Article of the
Week:
Publishing tip
5 Ways to Use Teleseminars to
Build
an Author Platform--Before or After Your
Book is Published
by Diane Eble
I was talking
to an editor of a mainstream publishing company recently about
the many changes happening in
publishing.
She told me that her company (which used
to be a magazine publishing company) now considers itself a
media company, and one of its main thrusts is electronic
marketing of digital products.
This IS the way of the future. In fact, it
is the PRESENT as well.
Another watchword among that company, and
others, is "repurposing."
In my last article, I mentioned that we
authors need to adopt the mindset that WE are the message, and
that our message can be delivered in many different
ways.
One of the most effective ways is the
teleseminar.
Teleseminars cater to some important
trends:
-
People are busy and want to
listen during "dead" time (driving, doing
housework)
-
38 percent of the population
is audially inclined—that is, prefer to take in
information through listening
-
more and more people are using
portable media devices (ipods, mp3 players,
etc.)
Teleseminar expert Alex Mandossian says
that with teleseminars, not only can your audience come to you
(as when they attend your live teleseminar), but you can be
where your audience is, by turning your teleseminar into a
podcast they can download and listen to whenever your audience
wants.
Deliver your message through audio, and
you can be wherever your audience is.
What's important for an author, or
would-be author, is that teleseminars can build the kind of
loyal audience that mainstream publishers look for when
considering whether to publish you.
Teleseminars can help you launch your
career as an author!
Here are five ways that can
happen.
1. You can use teleseminar as a way to
approach people who might otherwise not be open to your
contacting them. If you want access to
experts, asking them to be on your teleseminar is a good way
to get to them. It's a win/win situation: you are giving
them added exposure, thus enhancing their expertise; and
they are helping you to become known as well, because they
will publicize the teleseminar to their list, which may be
bigger than yours and will help you build your list. (I was
recently interviewed by Steve Harrison about teleseminars
for authors with precisely this
strategy.)
Also, your status in your niche is enhanced.
You're bringing added value to your audience by bringing
other experts into their world.
But let's say you have only an idea for a
book, and no list, no following at all yet. What if you started
by interviewing experts in your field?
You can approach an expert and say you're
writing a book on X, and you want to interview leading experts
in the field. Ask them if they would consent not just to you
interviewing them over the phone, but also in a teleseminar
which you would like to give?
Of course, it's best if you can do a
little list-building of your own before you approach experts,
and some of those resources for how to do that are on
the
resource page of my web site.
And, if you're reading this before 6 p.m.
Pacific on December 4, you can still sign up for Alex Mandossian's
Teleseminar Secrets preview call. I highly encourage you to do so, because you'll
get tips from that call you can begin using
immediately.
When you use teleseminars to gain access to
leaders, you can tell them that you will also set it up so
that people can ask them questions. This benefits them
because they're going to hear directly from their audience
what people want to know. And you benefit because you will
begin to build your list from their list. The expert you
interview is sure to let their followers know about the
interview, so that gives them access to their list and helps
you build yours.
2. You can do
teleseminars even before you write your book. In
fact, you can use teleseminars to create your content—at the
speed of sound! Just speak your message, have it
transcribed, and then edit. Some people find it easier to
write notes, then speak; others find it easier to speak,
then write (or edit). Generally, it's quicker to speak than
to write, even for writers. Teleseminars can be a great way
to get you to "write" your book by speaking it first. (No
more excuses about not getting started!)
It may only take two or three teleseminars to create an ebook,
which you can begin selling, to gain more of an audience and
prove to a publisher that you do have a following. Your print
book might be "repurposed" from several
teleseminars.
3. You can use
teleseminars to test your content.
This is a HUGE advantage to doing
teleseminars before your book is written.
If you ask people ahead of time what they want to
know about your topic, you will learn exactly what they want
to know. Your market can give you the content of your
teleseminar—as well as future books! This is extremely
powerful.
Teleseminars give you a way to gauge your market's
interest—or lack thereof—in your topic. If no one shows up
for your teleseminar, you have not failed at all! Rather,
you have learned something valuable—nobody is interested!
Nobody will know that your teleseminar was a no-show. And
you may have saved yourself lots of time and effort, because
you won't go ahead and write a book nobody wants to read. If
they didn't want to attend your teleseminar, chances are
very good that they wouldn't have bought and read your book,
either.
4.
Teleseminars allow you to build a list and a
following. Teleseminars overcome one of the biggest
flaws in the way books are traditionally sold (i.e. in
bookstores, online or offline). The problem with selling
your book through these channels is there's no way to
connect with your reader.
Through teleseminars, your reader (or potential
reader) can actually hear your voice. They can ask their
question, sign up for the teleseminar, feel they are
beginning a relationship with you (which they are). What
every author wants is a loyal following. A loyal following
you can actually connect with is
wonderful.
Let me add, there's something very intimate about
connecting with people over the phone. When listeners hear
your voice, they come to feel they know .you better. And
whom do people do business with? People they know, like and
trust. Teleseminars are an excellent way to get people to
know, like and trust you.
Because of this marketing intimacy of
teleseminars, the following you create will be extremely loyal
and will be likely to buy whatever books you publish.
Especially if your books are created from the content they've
said they want! You can come to a publisher with almost a
guarantee that X number of books will be bought, just from your
own list.
Believe me--publishers know
this!
5. If you're regularly doing
teleseminars before you publish your book, you can include your
teleseminar information in the book to get readers to start
attending. It goes both ways: you'll get readers
from teleseminar attendees, but you'll also get teleseminar
attendees from your readers.
When you provide content via a number of
formats, you reach more people. Some people will find you
through a book, once you're published. Some people will find
you online, through your teleseminars or a blog or articles,
whatever else you're doing. Some people will find you offline,
through print articles, radio interviews, handing out your
business cards, networking, etc.
You want to draw all those people into
that marketing intimacy that teleseminars
afford.
Teleseminars are an important part of New
Era Publishing. Use them!
Your Next Steps
...
1. Ask your
question about
teleseminars. I will answer it
on my blog, or in an upcoming article or
teleseminar.
2. Check
out Alex
Mandossian's Teleseminar Secrets Pre-Training
Call. I have gotten you VIP access to
get $79 off the $99 call. (Use Promo Code AM3964.)
You will learn strategies that will get you started.
Plus, for all who sign up with this link, you will get a
free 1-hour private Strategy Call in which we will apply
what you learn specifically to being an author. You will
get to ask me questions as well. (More details about
Teleseminar Secrets for Authors
bonuses
here.) Sign up
now!
3. C
heck out the bonuses I'm offering
those who sign up for either the Pre-Training Call or the
whole course on
this page.
Publishing Coach
Weekly Teleseminar Replay
November
25,
2008
"How to Be a Successful Author in the New Era of
Publishing"
Quotes of the Call:
"If publishers had sat down 10 years ago
and tried to figure out something that could connect them to
their customers, share their information, allow them to
develop deep, targeted, meaningful, individual
relationships, and sell product with less friction all at
the same time, they couldn't have invented anything better
than the Internet, which as a reading medium has given rise
to an epistolary culture that we never could have imagined.
…
"The Internet was designed for us
[publishers and authors]. WE couldn't have made something
any better, and I think precious few publishers have taken
aggressive advantage of all the ways in which a good
Internet strategy can spread the world about their products,
bring them closer to their customers, and help them drive
sales. Retailers tell us all the time, people find out what
they want to read online. . Every publisher [I would add,
author] should be thinking of their digital strategy as
really beginning with the Internet, and branching out from
there." --Michael Cader, editor of Publisher's
Marketplace and Publisher's Lunch
"You don't make money writing books, you
make money explaining books."--Alex Mandossian, teleseminar
expert
Questions
answered on this call:
Teleseminar
replay:
(Click to listen -
64:10)
download (right
click and save to your computer)
Resources mentioned on this
call:
Other
Publishing Coach Weekly Teleseminar
Replays
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