Book signing?

[EJFH]

Nah, my pastor would be the first one congratulating me on pushing my endeavors to a new level. I was just having a mental picture of the buzz in some quarters..."I hear he went on a Trinitarian TV show to promote his book! I could therefore never buy his book..."

Truth is, if it really came to that, I'd just have to bid bye-bye to that corner of the apostolic audience, since I'm not going to sacrifice a shot at a large audience that actually buys financial books (and has money to invest) in order to stay tight with a small audience that buys fewer books and contains fewer potential clients (just by virtue of its size, if nothing else). I really just wanted to know if I posted something here like, "Was on TBN last week, here's the link to the video," would it vex anyone on the hometown team....

[Psalm97]

TBN? Oh that's it man, you are excommunicated for sure.......... wait, that's a different religion that excommunicates. Well, we can't let you go to the same restaurant we go to after Sunday morning worship.

Personally I'd like to see a clip of the interview when you have it. I'd like to see how you pitch a book like that there.

[EJFH]

A little progress to report. The PPH has decided to carry my book, so you should soon be seeing it on their website and in the quarterly catalog updates. The economics of the situation are such that it's more profitable for me to sell directly from my own websites, but this will hopefully help me reach people who might otherwise never hear of me or my sites. Overall, I'm very pleased.The PPH link to the book is here:

http://sales.pentecostalpublishing.com/ ... ptc=PPH123

[EJFH]

Starting to get my first couple of "reader reviews" on Amazon. Forum members, those of you who've read Mammon (and liked it), I'd be honored if any of you felt inclined to post a brief reader review on Amazon. Only if you liked the book well enough to give it four or five stars, since lesser ratings hurt sales. Thanks!

[Psalm97]

A word about those amazon.com reviews - put some detail in it. Everyone who knows anything about shopping online can screen out fanboy "this is great!" reviews as well as hater "this thing STINKS!" reviews, because that's all they say..... just an extreme good or bad opinion, nothing to back it up. Be specific about why you like it, tell the person reading your review WHY you think he should buy it.

It would help EJFH out a lot better than just saying "This is a great book!"

[Psalm97]

I look on the amazon page for your book and see hmmm........ Buy it new for $19.95, or used for $41.96??!? Is someone already applying a concept in your book to resale of a used copy of your book?

By the way, maybe you can tell me - Why is it always $19.95 (or $29.95, or $199.95)?

[EJFH]

Good questions:

As for the used copies for $40+: There is apparently a company that buys a new copy or two of everything on Amazon, and holds it for resale at a really high price. My guess is they do this in case someone desperately wants a book that is not in stock. For example, when I was taking my CFP exam, my study materials included a book entitled Time and Money from Keir Educational Resources. It's about how to use financial calculators to do the math on annuity calculations, mortgage calculations, and the a slew of other compound interest problems. It's a 6 x 9-inch paperback of maybe 200 pages; a typical trade paperback you'd expect to pay about $15 for. But before the national CFP exams, the only copies of the book available for immediate shipping were from companies like the one you saw -- and these guys were selling Time and Money for hundreds of dollars per copy, under the theory, "how badly do you want it?" Just one of the strange things that happen on Amazon.

Another weird Amazon thing is that people who get free review copies sometimes try to make money on them by selling them used on Amazon. It's not unusual for an author to send out a few hundred review copies to the media and to influential people. It's disheartening to see used copies for sale even before your book's publication date. I festoon my free copies with a stamp that says "Review Copy Not For Resale" in order to discourage this.

Why $19.95? Because it's under the psychological barrier of $20. Much research shows that whether the item is a car, a refrigerator, or a book, if it's priced just under some nice round figure, it will sell better.When selling the book from the back of a seminar, a $19.95 price makes it easy to make change for cash buyers. And I also chose the price that reflects the minimum amount I feel I should reasonably get for the book. Using normal multiples of production costs, I could have priced the book at $26.00, but I didn't want price to be an issue for anyone...especially since we have to add shipping for all mail order customers, and also sales tax for Massachusetts residents. I want people to read the book, and go, "Wow, that's a lot of value for less than twenty bucks."

[EJFH]

Internet killed the radio star. Or was that TV? In any case, Internet is reinventing radio. And I'm going to be a guest interviewee on Carole Copeland Thomas's Internet radio show on Thursday, April 8. Found at www.blogtalkradio.com/globalcarole, the show will probably allow live call-in Q & A. The show will be archived in case you can't tune in at the time. Finally a format tailor-made for someone like me who is prone to...ummm, er, expound on things at length. Check it out!

I will of course be talking about my book. You'll be able to learn more about it than you can from the summary description in the PPH catalog, or the reader reviews on Amazon. You'll be able to hear my voice, and thus the "sound" of my posts on this forum. Psalm will get to decide if I have a Boston accent. Bro. Lowrance, your task, should you choose to accept it, will be to finish the book by April 8!

[EJFH]

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and hiring a New York PR firm to get my book to the next level. I found a firm that has scores and scores of satisfied clients, including some authors whose books are on my shelves, and one guy with whom I am personally acquainted. The firm is a rarity in that it promises results, not just efforts. This company provides PR on a pay-per-placement basis, whereas most firms just take your money and cross their fingers. This firm has a long track record of placing clients with national print media, radio in top markets, and national TV shows.

The only problem? Definitely not cheap. It will stretch my budget if I do this. It's a case of trading money for time and the avoidance of a learning curve. It would take me forever to make and cultivate the media contacts they already have, assuming I could do it at all. And because my expertise lies in finance (and Bible, at least a little) rather than PR, I would doubtless make PR mistakes that incurred a steep opportunity cost.

My goal has always been to get my book reviews, articles, and other PR efforts seen by at least 10 million sets of eyes (or heard by that many ears) in my target market. Then and only then can I hope to sell enough books to have a real impact on the thinking of the Christian world at large. This is a little scary, but I think it's probably the only way to go. No point in writing a book if you're not committed to making sure enough people hear of it....

[Psalm97]

That is the first time I have ever heard a financial expert say anything about his own budget. They usually seem to go out of their way to avoid talking about personal money matters. Or maybe it's just me...

Whatever, you're probably better qualified than most here to evaluate whether it is worth the cost.