First, of course, I had to write a saleable book, a book that could attract a broad readership. Many of the historical events described in my book, RETURN TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: One Family, Three Revolutionaries, and the Birth of Modern China, have been recorded in numerous books and articles. Reading them helped me form the big picture, and through the family history my late husband, Jack, recounted to me, I found each of the Chens' place in this big picture. My task was to let the readers see them as real people, real human beings, warts and all, whom the readers can identify with. This also applies to the supporting characters in this story, including historical figures such as Chiang Kaishek and Zhou Enlai. Some of them I knew, some of them I got to know through talks with my family and friends who had known them and some of them were described to me by Jack. Throughout the book, I present revealing anecdotes about these supporting characters, so they could spring to life and become three-dimensional.
By blending biography with history in this way, I believed I could make the characters and places come alive, and dramatize the facts, so the book would read like an intriguing history fused with an extraordinary three-generation family saga.
Second, it is important to work with a literary agent who sees something in what I intend to write. My agent, Regina Ryan, is based in New York, a fact I consider important. New York is the center of publishing world. She was the one to guide my manuscript to a publisher whom she thought most suitable for my book. It was not plain-sailing. My manuscript nearly got drowned in a storm when the first publisher who accepted it suddenly went out of business. I could not possibly salvage it since I knew next to nothing about the publishing world. It was Regina who finally negotiated my manuscript out of the first publisher and found a new, good home for it.
At some stage I needed to work with an editor. Again Regina knew which editor might like my type of book and put me in touch with Michael Denneny. Michael started by helping me write the book proposal. A good book proposal is key to a publisher's door. During the process of writing the book proposal, I discovered Regina had found me an editor with whom, for the most part, I could see eye to eye. Michael helped me articulate my intention and coached me with understanding, imagination and skill.
As soon as the manuscript reached its final destination, Regina advised me to buy a few how-to books about publicity. Publicity is essential to making the book sell, and I take it very seriously. I decide to do my best bit, although my publisher is really pushing for my book. Nowadays, internet campaign is king, and I use it to spread the information about the new book as far and as wide as I can.
When was the last time you walked into Amazon, Barnes and Noble or even your local bookstore to buy a book?
Was it recently?
When you were browsing around reading the book-sleeve, did an attendant run up to you and say "Quick! There's only 2 left! Buy it before they go!"?
What about the last time you bought a book?
Did you hand over the book and the money only to find out that they'd thrown 18 other books, a CD collection, a bunch of book tokens, the author's telephone number and a money-off voucher to Starbucks in your bag?
No?
I wonder why that is?
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that it's because bookstores generally value the works of each individual author and rely upon the fact that people are buying, say, a Stephen King novel because they actually like his work, value his craftsmanship actually WANT his book.
Nothing more, nothing less than that.
It's funny then, that in the internet publishing world we tend to do the exact opposite.
We tell people that 'There's only 4 left!' or that 'The price will go up at midnight... I can't guarantee the price!' or that 'Due to such high demand we'll be discontinuing the book but when we bring it back it'll be twice as expensive".
Worse still, we sell the book itself and then bundle it with a stack of bonuses so large that it would take 2 solid months of 8 hour days to get through them.. even if they wanted to!
(I recently looked at a product that had 103 'bonus' items attached to it!)
Excuse me, but this is just nuts!
I mean, seriously, what does it tell your prospect about you and your product?
1. That book is not good enough to be sold as a stand alone product.
If it were, it would be. That simple.
Borders doesn't give you 10 books as bonuses for the simple reason that each book on its shelves MUST be good enough to be there under its own merits and, that being the case, you should pay a fair price for it.
No ifs, no buts.
2. That you're not as confident of your materials as you should be.
If you were then you wouldn't want to bribe me with other stuff that, in many cases, doesn't support the primary offering.
And hey, if you're not confident then why should I be?
3. That you don't care whether or not I read your book.
If you really wanted me to read YOUR book and take what you're saying seriously, why on Earth would you want to distract me with 10 or more works from other people
Seriously, in this day and age the thing that people are most short on is time.
They want to be told what to do, how to do it and why in the shortest, quickest most concise way possible.
They don't want to read through War and Peace 10 times over from different people to figure out what they should be doing to get better abs or to lose weight.
In fact, they already get THAT kind of confusion for free on Google, so why should they pay YOU for adding even more?
4. That you want their money... BADLY!
What other message do you think people are getting when you say 'you can have this, and this, and this, and... oh yes, and don't forget this!'?
They're getting the message that for you it's all about the sale, nothing more, nothing less and that you'll keep bribing until they say 'yes'.
Now, the thing is, this has worked on the internet up until now but will it last?
Can it last?
Will we all find ourselves playing the 'He with the biggest pile of bonuses wins' game ad infinitum?
Will we see 500 bonus gift bundles in the not too distant future?
Who knows, but I hope not!
"But Dax, a lot of the 'big boys' have made a huge fortune this way... I want some of that"
Too true, over the years there has been some great money made from this approach but I don't think it'll last. I sincerely hope it doesn't!
You see, every one of these 'super bundles' just reinforces to the world at large that we're not 'real' authors.
They believe that we're 'just' e-book authors and that we're deserving of lesser status.
And, to be honest, most of the time they'd be right!
Yes, I know that much of this is coming off as marketing blasphemy but it's what I believe.
You may even think it's a bit rich coming from someone who's got e-books of his own but if you take a look at my own products you'll see that I offer no bonuses, no bribes and no slick sales techniques.
I simply offer what I'm selling in a (hopefully) captivating way and trust that those who want my books will buy and those that don't won't.
Yes, there are those who make far, far larger sales than I and yes, they use the bonus method to do so but I'm certain as certain can be that those days are coming to a close.
Regardless, the question is not just 'How many sales can I make?' but, 'what difference am I making when someone reads my book?'
If you're stealing precious time from them by loading them down with 15 books instead of just 1 good one, then are you really doing them a service?
Both Yuan-tsung Chen & Dax Moy are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Yuan-tsung Chen has sinced written about articles on various topics from Writing, Politics and Culture. Yuan-tsung was born in China, and immigrated to USA in 1972. Her first book, THE DRAGON'S VILLAGE, (was published by Pantheon, and) its Penguin paperback sells an average of 3,000 copies per year since 1981. Her latest book (nonfiction), RETURN TO THE MID. Yuan-tsung Chen's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.
Dax Moy has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Writing and six pack. Dax Moy is one of the UK's leading fitness experts and an authority on both on and offline marketing for the personal training and fitness industry.Dax's book 'The Magic Hundred' sold over $107,000 in just 7 days when it was released last year and his man. Dax Moy's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.