Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Blog: Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author, page 44
November 2, 2011
Would Being a Book Author Help Your Business Stand Out?
If you are a plumber or an architect, would having a published book written by you about your business help your company's reputation?
Whatever your business, the answer may be: Probably yes.
In the past, such an undertaking was uncertain:
You could write the book and then try to find a book agent and/or publisher interested in the book. Or you could hire what was called a "vanity press" to print numerous copies that you kept in your garage or under your dining room table.
Today the explosion of ebooks, ereaders and ebook publication services makes writing a book – albeit an electronic book delivered over the Internet – within the reach of most business people.
Let's look at how this might work for you:
You write a book about the questions your clients/customers or prospective clients/customers ask you. Perhaps as an architect you frequently get asked about building codes. So you write an entire book about different kinds of building codes.
Or as a plumber you frequently get asked about when old pipes should be replaced. You can write about the answers to this for different kinds of pipes and other plumbing situations.
(There seems not to be any consequence on what length an ebook has to be in order to be considered a book. This is another topic that is often debated.)
Now perhaps you feel you are not good at writing – or English is not your native tongue. But you are "writing" about your specialty. So you could talk your knowledge into a recording device or use an online recording service.
The next step would be to hire an editor to put either your written or spoken book into good English and in logical sequencing for the information.
You can also hire a cover designer to create a "cover" for your ebook. Or you may want to create a cover design yourself.
With the manuscript and cover ready, you can hire a person skilled in converting a manuscript into the numerous ebook formats. Or you can go the "do it yourself" route.
At the moment ebook formats are evolving – Kindle has just announced a new format – and there is as yet no standard format.
The person who converts your manuscript can also upload your ebook formats to the various ebook platforms, such as Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Or, again, you can go the "do it yourself" route.
Then comes the marketing, depending on your goals:
You can actually make your ebook downloadable for free on certain ebook platforms. This plan may work well if your ebook's purpose is only to help establish your credibility in your field.
Or you can sell the ebook at any price you want. (The Internet is awash with debates on what is the best price point for different lengths of ebooks.)
Plus you can email a downloadable version of your ebook to prospective clients/customers. People do not even need an ereader device. Instead, for example, they can read a Kindle-formatted ebook on their computers if they have first downloaded the free software calibre-ebook.com
In addition, new ebook publisher companies are continually coming online. And new ebook features are being added. Some ebook formats now enable audio or video or other interactive elements.
These interactive features, for example, might work very well for a plumbing ebook or an architectural ebook – or anything that is visual.
If you do decide to publish an ebook to help the reputation of your business, you can then consider using social media to get out the word about the ebook. You can even post excerpts of the ebook on your company's Facebook Page and on other social media sites.
The question you should ask yourself is:
If I do not do this, will my competitors write/create ebooks, leaving my company behind in the dust?
Bottom line: Do consider writing and publishing an ebook as part of your business' strategic marketing plan.
© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
The company offers consulting on book publishing and book marketing – see www.millermosaicllc.com/book-marketing/ – as well as builds WordPress websites for authors – see www.millermosaicllc.com/call-to-action-websites
You can learn about Phyllis' fiction and nonfiction books – including her ebooks – at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 30, 2011
You Have Written a Book; Now What?
Imagine two scenarios:
In the first scenario your book manuscript is in your computer and you are sending queries to agents and perhaps publishers.
In the second scenario you have an attractive website that has information about you, your book's topic (fiction or nonfiction), and at least one chapter of the book.
In the first scenario you are still acting as if the Internet is in its infancy with email the biggest asset at the moment.
In the second scenario you are taking advantage of the Internet to demonstrate a commitment to your book as well as providing information that might entice an agent or publisher to be interested in your manuscript. When you send a query email, you can include your book's website URL.
Given these two scenarios, it seems rather a good idea to have a website already in place, if possible, at the completion of your book.
While I admit this adds to a writer's concerns, it is also a great advantage to be a writer.
As a writer you can share excerpts from your manuscript on your site. Or you can write blog posts on related topics. Or even write blog posts on your writing experience.
The bottom line: If you are writing a book, you should ideally also be writing information for a companion website.
And, before you jump into getting just "any old website," read some of these blog posts on what makes an effective marketing-focused site. (You do want to eventually sell your book, don't you?)
© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
Miller Mosaic offers consulting on book publishing and book marketing – see http://www.millermosaicllc.com/book-marketing/
You can learn about Phyllis' fiction and nonfiction books at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
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October 28, 2011
Little Social Media Hood Visits Her Grandfather
Little Social Media Hood had an 86-year-old grandfather who for the last few years had been learning how to write funny stories.
When he started, he wrote his stories in all caps with no punctuation. But gradually he had learned how to use upper and lower case and basic punctuation.
Little Social Media Hood thought his stories rather funny – if only someone would edit these into better grammar.
One day Little Social Media Hood strapped her bike helmet on her head and climbed onto her bicycle. Her destination was her grandfather's house.
On the way to her grandfather's house she saw a car accident on the side of the road. The paramedics were already there. But being a good citizen, Little Social Media Hood tweeted a traffic warning to people who might want to avoid that intersection.
When she got to her grandfather's apartment building, she met the landlady, who asked Little Social Media Hood for a favor. "I can't get AT&T to restore my Internet access. I was on hold with someone in the Philippines for hours. Can you help me?"
"Sure," Little Social Media Hood said. "I know just the person to tweet to get help for you. I'll send him a tweet now and let you know when he replies."
Little Social Media Hood locked her bike outside the building and then knocked on her grandfather's apartment door. When he opened the door, she found him tangled in wires.
"Why, Grandfather," she said, "whatever are you doing all tied up?"
"Humpf," said her grandfather. "I was trying to charge my new iPad but I seemed to have connected it to the wrong place."
Little Social Media Hood looked at where her grandfather had plugged in his iPad, and he had indeed done it incorrectly. She quickly sorted out the wires for him.
"Grandfather," she said, "would you like to have a book of your short stories published so people could buy your book on Amazon?"
"How would they do that?"
"Exactly the way people buy any other books on Amazon."
Her grandfather's eyes grew as big as saucers. "You can do that?"
Little Social Media Hood smiled. "Of course I can. And then I can use my Twitter account to let people interested in books of short stories know about your book."
"Wait a minute!" her grandfather said. "How much is this going to cost me?"
"It will cost very little to get your book created through Amazon's CreateSpace. I can design a simple cover for the book and do the other steps for you," she said. "But I do think you should hire an editor to correct your grammar."
"Why don't you correct my grammar?" he said.
"I'm not a professional editor."
Her grandfather nodded his head at her reasoning. "Okay, I'll pay for an editor as long as you find one."
Now Little Social Media Hood smiled. "I already know a great one I met online. I'll have her email you with her fees."
Her grandfather walked Little Social Media Hood out to her bike, and the landlady came out again.
"Did you hear back from AT&T yet?" she asked Little Social Media Hood.
"Not yet, but I'll text you when I do."
"You have a terrific granddaughter," the landlady said to Little Social Media Hood's grandfather.
"I know it," he said. "She's going to make me a published author!"
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
And you can learn about Phyllis' 86-year-old father's short story book "The Love Life of Howard Handsome and Other Short Stories" at www.HowardHandsome.com
October 27, 2011
The Power of Social Media for Good: Watch This Hilarious Breast Cancer Video
I rarely watch YouTube videos nor do I usually share YouTube video links.
But this brilliant and funny breast cancer video should be seen by as many people as possible.
Watch it now (2 ½ minutes) and then let's discuss why it works so well.
Why does the video work so well as an advertising message?
It is very funny — and that imprints on our minds, as do the specific funny scenes.
I could even remember what TLC stands for (Touch, Look, Check) just by visualizing the shirtless male actor demonstrating the meanings.
And there is the free app "Your Man Reminder" available at the App Store and for Android!
Compare this attention-getting video (with free app offer) to the usual staid breast cancer checkup public service messages.
Clearly this video was inspired by the Old Spice guy video series. And why not? Sex sells — and breast cancer awareness needs any help it can get (that won't get barred from the airwaves).
Share this post with everyone you know — and remember that this is the power of the Internet at its very best.
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 24, 2011
What I Learned About Online Business From Cathy Goodwin and Emilie Wapnick
I have an online history with copywriter Cathy Goodwin. When I self-published my novel "Mrs. Lieutenant" in the spring of 2008, I emailed Cathy, as a "Top 500" Amazon book reviewer, asking if she would review my novel.
I thought she might be more likely to say yes because we both had an M.B.A. from Wharton.
What she said was no – she didn't like to review first-time novelists because their books usually weren't very good. I said I'd take the chance.
The end result? She gave the novel a good review. (You can read it for yourself if you scroll down the novel's Amazon book page to reviews.)
After that I learned how good she was as an online copywriter, and I have now taken several online copywriting courses with her.
A few days ago I was listening to an online webinar by Cathy about website home page copy. And another webinar participant, looking at the Miller Mosaic website header, said something about knowing she should use social media but not knowing how to start.
And Cathy pointed out how things have changed:
In previous years businesspeople had to be convinced of the value of social media. Now they know about the value but often do not know how to use social media successfully for their own businesses.
This is when I realized that the Miller Mosaic website header had to be changed (it is changed now) to reflect the shift in the social media business climate.
Almost immediately after this I bought and read the ebook "Renaissance Business" by Emilie Wapnick. I admit I bought the ebook because Yael emailed me that Michael Martine (Remarkablogger), whom we both respect, recommended it.
The ebook provides incredibly valuable information on combining multiple interests into one overall online personality, which truly spoke to me as I have several interests.
Reading the ebook twice (it has step-by-step recommendations), I realized I had overlooked a potentially valuable existing website of mine – www.FictionMarketing.com (which I am now resuscitating). I had done this in part because I believed I had to keep separate my multiple interests.
I highly recommend you get the book "Renaissance Business" for yourself if you want to be challenged to take your interests and "bundle them" into a coherent online whole. (This link for the ebook is an affiliate link; the other links in this post are not affiliate links.)
What do Cathy Goodwin and Emilie Wapnick (with whom I don't yet have an online history) have in common? Two very smart businesswomen who share their insights with others.
P.S. What do you think of the revised Miller Mosaic website header?
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 16, 2011
What I Learned About Website Home Page Copy From a Plumbing Emergency
I had toilets and showers backing up and I needed to get immediate help. I called a number I got from a friend and a number I got from Yelp.
The number I called from Yelp asked me to leave a message, while the number I got from a friend was answered by a person who said he would have someone get back to me.
Now you might think I was more impressed with the phone call answered by a real person rather than the one answered by a machine.
Wrong!
The phone message was pleasant and I soon got a return call from a very nice woman whose interest in my problem seemed genuine.
On the other hand, the real person who answered my call sounded like a dispatcher without any personal interest in my emergency.
The result of these two calls? I went with the company I found on Yelp, and after my plumbing emergency was solved, I added another positive testimonial to the company's Yelp page.
Afterwards I pondered the lesson this experience could have about website home page copy:
First impressions are very important – yes, this is not news – AND a personal interest in a prospective customer's problems is very important.
In other words, this caring attitude should be clearly presented on the home page of a company's website, which is the equivalent of answering a first phone call from a prospective customer.
The challenge for you:
Review your own website home page copy. Does it convey an interest in your prospective customer's problems? Or does it just state the obvious – you're in business to sell products or services?
When people arrive at your site they want to know this is the right place for getting the information they want. A "caring" home page can help forge a personal relationship with your prospective customers.
P.S. If you need help evaluating the home page of your website, see our website review service.
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 11, 2011
Your Website: Home Sweet Home
Whether you are a service professional, business owner/executive or author, your website should be the home base of any online activity you undertake to promote your business or book.
While it is important to have an active social media presence on such sites as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you do not own those profiles/pages. In other words, you are at the mercy of the capriciousness of these sites.
You also do not want to have your main site/blog on a hosted site such as Blogger, where again you do not own your site or blog.
You want a self-hosted website that you own.
Plus preferably you want a site with a good domain name that can be understood when you use it as a link from your online promotional activities. (In other words, a domain name that is a series of letters standing for words only you know is NOT a good domain name.)
Once you have fulfilled this basic requirement for a self-hosted website home base, there are many other considerations. And one of the most important things to remember is that the Internet is constantly changing.
If you had a website built a few years ago and have not upgraded it to take into account the new opportunities, you may be sending the wrong message to your prospective clients or customers.
(Yael and I have just completed creating two self-hosted WordPress websites – each one for a fiction book author who had an older site. Check out www.rjsilver.com and www.guspelagatti.com now.)
As new website opportunities come along, you want to make sure that your site does not appear outdated. Now is a good time to review your own site to see if your online home needs refurbishing.
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 10, 2011
On LinkedIn Be Cautious When Connecting Via Your Email Database
Up until now I have resisted the offer of any social media site to connect me with the people on my email database.
But reading yet another blogger's encouragement to do this on LinkedIn prompted me to decide to take up LinkedIn's offer of sending invites to people on LinkedIn who are in my email database.
I clicked on the top nav bar option "Contacts" and then in the dropdown I clicked on "Add Connections" and I got this notice:
See Who You Already Know on LinkedIn
Searching your email contacts is the easiest way to find people you already know on LinkedIn.
I hit continue and learned I had over 1800 people in my gmail database who are on LinkedIn.
"No way all these people are going to know me," I thought, so I tried to stop this LinkedIn connection option from going through.
At first I believed I had successfully stopped this action, although I soon learned otherwise.
Here is what happened:
I got several acceptances – and continue to get acceptances. BUT …
I also got notified from LinkedIn (when I tried to send an invite to an individual in the usual manner) that I was restricted from sending any more invites because too many "invited" people had clicked that they didn't know me.
Duh! That's why I tried to stop from sending connection invites to more than 1800 people.
Thanks, LinkedIn, for recommending this action and then penalizing me for doing it.
LinkedIn automatically offered to let me agree to a pledge that I would never do this again, in which case the restriction would be lifted. But if the same thing took place again, dire things would happen to my account.
Obviously this called for a protest email.
After drilling way down, I managed to find an email contact for LinkedIn support.
I sent an email explaining what happened and also that I could not sign the pledge because there will certainly continue to be people days from now who will click that they do not know me.
I also indicated in the email that this should not be my fault if LinkedIn gives me this option and then restricts my account because I took up the offer.
Finally, I asked for LinkedIn to clean up this mess.
The only response from LinkedIn so far is the automatic reply: "Thanks for contacting us and we'll get back to you as soon as possible."
Thus I'm getting out this blog post now to save other people from running afoul of LinkedIn's contradictory actions.
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 9, 2011
Revisiting Amazon Opportunities for Authors
When I self-published my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT in April of 2008 I spent a great deal of time and effort taking advantage of opportunities on Amazon for authors. Hey, it's free book marketing!
I read several books about these opportunities and followed the advice as best I could. But at the time it was extremely difficult (now it is only slightly difficult) to get any information from Amazon when I hit snags.
True confession: Over the last three-and-a-half years I have made some changes to my Amazon information but not all that much.
Then in July I self-published as an ebook the technothriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS that I wrote with my husband Mitch Miller.
(Actually, Chris O'Byrne did the ebook format conversions.)
And I turned my attention back to Amazon to learn what new opportunities there might be.
Luckily I'm already connected online to self-publishing coach Shelley Hitz and I took her paid webinar on Amazon for Authors. And am I ever glad I did!
Now I'm working on implementing Shelley's fantastic information. (Note that the link above to the product is NOT an affiliate link – nor is the link to Chris O'Byrne's website. Both Shelley's product and Chris' ebook conversion talents I highly recommend.)
When I'm done making the changes (which need to be approved by the appropriate Amazon and Kindle staff so not automatically done), I'll share examples of some of these changes.
And if your books are already on Kindle, here's some great news:
The Amazon French site has just started making available Kindle ebooks. Now there are four Amazon websites that are Kindle enabled: US, UK, Germany, and France.
If you are a Kindle author and did NOT choose to make your Kindle ebooks available worldwide, now is the time to go back and correct this oversight. You do want your Kindle ebooks available on each Amazon country site that offers this opportunity.
P.S. And if you are a book author and not already a member of my LinkedIn group Book Marketing, join now. A lot of great info is shared by the group members.
Plus here are two of my recent book marketing guest posts:
Ask PZM about ebook promotion online and offline
If Your Book Is Available on Amazon Do You Have an Author Page?
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus.
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
October 5, 2011
What We Can Learn About Marketing From the New Amazon Tablet
While the Internet is ablaze with posts and articles about Amazon's first entry into the tablet market – the Fire, many people have missed the marketing significance of this entry.
As I had been discussing with Yael, Amazon could give away the tablet as long as that encouraged people to switch from buying physical books on Amazon to buying ebooks on Amazon.
Why? Because physical books have inventory costs, warehousing costs, handling costs, packing costs, shipping costs, etc. And ebooks don't have these costs.
Even without access to Amazon's financial records, we can predict that, in the long run, ebooks will be more profitable for Amazon than physical books (whether hardcover or paperback).
So when Yael came across Barry Graubart's post How the Kindle Fire Changes the Digital Landscape, she and I both jumped on the main point:
[While] both Amazon and Apple want to "own" the delivery of media to consumers, their strategies are completely opposite of one another. Apple makes its money on hardware. Music, books and video are simply a means to sell more devices. Amazon, meanwhile, makes its money selling media. Devices are simply a means to sell more books, music and video content. [boldface mine]
What is the relevance of this to marketing in general?
Marketing decisions must be based on individual criteria and NOT one size fits all.
Apple can afford to make content acquisition less expensive while keeping the price of its hardware at a profitable level. Amazon can even afford to give away its hardware in order to sell its content at a profitable level.
Basically, the question for all of us is:
What business are we in?
If we know the answer to this, we can target our marketing efforts to optimize that business.
P.S. If you're a book author, here are two of my recent book marketing guest posts:
Ask PZM about ebook promotion online and offline
If Your Book Is Available on Amazon Do You Have an Author Page?
© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic, LLC, which offers "done for you" and "do it yourself" social media services including marketing-focused WordPress websites.
Visit Phyllis' "about" page on Google Plus
View information on Phyllis' books and ebooks at http://budurl.com/PZMbooks
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