Learn To Position Yourself As An Info-marketer Instead Of A Writer
I once heard the title of this discourse from Mark Victor Hansen. He made this statement in one of his MegaSpeaking Empire Conferences in Los Angeles. Mark said, “don’t position yourself as an author; position yourself as an information marketer.” This statement is not original with Mark, though. Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame made a similar statement years ago. Robert said that the only secular job he held was with Xerox just to learn sales and marketing.
The exposition, explanation and expansion of the idea below is entirely mine.
Most authors seem to position themselves as ivory tower writers and seem to be out of touch and synchrony with their audience and readers. My observation is that writing and publishing your book
The main work, energy and time should be devoted to selling your book. You should not leave this important and critical step to your publishers despite the contract you signed or the promises they made to you. The gospel truth is that most publishers don’t know how to market your book beyond their traditional distribution chains. To go deeper, publishers don’t know about leads, lead generation and how to convert prospects into paying customers. You, the author must learn to market your own book by positioning yourself as an expert information marketer instead of strictly a book author. Savvy marketers make money; most authors have empty pockets.
For instance, I consider sales letter craft as a Writing niche; That’s why it’s called copy writing. Therefore, most good copywriters are those who are primarily direct response marketers who happen to write sales copies. Their sales letter convert more and makes more money than those of academic copywriters who have not been in the marketing trenches. For your next copywriting project, make sure you hire a direct response advertising copywriter.
Making money should be at the back (and not at the front) of your mind as an author. The irony is that monetization should not be the first thing; leads and lead generation should come first. Providing value, problem-solving and changing lives through your writings should be your first projection as you generate fresh leads of potential customers. Stephen Covey calls it beginning with the end in mind. Robert Allen calls it working from your dream instead of to your dream. Ken Evoy says, “You don’t begin with your goal; you begin with your passion.” Then you can work towards your goal as a best selling author. Your passion is what you turn into profit. It is a process and positioning yourself as an information marketer will shorten your path to becoming a best selling author. Remember there are no best-writing authors!
You look around bookstores and in Amazon.com as well as other online bookstores, you will be shocked to see well-written books that stack the shelves. “Uzo, You should sell the books and not stack them,” says my friend, Hassan. Most good books are dumped in the author’s garage or out of print because nobody is pushing or buying them. I have even seen bad books become best sellers because of publicity. People still go by what they see. If the books are not in front of people, they have no chance of selling whatsoever. Therefore, publicity is everything. That’s why every author should learn sales and marketing. You should not see marketing as beneath you. Most marketers are even richer than doctors and brain surgeons. They also have better tax breaks and tax shelter. They claim most of their marketing advertising and purchases as business expenses which the doctors cannot.
I must put a disclaimer to my discourse before you accuse me of greed and money-hungry. Remember that it is a curse in the Bible to sow and not reap the fruit of your labor. Why should you waste time, energy and money to put together a book and don’t make sales? Writing is brain work, time-consuming and money-sapping process. You must have returns on your investments. Yes, you must have something to show for your efforts so that you can write more books and help more people. And that’s where sales and marketing comes in. And that’s why you must position yourself as an information marketer who is an author.
Uzo Onukwugha brainstorm the concept of positioning yourself as an infomarketer. If thinking is everything, then it is the most important thing. Think low and become low; think high and you elevate your life. It is not the man’s age, it is his mental stage that counts. A good author must first become a good salesman Sales letter copywriting is at the core of your book sale promotions
Tags: author, best writing, best-selling author, book marketing, info-marketer, marketer, monetization