You can see the marketing problem of every business just by glancing at the plight of the typical author.

Once a year, once every other year, he has to come out of his university office/hovel/apartment/rural enclave and go on the road. He has to do Leonard Lopate and the Today show, a spate of blogs, book readings, Tedx appearances and sleep on whatever couch he can find, use whatever media will have him.

Why?

To reach strangers. To reach people who, if they only knew about the book, would gladly buy it, read it, share it, listen to it, download it.

Selling a book to friends is a totally different story. You send an email to your fans and you’re done. You blog it on your blog or tweet about it once or twice and you’re done.

Selling [a book] to strangers… that’s getting harder and harder and less effective every day.

The old model of marketing books is what Seth describes. Still, mainstream publishers are doing it–though less and less often.

It truly IS easier to sell to friends. So, where should you put your book marketing efforts?

(Hint: It’s one word, and something else I learned from Seth Godin, that I mention here.)

Here are his questions, from his blog post at The Domino Project:

Are you publishing for your fans? If so, do you have enough to justify the effort? Do you have a way of reaching them? Is there a better vehicle than a book for reaching your goal?

Are you publishing so your fans will have something to recommend to their friends? Is it in a form that they’ll happily recommend? What’s the half-life of this cycle–will friends recommend to friends and to friends to infinity? If not, how big an audience do you imagine reaching?

Are you publishing for strangers? How will they discover you? Or are you playing the lottery, figuring someone has to come out of nowhere with a big bestseller, it might as well be you…

Or are you publishing to make a point, to wave your book in front of a particular audience like a red flag in front of a bull?

Are you publishing to win an award or become a critic’s darling? Good luck with that.

Are you publishing for your clients, with the intent of mailing the book directly to them? This is both easy and effective, but it isn’t publishing, it’s mailing them a book.

Are you publishing this book to make a living? Good luck with that. (Less than 3% of newly published authors make enough in royalties and advances to be happy to live on).

What you write is directly related to who you are writing for, and deciding to publish has nothing at all to do with deciding to write. Publishing is a business decision, a financial risk and a marketing project. If your goal is to generate reach, to share your gifts and your point of view, you can skip all of those and just give your work away.

There are people who should publish, who I hope will publish and who will create books we can’t wait to read. And there are important books still unwritten, books that should be created and shared. Too often, though, we seek to follow a path where there isn’t a sensible business model, and all that happens is nothing. Go, write. But think twice (or three times or six) about publishing the traditional way.

These are very important questions. I beg you, take some time to do some soul searching. before you look for a publisher or, worse, get hooked into one of the self-publishing scams out there. (There are legitimate ways to self-publish, but too many people spend thousands of dollars to get published and regret it afterward.)

I suggest 12 crucial questions (in addition the ones above) in Write Your Book Right: 12 Questions Successful Authors Always Answer. In addition, I invite you to listen to the teleseminar I did on finding your publishing path. Learn which of the three publishing paths is best for you.

We spoke only briefly, but what Seth Godin told me I have thought about ever since.

In fact, I’ve refocused my business as a publishing coach and a Healing Codes Coach/Practitioner on it.

We spoke about publishing options, and why he made the decisions he did. Here’s what Seth Godin told me: “I have built my entire career on one thing:  relationships. And I work at it every single day.”

That’s it, folks. A career and business model based on one word:  relationships. Seth’s filter for the best way to publish is, “Will this enable me to build relationships with my audience the way I want to?”

Whether you’re an author, a counselor, a business person, or leader of any kind, this filter will work for you. What will enhance your ability to build relationships?

A lawyer and professor who teaches entrepreneurship once told me, “The key ingredient of a successful entrepreneur is the ability to partner.” Again, it’s about building relationships.

In my opinion, the key factor in the success of The Healing Code is that Dr. Alex Loyd has always focused on building relationships. A core business strategy has been to build relationships with “strategic partners” who eventually helped launch his book and who continue to give him exposure to new audiences.

How do you build relationships? Two simple words: “love and truth.”

A top-notch copywriter, Brian Keith Voiles, once said the key to success as a copywriter is, “Love your prospects.” If you truly have your clients/customers/partners’ best interests in mind, not just your own, word gets around. It’s so rare that when people find “the real thing,” they tend to spread the word.

Build your career as an author on  relationships–relationships based on love and truth. And remember Seth’s last words: “I work at it every single day.”

Thanks, Seth!

__________

If you find yourself “blocked” in any way from building the kind of relationships you want, I invite you to consider looking into The Healing Code book or my Healing Codes coaching. You can also listen to the replay of the interview I did with Dr. Alex Loyd, author of The Healing Code, on getting unblocked, here.

I

Why?

Because I heard a great interview by the author on the radio. I knew I had to get his book.

Alex Mandossian often said, “You don’t make money writing books, you make money explaining books.”

Test it for yourself.

Think about the last time you bought a book. Wasn’t it either because someone recommended it, or because you somehow heard the author talking about it and it seemed interesting to you?

Notice too the viral element. I’m telling you about it, and word is going out via my blog, emails, Twitter, Facebook. All because of one interview! (And no, I do not work for the publisher. They don’t know I’m doing this, but I would love a review copy, hint hint!)

Check out my past Virtual Book Tours and see if you’re not at least tempted to get one of the books. Just browse the left-hand column for an author or topic that interests you. I’ve got lots of topics to choose from, from leadership to parenting to health. www.virtualbooktourexpert.com

The book, by the way, is Richard Swenson’s In Search of Balance: Keys to a Stable Life. I took notes on the interview, and can’t wait to read the book. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot, and Dr. Swenson’s other book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, was excellent. Life-changing, really (though I admit, I need to go back to it).

Why is a topic for another blog post….

Bamboo is an interesting plant. Its growth starts underground, where the rhizome system that supports the canes are developed.For three whole years, the plant establishes itself underground and there is no apparent growth. Nothing appears to be happening.

In the fourth year, shoots appear. The bamboo canes grow in height and diameter for only 60 days every spring. After the 60 days, that particular cane will never grow again.

However, because of the rhizome system, the next spring the shoots that come up will grow much taller and faster in those 60 days. After a bamboo grove has been establishing its rhizome system for 5 years, the canes that grow in that fifth year can reach as much as 90 feet (for certain species, in certain conditions)–all in 60 days!

Becoming a successful author is largely about establishing a strong “rhizome system” that will support the growth you can experience seemingly overnight–growth in the number of people who are exposed to your message and who themselves will begin to spread the word.

What it takes to develop that underground system is what I’m all about as a publishing coach.

That’s why you see a bamboo image in my new header.

I’m not about to promise you overnight success. I just don’t believe the real world works that way. You don’t really believe it does, either, do you? Much as we’d like to believe the fantastic claims of writing a book in 14 days or becoming a bestseller overnight, you and I know deep down that these are promises from clever marketers who want to sell us their products.

Instead, I’m going to show the exact process you need to go through so that you can lay the proper groundwork (“rhizome system”) and accelerate your growth.

Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to take 3 or 4 years for you to see any signs of growth. Unlike bamboo, the process for you can be accelerated.  That is my goal!

However, I do want you to not get discouraged if at the beginning there’s no apparent sign of anything happening at all. Under my direction, you WILL make progress.

The first step is to sign up for my Author Success Plan, a meaty, 5-part course that will lay the groundwork and show you the ABCs of Becoming a Successful Author.

What you learn in these 5 lessons is based on my 32 years of experience in publishing as an author (11 books),  editor, copywriter and marketer. They are things no one else is saying because few people know them.

The investment is small–$5. I’d give it to you free, but if I do that it’s likely it will just sit on your computer gathering cyberdust. I’m asking you to invest a little something so that you actually open and read and do the lessons. (Each lesson contains Action Steps.) I want you to benefit from these lessons.

Get your Author Success Plan now so you can immediately begin to receive your first lesson in what it takes to become a successful author. (If you want to see more of what’s in each lesson, click here.)

Most authors do.

But most authors also have a problem.

There is a word in the phrase “bestselling author” that is troublesome to many of us.

Can you guess what it is?

“Selling.”

We want our books to sell, yet we do NOT like the idea of “selling.”

Why is that?

Mostly because we have this idea that “selling” means “in-your-face, over-hyped copy.”

We see it everywhere. Over-the-top headlines that feel like they’re screaming at us.

Inflated promises that only make us more jaded.

We run from that kind of marketing ourselves. We certainly don’t want to impose it on others.

Yet we assume that’s what we have to do to “sell.”

Well, there is another approach, and I’m happy to say it works BETTER than the hype.

It’s a whole new approach to marketing that fits well with authors, called “Soft Sell Marketing.” It’s pioneered by my friends Judith & Jim Sniechowski, who are themselves authors of the excellent book and #1 bestseller, The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back.

I love their concept of “selling as spiritual service and extended prayer.” They explain, “When you really know what you’re alive on this planet to fulfill, your life becomes a prayer and you move into more and more of who you are and what you’re here to produce and contribute. You are extended. And as you serve others, they extend the prayer. Then there is true meaning in what you do every minute of the day.”

In a conference that starts in just 10 days, they will we will show you how to incorporate these principles into the heart of your business as an author so you can best serve your followers while taking care of yourself at the same time in ways you have not yet imagined.

If you’ve gotten my Author Success Plan, you know that one of the keys to becoming a successful author is approaching it as a business. This conference will show you how to run a business with heart. I resonate with that.

In fact, here’s a free coaching tip:  I suggest you study this page carefully for an example of this very kind of “selling.” If the style appeals to you, then go ahead and sign up to learn how to do it for yourself.

The line-up of speakers is impressive. I know many of them, and have learned from many of them myself. It promises to be content-rich, not a “pitch-fest.”

The best thing about this conference is it’s VIRTUAL. You can attend from the comfort of your own home, and if you choose the Interactive option (recommended), you can get MP3 downloads that you can listen to at your own pace, and go over again and again.

This is the first year Judith and Jim are holding this conference virtually rather than live, and everyone benefits. It’s now eminently affordable. I highly recommend it! Sign up now!

He will be giving it again at 7pm Eastern TONIGHT, so if you possibly can, listen to it, sign up now.

Here are 7 tips he gave on how to build a relationship with the media:

1. Research the show and personalize your pitch. Study their formula, format the demographics. Make your pitch speak to those particulars.

2. Make the host look good. That’s the best role to take.

3. Suggest props and visuals wherever possible. Anything you can do to not just be a “talking head” will help.

4. Send a thank-you note. When they book you, send a note. After the interview, send a note! You’ll stand out in their mind.  Remember, you’re building a relationship. You want to be a repeat guest.

5. Ask two questions. Before you do the interview, ask, “How can I give you a great show?” They will tell you what you need to know. After the interview, aks, “What is one thing I coiuld have done to be even better as a guest?” (There’s always room for improvement, no matter how good you are.)

6. Do something! The biggest reason people don’t get booked, even after they’ve had training is–they do nothing! (Sound familiar? If you’ve gotten my Author Success Plan, it will.)

7. Do whatever you can to meet media people face to face. Is there a local media club? Can you drop off your press release in person? Go to trade shows? Personal contacts bring you “top of mind.”

Well, there was much more. Sign up for the teleseminar, and if you are serious about learning how to do publicity–Steve Harrison is one of the few top people doing this. He’s got a great heart, too–I know him personally. Been following him for years.  If you’re on Publishing Path #3, and want to make a career of being a successful author, this investment will prove worth it. (Providing you heed tip #6.)

As I mentioned in one of my Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminars, there are three paths of publishing one can take.

1. You publish just because your life dream is to have a published book. The book is really all you care about.

You can go either the self-publishing route (faster, possible to get published if you have the money), or you can take the longer, more uncertain route of trying to get a publisher to publish you. If you do go the traditional publishing route, you will need

Read the rest of this new Publishing Coach Weekly article

Those who were on the live call and frustrated by the sound level of my voice on the webcast will be pleased to know that the recording is MUCH better. I had no control over the webcast quality, but because I don’t trust technology, I had a good backup system in place and thankfully, that worked.

(You’ll be introduced to my dog, Millie, barking in the background at one point. She’s usually nice and quiet but missing her walk for two days due to rain made her jumpy, I guess.)

Anyway, Noah had some interesting things to say.

But I did not agree with EVERYTHING he said.

In fact, I want to say a couple of things before you even listen.

First, I think that “success” can mean a lot of things to different people. Noah’s approach is to assume you want to be “famous,” and to do that, you need to come to grips with the fact that you need to become a celebrity.

That’s one view.

Personally, I don’t care about becoming “famous.” I want to be “well heard” by people who care about my message, and whose lives might be improved somewhat.

I refuse to strive for some outward, arbitrary view of success. I am one author who does NOT aspire to be on Oprah. (We talked about what it takes and frankly, I don’t want it that badly.)

Also, I know that while mainstream publishers do care about platform, you do NOT have to be a Joel Olstein to become published.

Another aspect I’m not sure I agree with is that you need to wait until you’ve got a big audience to create a community. I have my own ideas on how, when, and why to start a Groupsite, and I don’t think it’s in the “upper branches” as Noah said.

I plan to “noodle” some more on all this, and write up more responses.

For now, I invite you to listen to the replay and let me know what you think. Post your comments here!

BTW, no Action Guide, per se, but there are, as usual, action steps suggested.

My guest will be Noah St. John, author of The Secret Code of Success, the book published by Harper Business books that got him a six-figure advance.

Noah is a pioneer in what I call “New Era Publishing” strategies, and tomorrow he is going to reveal what he’s done in two specific areas: the media, and building a community.

I will also reveal some tidbits about what I’ve been learning about what big publishers are looking for now, from my ongoing dialog about one of my client’s books.

Learn too what Noah is doing to try to get on the Oprah Winfrey show–and how you can participate.

And of course, ask your question! If we have time, we’ll get to it.
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