That’s one of my recent sayings. So, of course, I test the market. And since my focus is all about book–e-books, hardback, softback, books that turn into movies and more, I focus on learning everything I can about successfully marketing books. But there’s more. I focus on books that I believe make the world a better place because people read them and shared them and learned from them and helped others learn from them.

So I was extremely grateful to work with Aaron Goldfarb who I met from The Domino Project last year working with Seth and his team. This year I brought Aaron in and to become part of my Networlding Street Team as I call it. Aaron has been amazing. He hit the ground running by working on three projects with me (hint: more will be revealed soon) with one of them, below, being the marketing of my most recent Kindle book release,

It took time and thought to create a successful marketing campaign on this book, but Aaron has done this before, very successfully, with the sale of his book on Kindle, “The Self Hurt Guide.” Check it out.

Well, Aaron shared with me his success and, as a result, I was able to go to number #1 on Amazon for my latest Kindle book

Cover via Amazon

under the heading, Job Hunting and #3 under the heading Motivational Business Management.

Now that’s exciting! Thanks Aaron! What you taught me was that:

1. I can’t go it alone. We all need help.
2. We all need the right help. I see that you need to really work at finding the right people to help you.
3. I should not give up. It’s not easy but one can achieve goals if you don’t give up and have a good plan.

You are never too old to learn something new. Thanks to Aaron, I am now excited to see what comes next!

Self-publish or seek a traditional publisher? That’s a question we get asked time and again. The choice involves a lot of factors that are specific to each author’s goals. Take, for example, Mark Cuban. The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks recently self-published his memoir, How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It.

Image via CrunchBase

Why did Mark go that route? Time is the number one reason, according to an interview he gave MediaBistro. Mark didn’t want to spend time waiting for publishers to make their money before he saw his, and he didn’t want to spend time on a book tour when he could promote the book himself to his millions of followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google +.

Here is my take on it:

1. Taking out the middleman works because Cuban has the number of followers needed to get traction.
2. He has earned the right to sell a billion copies–his intention as he continues to set goals and achieve them.
3. Bottomline: he self publishes because he can. He knows he will have success.The worst case scenario is that he can buy the books up himself.

But What About You? How Can You Translate That to You?

First, don’t compare yourself to Mark Cuban. If you want to self publish, start with the goal of getting something of quality out there. Don’t push your book out there without getting it done well, working with top quality providers who can provide you with the support you need to work through the maze of publishing options.

Second, take the time to research as many books as you can on Amazon. I would suggest going through up to 100 or more books that are similar to the one you want to write. Look at them. Create a spreadsheet that shows you:

• Who is the author and his or her background?
• What is the book’s ranking? How many pages is it?
• When did the book come out?
• What are people saying over and over again (the patterns) of both good and bad reviews?

Once you have all this information you can sort it by best to poorest rank and see patterns that will help decide how to position your book, figure out who your audience is and put in all the things people have liked about similar books and what the poor reviews said the authors did not do well. These analysis will help you get a book out that, when it comes out, reviewers will say things like, “Now this book has all the things the other books were missing.”

So, here is an example of what I am talking about–directly from Mark Cuban’s Amazon review page:

I am a huge fan of Mark, his blog, and the mavs. I bought this book as soon as it came out, thinking I would gain a few great insights but instead I found many pages that were simply a copy and paste of his blog. I would encourage mark, if he reads this, to consider only adding original content in future books. This was obviously churned out by his team of admins without the same effort he puts into his other initiatives. (1-star review)

Doesn’t this give you ideas for your book? It should. It tells me, “Melissa, don’t just regurgitate your blogs in a book or your fans will not benefit from your content.” A little bit of searching on other self-published authors or other authors who are rock stars like Cuban would pull up similar reviews. Again, this goes back to my first point, make your book a quality book at all cost.

Third, get a good marketing plan together and do it well before the book comes out. With books the key is getting speaking engagements that include book. This would look like taking on even local engagements where you offer to speak if the organizer of a group who wants you to speak is willing to have the organization pay for 100 books or more. If you don’t ask, you won’t get so keep asking.

Finally, a bonus realization. Books are important. They convey more than a blog can. If written well they will make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of your readers. Take the project seriously and you will gain so much from the effort.

Related articles

• Billionaire Mark Cuban Hopes to Sell a Billion Copies of New Ebook (newspapergrl.com)
• Mark Cuban Explains Why He Self Published – GalleyCat (digitalebookformatting.wordpress.com)
• Mark Cuban Takes Shot at Writing an E-Book (allthingsd.com)

ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle (Wiley).

Whether you’re negotiating a major deal, interviewing for your first job or graduating college, the benefits of ROAR! and pursuing The Awesome Experience are endless. In a charming and motivational manner, Daum has the insight to create ROARing successes in both the professional and personal realm for anyone looking to succeed.

I asked Kevin what he attributed to these numbers. He responded, “It’s a combination of timing knowing when certain media events or buying events are coming. I knew I was speaking to a large group and they would be buying a number of books and then focused my energy on for a groundswell with my family and friends. ROI from an efficiency standpoint.”

Kevin tells the story of a company that spends $10,000 a year on a self-published book that doesn’t sell  them but, instead, gives them away each year and, as a result, gets back $150,000 or more from that investment. He continues on his process, “I took a book from concept to contract in five months called Green Sense and got a five-figure income. In my column I focus on  convergence of need, entertainment and the unexpected. I didn’t have the money that Patrick Lencioni or Seth Godin had but I had a network and I am a marketer so I took what I did have and made it work.”

So what’s the Amazon status of his book currently?

Stats: #1 on Amazon, month of May 2010, #1 on Amazon in the category of Marketing, has been #22 overall

AUTHORS EDGE!

Help get Kevin onto the New York Times Bestseller list. Buy his book (click here). Send me a receipt and I’ll send you a free copy of our e-book, The NanoSecond Networlders.

Additional Gift! – We’ll put you on the list for a free, book club chat!

Bio: Kevin Daum is a bestselling author, marketer, and Inc. 500 entrepreneur. His sales and marketing approach resulted in more than $1 Billion in sales with a 95 percent pull through rate. With over 25 years of experience in theatre, finance and marketing (an odd but effective combination). As a National Columnist for Smart Business Magazine Kevin teaches companies how to pursue The Awesome Experience for their customers and has authored several books including Building Your Own Home For Dummies. For more info visit: http://kevindaum.com/

And finally, who would think of putting a tatoo on their chest that says, “New York Times Bestselling Author” but Kevin Daum? What a guy!

Effective book marketing begins long before the book is actually written and the more diligence paid to pre-publishing efforts the better the author’s chance of success. Before hiring a book publicist to garner book publicity for you, get a cup of coffee and get ready for a little online research on book marketing.

A key strategy in any marketing program is to know your competition and successful authors will research competitors before investing time in writing, editing, re-writing, and publishing. How many others have written on the same topic? How have those topics sold? What similar books have done the best? And what made these books successful?

This may sound like a daunting task but it is now as easy as sipping iced tea on a hot, humid day, thanks to a new website called TitleZ – www.titlez.com. TitleZ allows users to instantly retrieve historic and current Amazon rankings on competitors’ books and create reports with 7-, 30-,90- day and lifetime averages. More importantly, you can use this tool to research your next book or create a marketing plan using the information furnished.

By visiting TitleZ you can compile a list of related books, comparing and contrasting sales figures and rankings. You will want to hurry and check it out now while it’s free in its beta testing stage. After the beta testing period expires the service will be available by paying a monthly subscription fee.

As a book marketing specialist, I have found TitleZ to be very useful in offering book marketing advice to my clients. Authors will find this tool helpful in coming up with book publicity and book publishing strategies.

Visit www.titlez.com to learn how a specific book or a group of books has performed over time relative to other books on the market. All you have to do is enter a book title, a subject, author or publisher and TitleZ within seconds comes up with a comprehensive list of books from Amazon.com plus historical sales ranking data. This information allows authors to see how topics and specific books perform over time and to appreciate what’s hot and what’s not.

Among the advantages TitleZ cites when using its tool are:

• Identify trends with book-buying consumers beyond the top ten lists to see within a given topic which books are gaining in interest and which are declining.
• Quickly and easily uncover best-selling and up-and-coming authors on a specific topic.
• Review renderings of book covers, along with sales ranking data, to see what design features are working in the current marketplace.
• By examining prices of competitors’ books you can make a better informed decision on what to charge for your book.
• Find out how effective promotional appearances, tours, book signings, and marketing activities are in driving sales.

If you aren’t totally convinced yet that TitleZ is worth a cup of coffee’s time to try out, than just visit the site, point and click two or three times, enter just one subject, and examine the data returned. You’ll then become convinced. For more information about book marketing visit: http://www.book-marketing-expert.com

About Scott Lorenz

Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with individuals and entrepreneurs to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz has handled public relations and marketing for numerous authors, doctors, lawyers, inventors and entrepreneurs. As a book marketing expert Lorenz is called upon by top execs and bestselling authors to promote their books. Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at www.westwindcos.com/book or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090.

Growing Your Brand Through Your Book and Other Book Products

Here are just a few line extensions that could come from your book:

• A Tips Booklet: An example would be our Networlding 101 Ways to Better Networlding tips booklet which is offered free on this blog. This helps your prospects “try before they buy.”
• An E-Book: We are big fans of e-books because they can be the precursor to your book or follow-on books. An example here would be a product created by the organization Z-Mags. Take a look and see what you think. This organization enables your prospects and clients to really dive deep into the value your organization can bring to the table.
• A Guidebook: If you have a book that is a how-to book then a guidebook will really help with training from you and also, licensing your training to others. Here also consider a facilitator’s guide for train-the-trainer programs. We are just getting our guidebook published with a facilitator’s guide.
• Games: Everyone loves games. They engage. They create connection. They accelerate learning. Consider starting with something simple like card decks that help educate like The Creative Whack Pack by Roger Van Oech or Think Pak: A Brainstorming Card Deck by Michael Michalko.

Finally, I also mentioned Chris Brogan’s new book, Trust Agents, which is all about building trust effectively online. The emphasis here is not that you can build the kind of trust you might build with a best friend or even a group of good friends but a way to be more “trustworthy.” With the growth of networks online this becomes a challenge and Chris and his co-author, Julien Smith, help provide a path to make that challenge easier. The result is that those who understand this difference can become more trustworthy which then adds value and credibility to their brand which can also lead to better sales.

CEO Myron E. Ullman III from JC Penney – Holding back about 60% of inventory . . . far more than just the 20% held back last year.

CEO Kip Tindell from Container Store – Cut prices in his store across the board by 16% this year.

CEO Steve Sadove from Saks – Hesitant to cut prices but has done so by using different fabrics to lower costs.

CMO Barry Judge from Best Buy – extending their offerings to include things like “electric cars.”

CEO Gary Friedman from Restoration Hardware – Actually raising prices on some great new designs in furniture.

So with everything and anything going out there what do you think? What do you think retailers should do?

Tell us about your book.

The Inclusion Paradox: The Obama Era and the Transformation of Global Diversity has to do with the fact that rather than putting all our energy into finding similarities in order to get inclusion, we’d be better off in constructively knowing how to call out our differences. Paradoxically, it is by focusing on those differences that we find true inclusion. In looking at and only focusing on similarities, we paper over differences that are real and therefore don’t enter into relationships, conversations, products and services that take into account our differences.

We need to put into effect how we want to be communicated to, what motivates us, what inspires us. So if corporations want to find true inclusion, they must be more effective in constructively identifying what those differences are and then designing programs, etc that not only appeal to the consumers, but also enable those employees to give their best back to the company.

In the book, I suggest a topical application of these inclusion principles that span a broad range of categories. I also discuss how corporations can design their benefits, health, retirement savings, and work-life flexibility to best suit their employees’ needs.  [n addition, I’ve included a chapter that talks about how the arts – dance, music, etc. – are on the cutting edge of the diversity inclusion discussion.

What do I mean by Obama Era? We are living in the era that made Obama possible, meaning that if we did not have the demographic shifts we’ve had in this country, (minority migration, etc.), not had rise of a Millennial generation, digital generation, X’er harnessing of the internet for purposes of social networking, if we were not in a time of great tumult politically and economically, we would not have an African American or mixed-race president in White House.

This is a time of great upheaval where the world is not flat but upside-down. This opened up an electorate to alternatives they might not have had before or been willing to consider. We witnessed the coming of voting age of a new generation, an era where technology evolves from information to social networking, and people of color now are powerful voting blocs. The Obama Era has to do with the era that made him possible…and also about the man himself. His unique perspective, whtehr one agrees with it or not, will further define this era. In the book, I focus on the cultural implications of the Obama Era on the work of diversity and inclusion.

How did you get started as a writer?

I always loved to write, even as a little kid. I’d get in trouble for not paying attention in math class because I was writing a story instead of paying attention to the teacher. One time, I watched a clip on TV of the Indy 500 in Peru, and wrote a story about an intergalactic race called the Pluto 500. In the fifth grade, I wrote a guide for French rats and visitors called “How to Survive the Sewer Pipes of Paris” with friend who was an illustrator. A teacher saw this and thought the story and illustrations and thought it was pretty cool. So she sent us down to the principal’s office to show the principal my story. Unfortunately, the context for this was not explained to the principal who thought I was “being sent down to the principal’s office” for having done something wrong and he castigated me out of the misunderstanding. This was my first true experience with writing and I discovered for the first time that writing can inspire and be controversial. I’ve been writing ever since. I later went to the Medill School of Journalism. I wanted to be a global correspondent and ended up with a History degree with an emphasis in political science and journalism.

Why do I write? For the purpose to enact change. That’s what drives me. I’m not interested in just reporting. I want to understand the whys for things, what do they mean for us, and how can what we learn give us insight and direction for new positive change for society.

So how does this tie into my role as Chief Diversity Officer? I hadn’t intended to be a CDO. It was not a clearly established role when I started my career. A series of circumstances led me to this role. Social change journalism surfaces things that are hidden and bring them to light and makes connections about what they mean and implications for the reader. As CDO, the role is the same. It is about surfacing hidden issues and bringing them to the light, and looking to see how we can make things better?. I do this as a leader, and writing is part of enabling change.

Favorite books (especially for writers)
My favorite books? On Writing Well by William Zinsser – a classic but I refer to it often. It is an inspirational and practical bible for writers that want to write in a memorable way.
Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Bird by Bird by Annie Lamott are also favorites of mine.

I am also a big fan of Latin American literature — Mario Llosa Vargas, Gabriel Garcia Marquez in particular. I also enjoy Southern American writers like Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and the contemporary author Pat Conroy. Interestingly, all of these authors are Catholic. I didn’t realize this for the longest time…what is it about this?

These writers all write about the naturalness of the supernatural that’s just a part of life….that’s how life is. These writers share larger-than-life characters, pathos and ecstasy, and the celebration of the full spectrum of emotion that makes up our lives. I also enjoy African American writers: Alice Walker, in particular. Another of my favorites is Toni Morrison. Her novel “Beloved”  is truly haunting and still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

The Best and Worst Part of Being a Writer?

I once heard this question asked of another writer. He was asked if he loved writing. He paused and finally said, “I hate writing, but I love having written.”

Advice for other writers?

Be disciplined. It’s fun to talk about great ideas, but in the end if you don’t write, you have nothing. It’s about writing and making it a discipline. What helps me write is to make sure almost every day I sit down and write something, whether a sentence, 150 words, or maybe I’ll have a burst of inspiration and end up with 2000 words. Make it a habit to show up during your best, most alert writing time. My best writing times are 8 to 10 am and 8 to 10 pm.

My greatest fear? Losing what I’ve written….a computer system crash, for example. Save often, save frequently, back up your data, email to yourself…in short, be obsessive compulsive about saving your writing.

For more information on Andres and his book, visit www.inclusionparadox.com, his blog.

I. Chapter One – November 11, 2011.  Reminiscing about our beginning days in the Innovation Center that opened the year before on October 10, 2010…  What did we set out to accomplish?  What were our motivations?  What resistance did we encounter?  Who encouraged us?  What people were instrumental to our early success?  What role did networlding play? What was it about the Innovation Center concept that truly caught people’s interest and passion?  How did we leverage outside ideas and our blogosphere community to help enhance our vision and accelerate our progress?

II. Chapter Two – A day in the life of the center as it is “today” (11-11-11) – The user experience.  What are the key differentiating attributes of the user experience?  How are people using the Center?  What value are they generating/receiving?  What makes the Center so successful?  How has this changed over the last year?

III. Chapter Three – Opening Day October 10, 2010.  What did the beginning structure look like the day it opened?  Did we have all 30 kiosks in there?  What was our business and revenue model?  What initial mistakes did we make? What fortuitous events helped make it happen?  What was the initial public reaction?  What near-disasters did we finesse?

IV. Chapter Four – The first week.  What happened during that first week of the center being opened?  What did we learn?  What did we commit to fix?  How did it change our assumptions or operating models?  What would we have done differently from the beginning of only we’d known…

V. Chapter Five – The early months.  What happened within the first 90 days?  What were our first 3 major initiatives?  How were they germinated?   how did we get them to the stage of moving to engagement with design engineers from a couple of the companies in the center (check out www.inventright.com or www.edisonnation.com for examples of companies).  Who were our first corporate sponsors?  What made them decide to participate?

VI. Chapter Six – Crisis!  What unexpected event happened ~ 4-6 months later that nearly caused the Center to collapse?  (A little dramatic effect that occurs in every good story…)  How did we rescue it?  What help did we get from an entirely unexpected source?  What sacrifices were we forced to make that turned out to pay huge dividends later?  What seemingly unrelated sub-plot first mentioned in the prologue and carried along at a low level of intensity in Chapters I-V suddenly emerges as an unexpected, vital component of our success?

VII. Chapter Seven – The Center – 2nd Generation.  How did the Center emerge better, stronger and with more innovative impact as a result of the events in Chapter Five?  How did we know that the Center was now completely out of danger and would be an extraordinary success?

VIII. Chapter Eight – Events in the Center.  What kinds of things went on during that first year – especially those that could only have taken place in the unique environment of the Center?

IX. Chapter Nine – Impact of the Center.  What tangible, measurable results has the Center produced in its first year?  What additional kinds of activities are there underway that will yield even greater impacts an dividends.  Where did we create unexpected value?  What didn’t we expect that happened?

X. Chapter Ten – What’s Next?  Having spent the first nine chapters in reflection mode, now we pivot and look to the future.  Sister Centers are now in various stages of opening in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, London, Prague and Milan.  Interest has been expressed from unexpected sources – DARPA, DOE and other leading-edge US government agencies want to develop a similar concept to help drive early-stage innovation on government projects.  NASA wants to build a Center dedicated to establishing a manned base on Mars.  The World Bank and Gates Foundation want to fund the establishment of local Innovation Centers across Africa to help foster self-help solutions to the daunting problems of Aids, energy, food and tribal feuding — from the same people that these challenges affect the most.

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So, beginning with Chapter One, what ten companies do you think should be part of the center?  Would you choose any of the companies from this list of the twenty-five most innovative companies identified most recently by Business Week? Who would be your ten and why? Please comment and get your colleagues to comment. We’ll let the majority rule and off we go! Check out Business Week’s 50 Most Innovative Company list for 2009 to help with your choices.

We each selected and self-dispensed our preferred caffeinated concoctions at the Einstein Espresso bar.  By popular demand, Innovation Center members had a generous number of free beverages included in their annual membership dues.  Coffees of various kinds, in particular, seemed to be especially popular with the innovator set, and they had created a whole menu of selections named after famous business and technology innovators:  Job’s Java Jolt, Moore’s Macchiato Melt, Edison’s Electrifying Ethiopian and Wozniak’s Wicked White Mocha, among others.  Melissa took a hit from her Bezos’ Brazilian Brew while I savored a sip from my Da Vinci’s Daily Double.

I mused aloud about Melissa’s choice of beverage.  “Ironic, isn’t it, how Jeff Bezos is partly responsible for our being here – in a backhanded sort of way.”

Melissa smiled, and said, “Absolutely – as the founder of Amazon.com, his singular innovation – online book sales – really accelerated the decline of the retail bookstore.  They just couldn’t compete on price – and most of them couldn’t figure out how to turn their brick-and-mortar buildings into a competitive asset, rather than a liability.  But surely if he hadn’t commercialized selling books on the Internet, someone else would have.”

“True,” I answered.  “But he got there first with the right combination of customer features.  He might not have invented the concept of online retailing, but he put all the right pieces together.  We might not have invented the concept of the innovation center, but we’ve managed to pull together the right combination of location, people, capabilities and services to launch the most successful innovation center of its kind in the country – maybe the world.”

“Well…” she began, “Before you give us too much credit, don’t forget the amazing inputs, ideas and suggestions we got from the tens of thousands of people who read our blog.  We wouldn’t be here today without them.  And hundreds of those readers are now members – and are still the main source of our new ideas.”

Breaking through the scattering of silver-lined rosy pink clouds on the horizon on this invigorating Autumn morning, the sunrise over Lake Michigan bathed downtown Chicago in a soft amber glow reflecting off the peaks of its soaring skyscrapers as they stood out against the bright blue backdrop of the firmament above.  It was early on this November morning – not even 6:35 AM, but already the streets and sidewalks were starting to fill with motivated Chicagoans and out-of-town visitors looking to get a jumpstart on their day’s activities.

Both the U.S. and general global economy were enjoying a second year of robust growth.  While the early part of the recovery, which officially began early in the 3rd quarter of 2009, had gotten off to a slow and somewhat rocky start, few back then had foreseen how strong the U.S. economy would come roaring back, and how pronounced innovation was being credited with in accelerating this economic expansion.

For those associated with the gleaming new Networlding Innovation Center in Chicago that had opened the year before in the prominent location formerly occupied by Borders bookstore on Michigan Avenue, the fact that innovation had played such a key role in reinvigorating the US economy wasn’t really all that much of a surprise.  They knew that the effective management of business and technology innovation could yield enormous benefits for virtually any company and industry.  And the unprecedented confluence of global recession, capital market lock up, stock market crashes, failure of hundreds of once iconic companies plummeting real estate values and rising unemployment had prompted a countercurrent increase in the level of effort and resources being dedicated to innovation by a growing number of government, academic and private sector leaders.  Their efforts were now paying off in a large way.

Melissa Giovagnoli and I were sitting at the Einstein Espresso bar on the 3rd floor of the Innovation Center, sharing an early morning cuppa java and reminiscing about the period of time leading up to the opening of the Center on October 10, 2010.  The last couple of years had seemed to roar by in a blur of fast-paced decisions, chance meetings, not-so-coincidental coincidences, memorable events, unexpected setbacks, and exhilarating triumphs.  Not to be overlooked was the herculean amount of hard work that had been done by an ever-expanding team of dedicated innovators who embraced the vision for this Center as their own — and had truly made it a success beyond anyone’s expectations.  And now, exactly a year, a month and a day after the formal opening of the Center, we had set aside time on this early Friday morning to reflect back on how far we’d come and recounting the sequence of events during the early conceptualization and planning phases of the Innovation Center.

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Want to start from the beginning? Go to:

Notes from the Future Prologue: http://www.networldingblog.com/innovation-center-book/

and Notes from the Future Intro: http://www.networldingblog.com/innovation-center-book/intro/