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Practical_Information_Products_for_the_Internet
| Practical Information Products for the Internet
I have been in the training business for over twelve years. As I
began writing how-to manuals, I naturally began offering
seminars on how to write how-to manuals. And I still do. But
I've found that by putting what I've learned about this subject
into print and marketing this manual, I've been able to reach
out and help many more people than I ever could through seminars
alone.
Practical. Above all else, writing, publishing, marketing and
promoting your how-to manuals is practical. Information products
are some of the easiest things to create and market (especially
over the Internet!) How-to manuals are a consistently profitable
market. Never mind if there are already twenty- eleven things in
print on your topic. If you have something new to say on the
subject, or some new way to say it, you have a unique product
that may fulfill the needs of others.
Portable. One of the things I love most about this business is
that it’s portable. You can write, publish, market and promote
your how-to manuals from virtually anywhere. I've written how-to
manuals while traveling almost full-time delivering my seminars
and training courses. When my wife takes early retirement in a
few years, she wants to move from the large city we now live in
on the West Coast to a small town in northern New Mexico. No
matter, I can still do my business from wherever we settle next.
Your Spin. This business really has no limits! As I said above,
even if there are many other publications on a topic you want to
write your how-to manual about, don't fret! Put your unique
stamp on the topic and/or market it in a new way, and you'll
find plenty of buyers. Do you think Dr. Wayne Dyer was the first
person to write a self-help book? Absolutely not! But the way he
wrote "Your Erroneous Zones" reached people, many of whom had
never read a self-help book in their lives, in a way that made
him a best-selling author!
Easy & Cheap. It’s getting easier and cheaper than ever to
produce your how-to manuals for distribution, from traditional
print media to electronic formats that can be distributed over
the Internet immediately!
Profitable. Finally, this is an incredibly profitable business!
People who need what you know will pay more for your 30- 90 page
how-to manual than they pay for a hardback book at the
bookstore! And the mark-up on your product can result in
substantial profits on even just a few hundred or a few thousand
sales.
Pricing. And that’s the point I want to end this article with:
one of the biggest mistakes self-publishers make is that we tend
to underprice our manuals! Manuals that contain specialized
knowledge are virtually always priced higher than books in
stores. This is because you are making available specific
information that a specialized segment of the marketplace is
seeking. Your customers desperately want your information -- and
they are ready, able and willing to pay for it!
About the author:
Best Regards, Robert Brents, "The 80/20 Guy"
http://www.RobertBrents.com For your free four-lesson e-seminar,
How To Write, Publish, Market & Promote Profitable How-To
Manuals, email mailto:freehowtoeseminar@sendfree.com Copyright
2002 Robert Brents and Blue Gecko Press.
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