CRITICAL TOOLS FOR SELLING YOUR OWN POETRY
INEXPENSIVELY and with unlimited profit potential:
(by Daniel B. Lyle, Ph.D.)
Hi! Down below I'm going to tell you exactly where to go to get indispensable TOOLS you can use to sell your own books of Poetry without having to invest many thousands of dollars up-front, and with limitless profit potential.
Yes, if you wish to spend a ton of money, you can go to the vanity publishers and end up with a few beautiful, hard-copy coffee-table-type books. They will indeed look great on your coffee table. But the only way you can sell them at a profit is to charge so much that no one can afford to buy them.
However, if you're like most of us (just barely making it from pay check to pay check), then you don't have the option of paying a ton of money just to have slick books published.
Sure, it would be nice if some far-sighted, art-appreciating publisher would see the great beauty of your poetry and volunteer to make those books for free (and maybe even pay you a substantial up-front advance-on-royalties!), but in today's established publishing market, it just ain't going to happen.
Unless you're the Queen of England, Ringo Starr, or some other famous person with an already-established name, traditional books of Poetry are not hot commercial items. "Poet's Market" to the contrary, if you're not in the social strata of the above, agents and paying publishers will give your work a pass no matter how excellent and wonderful it really is!
However, let us be perfectly clear. YOUR WORK DOES INDEED DESERVE TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY! How do I know that?? I am the founder and owner of LylePublishing, and established the LylePublishing Discussion Forum---in particular, the Poetry Forum.
Every day I see magnificent, insightful, fascinating, beautiful works of Art posted by regular, "ordinary" people---who amaze and delight me with their stunningly-good Poetic masterpieces!
And not only are these poems Beautiful Works of Art, they are very helpful and useful to many people encountering similar problems, challenges, opportunities---which are richly explored and dissected in these marvelous, pithy-and-vivid word-paintings.
Sure, you may not get a million or even a thousand people to buy a book of your works (thus automatically dropping it from consideration by established paying publishers---who need at least 5,000 sales to have a faint chance at making a slim profit), but there are people who know and appreciate you that may indeed be willing to pay money to see your work in print.
YOUR "FROM-THE-GUT," HEART-RENDING, EXCELLENT WORKS DESERVE TO BE ESTABLISHED WORKS OF ART: published as a Book. If not to make a million dollars, then to validate and affirm their existence in a tangible, permanent form!
Even though, however, that justification is quite valid---it's what I call the "Illumination Factor." We're talking about here the value of a Great Painting in a museum. It's the Hit Song on the radio. It's a mind-blowing TV Series. It's the Fascinating Movie at the multi-plex. Its the art-value.
A few people will pay to get that from you---though when you compete against multi-million dollar movies; you see the problem. Why pay you $10 for a small book of poetry when that same money would buy a ticket to see a $100 million dollar work of art at the movie theater??
We as a society are awash in a sea of powerful, top-quality, top-talent-generated, millions-of-dollars-to-make ART---that we can choose from and purchase for mere pennies. That's why most songs, most books, most poetry, most movie scripts, most art never makes it out of the closet; even though they may each be individually very good!
Those putting down their money to bet on the success of published works can (and must) choose only the very best that has the highest chance of being plucked from the sea of Art and purchased in a big way by a highly-selective, fickle public.
So even though your book of poetry deserves to see the light of day, and a relatively few people may indeed pay you for it, to become a profit-generating work you need to take it a step further. Just being "good" is not enough! I'll talk about that extra step to profit ability in just a little bit.
IF YOU DONT EXPECT TO MAKE A PROFIT, however, and can inexpensively produce the book yourself---then that's certainly full justification to proceed. However, you must self-publish. Unless you have an already-established name and track record, your chances to get someone else to pay for publishing your poetry book are slim to none.
So how to you self-publish, and do so inexpensively? The "vanity" publishers are not inexpensive. They are expensive.
There are, in addition, a few print-on-order publishers where you pay a relatively small amount up-front (several hundred dollars) and get a one-size-fits-all crummy-looking little book that doesn't even exist; but is printed out one copy at a time if anyone orders it. Actually, that's not a bad way to go. And some of them will tack-on an e-book option also.
However, again there's little likelihood it will sell many copies and ever even make your money back. Again, if you don't care about making a profit---then that's something you might want to consider.
Here are some links to just such print-on-order publishers. Im not recommending them, just giving you information:
http://www.infinitypublishing.com
There is another mode, though---articulated here by me for the first time, and based on solid marketing principles---by which you indeed can have a chance to make a solid profit; potentially reaching an unlimited number of customers!
However, it's not a magic bullet that will grant you instant fame and success. It takes some study, dedication, experimentation, adaptation of your works, and effort.
The good news, though, is you don't have to re-invent the wheel. Other people have already figured out the basics and provided you with excellent, inexpensive tools. You just have to figure out what those tools are and proceed to apply them to your situation.
As I've struggled with this situation myself, I've fought my way through a number of different methods, some of which worked and some of which were terrible failures. I give you here, in this article, the benefit of my experience.
Also, I have some suggestions that to my knowledge no one else has offered concerning successfully publishing Poetry. I offer these ideas to you.
IN A NUTSHELL, THE KEY TOOLS CONCERN:
1) Putting your Poetry into the form of an e-book; one that addresses critical problems people are having---while offering real solutions.
2) Making a 1-page sales letter website that effectively promotes and sales your e-book.
3) Connecting up to an affiliate-powered e-book seller like ClickBank, which takes care of all the money transactions (credit cards and all).
4) Using pay-per-click search engines like Google AdWords to inexpensively contact people actively at that moment searching for answers in the area you yourself are exploring in your poetry.
Simple, right? Four short steps! Actually, not so simple---but certainly doable, IF you have the right information available in a concise, easy-to-understand and usable form!
But before we get to the actual Tools, let me give the rationale for each of the four points.
Why an e-book…and (most importantly) why one that addresses critical problems people are having---offering real solutions??
First of all, making a full-fledged, excellent e-book can cost next to nothing. Furthermore, unlike hard books, the one file you work from gives you unlimited numbers of copies. Production costs for making copies are next to nothing. Making a profit becomes far easier when you don't have to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars up-front to make copies (not to mention storage and shipping costs and headaches).
People buy e-books to solve problems. You may have an excellent novel, or art book, or poetry book---but few will buy and download it just on that basis. People buy e-books to solve problems! At the last of this page, you'll find a list of excellent examples of e-books that solve critical problems.
So how on earth would you use your Poetry to solve critical problems???
What could be easier? Most poetry is generated FROM critical problems. If you look through the postings on the Poetry Forum, you will find virtually all the problems of life laid out before you!---everything from broken relations to loss of loved ones.
So my unique advice you've never heard or seen anywhere else is this: put together not just a random sampling of your many beautiful poems, but a collection on a THEME. Then just add to those artistic renderings---some questions, some discussion, some extraction that pulls out of them some specific advice: taken from your own experience, that really may help with that identified, specific problem!
You don't have to become an expert in marriage counseling, or deathbed confessions, or drug addiction, or the like. You just have to think about the works that have bubbled-up already out of your own life-experience, and add to those poems (a discussion after a poem; personal paragraph on where that poem came from, what stimulated it, and what happened thereafter; etc.) extracted useful information that can help others with their own real problems!
Your actual Poems will bring to life the situations, give specific examples, and serve as the basis for others to better-identify and benefit from the possible solutions you propose. Yes, give the appropriate disclaimers: "Not offering specific advice, just possibly-useful information." "You need to decide how best these works may or may not apply to your own life." "See a Doctor before starting any medical treatments." Etc. But you are giving the very best help to other people---that which was hard-won from your own tough experiences in living life.
I think these sorts of ART/application Poetry e-books can become a new and powerful Creative Engine on the Internet.
However, they can't be sloppy or skimpy. They have to follow the real rules for making really good, solid e-books---which apply no matter what subject or format they are presenting!
Thus, you must learn the real-life marketing rules for successful e-books: which you can learn from the Masters as to how to make e-books, etc. in general---and then apply that to your own artistic renderings. (The Master-information is down below: Keep going!).
Second point: Why a website and why only one-page?? This is dealt with in detail in some of the tools I'll show you in just a second. The short answer is: you need a website to sell the e-book; and a 1-page formula-proper sales letter is by far the best way to use the website to effectively sell the e-book.
That's it! You want all the success that your work deserves? You need to do this: have a website that's a 1-page, dynamite sells-letter. So how do you do this? More on that down below. It can be done fairly easily, quickly, and inexpensively! Keep on going!
3rd point: If you've gotten your website and sales-letter, all properly conforming to what is really effective (agrees with the Tools below); then why do you need an additional seller mechanism (like ClickBank)?
The answer is two-fold: 1) THEY HANDLE ALL THE CREDIT CARDS, MONEY, AND PAYMENTS (which if you try to do yourself can be very expensive, even if it's possible at all for you to do in the first place! [requires a bank to give you a Commercial Account for a start]);
and 2) THEY HAVE AFFILIATES who for a cut of the action (usually 50% after fees) will become your sales force if they like your e-book! (Trying to build your own affiliate network is quite possible, but also quite complicated, time-consuming, and not easy).
Sure, you can just sale a few books to friends and accept cash or a check. Or, you can try to get people to mail to you by snail-mail checks. However, on the Internet, TO BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS. Internet folks want it NOW, INSTANTLY, "Bing-Bang-Boom"!!!
It's next to impossible for us freelance authors to get a Merchant Account from a bank to be able to handle credit card purchases on our own. Plus it takes time, is complicated, and has lots of headaches (like returns/refunds!) Fortunately, for small fees, places like ClickBooks exist that will handle it all.
Do you see now what I'm talking about? I'm not talking about making a few raggedly chapbook type poetry volumes to hand out, nor slick expensive coffee table books that no one will buy---I'm offering you a Vision that takes your beautiful works a step further, into the mainstream of the internet, where the potential for exposure and profit is endless!
Why not give yourself the chance to have your works make the biggest impact possible? As in all things in life, there are no guarantees. However, if you can truly put together a body of work centered around a discrete, identifiable problem---and extract viable solutions: then you have a real chance at not only being of real help to other people; but maybe even making a decent profit! For a Poetry-based book, that would be a huge achievement, indeed!
So now that you have a problem-solving e-book, a website, a sales letter, a credit card-accepting mechanism, and potential affiliates---why do you need a pay-per-click mechanism?
4th Point: As always, the publisher makes the copies but the author sells the books. This applies even for big-time, established, traditional, paying publishers. It's you the author that must hit the road to sell the book.
Guess what!??---book-signing tours are expensive. It costs to travel all over, stay at hotels, and be away from paying day-jobs. Even if you could do it on vacation time, it's still precious TIME. And your potential audiences are probably only a few dozen here and there at various bookstores.
With a mechanism like Google AdWords you can very inexpensively potentially connect-up with people who at that very moment are in the act of searching for the information you have in your art-driven, problem-solving e-book!!!
And, yes, there are more sophisticated and complicated methods of getting your message out inexpensively on the Internet (very nicely laid-out in the Tools down below). But for you and me just starting out: Google AdWords is a terrific mechanism!
I use it all the time, and you may well have found my site and this information directly or indirectly from very inexpensive Ads that I've paid to run on Google.
Now there's a lot more I could say on this topic of inexpensive ways to spread the message that your e-book exists, but I won't. That detailed information is contained very nicely in several of the Tools below. Just believe me that this sort of mechanism I've just laid out for you is tremendously important and useful!
Ok. Now to the real meat of it all. I'm going to give you links that will take you to super good information thats aimed directly at solving YOUR problems for points 1,2,3, & 4. This is not academic, book-learning, painful-study textbooks. These are encapsulated, crisp, need-targeted SOLUTIONS to your "inexpensive self-publishing with unlimited expansion potential" problems.
There are many problem-solving, commerce-related e-books out there. I've culled out the very BEST, that I've studied and used myself. These are not junky, flimsy, useless hype that doesn't really help you at all. There's plenty of SPAM out there that tries frantically to get you to buy the "magic" solution. The ones I list below are not magical fantasy. These are proven, commercially-viable, internet-appropriate mechanisms that really work. These are not junk!
These are the best information you can get, very readable, and worth far more than the relatively small amount of money required to purchase them.
If they seem useful to you from the title and short description, click on them and look at their 1-page, website sales letters!
Yes! They are also great EXAMPLES of what YOU can do for YOUR e-book!!!
I have two groups below: 1) first the TOOLS; and 2) then a number of SPECIFIC EXAMPLES of e-books dealing (not from your enhanced, wonderful Art-driven New E-Book Type) with solving specific problems…all the same life-problem topics that we as Poets powerfully dissect and illustrate with our own works!
Please look at the Specific Examples, in addition to the Tools! I put a lot of work into finding, selecting, and putting together (down below, at the last of this page) these excellent Examples, all neatly in one place, for your benefit.
And, I repeat---YOUR BEAUTIFUL POETRY DESERVES A WIDE DISTRIBUTION, AND YOU DESERVE TANGIBLE BENEFIT (PROFIT) FOR YOUR HARD-WON ART.
You don't have to be famous or rich in order to make your Works available to the entire world. You just have to be smart, see the great potential of the Internet, and put out the effort to do the relatively easy things which have already been proven to work on the Internet.
I want to see your marvelous, problem-solving, Art-driven e-book out there and available to the smart, discerning public. You deserve this. Your Art deserves it. I've seen your or similar works in my Poetry Forum. Dig a bit deeper to the problem-solving level. Make it happen!
What do I get out of this? You're probably wondering why I'm giving this information and access to the Tools and Examples below away for free (rather than selling you an e-book on how to sell your poetry). Allow me to quickly explain:
A major motivation of my putting this information here crisply, briefly, and well-organized for easy grabbing (rather than expanding it to an e-book and selling it to you, which I did consider doing) is to do nothing less than start a whole new movement: PRACTICAL, APPLIED POETRY.
What does that mean? It means: yes, to keep all the incredible beauty and impact of free-form Poetry: but then to extract the powerful messages learned from your hard-won personal life experience and use them to make the world a better place!
You see this everyday at the LylePublishing Poetry Forum, where I post replies that extend a person's work: adding-on another, specific work of my own that doesn't answer all the questions---but still brings the potent Theme down to Specific Applicability. Sometimes I'll ask the Author leading questions, or even draw actual conclusions from their work.
Do you see what I'm doing in the Poetry Forum? This fits very well with the Theme of my entire website and my own large body of works: Finding powerful SIGNIFICANCE in beautiful, fascinating works of ART: My Life, Your Life---and what we can both accomplish SYNERGISTICALLY TOGETHER!
My message to you: YOU CAN DO THIS ALSO, and if your body of work around a central Theme is targeted to Real Problems, and constructed in an e-book valid way: you may have a real shot at making tangible Profit from your Practical, Applied-Poetry E-book!!
In times past, books of poetry had a large place in society; were eagerly purchased, passed around, read and re-read. Those times---replete with the names of historically-prominent, famous poets of old---are now swamped by TV, music CDs, hard-books on every subject, magazines, Movies, and Radio.
Poetry has fallen to being a mere unappreciated minor component of technologically-based art. Poetry deserves much better! Your powerful Poetic Works deserve much better! They deserve to be an end unto themselves, rather than just a minor, largely-unappreciated enhancement!
Together, we have a real shot at bringing back the Golden Age of Poetry---if we embrace and use to our own ends the very same modern technology itself that suppressed Poetry into a little-appreciated minor art form!! (Computers, modern marketing methods, and the Internet!)
Yes, it's true that the bad new is that embracing modern technology into traditional poetry is not easy. You don't just write one poem and submit it to some minor publication vehicle and expect to receive unlimited profit potential! You will have to do some studying, thinking, experimenting, and concentrated/smart application.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE "ROPES" HAVE ALREADY BEEN FIGURED OUT---and are available in super-crisp, quickly-understandable, easily-applied forms just waiting for you to grab them and adapt them to your own beautiful poetic Works of Art!
I've put in years of work to figure out those ropes and present them to you here for free.
They await you down below. All neatly laid out for you to select among. TOGETHER, WE CAN USE THEM TO START A NEW POETIC REVOLUTION AIMED AT CHANGING THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER!
Once last thing! Please give me feedback!
I need to know how well this 1-page website works, and how the "ropes" below are useful to you. Getting your feedback, both now and into the future as you apply this information, will help me fine-tune this New Evolving Poetic Revolution.
Yes, I want to be a "Guru"---but the very best sort of Guru: one that truly empowers YOU to get to where YOU want to go!…as together we become a force for Good to be reckoned with…and do much more together than we could separately.
After you've read all this (and looked over what's below), please give me an initial e-mail feedback of your reactions, whether positive or negative!
Specifically: What was good here which should be continued? And secondly, what do you see that might possibly be better---and how would you change things!??
E-mail me (Dan Lyle) at: Dlyle18220@aol.com
As always, I'm more than happy to try to be helpful to you. I'm in the process of moving down this path with my own works (see my website--- www.lylepublishing.com ---for a number of examples)---and have not stopped. I'm with you: still learning more, struggling to advance my own Poetic Applications.
E-mail me with questions. I may have already struggled through that question or problem you have and likely can offer an easy answer. Together, we can make Applied E-book Poetry a powerful new force on the Internet!
To our mutual success and profit!!!
Dan
Daniel B. Lyle, Ph.D., copyright 2003.
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CRITICAL TOOLS:
(not all the tools listed below are necessary; there's some duplication: click-into and look over the sales pages and decide which best suits your interests)
I. Putting your Poetry into the form of an e-book; one that addresses critical problems people are having---offering real solutions.
Do-it-yourself e-book design kit including over 100 predesigned e-book interface and cover templates.
How to Write your own eBook in 7 Days!
Write and publish your own OUTRAGEOUSLY Profitable e-Book in as little 7 days - even if you can't write or type!
eBook Secrets Exposed
How to Make MASSIVE Amounts of Money In Record Time With Your Own e-Book - Whether You Wrote It Or Not!
eBook Profits
Start creating and selling your own e-Books for big profits in just a few days.
Coyote Marketing
Marketing help for Newbies, e-books and e-publishing
Cover Art for eBooks and Software
Skyrocket your e-Book or Software sales and Downloads! Take a look at some examples we've done recently!
II. Making a 1-page sales letterwebsite that effectively sales your e-book.
Create sizzling sites in 10 simple steps
Video tutorials and stunning templates show you how to create your own website from scratch in the next hour!
The Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business
OUTRAGEOUS New e-book reveals - How to Work Less, Get Paid More. and have Tons More FUN with your online business!
Online Business Basics
A Practical Guide to Building an Internet Business on a Shoestring Budget.
Start your first Internet business
How to start and run your first Internet business for under $100 a month. Internet business ideas, tips and resources.
The Amazing Sales Letter Creator
Just plug-in your product data and out pops a 100% formulated sales letter!
III. Connecting up to an affiliate-powered e-book seller like ClickBank, which takes care of all the money transactions (credit cards and all).
Affiliate-driven, e-book seller.
How To Make Money With Clickbank
Discover how a FREE book can generate ClickBank income - from the site owner of The COMPLETE GUIDE to ClickBank.
IV. Using pay-for-click search engines like Google AdWords to inexpensively connect up with people actively searching for answers in the area you are exploring in your poetry.
https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=Login
Google AdWords campaign home page. With full instructions on how to use the mechanisms and how to sign up.
Mastering Google AdWords
Optimization of Google AdWords Campaigns.
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SPECIFIC EXAMPLES:
(Problem-solving e-books, arranged under general topic areas: similar as what appears in many postings on the LylePublishing Discussion Forum, Poetry Forum.)
How to BUILD BLISSFUL RELATIONS
How to be SUCCESSFUL AT DATING
How to OVERCOME EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS
How to BUILD BLISSFUL RELATIONS
SEX: Truths, Myths and Lies
Hot Selling Modern Sex Techniques Manual.
Save the Marriage Ebook
Save the Marriage: Even if Only You Want to Work on It.Discover how to move from stalemate to soul mate.
50 Secrets of Blissful Relationships
This e-book by an Oprah expert is very popular, and contains great artwork.
Creating Relationship Magic Ebook
Discover The Secrets to Creating A Magical Relationship,even if you feel like you've failed a hundred times before.
How to ATTAIN FULL ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
LoveStories.com
Purchase membership to the largest grassroots poetry community!
The Art of Abundant Living
Releasing negative emotions, developing personal and Divine power through feelings and expression in Creative Art.
Heaven or Hell
E-Book site.
Make Money Selling Your Art on Ebay!
Info on selling Art on Ebay. Techniques. Strategies to make money.
Adventures Into The Unknown!
Unique Training Courses for Explorers, Treasure Hunters & Prospectors; various E-books, & Treasure Guides are offered.
BEYOND THE MARTIAL ARTS
Martial Arts e-Book for EVERY martial artist on the street.
How to BE COMPLETELY AND RADIANTLY "WOMAN"
Get Goddess Attitude
Focus on the magic of being a Woman, and how to radiate confidence and magnetism with ease.
How To Drive Your Man Wild!
Best Selling, Easy-to-Download Three e-Book Package,extremely popular!
Men Made Easy eBook
Relationship & women's issues sites. What women want to know about men. Very popular.
Dress Me Now
The book that's changing the way women see themselves and clothes.
How to be SUCCESSFUL AT DATING
Internet Dating Secrets
How To Use The Internet To Get More Dates.
Digital Dating - The Byte-Sized Guide
To Finding Love Online.
Finding the perfect relationship
A self-help e-book that teaches a step-by-step method on how to obtain the perfect relationship.
Christian Singles
A dating site for single people.
Soulmatesworldwide
Global Photo Dating Services.
CordovaWeb.com
An e-book for single women who want to meet-and keep-the man of their dreams.
How to be Irresistibly Attractive
Very popular. Offers tips and techniques on kissing, flirting, etc.
300 Creative Dates
The World's Most Romantic, Unique and Fun Dating Ideas - very popular with both Singles & Married Couples.
How to succeed with Women
Best selling e-book; overcome shyness with women---written with the input of over 300 women.
How To Attract and Date Beautiful Women
Online step-by-step e-book will teach you How To Successfully Meet, Attract and Date Beautiful Women!
How to OVERCOME EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS
Download relaxation and mediataion software.
Phobias Cured
The Phobia Self-Help Book.
How to ATTAIN MY HIGHEST SELF-ACTUALIZATION
Home of Happiness and Self-actualization
Pick up a copy of Climb your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness, as well as The Get Happy Workbook
Affirmations software - Sculptor3
Affirmation goal-setting, motivational software: for improved mental/physical health, personal growth & self-healing.
Discover Your Life's Purpose
Discover your life's purpose and incorporate it into a career.
Key-Books eBook Collection
E-books in the New ThoughtSelf-Help / Self-Improvement Field.
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