Attempting to sell subscriptions via radio or TV is very expensive and works better in generating sales at the news stands than new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popular way of getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for your newsletter or other publication, but again, the number of sales brought in by the broad cast media is very small when compared with the number of times the "invitation commercial" has to be "aired" to elicit a response.



A new idea beginning to surface on the cable TV scene is "Products Shows". This is the kind of show where the originator of the product or his representative appears on TV and gives a complete sales presentation lasting from five minutes to 15 minutes. Overall, these programs generally run between midnight and 2 AM, with the whole program a series of sales presentations for different products. They operate on the basis of the product owner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and also from an arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentage from each sale generated from this exposure.

Newsletter publishers often run exchange publicity endorsement with non-competing publishers. Generally, these endorsements invite the reader of newsletter "A" to send for a sample copy of newsletter "B" for a look at what somebody else is going that might be of especial help, etc. This can be a very good source of new subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.

Running ads in the Mail Order Ad Sheets is not very productive, either in terms of inquiries or sales. About the best thing that can be said of most of these ad sheets (and there seems to be a million of them with new ones cropping up faster than you can count them) is that your ad in several of them will let other people in on what you're doing. You will be able to keep track of a lot of the people trying to make a place for themselves in the mail order field.

Last, but not least, is the enlistment of your own subscribers to send you names of people they think might be interested in receiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers ask their readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, while others offer a monetary incentive or a special bonus for names of people sent in who become subscribers.

By studying and understanding the information in this report, you should encounter fewer serious problems in launching your own successful specialized newsletter that will be the source of ongoing monetary rewards for you. However, there is an important point to remember about doing business by mail - particularly within the confines of selling information by mail - that is, Mail Order is ONLY another way of doing business. You have to learn all there is to know about this way of doing business, and then keep on learning, changing, observing and adapting to stay on top.

The best way of learning about and keeping up with this field of endeavour is by buying and reading books by the people who have succeeded in making money via mail; by subscribing to several of the better periodic journals and aids to people in mail order, and by joining some of the mail order trade associations for a free exchange of ideas, advice and help.