Archive for July, 2008

Info-marketing catapults first-time author into Amazon Top 100

Is information marketing effective? Does it really work to attract clients and income? Let’s look at Steve Pavlina, one of my favorite bloggers.

For almost four years, Steve has been writing about “personal development for smart people” and posting the articles on his blog. Today, his first book is among Amazon’s Top 100 in sales — three months before its release!

“It currently has a sales rank of 94. It also sits at #13 in the self-help category, #4 in the personal transformation category, and #5 in the motivational category. Those rankings are adjusted hourly, so they may be different by the time you read this.”

Steve has posted about 700 articles. That’s it. No outside promotion or advertising. Just quality content and word of mouth buzz, which have generated an incredible number of incoming links. Even his Google pagerank is a modest 4.

Not only has his writing attracted a publisher, Hay House, (yes, they came to him), but Steve claims the advertising and affiliate links on his blog earn him over $10,000 a month income.

It’s not the mere fact that he’s writing that has brought him this success. It’s the quality of his material.

Posted on July 11th, 2008 by Tom McKay  |  2 Comments »

Personal Branding Exhibit A: Rush Limbaugh

Mouth RushmoreWho says branding doesn’t reap big rewards? Broadcasting bigmouth Rush Limbaugh just signed a new $400 million contract: a $100 million signing bonus and $38 mil a year for eight years.

Ironically, because of his iconic personal brand, we already know everything he’s going to say!

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by Tom McKay  |  No Comments »

Writing secret #3147

Just do it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Most wanna-be writers think they have to save up a year’s salary, quit their jobs and flee to Tahiti to write their novel (or move to Nashville to become a songwriter). Not true. Here’s all you have to do: write a little every day. Maybe a half-hour, or an hour, even two hours.

Writing, especially creative writing, is not the kind of thing you can do all day, every day. Most fiction writers have a daily word count (or page count) they try to hit, then they take a break and do other things. Most need to get “out of their heads” for a while to let the embers of their creativity cool.

Singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield recently told the NY Times’ Measure for Measure blog how she writes little-by-little.

“(A)ll you really have to do is write a little bit every day. Even if it is rubbish, even if it’s really bad, just set aside a half hour every day to write. Write something, anything, and don’t worry about whether it’s perfect. So when you’re songwriting and you’re staring at a blank page before you — I’m talking about when you’re feeling daunted about the future and afraid to make any step, afraid that the bad stuff is going to get embarrassing — just let the bad stuff come out!

“I found out it that it doesn’t even matter if I fall because even if I fall, that gives me another good story to write… Learning all of that really freed me.”

So what are you waiting for?

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by Tom McKay  |  No Comments »