What's IN and OUT For The Information Sales Industry In 2001

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OUT - Giving away all of your valuable ...
- Selling it!I've been selling ... online for 4+ years now.
Manuals, e-books, special reports, etc. That's how I makemy living.
(And "no" I'm OUT - Giving away all of your valuable content.IN - Selling it!I've been selling information online for 4+ years now. Manuals, e-books, special reports, etc.
That's how I makemy living. (And "no" I'm not telling you this to brag, or make my operation seem larger than life.)I'm telling you so that you'll know that it can be donein a consistent and steady manner.
So that those of youwho constantly give your information away will understandthat you don't have to.If your information is good... tried and trusted by readers...
then I advise you to build up the couragethis year to sell it.Start with a 15-20 page special report for $10-$30, if you don't want to open the floodgates with anything big. (C'mon, you can write a 20-page special report in less than a week!) Take $100, secure a new domain, and pay for a fewmegs of Web site space for a couple of months.
Promote theheck out of your new report. Seeing something small sell will give you the kick in the butt you'll need to create and promote other infoproducts.The point is you gotta start somewhere.OUT - Publishing your own free e-zine.IN - Syndicating your content.You want the truth? Okay I'm gonna give you the truth.
There are too many e-zines in existence, ESPECIALLY inthe business industry. Yes...
in the past I recommended that you start your own e-zine for promotional purposes. But after looking at how jam-packed the market is getting, I'm singing another song.
The truth is you'll probably receive more attention gettingyour articles seen in already established and well knowne-zines, than you will starting your own publication. (Unless you're already a 'famous' personality who has a following.)Content syndication - (allowing other Web sites and e-zinesto feature your articles) - gives you the power to be inseveral places at once.
Plus syndicating your content meansyou don't have to worry about the hassles of running yourown e-zine. Where can you syndicate your content? Check out iSyndicate, and The Syndicator.OUT - PDF.IN - Wireless content.Okay Adobe Acrobat isn't entirely 'out.' But there is something that you forward thinkers may want to keep aneye on...
the advent of wireless content.I was just over in France where it seems like everybody has a digital telephone. I've heard that in China nothaving a cell phone is like not wearing underwear.
And they don't just use them to talk. People are actually using them to access information on the Net.
Granted I don't think I'd want to read a novel on mycell phone. However certain types of content, like news or specialized data, is currently being accessed by people with digital telephones and Palm Pilots.
Ladies and Gentlemen start your engines... the next revolution in digital information delivery is about to begin!OUT - Selling your information retail.IN - Selling your information wholesale.This one's not completely out the door just yet.
But againif you're a forward thinker who wants to stay two steps ahead of the competition, you'll give this 'IN' some seriousthought.The formula is very simple, and you've probably heard itbefore. Instead of promoting your infoproduct directly to the consumer, you sell the reprint rights to a small number of people.
They pay you $1,000+ for the privilege, plus they promote the product for you. You get major money up front and your name is still being circulated in a positive manner.I tried this one in 2000 and quickly found out that you canmake just as much money - (if not more) - selling wholesaleas you can in the retail arena.
Granted, you could lose some profits in the long run. But if you're in the game to make a quick $50,000-$100,000, this technique has proven to be a winner for those authorswho have the guts to give it a go.OUT - Self-publishers who look and act like they don't care about their Web presence.IN - Self-publishers who look and act professional.If I were a reader looking for a good e-book, there would be several sites that I would have no other choice but topass.
As a somewhat savvy onliner, I have standards.I never buy from online shops that don't have their own domains. Perhaps I'm just a snobby curmudgeon, but there's something really amateurish about hosting a business Web site in a freebie online community.I never buy e-books that have ugly covers.
I tell my clients that if they can't afford to hire an e-book cover designer for $100-$200, then they shouldn't have a cover at all. In my opinion, an ugly cover makes the book look 100 times worse than no cover!On the other hand, I do buy e-books that are described well on the Web site, sometimes with a table of contents, or description of each chapter.
I do buy e-books from Web sites that have clean designs, and secure credit card forms. And if these things make a difference to me, one can only imagine how other potential readers feel when theycompare a cruddy self-published authors site, to that of a big publishing house.If you want your work to be taken seriously...
if youwant people to pull out their credit cards and give you a piece of the pie, then show your prospects thatyou mean business.Make sure your site design is clean, have a secure order form, shell out a couple of dollars to have a great looking cover. The investment you make in yourbusiness is almost always rewarded with greater sales.
Article Tags: Don't Have Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR Monique Harris is the editor/publisher of "Digital Publishing & Promotion," a twice-weekly Webzine forauthors, publishers and promoters who wish to sellmore books - (print and electronic) - online. Visither site at .
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