By BURKE
personal publishing profits 10 point checklist
I have to get this one off my chest.
There are a thousand ways to make money online but they all have one thing in common. Ready? here it is: To make money you need something to sell you believe in.
“Pretty darn obvious”, I hear you muttering under your breath!
Yes, it is… but as obvious it is, it is also profound.
You see, you cannot sell just anything… you have to sell something you believe in – or why sell it at all?
The majority of my clients have a very difficult time creating information products they truly believe in.
When creating a product – let’s say an ‘information’ type product like a book, CD, DVD etc… – the most important aspect of the creation process is the ‘BIG’ idea.
What is that ONE THING you are trying to teach? What is the ONE BENEFIT you are trying to grant to your buyer?
Some people do this amazingly well. I mean they come out with product after product and each one has a real tangible benefit because they have direct experience in the subject matter. Even if they are not the expert in that area, they have tried, etsted or dome research int he area which gives the enough credibility to be able to write at least a ‘beginners’ guide in the subject area. You do not have to be an expert, no… you just need to have DIECT experience int he subject matter… and enough DIRECT experience to be able to write about the subject area with some credulity.
It’s easier to do online than offline. The time from product ideation to production is short online – sometimes only days.
This makes a huge difference to the development cycle.
From ideation to production is time compressed. Market research? Testing? … all time compressed.
What took months in the offline world can take days or even hours in the online world.
Let’s get back to the idea of ‘creating a product you believe in’.
Ok… let’s do a quick checklist to see if you have a product that’s worth creating:
1) What do you want to create a product about? It MUST be something you have DIRECT experience with.
2) Do you have DIRECT experience in what you want to write about? (if not, what makes you think you can write or create a product in this area at all??) If you have no DIRECT experience, go back to #1!
3) Do you understand the market? (yeah- this a big one, but overlooked) In other words, even though you have direct experience in the subject matter, do you know what the market wants?
4) What’s the BIG idea? What the one benefit your readers will get from using your product?
5) How will you deliver this benefit? What format will it take i.e. book, CD (or digital audio), DVD, napkin, directory, pictures, etc…
6) How will you package the product? Physical or digital? Will you hire an artist or do it yourself?
7) How will you market and sell your product? How do people in that market like to buy? Online or offline?
Is this a product you truly believe will help people if they read and use the information it contains? (If not, go back to #1!)
9) Is the product ‘evergreen’ or does it need frequent updating? If the updating is frequent because of changes in the subject area it might make more sense to sell it as a digital product that can be updated as soon as changes occur.
10) Is this product a ‘one shot deal’ or will you be creating a number of products in the same subject area? If it’s a one-shot deal, then you would produce and sell it differently than if it was one product in a series…
One last pice of advice: If you have no Direct Experience in the subject area and still want to do the project find someone who does have the direct experience in the subject area. Interview them and then create your product. Be the publisher, rather than author and publisher.
