is famous for overdelivering)

I believe this will be well worth your small investment of time and money. I secured you a special $79 discount. Use the code PC916 when you get to the web page, so that you only pay $20 instead of the $99. (Though I think what you’ll learn will be worth $99. I know–I took it!)

Personal note: I took Teleseminar Secrets last year. I will return this year (alumni get to come back every year for free). What I can say is that within three months, my initial investment was earned back. In the past 18 months, the return has been 1,055 percent!

Teleseminars are an important part of the mix for any author or aspiring author. And they can be much more profitable than a print book. They can be a very powerful way for people to come into your circle of influence. Alex Mandossian gives you all the tools and knowledge you’ll need to create your own platform with teleseminars as a cornerstone.

What can you do with teleseminars? Sign up for Alex’s Preview Call and see. (The live call was on Dec. 4 but you can still get the recording and notes–well worth it.) You get some added bonuses of mine  that will show you specifically how to use teleseminars in the context of being an author. (Read about them here.)

How did I learn how to do Virtual Book Tours?

Through master trainer and inventor of Virtual Book Tours, Alex Mandossian.

Virtual Book Tours are only one kind of teleseminar Alex teaches. There are many other forms and purposes for teleseminars, all of which can help authors and business people build a platform, sell more books, stay in touch with their audience, and even create new products at the speed of sound. Not to mention, turn a very nice profit!

Alex will be teaching his premier course, Teleseminar Secrets, in December. Before the training begins, he will be holding a Preview Call. I got you a VIP discount for that call.

Here’s what I’d like you to do:

1. Read my new Publishing Coach Weekly article on “5 Ways to Use Teleseminars to Build an Author Platform–Before or After Your Book is Published.”

2. Ask your question about teleseminars. I’ll be answering them on next week’s Publishing Coach Weekly call.

3. Sign up for Alex Mandossian’s Teleseminar Secrets Preview call on December 4 at http://www.teleseminarsecretspreview.com. When you do, you will also be eligible for my 1-hour+ follow-up strategy call focusing specifically on what you learned from the Preview Call and how it relates to being (or becoming) an author. This will also prepare you to get the most out of the Teleseminar Secrets course itself, should you take it. (And I highly recommend you do.)

So go here now to read the article and get all the details.

There are so many wonderful tools and opportunities to promote books that weren’t there before to create success as an author.

In addition, the Internet and other technology has allowed us authors and aspiring authors to actually make a huge profit from the information we have to share with the world.

Whereas before, we could only hope for 10-15 percent of “net” royalties from a publisher (if we were so lucky as to be published), now we can not only self-publish and keep ALL the profit, we can also deliver our content in a variety of other ways.

Just about all of these alternative ways–teleseminars, membership sites, articles, ebooks, multi-media home study courses, etc.-have a much greater profit margin than printed books.

You would do well to consider these new methods of getting your message into the world.

I’d like to recommend you take a 2-minute quiz to start you on this path. It’s an Electronic Marketing quiz put together by one of my colleagues, Alex Mandossian, who is an amazing marketer and one of the best trainers I’ve ever come across.

When you take this quiz, you will receive a customized analysis of your current starting point. You will also begin to receive some free training on marketing that is very worthwhile.

So take this quiz and go from there. Don’t worry, in the coming days and weeks I’ll be helping you put the things you’ll be learning into the context of being an author and getting your message into the world in ways that could very well change your life (as they did mine).

Just click here to take the 2-minute quiz now.

I just posted a couple of comments on Alex Mandossian’s blog (Jeff Herring’s post), and Stu McLaren’s.

I don’t quite get why Jeff Herring is backing someone who is obviously doing more than “creatively imitating” him.

What do you think? Comment here, please.