Book Publishing is a very popular topic that never seems to get old. In fact, over the past few months I’ve written a lot of articles on all aspects of book publishing. But the reality is, a book is just a book. I believed that until I talked with some friends of mine who own a fulfillment company.
Our discussion revolved around how they could take their fulfilment company to the next level. In the process, we came up with a very unique use for a book.
Let me give you a little background here
My friends, Bryan Hane and Bret Ridgway, of Speaker Fulfillment Services, along with several of my high-end coaching students were at my house for one of our MU Intensives. At these Intensives, we go over each member’s business and make suggestions as to the direction they should take.
Bryan and Bret showed the promotional mailer they had been using as a result of an Intensive they attended a few years ago. It’s a very attractive promotional piece that you can slip a CD or DVD inside, fold it over and use a wafer seal or piece of tape to close it and use it as a mailer. Many companies have used it over the years. I used it for my MindClimb CD.
It’s a very attractive piece, can be custom designed and works great as a mailer for a CD. They wanted help with the direction they should take it in the future. It’s a GREAT concept and it worked wonderful in the past, but, as they pointed out, it has one major flaw…
Computers no longer have CD/DVD drives!
Look at your computer. I bet it does not have a drive. If you want to listen to or watch a CD, you have to buy an optional player that you plug into the computer. Beautiful and functional as this service was…there was no future for it.
Many suggestions were thrown out by the group with USB sticks being the most prevalent one, but one of the ideas that was thrown out was a booklet. I latched onto that idea.
Many years ago, there was a marketer named Ken Roberts who stuck a booklet in an envelope and mailed it out. I think he must have sent it to almost every person in the U.S. If I recall correctly, it had to do with investing, commodities or something like that. I received several copies of it when I was a kid. Apparently, I was on a lot of mailing lists. It was, basically, a sales letter.
It started out by teaching you some basic investing concepts and then the second half turned into a sales letter. It had an order form at the end of the booklet. Remember, this was quite a few years ago so you had to rip the order form out of the booklet, fill it out, write a check and mail it in. Even credit cards were not used for these orders.
I suggested they scrap both the CD and USB drive mailer and switch to a booklet. They already had the capability to print booklets so why not use those to print and mail these promotional booklets for their customers.
Think about it.
We’ve all seen strategies where authors take a physical book and ship it to someone and have an upsell in the book. They try to get that person involved in their coaching programs and in various products and services and seminars, and that’s great. Those methods work and people who are doing it well are making a fortune and doing it selling tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of books. But the average person reading this right now probably can’t or may not want to write an actual book.
So, what are they to do? Are they supposed to just ignore this writing and mailing out books strategy? The answer is no, absolutely not. So, what I suggested to them was basically to start selling booklets.
I advised them to sell the concept to their fulfillment customers where the first half of the booklet was teaching on whatever topic they were selling on and the second half was a sales letter.
Just imagine this.
You receive a booklet from me that was on a very specific topic that you were interested in. For example, let’s say it was on, “How to rank number one in Google for any keyword phrase that you want.”
You’re on the Internet researching how to rank on Google. You come across my landing page and you watch a short video and you see a form that says…
“How would you like to receive my brand-new booklet on how to rank number one on Google on any keyword phrase? Just fill in your details, and I’ll rush a copy of my booklet, ‘How to rank number one in Google for any keyword phrase that you want’ to you. This booklet is FREE; there is only a small shipping and handling fee of $7.75. Fill out the form now, and I’ll rush your FREE booklet out to you.”
It’s so simple. Of course, using a shipping and handling fee is optional and the amount of the fee is up to you.
What you receive in the mail is a very attractive, full color booklet. It looks similar to a book but it’s smaller. You start reading it, and it’s exactly what I promised—he first half to
three quarters of the book focuses 100% on me training you on how to rank number one in Google. My promise to you is fulfilled. You are thrilled with the excellent information.
Then you come to the second part of the book where I summarize the information and offer you additional training on rank number one on Google but also number one on YouTube and wherever else you want to rank number one and all related topics.
In the back of the book, I could include a “tear out” form for them to mail in, but since I’m an Internet Marketer, I send them to a website where they can instantly purchase the product or service.
Let’s talk a little about the booklet. It has to be full color and look like a paperback book (but it’s just a booklet.) It should be, roughly 24 pages, give or take a couple.
There’s an extra step we need to take. At the same time they order the booklet, they also see an upsell video and we add them to our follow up autoresponder series. We’ve turned this booklet into a lead generator that is different than anything else out there.
This is something the average person can do. I know some of you may be able to write a book. I’m guessing that most of have no desire to do so, but this is a booklet—only 24 pages. I’m not talking 24 full, book-sized pages; I’m talking about small booklet size pages. Once you subtract left and right margins, you really don’t need to write much. You should be able to manually type it out in a few hours. Worst case scenario it would probably take an afternoon to get the information and sales letter portions typed out.
This is a totally different concept than what most people are doing. We take advantage of what everyone else is doing— writing a book—without all the problems involved. You publish a booklet in a lot less time and for a LOT less money and reap the same advantages.
Are any marketers doing this?
Grant Cardone has a booklet out called “Millionaire Booklet.” I’m not sure how many he’s sold but I’m guessing it’s hundreds of thousands.
If you’re a speaker, imagine what you could do. For example, you could create a special booklet that you give away at an event. Inside the booklet, there are blank spaces that they can fill in with the information you’re giving them from the stage. It forces them to pay attention to what you’re saying from the stage. The back of the book could contain order forms for your products. This would work in both a “paid” speaker scenario and a “free” speaker scenario.
Of course, you need to get permission from promoter. In a “free” speaker scenario, the promoter would need some way to track the sales so that the promoter received their share of the sales.
This booklet is so versatile. It has many delivery options. You can make it so that it can be mailed out as is. You could put it in an envelope. The options are endless.
If you are doing high end coaching or trainings you could use it as a guidebook filled with many techniques and strategies and hand it out to attendees as they come into the room.
Because of the size, it can fit into a folder, binder pocket or purse. It’s a small, inexpensive, versatile alternative to a book. It can,
promotionally, be used exactly the same way as a book. Only it’s easier to write (hours instead of months), cheaper to print, easier to distribute and much easier for the reader to consume.
How much does it cost? Prices change so just go here and see what the current prices are, https://bookletsdelivered.com/ The cost to print and ship is just a fraction of the cost to ship a book.
They offer the booklet in 24, 32 and 40 page versions and in black and white as well as color. I think black and white is perfectly fine for the booklet. Make sure you type “Armand” in where they ask for a coupon code. This is an easy, simple and brilliant strategy. Make sure you put it to work for you!
