Writing is NOT Your Business Model!

by David Perdew

Do you recognize these names?

• James Patterson
• Danielle Steel
• E. L. James

Unless you've been living under a log for the last 30 years, you know that James Patterson and Danielle Steel are best-selling authors.

E.L. James may be new to you. She was to me, even though she holds 3 of the top 5 New York Times Bestsellers as of this writing. But here’s the thing: She published her first book only 9 months ago!

The three on the NYT Best Seller list today are:

• Fifty Shades of Grey (1)
• Fifty Shades Darker (2)
• Fifty Shades Freed (5)

James Patterson has a book at number 3 and Danielle Steel at number 8.

These folks are mega-writers. They were lucky. They are more talented than the rest of us. They have all the advantages, right?

Nope. They’re good business people! That’s the advantage they have.

And that’s why you can take your blog to bestseller status too. You just have to learn to realize that writing is not a business model! It’s a product. Then, you treat it like a product.

At the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshop, I taught a workshop on business models where we identified different types of models. I asked a simple question.

 “Are you a writer or a publisher?”

Eyes popped open and hands slapped the sides of heads. The light bulb went off in more than one student. With 20 years in the newspaper business working for major newspaper chains and metropolitan organizations, I learned a lot about publishing versus writing.

• Publishers like revenue and gross profit.
• Writers like words and making connections.

• Publishers want to see ever increasing subscriber numbers.
• Writers want someone to tell them what a good story that was.

• Publishers think advertisers are the life blood of the publication.
• Writers think advertisers eat up the space reserved for their words.

• Publishers see content (your writing) as the bait to get readers to buy services.
• Writers see their writing as the king of the publication and everything else is second.

When you think of writing as your product, like James Patterson, Danielle Steel, and E.L. James, you incorporate business into your approach. We can take lessons from these fine business folks and apply them to your own writing business.

James Patterson

Click here to see books by James Patterson.

He is the world's best-selling author with more than 250 million copies of his books sold worldwide. According to Wikipedia, his novels account for one in 17 of all hardcover novels sold in the United States. That’s more than Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined. And those guys are no slouches.

How does he do that?

Outsourcing: Writers everywhere cringe when I tell them this. “Writers don’t outsource! They write every word.” But James Patterson outsources! And he’s one of the highest paid, most prolific writers on the planet. He hands off ideas, plots and characters to other, lesser known writers working with different co-authors, because collaborating with others brings new and interesting ideas to his stories he says.

Project Management: By the end of 2012, Patterson will write or co-write 11 books for adults and 6 for young adults according to a $150 million deal he signed in Sep. 2009, says Forbes. That’s 17 books in just over three years. That’s a huge project for any publishing company to take on. But Patterson’s publisher has basically outsourced the project management of these 17 books to Patterson’s team.

Team: Oh, yes. He’s got a team of workers who help him write these books. Without a team of people who take over some of the load of what you have been doing yourself, you’ll never scale your business to a point where you can work “on your business, not in it” as Michael Gerber says in the “E-Myth Revisited.”

These are all techniques that bloggers must – I didn’t say should, but MUST – master if they wish to make money with their online business. (If you don’t see your blog as an online business, you’re not going to like the rest of this article or the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshops either.)

Danielle Steel

Click here to see books by Danielle Steel.

If James Patterson is the king of outsourcing, Danielle Steel has discovered how to diversify her product lines by using standard formulas. The author of at least 86 books, she’s known by most critics for writing “fluff” with a tendency to be redundant and formulaic. By most accounts, the writing is not all that good.

So what? She’s a Zillionaire! And she knows how to negotiate deals in related business endeavors using the following key techniques.

Product Re-Use: At least 22 of her books have been turned into made-for-tv-movies. In 2005, she negotiated a deal with New Line Home Entertainment for the film rights to 30 of her novels for DVDs only. Translated into at least 28 languages, her books can be found on shelves in 47 countries or more by now. How much extra work did she have to do to reap millions of dollars from those novels? Zippo! It was re-use and re-negotiation.

Joint Ventures: Danielle can now be found on a different store shelf. She has a fragrance licensed with the cosmetic company Elizabeth Arden called Danielle. It has nothing to do with writing, but everything to do with the brand she’s built.

Brand Management: She has become her brand. People buy her books because they are Danielle Steel books. Quality doesn’t matter, nor does the formula. She is consistently on the New York Times Best Seller list, including one stint of 390 consecutive weeks. That’s 7.5 years for those who are math-challenged like me.

If Danielle Steel teaches us anything, it’s that your brand can be at least as valuable as your primary products. The key is to recognize it as your asset, build it, and protect it.

The brand will add revenues that are generated around your product through joint ventures and additional licensing. That’s why we concentrate on these aspects of your business in the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshops.

E.L. James

Click here to see books by E.L. James.

James is fascinating. She is an info-age writer who learned how to build a business using viral marketing, blogging and print-on-demand publishing so successfully that at this moment she has three books on the New York Times Best Seller list at 1, 2, and 5.

That’s impressive. But even more impressive is that she release her first book just 9 months ago!

Wow! Fifty Shades of Grey, an erotic romance was the first volume in a trilogy. She released that simultaneously as an ebook and a print-on-demand paperback by a virtual publisher in Australia in June 2011.

The second in the trilogy, was Fifty Shades Darker released in September 2011. And the final installment in the trilogy, Fifty Shades Freed, followed in January 2012.

I’ve already given you a bunch of hints here why her business model is so fascinating.

Model Success: Inspired by the “Twilight” series of novels, a very hot trend in publishing and film, she modeled them as “fan fiction.” By doing that, she was able to ride the coattails of an already successful publishing franchise straight to the top of the NYT top 10 list in a very short time.

Target Market:  She identified her audience as married women in their 30s who were interested in erotic fiction. She so focused this demographic that a new genre was born and it was dubbed “mommy porn.” (I’m not a proponent of it, just learning from the business model!)

Cheap Marketing: The first book really took off when she launched the ebook episodically on her website. Fans began following the book and driving additional readers to the site to read the latest installment. It became a word-of-mouth sensation and has become the latest example of viral marketing that has driven a business to success. Viral marketing is not luck. In fact, it’s a calculated process that James executed exceptionally well. We teach that as one aspect of our marketing process at the NAMS workshops.

Resource Usage: With her P-O-D publisher, they together loaded her “product” on Amazon and drove it to best-seller status where it gained the attention of Knopf Doubleday Publishing. Next stop: New York Times Best Seller list.

Publicity Leverage: E.L. James and “mommy porn” had become a news item. James and the publishing company leveraged that newsworthy while it was hot for two reasons. 1) She created a new genre – that would only have been newsworthy as long as the second item was effective and that was, 2) That they had propelled her to incredible publishing heights in less than 9 months using new technology and grass-roots, internet-based marketing techniques.

Product Funnel: “Sell them a second glass of water” is an old marketing proverb. James was ready with this, and very calculated, guaranteed. When her first book had a buyer, she had another book ready to offer the reader who couldn’t get enough. Then, the third followed closely. This model has been used for years in the science fiction and fantasy genre, but recently improved by the Harry Potter series. Then, it was perfected by the Stieg Larsson Millenium series (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and others). What’s next is always a great question to ask for your customer.

What have you learned today about your business model?

First, do you have a business model?

If your business model is writing, good luck with that. If you prefer publishing because you realize your writing is your product, then you’ve got a chance to make a really good business. Creating original content is one of the hardest things about building a business online, but if you’re a writer who understands the value of business (so you can write what you want even more…), then you’re in like Flynn!

All of these writers teach us that our business models should include:

• Outsourcing
• Project Management
• Teamwork
• Product Re-Use
• Joint Ventures
• Brand Management
• Model Success
• Target Market
• Cheap Marketing
• Resource Usage
• Publicity Leverage
• Product Funnel

That seems like a lot to learn, but when it’s tackled one step at a time, it’s really fairly simple.

That’s why we’ve built an entire system called the Niche Affiliate Marketing System to teach these techniques. In fact, you can find out more about the next live workshop in Atlanta here and the supporting premium membership site here.

Good luck with your business. I’d love to hear more about your business model in the comments below.

Author’s Resource Box: David Perdew is the founder and chief architect of the Niche Affiliate Marketing System workshops and the MyNAMS Premium Membership site. With more than 20 years in the newspaper business and more than 20 years as a business consultant, he has brought all his journalistic, teaching and consulting experience together to help others find the freedom that comes from entrepreneurship.

All right guys and gals, what do you think? Do you see David's point? Basically in building a business, there has to be more to it than “just” writing. Even if you have your own publisher, you'll do much much better if you have a business built in and around your books.

Talk to me… I have a friend who I can bring in to answer more questions, too, if you have them.

Looking forward to your comments.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Have you ever considered the potential of WordPress plugins as a business model?

There are some people doing quite well selling them.

There's a really great course on how to actually make money creating, then flipping plugins.

I bought it and my husband has been studying the course the last few weeks, and it's quite good.

You can see that here:
Plugin Business for Profit

However…

If the idea of *selling* plugins is appealing to you, but the thought of actually having to *create* them makes you run for the hills – here's a cool option.

My friend, Melissa Ingold, just announced that she is now selling plugins with PLR rights.

So, if you wanted to get into the WordPress Plugin business but don't want to have to create them yourself – be sure to check this out.

WordPress Plugins with PLR Rights

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Friday is the day where I give you free content. Hurray!

The free PLR report that you can get today is all about coaching programs and how they're an easy way to create a high-ticket product with little work.

Here's an excerpt:

There are many theories on why coaching has grown to become such a popular tool for millions around the globe. The self-help field has always been a booming business. Combine the popularity of self-help with the Internet, which provides easy access to experts in every industry, and it’s easy to see why coaching is such a popular and growing field.

And coaching touches almost every industry imaginable. Here are just a few of the common coaching approaches:

• Life coaching
• Business coaching
• Executive coaching
• Personal coaching
• Health coaching
• Time management coaching
• Organization coaching
• Sports/fitness coaching
• Dating coaching
• Career coaching

Here are a few more fun statistics:

• “Personal coaching in the US was the second fastest growth industry, after IT. Apparently, there are 50,000 searches per month on Google alone from people looking for a coach.” (Sydney Morning Herald)
• There are an estimated 40,000 coaches practicing in 70 countries worldwide.
• The coaching industry continues to grow at a rate of approximately 20% per year.
• Coaching is currently a $1 billion a year industry.
• There are over 50 coach training schools worldwide.

What Does This Mean to You As An Entrepreneur?
As a business owner, the increasing demand for coaches provides you with an opportunity. As you’ll see over the next few pages, coaching offers you tremendous potential to grow your business. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. The coaching business model can be adapted to fit almost any business model and niche. In fact, the more specialized your niche and services are, the more opportunities you may have.

Grab this free report below…

There's no optin required to download the report.

Click here to Download the Free PLR

Be sure to read the offer on the download page. You can learn how to start your own coaching program without all the work.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

It got me to thinking a bit. Willie always does!

So, here's a little history lesson lied to a marketing lesson.

First a little online store called Netflix opened their doors. They decided to offer a service allowing people to rent movies on the internet and receive the DVDs in the mail. Their big benefits were —

• You no longer had to drive to the video store (some of them are pretty gross) in the cold, heat, rain, snow, or traffic.
• No more wandering around the video store looking for a movie, wishing you could think of the one that you wanted to see. (Movies can be added to the Netflix queue when you first think of them.)
• No more covering your 4 year old's eyes every 3 minutes when the preview for “Saw” plays on the 20 TV screens around the video store. (Seriously, Blockbuster – get a CLUE!)
• You can now avoid the nasty bathrooms in the video stores because no matter how much you tell the kids to use the restroom at home before you go you still end up having to enter them.
• And, you can avoid paying late fees when you get busy and forget to return the movie on time.

I may have been Netflix's first customer! I jumped on that – NO need for a sales page.

Here's how it works –

• You signup for the service.
• You “shop” in their online store and pick all the movies that you want.
• You'll receive an envelope in the mail with the disc in it.
• Enjoy the  movie.
• Then, when you're done, just slip it into the envelope that came with the movie and close it and drop it in the mail. The envelope has pre-paid shipping.

It usually works pretty smoothly.

Netflix grew like crazy and now has over 12 MILLION members. I'd say it's a pretty successful business model.

What happens when people see a successful business model? They start to duplicate it. Others have tried, but no one is doing it as well as Netflix.

The smart marketers, though, see a business model and “innovate“. Which is where we're going with this…

You can do this in a number of ways, but the two on my mind today are  –

• Reach a different, more targeted market.
• Offer a similar service but with a different product.

I'm about to show you examples of both. Of course!

Some smart business people realized that Netflix may be missing the boat with the Christian folks. So, there are now at least two sites that offer DVD rentals but focus on family-friendly movies and movies of faith.

• Puritan Picks: “Not only have we sought to compile a list of solid educational Christian videos; we have also sought to make them more accessible. These videos range from christian living to apologetics, theology, history, and various seminary grade curicullum. Oh and lets not forget the Christian movies, children's videos and cartoons.”
• Christian Cinema: “Faith-affirming and family-friendly DVDs”

So that's one angle that I found in niching to a more targeted market. I also ran across a few sites that are attempting to target other groups of people who love movies, but none really stood out to me. They weren't doing it well enough to use them as an example.

So, then the creators of Gamefly, see the success that Netflix enjoyed and opened their doors, providing video game rental in the mail rather than movies.

I pay both Netflix and Gamefly each and every month GLADLY as it saves me a ton of money compared to what I would otherwise spend buying movies and video games. Plus, if I don't like a movie or the kids don't care for a video game, we just send it back. No big deal. It WAS a big deal when we'd buy a $40 or $50 Wii game and the kids were bored with it the same day – or my son solved the darn thing the same day. Ouch. Now, we just drop it in the mail and get a new one. That's smart shopping!

Plus, even more important to me than the money is the time. I value my time more than anything, so anything that can make my life easier and save me the hassle of driving around town unnecessarily – and I'm sold.

ok. Back to the niche that I planned to talk about in this post.

When you see a business that's kickin' it in terms of growth, figure out a way to do it, but do it differently! That's what Gamefly did.

AND.. that's what this other company did.

Two smart  business people saw these service companies growing like crazy. And, they came up with BookSwim. They're targeting Book Addicts.

From the site: Their service is based on the “simple philosophy” of helping people to read more while spending less. Subscribers pay a monthly fee, similar to Netflix, and receive a pool of books limited only by how fast they can read them.

Interesting.

So, WHO is the target market for Book Swim?

Me! I looooooove books.

ok, who else?

Romance novel junkies. Tracy Roberts – you there?

Moms! My kids read like crazy. So, I can easily drop $50/week at Barnes and Nobles every visit – before buying coffee.

People who are trying to declutter. Me, again. I already have several bookshelves in my home, all full of books. So, unless I love a book, I don't need to add more clutter. This way, I get the books without the high cost and without the clutter. It's like a library, but online. (Our local library is not the best in the world.)

Green folks. I'm a bit crunchy on the green scale. Any time I can save a tree. I'm all for it.

Elderly people who can't get out to the library eaasily.

Anyone who's bedridden during a pregnancy.

Parents who have children who are in and out of the hospital frequently.

And those who love any of the people mentioned above. Gift certificates are the perfect gift.

So, this is my find. And, so far, I've already received several books and we're diving in. I'm reading a book Stumbling on Happiness – and no, it's not about StumbleUpon. My husband is reading The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It and my son has a book that he's enjoying, as well.

Plus, I just found this banner ad way too cute. Thank GOODNESS they aren't shipping kittens. That does not sound like a good online business to open at all.

Rent bestsellers from BookSwim! FREE $50 Restaurant.com Gift Card

Let me know what you think about this marketing lesson and if it gives you any ideas for your own business.

Have a great day!

Warmly,
Nicole

PS. Of course, if you want to find a profitable online niche, I recommend: