by Joe Vitale
Last August the New York Times announced that e-books
were not selling.
A reporter wrote, "The main advantage of electronic books
appears to be that they gather no dust. Almost no one is
buying. Publishers and online bookstores say only the
very few best-selling electronic editions have sold
more than a thousand copies, and most sell far fewer."
Is that true?
I've learned to weigh everything the media
tells us with more than a grain of salt. As the author
of numerous traditionally published books, as well as
the author of several popular e-books, I'm here to tell
you that e-books are selling and selling far better,
in many cases, than most traditional books.
Here's just a little proof:
* Corey Rudl made $400,000 from his e-works,
* Stephan Mahaney made $800,000,
* Michael Campbell made $10,000,
* David Garfinkel made $35,000,
* Larry Dotson made $5,000 in less than a month,
* Allen Says made $15,000 on a Sunday,
* Bob Gatchel made $30,000 in one weekend.
My own "Hypnotic" series of e-books, all published by
Aesop Marketing, have broken sales records and left
my printed books in the dust: "Hypnotic Writing" has
sold in the tens of thousands---at $29.95 each---for
more than two years now!
My follow-up book "Advanced Hypnotic Writing," has
sold well into the thousands; and the recent work by
myself and Larry Dotson,
"The Hypnotic Writing Swipe File," came out of the
gate with a bang---selling at the whopping price
of $197 a copy.
And keep in mind that these e-books have no printing or
shipping costs associated with them.
They are "invisible" books. You don't have to
warehouse them, either. When they sell for $29.95 or $197,
that's virtually all profit. (A very nice feeling.)
I don't blame you if you are skeptical.
I was, too, at first. Mark Joyner, CEO of Aesop Marketing,
begged me for two years---years!---to give him a work of
mine that he could release as an e-book.
I'm a book lover and never thought anyone would EVER
buy an ebook. (So much for me being a futurist.)
But apparently there is an entire world out there---or
ON line---that don't care for printed books or big
bookstores, but instead love instant information delivered
with a click.
My "Hypnotic Writing" sold hundreds of copies within
24 hours. I'm now a believer in e-books.
They've enabled me to live in the Texas Hill Country,
drive a BMW Z3 hot-rod, own a pool, and travel as a I
please.
My friend David Garfinkel grew up in the traditional
publishing world and in fact worked for McGraw-Hill,
the world's largest publisher of business information.
He didn't give e-books much thought either until he
published a couple of them himself. His most recent one is
titled, "Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich."
David told me, "I'm astonished by the results. I can
honestly say my life has undergone quantum changes for
the better in many ways since my first e-book hit the
Internet a year and a half ago."
So what's with the New York Times?
My hunch is that they are asking traditional publishers
about their e-books sales. Well, traditional publishers
don't know beans about marketing. Never have. They can't
sell their printed books, so how can you expect them to
sell their e-books?
To give you an example, one of my recent books is
"There's A Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum's
Secrets to Business Success." AMACOM, a division of
the American Management Association, published it.
I got national radio, print and TV coverage for that
book. A&E Biography created a new special on the life
of Barnum and at the end of it the host held up one
book---and only one book---and basically urged people
to get it to understand Barnum as a businessman.
That was MY book. Sales skyrocketed. My book became an
overnight bestseller at Amazon. Yet what did my
publisher do? They let the book go out of print.
I bought their leftover inventory. The books are in my
garage. I never received one single royalty check.
You can now only get the printed book through me
---though, ironically, the e-book version of it
remains for sale online.
There's more. My most recent book is titled "Spiritual
Marketing." I released it as an e-book through
http://www.1stbooks.com, as well as in paperback and
hardcover formats through www.amazon.com. Which sells
the best? The e-book version! (Paper is second and
hardcover last.)
Again, what is the media trying to tell us when they
forecast gloom for ebooks? Remember that the media
focuses on the negative. Good news isn't
generally considered news-worthy, to them.
Finally, here's the moral of this story:
Don't let the media talk you out of releasing your
own e-book. As long as you have solid information that
a specific group of people would enjoy, you can write an
ebook and let that target group know about it.
Even if you only sold a few hundred copies, you
would receive PURE PASSIVE INCOME---which no traditional
publisher---including the New York Times---can promise or
deliver.
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Joe Vitale is co-author of the new e-book,
"How to Write and Publish your own eBook...
in as Little as 7 Days"
For complete details Click Here
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