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.
http://www.greatauthorpromotions.com

“If I spend X dollars, will I likely at least recoup my investment?”

This is a question I ask myself any time I spend money, especially on my business.

I operate on a shoestring budget. Not because I’m so cheap, but because I like to get the best value for my dollar as possible. It’s smart to keep things simple and lean. I am not afraid to spend money on training, tools, etc. if they will truly help me become a more successful author and business person. But any expenditure should, ideally, be an investment.

There are lots of ways to spend money, and some of it is an expense, some an investment.

I try to make sure as many of my expenditures as possible are investments, rather than merely expenses.

With that in mind, I thought I’d evaluate some of the smaller expenditures that turned out to be investments with very good ROI, and tell you why.

Best $14.39 (amazon price) I Ever Spent:

Maria Veloso’s Web Copy that Sells (Second Edition). This is a must-have reference work for any copy (persuasive writing) you do. It will help you with more than web copy; you can use her principles, especially the Trifecta Neuro-Affective Principle, for book titles, email copy, even book proposals. (I also suggest you download a free copy of her excellent ebook, Frame-of-Mind Marketing.)

Best $15.59 I Ever Spent: The Secret Code of Success by Noah St. John. This little book is probably the last “self-help” book you’ll ever need. Full of great insights that turn typical self-help advice on its head, explains why most of what you hear doesn’t work, and shows what does. If all you get out of it is how to do “afformations,” it will change your life.

Best $27 per month: Jimmy D. Brown’s Membernaire course. If information is what you want to sell, then this course on how to create, market, and profit from a “fixed term membership site” is well worth it. Jimmy knows so much about content creation, marketing, repurposing, the whole shebang. And he has a gift for making it easy and doable. I have bought most of his courses, and they are all excellent. A less expensive option, that’s still a great investment, is his Small Reports Fortune course. Here’s a free Special Report to give you a taste.

Best Money ($197) I Ever Spent (period): XSite Pro Web Design Software. This may be one of the best investments I’ve ever made. It’s saved me so much time–I can create great-looking websites in literally minutes. It’s also saved me money–no designers or webmaster needed. Here’s one I did most recently, in around 10 minutes. The template was one of the hundreds I could have used that came with the program. You don’t need to know html or anything like that. You don’t need to know what a plugin is, like you do with a blog. Everything you need is in the program, and it’s as easy to use as MS Word. (Not much different, really.)

Besides the time, money, and hassle I prevent by not needing a webmaster or designer, by being able to change my website quickly and easily, it also gives me GREAT search-engine ranking. Supposedly blogs get greater search engine ranking, but my XSite Pro sites actually do better. That latest website I created, www.developyouraudience.com, was only created 3 weeks ago. Yet if you search “develop your audience” on Google, it comes up #1 on page 1. That’s because of the excellent search-engine optimization already built in. And again, it’s easy to use. All you need to know is what keywords you want to use. The program does it all.

So if you’ve been balking at putting up a website because it seems too hard … if you’re paying a webmaster to do every little change you want to make (and waiting for days for it to get done) … if you are intimidated by what you need to know to put up a great-looking blog … then this will be the best $197 you ever spend as well.

So that’s an introduction to some of the best lower-cost expenditures I’ve made that have given me great ROI. I recommend any of them without any reservation whatsoever.

Noah revealed his own journey as an author … which holds many surprises.

Did you know this successful author, who is represented by one of the top literary agents in the country, started with a self-published book held together with tape?

And that, only 3 years ago, he was $35,000 in debt and living in his parents’ basement?

How did he dig out of THAT place to get a six-figure publishing contact with a top publisher, and exposure on the alphabet soup list of top national media (NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, etc.)?

Find out in this telling interview. You will be encouraged by Noah’s story.

More than that, you will come away with tips on how to build your platform (and the mathematical formula for what an author platform is), and what to do if you, like Noah, don’t LIKE marketing (he much prefers writing and teaching).

You will come away with New Era Publishing marketing techniques that will get your readers to actually consume your information (even if it’s NOT about money or success), how to contact media who are looking for what you have to offer, and more.

Listen to the replay and, please, DO the action steps, suggested! They’re very simple.

And if you have another question about how to promote a book/information product, ask it here.

It’s difficult even to get any literary agent to take on your book, let alone one of the top literary agents in the country.

Yet one author managed to do both.

On Thursday, I’m going to grill this author, Noah St. John, on how he did this.

And YOU also get a chance to ask Noah your question as well.

I plan to ask how long it took him to find an agent, what his book proposal was like, how he made contact with his agent, what it was like to have his book go on auction, what he’s doing now to promote his book, etc.

The “etc.” means YOUR questions.

So go ahead, ask Noah and sign up for the very first “great author promotions” teleseminar, in which we’ll learn from successful authors what their proven secrets are.

The teleseminar is at the usual Publishing Coach Weekly time: Thursday at 1 pm Eastern, noon Central, 11 am. Mountain and 10 am Pacific. There will be a replay is you miss it, but attending live means you can ask Noah questions that occur to you during the interview.

One more thing: No doubt a big part of Noah’s success is his actually doing what his book is about. Title: The Secret Code of Success. It’s not your typical “success/self-help book”; there’s real meat here beyond the kind of “believe it and it will happen” advice so prevalent today. You can get his great insights for less than $14 at amazon.

Then, you’ll be eligible to attend his free bookinar and really put into action what you learn. We’ll tell you how to access the bookinar on the teleseminar.

(By the way, he got a six-figure advance for the book from a major publisher, no doubt on the strength of the content, the platform he’d already built, and his marketing plan.)

Noah is currently doing a “bookinar” in which, over the course of 4 or 5 modules, he is being interviewed by Alex Mandossian about the content of the book. The book is your “ticket” to attend the webinar, which makes sense, since the book is the curriculum. On the bookinar Noah explains the book, and gives exercises that will enable you to get the most out of the content.

It’s a lot like a Virtual Book Tour, but it goes a step beyond by becoming an interactive course, based on the book.

Brilliant. This is “New Era Publishing” strategy at its best. Noah is providing a way for readers to connect with him, via the “marketing intimacy” of hearing him explain and expand upon the book.

He also interacts with readers via the bookinar. You may ask him questions before, during, and after each session. The content is recorded and made available so that you can listen when you like. There’s an Action Guide along with the audio.

I encourage you to get a copy of his book and attend the bookinar. (He’s already 2 modules into it, but you can always go through it at your own pace.) The book itself is revolutionary. (I’ve been following Noah for years, and think his approach is ground-breaking and brilliant. His concept of “afformations” alone will change your life.)

As you experience the book through reading it and attending the bookinar, pay attention to not only what Noah says, but what he as an author does. For instance, look at what he does in “Act III,” chapters 11-13. (Hint: Keep your receipt. It’s worth $2,990.) What do you think of this approach, as a reader? If you have a nonfiction book yourself, especially if it’s not yet published, how can you incorporate this approach yourself?

(Noah’s publisher, Collins Business, a division of the major publisher, HarperCollins, has fully backed this approach. Publishers are “getting it.”)

I urge you: Get the book. (It goes well beyond any “success book” you’ve ever read.)

Attend the bookinar to experience the connection with the author and take action on the great content of the book.

Finally, study Noah’s approach as an author and come up with a plan for your own book. It’s a winning approach, and I believe this book will very soon become a best seller. (Not only because of brilliant marketing, note, but because of great content.)

By the way: If you want to do a bookinar with me as interview, let me know! Check out www.virtualbooktourexpert.com for background on Virtual Book Tours that I’ve done.  A bookinar would be set up in a similar way.