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Mar 07

Getting news media coverage for your book can be challenging, especially when the number of traditional media outlets (such as daily newspaper book review sections) is shrinking. However, for the lucky or deserving handful who are given a chance to get their message to the masses, too many waste their opportunities.

As one who has worked in book publishing for 20 years and has been involved in arranging thousands of interviews for authors, I can say that most authors – even seminar speakers, motivational trainers, and life coaches – often don’t fully exploit their knowledge, ability or passion. Rather than turning their radio or television interview into a memorable, experience, they simply treat it as a defensive situation with a standard approach of: “I just don’t want to be embarrassed.”

Here are nine ways to steal the show:

1. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good line. Instead of merely making a statement, say something with some colorful language. Where as one can say: “To lose weight, drink 8-10 glasses of water a day,” another would show some personality. “If you wanna drop those 10 unwanted pounds, then drop down 10 glasses of water every day. Drink up or fatten up. It’s your choice.” See the difference?

2. Give an action step, not an advertisement. Never say “You can buy my book at www.whatever.” Instead, say the name of your book in a smooth sentence: “How To Get Attention is like having a neon sign over your head. You can access 25 free tips at www.whatever.” Now you’ve provided value and stated a specific offer.

3. Make a point and provide an example. People remember a story or something they can specifically identify with rather than an abstract statement.

4. Make it relevant where possible. Tie your message into the news or to what’s on people’s minds.

5. Confess to – or admit – something. Don’t tell us you cheated on your spouse when you’re hawking a cookbook, but do tell us how your six-year-old kid thought your cake tasted like crap. Self-deprecating humor is good. Or tell us how you made a dish 20 times until you found the missing ingredient.

6. Create an enemy. Put every conversation in the context of good vs. evil., new vs. old, us vs. them, etc. Enemies are everywhere. If you’re talking about personal finance, vilify government bailout and corporate greed; if you discuss a disease, you want to eradicate it; if you want to help parents be better at raising kids your enemy can be a situation (kids whining while you’re driving). There’s no end to finding a villain– it can be a person, group, ideology, circumstance, fate –whatever.

7. Express emotions and play to people’s fears, desires, needs, and weaknesses. Make certain assumptions of who will buy your book and identify their concerns. Your interviews should answer these concerns. If you wrote a book on dating and you know in the back of someone’s mind is that they will never get married, then address the issue and do so in a way that it gives a positive, pro-active feeling, which naturally leads them to visit your site.

8. Ask the talk show host or his/her audience for help. Tell them you’re trying to do something (i.e. – get people to stop smoking, if your book is about addiction). Suggest people e-mail you their ideas on how to eradicate the problem. Not only does it unite people, it gives you a whole bunch of e-mail contacts to follow-up with.

9. Be colorful but not boring. Think of a waitress who can simply bring you a plate of food or one who can do a little dance before serving you. Who will you remember? Don’t just drone on with useful info or ideas – deliver it in style.

If you want to know more on how to promote your book during a media interview, please send your queries to Brian Feinblum, Planned Television Arts, Chief Marketing Officer feinblumb@plannedtvarts.com 212-583-2718

Brian Feinblum has been promoting best-selling authors, self-published books, motivational speakers, major businesses, leading non-profits, and influential trade associations since 1989. He is also a published author and is currently writing a book about ethics and values. http://www.plannedtvarts.com

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Feb 23

Capital is the crucial ingredient for any business to grow. This holds true whether you are a one-person firm with minimal revenue or a 100-person company with significant sales. Yet so many entrepreneurs and business owners complain about how difficult it is to attain. Here are just five of the numerous ways to access capital taken from the informative new book, Solving the Capital Equation. Use these ideas to spark your creative thought process and get the money you need to elevate your business.

· Form strategic partnerships. Consider the following: Who is already reaching your client or customer base? Who offers products or services that may be a great fit for your client or customer base? Who has a skill set or functional expertise that your firm lacks? All of these entities would make great prospective partners. Identify them, then craft a win/win partnership. Why spend money you do not have when you have something else of value to offer them – your firm’s product and services! You can use partners to access the sales force, marketing, IT, accounting, management expertise – to name just a few – of the services you would otherwise have to pay for.

· Barter. As a business owner, you have a product or service that someone wants. Otherwise you wouldn’t be in business. You can barter these products or services for those products and services you need to grow your business or service your customer. Or you could barter for personal items that you would typically have to withdraw funds from the company to pay yourself then pay for directly. You can barter for advertising, travel, legal or accounting services, televisions, landscaping, cleaning services…

· Find a strategic investor. Is there a larger company that would benefit directly from your service or product offering? If so, contact them. If you can convince them that your company can directly or indirectly positively impact their bottom line either through a sales increase or a cost reduction, you are likely to garner financing in the form of direct equity, a loan, use of their credit, prepaid contracts, or payment of development costs. Look around. Potential strategic investors abound.

· Tap your suppliers. Are you trying to rapidly expand your business and need money to pay your suppliers? Why not ask your supplier to advance you the money? If your expansion will contribute a sizable portion of your supplier’s annual receipts, you can induce the vendor to provide a 12-18 month loan by promoting how he/she stands to benefit. At the least, negotiate a 90-day payment arrangement.

· Seller finance. Who knows the business or asset better than the person or entity selling it? If you are growing your business through acquiring other businesses, seek seller financing. Give them a lien against the business so they get the business back if you default. Suggest it as a way for you to know you are getting what you paid for. Added benefit: reduces risks that the company has hidden problems which greatly decrease its value and that the owner would start another competing business.

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Feb 16

While buying a used car you can not only save thousands of dollars in depreciation, taxes and factory costs, but also wind up spending more on your financing. As new car manufacturers lure buyers with 0% interest rates and no-money-down offers, it’s hard to find a better deal when you’re purchasing a used vehicle.

If you’re planning to buy a used car, keep reading for some financing tips that will save you money.

1. Shop Around for a Better Rate

If you need to obtain financing for your used car purchase, try shopping around for the best rate. While the dealership may often offer you a good financing option, you should to check with your bank and other lending institutions to see if they can do better.

Other car financing options that may get you a better rate include a line of credit, which can sometimes be as low as 5%, or simply offer a low-interest home equity line of credit loan from your lending institution.

A slight drop in the interest rate can save hundreds – sometimes thousands – of dollars over the life of the loan, so this is a worthwhile investigation.

2. Be Ready to Walk

If you’re obtaining financing directly through the used car dealership and you’re not happy with the offered rate, be ready to politely walk away from the deal. Most dealerships would rather lower their interest rate by a half point or full point than see a potential sale walk through the exit door – especially in tough economic times like today when gasoline prices are so high and car sales are low.

Additionally, if you are able to wait until the end of a month to buy from a dealer, you may have some additional leverage with salesmen who are under pressure to meet a monthly or quarterly quota.

3. Pay in Cash

The best way to save on financing costs is to avoid financing and credit all together. If you can do it, pay in cash.

Let’s say you’re buying a five-year-old Civic for about $10,000 – that can be saved up in a year at a rate of about $833 per month or two years at $416 per month. Rather than taking out a car loan, put that money in a high interest-yielding savings account and you’ll reach your goal even faster.

4. Pay it Off Fast

If you can afford to do it, the faster you pay off your car, the less you pay in interest and financing costs. While it would be unwise to stretch your family budget too tight in an effort to pay off your vehicle, you should avoid long-term financing that drags on for four or five years.

5. Refinance Down the Road

Let’s say you need a new used car this year but you’ve just put money in the house, perhaps had a baby, had a dip in your credit rating and money is tight. Well, you might accept a higher interest rate now, but in a year – once things improve – you should investigate the prospect of refinancing that loan with another lending institution that can offer you a lower interest rate.

For helpful information on car and truck recommendations, please visit http://www.cartrucktips.com, a popular site providing great insights concerning automotive choices and needs, such as the best new car prices, LED automotive lights, the Honda fuel cell car, and many more!

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Jan 23

Do you ever wonder where your money goes every month? Does it sometimes seem as though you cannot afford to do things because your financial obligations are holding you back? If you find that you are asking yourself these sorts of questions, perhaps you should take a look at your financial situation and assess whether you are practicing good personal finance management or not. Good personal finance management spends within their income, plan for the future and solve financial problems as they arise. Poor personal finance management pay more, do without and fall behind. If you find yourself in the second category, you can do something about it. You can learn to take charge of your finances by planning your personal finances.

Planning your personal finances doesn’t always come naturally, and even if you’re just beginning to take your financial matters seriously, then you likely need a few personal finance tips.

Evaluate your current financial situation. One of the most important goals for most people is financial independence. Collect accurate information about your personal financial situation. Calculate your net worth which includes the real estate, saving and retirement accounts, and all other assets. This will help you decide how much money you can set aside for meeting future needs and goals.

A basic personal finance tip is to make a budget. A personal finance budget is information made up of your income and expenses and the more accurate this information is, the more likely you are be able to meet your goals and realize your dreams. A personal finance budget should be made for at most one year at a time and include a list of your monthly expenses.

All expenses must be included. To be sure of that go through all your paid bills, check register and credit card receipts to find expenditures that recure every month and expenditures that happen less frequently. Personal finance budgeting requires some small sacrifices. To be able to make good personal financial decisions and set priorities, you must know where your money is actually going. Start your budget and accomplish your goals.

Get an electronic bill pay. This is a very convenient way to pay your bills. You pay them electronically, by direct withdrawal from your bank account. The transaction is processed immediately. You can even link your bill pay service to your personal finance budget, so that your expenditures are automatically entered in the appropriate category. Personal financial management can be really easy.

Make an investment and finance plan. Now that the fundamental state of your personal financial security has been established, the time has come for the more prosperous part of your personal financial life. You need to make a personal finance plan of what you really want in life that money can buy. Your personal financial plan can be as simple or as detailed as you want it to be. Find out how to finally start to implement this plan and get the money to finance it. This is the long term part of your financial. This journey is the most interesting and exciting part of personal financing you can have toward financial freedom.

You can prepare for a secure personal financial future by following these simple tips. When you take control with your money, you don’t have to worry about debt taking control of you.

Oyvind Hennum runs the site Financial Freedom Online
A large free resource directory containing book reviews, articles, biographies, motivational quotes, affirmations,practical tips, budgeting advice, success tests and free e-books.

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Jan 08

Even with the arrival of the Internet, there are individuals out there who still prefer a good old fashioned book. There is a wide variety of books available in the market that offers various tips and advice on how to get by different financial situations. The world of books has also come to your doorstep through the Internet. With all these choices, it can get quite confusing when you need to select the book that suits you best.

One thing you need to look at is what type of book suits you best at that particular point in your life. Take a look at the titles and authors and then do some research by checking out what the book reviews are. This will give you a preview of what to expect if you decide to purchase the book. You can also do a background check on the authors to ensure that they are qualified on the subject. In addition, look for a book that teaches a new concept.  
Another thing to look for is to ensure that the author’s writing style appeals to you.  It is easy to enjoy a book when you can relate to various situations. This will give you a clearer picture of what the author is trying to put across. Talk to friends or people on forums to get their opinion of the book and its author. Word-of-mouth is one of the ways to spread news about bestselling books. If the book you think of purchasing is good, it will be on everybody’s lips and selling fast.  

It is also a good idea to double check if the book is a repeat of something you have previously read.  Books by the same author have a way of being a repeat of the same material just repacked differently.

Mercy Maranga writes content on Finance and Finance Management. Visit her site here for more information on Finance. Finance Information

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