A few days before Halloween, I thought I would stay in theme by sharing
some truly “scarry” mistakes many people (including me) have made with
their information product business.
Scary Mistake #1: The “Wet Noodle” Topic and Title
You’ve heard copywriters say it – it’s the headline that sells.
Just as 90% of a copywriter’s job is to study and “live” the lives
of their market – 90% of your effort as a book writer must be
to intimately understand what your market wants so badly they can’t
wait to pay you for it.
That means living and breathing like your target market – listening,
questioning, interviewing, and generally being a big pain in the
ass to figure out exactly what they really WANT to be, achieve,
do, or be percieved as.
Scary Mistake #2: Nothing To Sell, Means No Sales
Here’s a Halloween quiz, how much money can you make selling your
half-completed 600 page ebook? What about an interview you’ve
completed, but haven’t told the world about?
I get so many people that come back month after month telling me that
next month, they will have their book done.
Two words of advice…
If you can’t get your 100-page ebook out in the next 2-weeks, then
write a 20-page report and start selling it.
Next thing to do – go pickup a copy of “How To Write A Book On Anything
In 14 Days or Less….Guaranteed!”3. Scary mistake #3: Finding Channels of Distribution
Before you write a single word, create a single question for an
interview or create a single chapter for your how-to video, you
should have identified at least 10 potential partners who you have
contacted to share your rough idea, and spoken to in-person if at
all possible.
Who would these people be?
You want them to be major players in your market. List owners,
forum owners, ezine publishers, authors, speakers, webmasters with
successful websites, etc…
You want to have a “pick their brain” session to bounce ideas back
and forth, validate your assumption about the market, discuss
different product opportunities, pricing, and eventually – these
people should help you get your product in front of Millions of
eyeballs!
Too many people wait to find partners AFTER they have put months of
work into their product – only to find they either can’t find them
or that their product doesn’t attract the very distributors they need
to help them make their product successful.
Happy Halloween all – by avoiding these scary mistakes – you too can
finally create and market your own successful information products.
