THE PETITION TO “SAVE XP”

HAVE YOU SIGNED ON YET? 

More than 90,000 people have signed the “Save XP” petition that pleads with Microsoft not to sacrifice this much beloved program to make space for Vista. The target set by petition coordinator InfoWorld is a minimum of 100,000 signatures. 

The drive is the latest effort to convince Microsoft to reverse its decision to end licensing of Windows XP. Last spring, most producers stopped selling computers with XP. Microsoft issued 100 million Vista licenses during the year. As a result, four out of ten computers that were sold in 2007carried VISTA as their program. 

Complaints and unrest began to surface almost immediately after release of VISTA models. According to InfoWorld, many users complained of lack of compatibility. A number of research firms like Gartner, for example, are advising their clients not to switch to VISTA until the first service pack has been released, third party compatibility is improved and more VISTA-ready hardware is available, InfoWorld reports.  

Click onto www.infoworld.com and join the tens of thousands who have added their names to this important petition. 
 

MURDOCH’S NEWS CORP CANCELS THE O.J. SIMPSON BOOK

AND WITHDRAWS COMMERCIALS PROMOTING IT ON FOX 

Mention the initials O.J. and those of us who adore Florida orange juice cringe. The former football star has become the symbol of decadence and indecency in America. Add the name Murdoch and you can bet some degree of controversy is bound to be present.  

It must have been a tough moment for the Aussie media mogul. Not only did he cancel further distribution by Regan Books (a Murdoch owned company) of O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It; he also was forced to withdraw all planned promotion of the book on Fox (also  Murdoch owned). That was followed by a public apology. 

Regan quickly discovered that many book retailers were unhappy about stocking the book, even though it hit Amazon’s top 20 before its release. Fox was counting on heavy advertising during the final weeks of the annual sweeps, but soon discovered that media buyers were hesitant about tainting their clients by association with Simpson and his book. So that left News Corp, Murdoch’s conglomerate, no alternative. They were forced to abandon the murky project. All the books that have already been shipped are being recalled. 

Charlie’s Choice

Weekly Tips to Help You Write,

        Publish and Promote Your Work          

THE UBIQUITOUS SIGNATURE BOX 

It’s your messenger. Passive and generally unobtrusive, the signature box serves as an invitation to the world to visit your web site, sign onto your blog, subscribe to your newsletter or buy the products that you are selling. 

That’s a pretty hefty task for just a few lines of text. But done right, those words more than prove their worth again and again. 

I am basically talking about two types of signature boxes. The one that travels round the Web attached to every e-mail you send out and the short biographical box that appears at the end of all those articles you write either online or off.  

In each case the signature box provides the direct link for the reader of your article or e-mail to respond. Think of it as you would an RSVP. When it is used at the end of an article that you have sent to your favorite content distributor (see Charlie’s Choice Jan 30, Feb 6)), it will be seen by thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of readers who have a direct interest in the subject matter your web site deals with. 

The E-Mail Messenger 

You’ve seen them on many of the messages you’ve received tucked away at the bottom just below the sender’s name. Two, at most three, short sentences of invitation and, like every thing else we write, outlining the benefits to those who respond. 

Because we’re all authors or at least wanna-bes, let’s see an example of how it can be used to sell one of our books. But it must accomplish more than that. Remember the importance of branding yourself that we’ve talked about in previous columns. Convincing the world you are an expert in the field you chose to write about should always be paramount in your mind.  

As an illustration, here’s the way I tackle this dual pitch on all of my outgoing e-mails: 

Please visit my web site

www.retirement-writing.com 
for tips and articles on writing, 
publishing and promoting your 
work. The Writer Within You, 
my latest book is now available 
on the site, at bookstores and  
by phone at 800-BOOK LOG 

Now let’s take a minute to dissect what I have written. The top line makes the readers aware of the fact I have a web site, provides the URL and invites them to visit. Next it reveals the subject of the site. It provides a benefit to the visitor: finding tips and articles.  

The box then announces the title of my new book, implying that it is new by the use of the word “latest.” It ends by offering three easy ways to purchase a copy. 

In the limited space of an e-mail signature, there’s insufficient space to do more than announce the site and the book and invite readers in. The branding must rely on the fact that I have a web site and a published book to suggest that I am expert in my field. 

End Your Article with an Invitation 

Impressed by the words of wisdom contained in your article, the reader is eager to learn more. Don’t leave him/her hanging. Wondering how to find more output from this brilliant mind. Give the reader a path to your door in the signature box. 

Usually transmitted in italics to stand out from the article, the box must meet the same challenge as your e-mail signature. Indeed, it assumes even more importance since it is reaching a captive audience of people specifically interested in the subject you specialize in. 

So your task once again is to announce, offer a benefit and provide a way to find you. Subject to the restrictions of the article distributor you use, this box is usually longer, allowing you to give more emphasis to your expertise. 

Let’s look at an article signature box, understanding that it will vary depending on your target audience. For example, in my case, I might tailor the box to someone concerned about improving his/her writing. If the article deals with publishing or promoting a book, that will be the theme of my box. Always capitalize on the reader’s specific interest, which is obvious from the subject of the articles they choose to read. 

At the risk of seeming too satisfied with the signature boxes I create, I use them as example only because they have proved their value. Here is the basic text for the boxes I find most effective:  

Do you need help to jump start your writing career? See what’s available free on http://www.retirement-writing.com. the web site of writing consultant and author Charles Jacobs. His latest book “The Writer Within You” was picked as one of the Best Books of 2007, a 5-star choice on Amazon, B&N and Borders and a selection of the Writer’s Digest Book Club. Find detailed info and order it at a substantial discount by clicking on http://www.retirement-writing.com/the_writer_within_you.aspx. 

Instead of a dull sales pitch like “I offer coaching to help you jump start…,” my opening question answers a probable concern of the person who turns to my article for guidance. The benefit I offer follows in the second sentence. The title “author and writing coach,” supported by the success of the book, hopefully brands me as well accomplished in my field.  

The last few sentences sell the book, and invite readers to buy it by linking them directly to the Landing Page (Charlie’s Choice Feb 14, Feb 20). There they can read more about it and complete their purchase. The earlier mention of the web site URL links to the Home Page where the supportive items are listed. 

So get those keyboards clicking to ensure that your name and your products are introduced to surfers around the globe looking precisely for what you offer. 

See you next week when we take a look at newsletters, a superb tool for spreading your message and bolstering your reputation.  

WITH BABY BIRTHS REPORTEDLY BOOMING ONCE AGAIN,

PUBLISHERS REPORT A SURGE IN THE NUMBER OF PARENTING BOOKS 

How many times have we authors been told to watch for social trends and tailor books accordingly? It seems that some have followed that advice. Publishers Weekly reports impressive growth in the number of book proposals dealing with parenting publishing houses have received.  

The paper quotes Lissa Warren of DeCapo Lifelong Books who says, “The books fall into two distinct camps: books by ‘parent experts’ and other by pediatricians, child development specialists and educators.” 

In the PW story, a Johns Hopkins professor of population and family health and a broadcast by Fox News validate the birth boomlet that apparently began in 2006 with nearly 4.3 million births. That’s the highest number of newborns in 45 years 

THE ANOMALY OF SEARCH MARKETING 

Two articles appearing in eMarketer’s newsletter in a period of three consecutive working days kind of leaves one’s head spinning and suggests authors might do well to carefully consider how they spend their dollars on paid search marketing before following the burgeoning trend. 

Senior Analyst David Hallerman talks of the “Spectacular gains for US search advertising over ten years, rising from less than $300 million in 2001 to a (projected) almost $16.6 billion in 2011.” He adds that at least 155 million people in the US used search engines in 2007. 

BUT, the second newsletter reports that a study by Online Publishers Association and Nielsen Net Ratings indicates that surfers are spending only 5% of their online time using search in contrast to spending 50% of their time on content sites. 

That occurs, Hallerman explains, because “When search is effective, people find what they need and go away…but when content is effective, people want to stick around.” That does make some sense, but also reinforces my concern that we cherry pick our search vehicles and research their effectiveness carefully before parting with our search dollars. 

eMarketer estimates that last year advertisers spent $8.6 billion on search advertising. Of that total, 75% was Google sponsored. Yahoo’s share was 9%, with the balance of 16% split between all other sponsors.

BLOGGERS ARE A DIVERSE GROUP

BETTER EDUCATED, LESS WEALTHY YOUNGER ADULTS 

Some fascinating information from BIGresearch about those of us who blog. The company  specializes in online market intelligence and Internet powered marketing research. 

There’s a tendency to think of bloggers as quite young (and some of us are; not I unfortunately). But we are generally adults with an average age of 37.6 years, as compared to the 44.8 average for 18+ adults. 

We are also quite diverse ethnically. The largest group of bloggers are Caucasian (68.7%), followed by Hispanics (20%), African Americans (12.2%) and Asians (3.7%). Although we are better educated than the general adult population, we are less wealthy. 

We split pretty evenly between the two major political parties, 26.9% Democrats and 22.9% Republicans, with 25.7% of us Independents. Libertarians top our numbers at 37.6%. 

While we are generally quite techie, using a variety of new media, many of our ideas initially come from offline sources: 51.6% from magazines, 48.8% from reading an article, 46.1% from broadcast TV, 44.5% from cable TV, 42.5% from face-to-face communication ane 39.7% from newspapers. 

Take a few minutes to see how you fit into this profile, and let us know your reactions. 

THE LATEST SET OF STATS ON BOOK SALES 

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) reports that while book sales slipped modestly in December (1.8% for the month), overall sales for 2007 increased by 7.4%. 

Some of the stats were particularly interesting. While adult hard cover sales fell by 19.5% in December, they posted a gain of 7.8% for the year. By contrast, adult paperbacks increased by 10.1% in the final month of the year, but rose a meager 0.2% for the year. Adult mass market soared by 46.8% in December, but were down for the year by 2%.  

Children and young adult books, both hardcover and paperback, posted impressive gains during the holiday season, as well as for the year. 

AAP, a major trade association for the book publishing industry, tracks sales figures in addition to serving as a spokesman and activist for the industry. 

Charlie’s Choice

Weekly Tips to Help You Write,

        Publish and Promote Your Work        

LANDING PAGES – THE FINAL STEP:

COMPLETING THE ORDER & COLLECTING THE MONEY 

Your landing page may be superb. Chock full of motivating copy that makes your reader’s mouth water for the book you’re offering. But in order to harvest that enthusiasm, you’ve got to give your reader a simple, easy-to-follow set of steps to complete the purchase.

That’s the job of a well designed shopping cart and merchant program.

Think of your own frustration when you have been ready to buy an item only to find yourself on a twisty path with no concrete directions showing you how to proceed. A study conducted by Marketing Sherpa last year found that 52.1% of online shoppers actually abandoned their purchase. The most upsetting reason of the several given was that the process was cumbersome and slow and required too much personal information.

Keeping Your Buyers On Track

Since the majority of the cancellations occur once buyers arrive at the shopping cart stage, let’s concentrate on that. The cart is really nothing more than a bridge to bring your customers from the selling to the purchasing stage. It aggregates the merchandise selected and tabulates the total cost of the product and the shipping.

That seems like a very simple function that should create no problems. Wrong! Unless it is designed well, it becomes a dead end. What can you do to avoid that?

1. Search the Web and select a cart carefully from the many available. Study the content of each appealing web page you find. Make a list of questions, and obtain references. The choice of a shopping cart is too critical to be left to chance. Analyze its functionality just as you would any other piece of software, for that is exactly what the cart is.
2. Shopping carts can be purchased as is from reputable dealers. Most will function well, particularly since as an author your needs should be relatively simple. In many cases you will be selling only one item—your book. However, custom designed carts are always available and can be tailored exactly to your specifications.
3. Your primary considerations in selecting a shopping cart should be three-fold: ease-of-use, integration with both your site and your merchant account (the process by which you collect the money) and of course cost.

Making Your Customer Comfortable

A sense of security is essential before potential customers offer personal information and part with their money. They must be convinced that you will protect their information through your privacy policy.

This can be accomplished in several ways. Obtain logos from credit card companies whose cards you accept. Copy them onto your landing page. Place tags referring customers to your privacy policy all along the pathway your customers take, starting with the initial click to purchase. If you retain a highly recognized company like PayPal to handle your cart and payments, be certain to use its logo at crucial locations.

Avoid These Simple Mistakes

1. Don’t bury your purchase buttons in some corner of your landing page. Make them prominent.
2. Don’t use a cutesy name for your shopping cart. Call it what it is so that your customers know precisely what you mean and where they are going.
3. Don’t invite your customers to add additional items, if you offer them, until the initial item selected has been placed in the shopping cart. It’s perfectly okay for the Burger King clerk to ask, “Do you want a soda or fries with your burger?” at the time of the initial order. They are a natural combination. But for you, that can only sidetrack your customer and possibly cost you the sale.
4. Don’t ask for any personal information until the cart has been filled and the customer signifies his/her readiness to move to the payment stage. Ask for it only once. If you want the information for your mailing list, install an auto responder to send you name, address, phone and email, if needed.
5. Don’t take for granted that you or your distributor have enough books to meet the demand. Check your inventory regularly to be certain.

Choosing Your Merchant Account

Unless you are willing to restrict your customers to purchasing with cash or check, you will have to install a merchant account. Handling credit cards from anywhere from three to six credit card companies is a terribly costly and time consuming task. Your job is to write, not retail.

Merchant accounts are developed in coordination with a bank in which your incoming funds are deposited. The merchant account will process payments from a variety of credit cards and deposit those funds with a bank of your choice. Some vendors will actually link you directly to a bank, if you wish.

Search for the right account just as you would for the shopping cart. Indeed many merchant account vendors can supply a cart that is compatible, and compatibility is key in selecting these various programs.

Naturally there are fees for the different steps in this process, and these should be looked at carefully. A small Transaction Fee is charged to cover the cost of authorizing the sale. You can also expect a monthly Statement Fee when you receive your activity report each month. Very often a minimum fee is established to protect the vendor if your volume is low. Many programs require an annual fee.

Before you commit to either a shopping cart or a merchant account, check to see the processes your competitors are using. Whenever you think you might want to emulate the system that seller is using, buy a book on the site. That will walk you through the entire process. I also strongly recommend you make a book purchase at Amazon and possibly also at another .com book seller like Barnes and Noble or the new Borders. See how their systems work, and then pick the best for your site.

It would be a shame to produce  a powerful landing page with “must-buy” copy and then have the sale sabotaged because you didn’t spend the time to plan out a truly user-friendly sale closing.

See you next week.  

MAGAZINE CIRCULATION TAKING A HIT 

The latest edition of Meg Weaver’s excellent Wooden Horse report is not a happy read for many of us freelance article writers. It finds that AARP magazine was the only one among the top 25 magazines in terms of circulation to post an increase of more than 2% during the second half of last year. 

Some of the heavy hitters were down by disturbing numbers:

People   down by 8.49%

Reader’s Digest  down by 7.64%

Good Housekeeping down by 20.71%

Time   down by 17.57%

Glamour  down by 13.24% 

That’s just a snapshot of how the general economic malaise of our nation is affecting the periodical industry. Over the past few years, freelancers have been hurt badly enough by the closings of so many publications and the drop in compensation by many others. Following all of that, this latest news is pretty upsetting.  

REVIEWS ARE BECOMING

MORE AND MORE IMPORTANT 

eMarketer reports that it is the consensus of many online shopping analysts that reviews, both for general products and certainly for books, have become a critical step in the way the average online shopper decides on a purchase. 

Last year, nearly nine out of 10 online buyers surveyed by the e-tailing group for Power Reviews studied customer reviews at least “some of the time” before buying. 22% of them stated that they always checked reviews before purchasing.  

If you have any doubt about the importance of securing as many reviews as possible for your new book, think about those statistics. They were confirmed  by a Forrester Research study released this February that reported 64% of Internet users turned to their computers to find ratings and reviews. 

Don’t fall into the trap of sending out a flurry of review requests only when your book is first published. The experts recommend continuing to send out review request long after that.  

For example, Peter Bowerman, whose books on writing have had great success, says in The Well-Fed Self-Publisher, “While I send out about 100 review copies right after getting my finished books, and literally another 250+ more over the next few years, I’m always on the lookout for more contacts in my target communities.” 

So let’s get those requests flowing.