The Book as a Winning Platform for Business
The following is an excerpt from Vanity Circus published by 3L Publishing in 2010. If you would like a copy, go to Amazon or the 3L website at www.3LPublishing.com.
There is one thing we consistently see across the
board. We constantly educate our authors on how their book is not a
singular passive revenue stream; but we inform them how their book can become a
business with multiple revenue streams. When our clients come to us with such
tunnel vision we educate about the “business-in-a-box” business model and
slowly light up the tunnel until, “ta-da,” the realization of a business
opportunity hits them smack on the side of the head. They finally understand the
concept and then they run with it. When you write a book, it is a platform and
opportunity to do many other things such as speaking engagements, workshops,
and increase your current business activities.
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Smart
Girls
“The
answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if
you want it to.” ~ Trinity, The Matrix
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Did
someone just give me a mic?
When SMASH: a Smart Girls Guide to Marketing and Public Relations first
came out last year, we were immediately flooded with speaking opportunities.
The part that was surprising was that the people who were asking us to speak
did not even read the book yet. When you publish a book, you are automatically
viewed as an expert. Now, between the two of us we do have the marketing and
publishing experience to warrant the “expert” status; but to get opportunities
without even trying was pretty amazing.
There are several ways to
leverage this aspect of the “business-in-the-box” model. You can do what we did
and take your stand-up comedy routine on the road. First, you will be asked to
start with non-paid speaking engagements that you will need to start building
your speaking resume anyway. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Why would I want
to do something for free?” Well, for one thing you may not be paid but you will
be able to sell your book at the back of the room. We have personally watched
some of our authors speak and sell not one, but two or even four books to each
person in the room. Second, by speaking in general you will be promoting your
core business. If you do not sell a book to everyone in the room you are still
a 30- to 60-minute business promo to every single person in that room. The
exposure is priceless – and they might turn into several new contracts for your
core business.
Once you have built up a resume
with the small guys, it is time to start leveraging this experience with the
major conferences that are relative to your transcript. One very important
question to ask your publicist is to find out if they will create pitch letters
for you, and if they can submit them as well. When you are on a major
conference circuit you are looking at 5K or 10K or even 50K for any speaking
opportunity where you keynote. This is not bad income for the time spent – and most
major conferences will cover travel as well. Oh, and P.S. you can write off
your trip too. Last, when you speak to a group this large you know your Amazon
sales are going to blow up to say the least. And, you will be famous.
Now, I think we need to get
real for a minute because some people suck the big one when it comes to public
speaking. We have seen some pretty bad speakers and two in particular ended up
in our screenplay C-ASS. Terrible
speakers usually exhibit one of the following qualities: crappy content/lack of
audience entertainment/interest/involvement/nervousness.
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Smart
Girls
“According to most studies, people's
number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two.
Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a
funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” ~ Jerry Seinfeld
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There is absolutely nothing
wrong with being nervous when it comes to public speaking. Now, if you have a
deathly fear of it you might not want to pursue this aspect of your “business-in-a-box”
model. However, if your fear is minor and you can correct it with a class (or
even a nice glass of Merlot) or start attending a group like Toastmasters … go
for it.
Most people, unless they are a
born entertainer feel nervous when they start a presentation until they get to
know their audience. Once they are in for a couple minutes the nerves subside
and they actually enjoy the experience. Most people enjoy themselves because
they are talking about a topic they feel passionate about; therefore, the
speaking engagement becomes fun. Isn’t that a novel concept? On the flipside
there is nothing wrong with not wanting to speak if you truly feel
uncomfortable. If you are forced to do something you do not want to do your
nerves will cause you to do silly things like blurt out things you do not mean;
ask for everyone’s opinion in the room for buy in; and overall make your entire
audience uncomfortable while they have one single thought going through their
heads, “Please God, make it stop.”
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Smart Girls
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Before you decide to get in
front of the microphone you should carefully contemplate content, your audience
and the interest factor. Over the last year, we have seen more horrific
speakers at various networking events we attend. Most of the time, they are
walking, talking infomercials and occasionally we leave wondering what the f***
was that about? When we are really scratching our heads that hard about
something despite the horrible content the entertainment factor was usually
there for sure. First, make sure you are passionate about your content and look
at what takeaways your audience should get out of your performance. I know, I
know, you are thinking but what’s in it for me? I just want to talk about my
upcoming seminar. See, now you are an infomercial. It is best to stick to
helpful, relative or inspirational information where you have your audience engaged. The engaged part is key,
because once you have them hooked you will have followers (and possibly
stalkers) for life. Last, please do your audience a favor and be interesting.
If you are boring everyone in the room – and you see them leaving your snooze-fest
– chances are public speaking may not be for you.
Workshops
and Seminars … Oh, Boy!
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Smart
Girls
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Once you are published, your
book will be a great platform to launch workshops and seminars. Workshops and
seminars can be done both online as well as in person and not only will you
generate book sales you will be charging for
workshop/seminar attendance as well. What a novel
idea!
In an ideal world, you should
start working on content for these while your book is at the printer. The
content for the book will obviously be done, but you need to figure out how you
can turn your book into a workshop and what physical takeaway or written plan
your attendees will receive. When you have ironed out these little details you also need to figure
out how to market your events. I have to share with you that if you do not
market your events, no one is going to show up. It also does not feel good to
have no one show up at your book-launch party either. Isn’t that your worst
nightmare kind of like one of those dreams where you find yourself in the
middle of a crowd with just your underwear … doesn’t make you feel all warm and
fuzzy does it?
There are some great marketing
tools online and your publicist should be aware … if not fire the person. One
of our favorite ways to promote our events is through MeetUp. MeetUp is a
great, inexpensive online group service you can sign up for to create your
meeting group and market your events. The best part of MeetUp is that once your
page is up, MeetUp will invite everyone in their system who is interested in
your particular topic. MeetUp also accepts payments, pretty cool right?
Another great way to promote
your events is through LinkedIn. We have to warn you about LinkedIn though. In
the interest groups we belong to, there seems to be a lot of cranky people with
free time on their hands that are ready to mudsling at any time. Our
recommendation is to test the water, find an interest group that is a good fit,
participate first and then promote.
Last, we started out this
chapter talking about how your book is going to be a platform for your business
itself. I can guarantee you that if you own an auto body shop and you write a
book on a Smart Girls Guide to fixing your car … you are going to get business
from local women simply because you have a book out. If you are reading this,
and are wondering if this is you, yes … I am talking about you.
If you would like to discuss ghost writing or writing a book to support your business, call us at 916-300-8012 or send an email to info@3LPublishing.com.
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