Herman School of Business
It's staring you in the face.
Sometimes the good ideas are staring you right in the face. This time last year I had launched my first book, THE INNKEEPER TALES and I was thrilled. Hundreds of copies were sent out to reviewers and marketing efforts began to hype sales of the book. Review sources are very important because if they write about the books in newspapers and magazines then people go out to buy a copy.
If you haven’t read THE INNKEEPER TALES what are you waiting for? In my opinion it is even better than HERMANISMS. The chapters are all different characters telling true parts of their lives that educate and entertain the reader, making you think about your own situation, and motivating you to positive thoughts and action. One of the first publishers who read the book commented that it was better than ONE MINUTE MANAGER and WHO MOVED MY CHEESE, both huge best sellers. People who review books get hundreds of copies of new works every week. They stack them on the desk, scan the book quickly, and either it makes it to the “pile to be reviewed” or it gets discarded without a look. My follow-up research found that THE INNKEEPER TALES was thought to be cutesy folk stories about staying at Aunt Jenny’s Inn. The reality is they really do judge a book by its cover, despite the fact that you shouldn’t.
I brainstormed with my editors and came up with what was staring us in the face. Give the reviewers another book with a crass commercial sexy cover that they would read and review, and by doing that people would buy the second book and go back and discover the first one. Besides, selling two products with a marketing campaign gave us a better chance at making a sale. HERMANISMS has that slick, pick-me-up-and-look-inside kind of cover. It worked. The second book has taken off faster than the first book. But still it wasn’t shooting off the shelves fast enough. We stared at our two products and came up with a marketing twist. Serialize HERMANISMS with a DAILY HERMANISM on radio. Sell the book by selling the contents of the book with a teaser every day. That’s working too. And starting next week one of those people who review books is putting a HERMANISM in a newsletter going out to thousands of people every month. And another reviewer who got HERMANISMS called and wrote an article about me for SPIRIT MAGAZINE which will be on every SOUTHWEST airplane for the month of January.
Over the holidays my wife was brainstorming with me about 2008. She wants to do some new business venture that will fulfill her merchanting needs (she was born in a house with a store attached and has worked selling stuff her whole life). She started playing on her computer one night and the next morning she presented me with an idea that was staring her in the face all along. Soon we will be introducing a line of T-shirts with the most popular HERMANISMS written across the front. If her gut feeling is right we will have them for sale at all major beaches and colleges in 2008. Knowing her she will take this great idea that was staring her in the face and end up making more money than I will selling books. It’s a good thing the copyright is in my name huh, at least she will have to cut me in for a piece.
Look at what you are doing…something is staring you right in the face.
- Posted: 28 December 2007
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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