Tips Guides

What do you think is the quickest way to set yourself apart from your competition in the fitness industry?

I’ll give you a hint: It’s the same thing that can take your career and notoriety to a national or even international level almost overnight.

It’s the same thing that helped put fitness experts Bob Green, Bill Phillips, Shawn Phillips, Tom Venuto, Jon Benson, and myself, Tom Terwilliger on the map and we’re all trainers just like you.

The answer is– your own published book.

It doesn’t matter that not all of them were best sellers. What matters is that doors opened and paths were paved for each one of these authors once their books hit the market place.

How do you think your current and prospective clients would feel if they knew they were working with a bona fide fitness author using the same specialized training system you wrote about in your book? What if instead of just telling their friends and colleagues about you, they could actually give them a copy of your book? The publicity benefits are endless including the possibility of being on Oprah for goodness sake.

So I think we can agree you need to have a published book out there.

But here’s the problem. Most of us allow our own little inner voice to talk us out of taking the action steps that would propel us forward and instead we inch along month after month and sometimes year after year doing what’s comfortable.

But at least we’re doing something,right?

That’s how we justify it. And the truth, the “one small step at a time” approach does works in some cases. It’s how most of us learned to walk, and ride a bike, and how we got from the 4th grade to the 5th. It was the educational system process. We have been trained to think in terms of linear steps. We have been trained to think inside the box.

I find it interesting however that many of the ultra successful thought leaders, authors, and even entrepreneurs today never achieved the level of “formal education” that you might expect.

The amazing career of the self-help guru, Tony Robbins who has advised presidents, superstars, and sports heroes and whose personal power-building seminars have reached people in 70 countries is a prime example. Tony built a financial empire with no formal education or credentials - just an incredible drive to succeed and an ability to think outside the box.

My good friend, Harv Eker is another prime example. Harv has reached over 500,000 people worldwide with his financial blueprint training with no formal business degree, training or education.

Perhaps their ability to think outside the box is more a bi-product of not having pursued a formal education. The greatest commonality between Tony and Harv is that they are both best selling authors. And although their books didn’t launch their careers and they both had momentum already, it did help them break out of the stratosphere.

The bottom line is this, no matter how well your career is already going you can take it to a whole new level with your own published book and it doesn’t have to be a best seller.

So knowing the benefits for both you and those you need to reach–what is stopping you from becoming apublished fitness author?

Most people would answer that question with something that sounds a little like, “I don’t have time to write a book.”, or “I don’t have the money to get started.”, or “I don’t have enough experience.”, or “I don’t really have anything special to contribute of write about.”, or “I have no idea where to start.”

I would answer them with a resounding BS! All that is, is their own little inner voice pulling up all the old excuses that has kept them from taking action in the past. It shows up in the form of resistance. And in my experience the more resistance you encounter when considering a course of action the more you need to know that it is the direction you should be moving.

In his book, The War of Art author, Steven Pressfield writes of resistance, “Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify, seduce, bully, and cajole. Resistance is protein in that it will assume any form, if that’s what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine millimeter in your face like a stickup man. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, than double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of s**t.”

So the only real question is who will win– you and the people you can reach and help with your book or the little inner voice that puts up the resistance?

Tom Terwilliger is a former Mr. America, certified NLP Master Practitioner, Life Strategies and Personal Fitness Coach, Motivational Speaker and founder of Coaching Leadership Excellence. Learn more at Inner Game of Confidence and Access To Fitness Experts

Step back in time to 3000BC to see where paper origins lie and thank your lucky stars that this process has evolved over the years to a point where we can whip out a sheet of paper from a ream, whack it in the printer and let the ink cartridge do its thing. Originally known as papyrus, versions of this commodity have been found throughout civilisations since the beginning of time.

Bast, would be cooked, pressed flat with a hammer and then dissolved in water until it became a pulp. A wooden framed screen with a fabric base would then be laid in a puddle with the fabric just under the surface of the water and the pulp poured on top and hand smoothed. After removing the screen from the water, the ‘paper’ would then be left to dry by an open fire or in the sun. Once dry the paper is easily peeled away.

This method was extremely time consuming as a separate frame would be needed for each individual piece of paper, or the maker would have to wait until each piece was dry before making a new sheet. Not the best method if you have lengthy documents you want to record and not a method that would have seen paper being able to be fed through a machine to be assaulted by an ink cartridge.

The Chinese were also fairly instrumental, if secretive, in the development of paper and by 105 AD had developed a method of making paper from textile waste. It seems the ancient world knew more about recycling and re-using then people put into action today. The Chinese also brought about firsts in the paper making world with dyed paper, sized and coated paper as well as paper that was resistant to the damage of insects.

Chinese paper making techniques had reached Japan by 610AD and the original methods are still largely used today, albeit now with bamboo. From Japan, paper making spread to Asia, Tibet and India and was soon picked up on by the Arabs. They evolved this method into their own. Although it was slightly inferior to begin with they finally were able to produce a fine quality paper with a starch coating that any ink cartridge could have coped admirably with.

Paper took on ever more importance as trade continued to expand and administration needed more paper to keep up. However, it was still considered to be quite a skilled art even by the 14th Century.

By the 16th Century paper mills had spread throughout Europe. Machinery was now available to make the job easier and resulted in much better paper being produced at a much speedier rate. The vatman would be responsible for making the sheet from a mould, the couch squirt worked in conjunction with the vatman and placed the sheet on felt, the layman removed the still damp sheets form the felt and the apprentice who fed material to the vat.

The Reformation towards the end of the 16th Century led to further increases in paper making and raw materials became scarce. However, thanks largely to the industrial revolution of the 1800’s, paper making done by machinery became a much finer art and paper was produced pretty much to today’s standards.

It’s easy to take paper for granted. There is no shortage, it is relatively cheap depending on the quality you want and there is always a stash by the printer ready to receive the sayings printed by an ink cartridge. But next time you grab a sheet, give a thought for the art that has gone into creating this product over the years, feel that sheets smoothness and smell that distinctive fragrance. It won’t change anything but do it anyway.

Publishing expert Catherine Harvey looks at the way modern papers are more receptive to an ink cartridge and paper improvement in general.

Before the internet, in order to create your own products for distribution, you needed a staff. Since all products were physical, they had to be created and then distributed through the mail or other service.

With the internet you have many more options for creating and distributing products. You can make them digital or physical, you can create software or ebooks, and even create audio or video using just your computer.

Before you get started though, you need to make several decisions so that your product becomes a success. Ask yourself these questions, and use your answers to create a successful product.

1. What will be the topic of your products?

Is there a specific topic you are an expert in? Do you have a hobby you’ve been very successful at and can share your knowledge? Is there a topic you are passionate about?

Regardless of what your skill is, there’s probably a market for it. The first step in getting started here is to do your research, once you’ve chosen your topic, find out if there is a market for what you do. You can search for your topic in the search engines. Look for forums, social networking sites, and other sites that offer products similiar to the ones you want to create. If you find sites like these, you have a market.

2. What format will you use to create your products?

Although writing is one of the easiest ways to communicate your information to others, writing a book isn’t the only way to create an information product. With sites like Lulu, Cafe Press, and Create Space, you have the option of creating different types of products to meet the needs of your audience, including video and audio. You can also create strictly digital products that can be downloaded from your website.

3. What tools will you need to create your products?

If you plan to write books or ebooks, you’ll a word processing program, as well as a program to create PDFs. A PDF is a universal format that can be distributed to anyone and read on any type of computer. If you plan to self publish your manuscript as a book, you’ll need to convert your document to PDF before publishing.

With video and audio, you’ll either need a video camera, or some type of software on your computer to create your audios and videos. You can do a search at any of the freeware websites to find software for creating your projects in these formats.

4. How will you distribute your products?

Once you know what format you will create your product in, you’ll need to decide how to distribute it. This means taking orders, as well as processing payments. The secret here is to automate every aspect of the order, payment, and distribution process so your products are available 24/7. It will also save you a lot of time, and you can use your time to market your products. The companies I mentioned before can help you here.

5. How will you market your products?

The type of product you sell can largely determine how you will market your product. Will you create a website to send your traffic to? Do you plan to pay for traffic, as in pay per clicks? Articles and press releases are a great way to get the word out about your business and drive traffic. You can also advertise your business using classified ads, as well as share your knowledge on forums and social network sites.

There are many ways to market your business that will get you the traffic to sell your products. Create your marketing plan before you create your products and then launch as soon as you are ready to begin distributing your products. Then you will more quickly see success.

Like these tips? Then visit Marketing for Writers for more free tips and resources to help you create your own products. Learn how to market your products writing articles: $100 a Day System.

Jinger Jarrett’s book “Internet Marketing for Free: The GUIDE,” is available on Amazon.

For many people, the world that they grew up in is long gone. The entire universe has changed since people first started considering ideas that did not include cookies and milk.

Since then, in many ways, technology has changed into something controlling instead of something useful. Ideas have changed faster than we can get used to them; mindsets of entire nations have changed.

This is the perfect time to write an eBook that taps into the world as it is today and explains how some of those world changes will impact our everyday lives.

Old problems need new solutions. If you can find the problems and fill the need for solutions with your ideas and experience, you’ll have a winner of an eBook.

Browsers like to download eBooks on topics that interest them. They are usually free or inexpensive, don’t require production or shipping costs and are full of information they were looking for when they fell over your eBook.

Publishing an eBook is an entirely different ball game to publishing a physical book.

Books in print (hard copies) are very expensive to publish, costing several thousand dollars and it could be months or years before your mother will ever see your sweated-over tome in a bookstore window. Your universe might even have changed twice while you were writing your epic.

After spending the lengthy months required to write a book, submitting a print book to conventional publishing houses or to agents is similar to a vacation on Devil’s Island. You might be told “you’ve got what it takes” 30 times but it’s meaningless when your manuscript keeps coming back to you as fast as you mail it out to agents and publishers. It really doesn’t matter how good your book is if it doesn’t get past the multitude of editors looking for a reason to send it back to you.

A check of self-publishing options, “vanity presses”, can be just as grim and expensive. Most vanity publishers require minimal press runs while relieving you of your rainy-day savings. A press run between 500 and 2000 copies, including only printing and binding, might cost you several thousand dollars. Additional costs will include distribution, shipping and promotion. Do you have that much spare money to spend?

Before you do anything in this arena, do a Google search for “vanity press” (with quotes) and select among the 125,000 hits you will get for the information you need.

While all the steps required to get your book published as a traditional hard-copy book might make you change your mind entirely about doing this, let me assure you that there’s a much simpler, cheaper and faster way to get your book published and making sales.

OK, so you’re probably wondering why you should go to all the trouble of writing your book. How will you ever be able to afford either the time or the cash involved? Quit sitting at your computer and staring at a blank screen. Help has arrived.

eBooks have emerged out of the rapid change and evolution of the World Wide Web, and have become one of the most powerful ways to promote your business and educate people on any subject you can conjure up.

Your eBook can be sold from your own website. Once written and put in PDF format, it can be silently making sales for you all day and night without the intervention of a publisher. You are the publisher. Yes, YOU!

Say you have a passion for a special niche, stamp collecting, for example. Maybe you started your collection with your grandfather or dad when you were very young. What started with a few stamps and a tattered album has grown into a full-time hobby for you. You know all the prices, the best way to present your stamps to other collectors, where to buy reasonably-priced stamps, how to preserve them and, maybe, a few secret techniques you’ve developed yourself.

You have the perfect makings of an eBook to share your information with other collectors and make your reputation as an expert source in your niche.

Your eBook will promote your business silently while bringing much needed information to hungry stamp collectors. And if you find that you have more than enough information for one eBook (this is usually the case, more often than not), write another.

The wonderful thing about writing eBooks is that you can write them rapidly and have them online and making you money in a heartbeat.

Paula Brett is a writer and internet marketer. You can get her Free 7-day Product Creation eCourse here Visit her popular blog at http://www.PaulaBrettBlog.com

You have now completed writing your E-Book, you have uploaded it to your Website, the payment processors are in place and after all that hard and time consuming work, it’s now time to sit back and wait to enjoy the remunerations that will shortly start rolling in.

Nothing could be further from reality and disappointment will hit in a very short period of time.

Getting noticed on-line requires some smarts so don’t believe that because all of the hard work you have just expended to get this product ready for sale, is a surety that the eager masses will arrive with credit cards in hand, because that simply won’t happen.

So what would be the next move?

There are many tools available on the web that could assist in marketing your book and ramping up your sales. These tools are used for many on-line promotions and are readily available.

Here are a few ways to get you started and when implemented will help you increase your sales

Now like all well thought out businesses, and before starting on any venture, the very first thing to do is create a long term plan. This being your first book, what about the second, third, fourth etc. Start the juices flowing as to where you are aiming to be with your on-line business in the next 5 years, 4 years, 3 years etc.

Consider diversification by not putting all your eggs in one basket. Try to establish several different income streams and put them into your long term plan. How about using audio and video to relay your informaton, just like the gurus are now doing. Securing Joint Ventures with industry experts would really push the volume of sales along. More on this later in this article.

Volume retailing could be achieved if your book details any of the popular subjects like, How To or Business or Self Improvement etc. where certain organizations or corporations would be interested in volume purchasing from you to give as a gift to their clients or employees or associates. Volume purchasing would require you to lower the per item price to a wholesale price but the you are now selling many to one customer as opposed to one or two at a time.

Credibility has to be earned and once this has been established as an author, maybe consider moving up to the next level. There is a lot of money to be made running seminars or coaching workshops or being a presenter at a seminar. These workshops and seminars are being held globally and if you have a niche market that appeals to the masses you should consider this as a viable extension to your business.

Create Joint Ventures. This is the fastest way to bring in sales because the person(s) you JV with will introduce your product to their opt-in list and many of these lists are many thousand strong. These JVs should be in a similar industry as yours and non competing of course. However joint ventures are exactly what the name implies, both parties contribute to achieve the end result, sales.

There are many courses on-line which go into great detail as to how joint ventures are put together and outlining the many ways these can be set up. It may be well worth the time and expense to invest in one of these courses because it can be quite involved, especially for the novice marketer.

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So why do it? There are obvious benefits to doing book-signings, such as meeting prospective book-buyers in person; the market research that can only come from talking directly to your audience; the local exposure you’ll experience and the overall promotion that’s part of this entire activity - but there are hidden benefits in doing book signings that are even more valuable than everything I’ve just mentioned!

HIDDEN VALUE #1 - DISTRIBUTION IN EVERY MARKET
It’s a known fact that distribution is a problem for publishers of all sizes. The reason is simple - with over 170,000 new books coming out each year, bookstores have to be very selective about the inventory of titles they choose to keep on their shelves. But, you can use book-signing events to force your book into distribution because when a bookstore agrees to schedule a book signing, they will automatically order a significant number of copies to sell through in their store!

HIDDEN VALUE #2 - FREE ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION
Let’s face it - stores are highly motivated to promote book signings, as these events are known to be a successful action for driving in customers and stimulating sales. Book signings after all are two way streets: they draw attention to you, but you also draw attention to the store. So promotional mailings to customers, announcements in newsletters, newspaper ads, media interviews, internet banners are all promotional actions some bookstores will take to draw attention to your arrival - priceless promotions that cost you nothing!

HIDDEN VALUE #3 - FREE MERCHANDISING
Another tool the store uses for promoting a scheduled book signing is through high profile display materials (provided by you or your publisher) that are set up at a table in front of the store, usually about a week prior to your event, with a prominent display of your book along with any other high quality promotional material you can provide them. What great positioning for you to all those customers who walk through that store.

HIDDEN VALUE #4 - WORD OF MOUTH PROMOTION
After all the advertising you do, it’s word-of-mouth marketing that will either crown or drown you. The smart author knows this and will try to infect bookstore employees every opportunity they can. When authors are at book signings they have the opportunity to meet all the store employees there at the time. Those authors smart enough to recognize the value of this opportunity will take the time to introduce themselves, shake hands, talk about their book in memorable “soundbites” and make each person feel singled out and important (as they are!).

Needless to say, the next time a customer comes into the store asking for a book on your topic they will be proud to boast about your book and that they shook your hand.

HIDDEN VALUE #5 - VALUABLE MARKET KNOWLEDGE
Going through the process of scheduling and executing successful book signings can open your eyes to not only the world of retail publishing, but also the door to the secrets of your market. You will be researching the cities that are suitable for your promotion which in turn will give you valuable marketing information. You will find out where your book is most relevant and where the most demand may be.

Finding out this information will enable you to fine tune your marketing plan and target the best markets, saving not only your valuable promotional dollars but your valuable time!
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Book signings are definitely a worthwhile investment of your time as long as you understand that they are so much more than just signing autographs! Not only are they a publicity goldmine, if executed effectively they will greatly increase your profile on a local level and create an awesome buzz.

Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free Ebook “How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest” visit http://www.emsincorporated.com.