Ever wonder what the real "Mad Men" were like? You can get some idea from reading Jerry Della Femina's book, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You...
Profit
Three Kinds of Testimonials
Direct response writers know that testimonials are powerful. But not all testimonials are powerful in the same way. Here are three kinds of...
Reviews that are too good to be true
David Streitfeld wrote a great piece in the New York Times titled, "The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy." Here's a key quote. "Consumer reviews are...
Mickey Spillane’s Advice Modified for the E-Book Age
Mickey Spillane has a lot of good things to say about how to write well and sell books. One of his famous quotes is: "The first chapter sells the...
Crowdfunding Your Book Project
Last week, under the headline of "Giving Book Readers a Say," the Wall Street Journal described Seth Godin's foray into crowdfunding. Here are the...
Table of Contents as a Sales Tool
I love watching people buy books in bookstores. Some of them swoop in to buy a book that they've already decided to own. Others browse, looking for...
Three Kinds of Information Products
An information product is the package where you put your information. You sell some products, like books. You give others, like blog posts, away. I...
The Future of the Bookstore
In the New York Times article, "The Bookstore’s Last Stand," the bookstore in the title is Barnes and Noble and the villain is Amazon. I don't think...
How we Buy Business Books Today
This is not rocket science. It's not even science. It's more like what the naturalists did during the Victorian Era, wandering around making...
Business Book Buyers and You
On December 12, 2011, the New York Times published an article about holiday book sales with the jaunty title, "E-Books, Shmee-Books: Readers Return...