Vault Past Best Seller Reading Levels by Taking the Road Less Traveled

| Posted: 16-11-2007 | Comments: 0 | Views: 5 | Rating: (50)

(?)

Millions dream about writing a best-selling business book. They think that surely the world is waiting for their unique wisdom. The reality is far different. The average business book offered by a major publisher sells about 5,000 copies. Even if everyone who gets a copy reads it, that's not a lot of influence.

Let's consider how creating 2,000 percent solutions (ways of accomplishing 20 times as much with the same time, effort, and resources) can change the result.

When both usage and delivery effectiveness improve, stakeholders can gain 20 times more benefits than from either improvement alone. When that combination happens, these two complementary 2,000 percent solutions acquire the power of 20 or more individual 2,000 percent solutions. That's what a 2,000 percent squared solution is. You can also think of this concept as developing a 40,000 percent solution, or a 400 times increase in benefits.

To some, that goal may seem remote. Keep an open mind while I share an example of creating 2,000 percent squared solutions for inexpensively attracting more readers to my books.

In 1998, a best-selling author friend told us that it was important to distribute tens of thousands of free copies of business books either just before the book is published or right after publication. Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence (reissue edition, Warner Books, 1988), tells the same story about one aspect of how that book became a blockbuster. When I was writing my first book, I heeded that advice. Before publication, I mailed out thousands of draft copies for advance reading. After publication, I sent out thousands more free copies of the completed book to influential readers. In addition, I created a Web site for the book and put all but two chapters online there for free reader access. The cost to do this sampling was over $40,000. I estimate that these activities have directly yielded 20,000 people who have read some part of that book. That means our cost per reader for just this activity was about $2.00. Since royalties on books like ours are usually around $2.00, this was a money-losing proposition unless this distribution yielded sales of at least 20,000 additional books. In the case of our friend, this was no concern because his company had paid this sampling expense. My costs, however, came out of my personal pocket. I needed to do better.

For my third book, I decided to create a 2,000 percent squared solution for advance distribution. For that book, I only provided free advance copies to those who helped us create the book. The cost for those copies was about $1,200. I also wrote brief articles based on the book and arranged to have them published in prestigious journals and magazines. I next condensed the articles and turned them into brief guides that Amazon.com publishes for free. In the first two years, I estimate that over 30,000 people read some part of that book through these efforts. I estimate that eventual readership through this approach will swell to 100,000 people by the time the third book has been in print as long as the first book has been. If that occurs, I will have attracted 100,000 readers at a cost of $1,200. That means the cost per reader will be $0.012. The first book's campaign cost 166 times as much per reader as what the the third book's campaign did, and I will draw far more readers with the new, less expensive effort. These estimated results will provide me with a 66,000 percent solution compared to our first approach (16,500 percent lower cost per reader multiplied by 400 percent more readers).

For a forthcoming book I am developing, that sampling solution has been further enhanced. The pre-launch involves a blog in which the material is tested for reader reaction. I forecast that over 200,000 people will have read some part of the book through the blog before the book is published, and the cost is only the electricity to post the blog entries. I will also reuse the Amazon.com guides that worked well for the third book to add another 100,000 readers at limited cost. Publication publicity will probably draw another few hundred thousand people to the blog samples. I also plan to send millions of excerpts for free by e-mail to people who subscribe to various complementary newsletters. We should be able to increase our total readers by several hundred more percent. Since I carry advertising on the blog, I have a revenue offset to our costs. If enough clicks occur from the blog to advertisers' sites, this sampling program may well turn out to be free. As you can see, repeating such a process on the same or a similar problem can be profoundly valuable in making further improvements.

To put these 2,000 percent squared solutions into perspective, you need to know what Peter Drucker taught me: Surveys show that only about 10 percent of all business books that are purchased are actually read by anyone. Even more surprisingly, only one in a hundred business books sold is read cover to cover. As a result, a massive business best seller may have only 20,000 readers, and almost all of those have read just part of the book. The 2,000 percent squared solution activities allow me to easily and effortlessly share our message with far more people than business best sellers do at a minimal cost that almost anyone can afford. If some people buy the books based on these low-cost previews, I will definitely have an economic gain.

Now you have learned how you can reach best-selling reader levels for your next business book. What are you waiting for?

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

Rate this Article:

Current: 5 / 5 stars - 1 vote(s).

Article Tags: Improvement, Productivity, Learning, Books, Solution, Progress, Measurement, Stall, Writing Books, Best Seller, Stalls, 2000 Percent Solution, Stallbusting

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/vault-past-best-seller-reading-levels-by-taking-the-road-less-traveled-260536.html

Print article

Send to friend

Publish this Article

Author feedback

About the Author:

Donald Mitchell is CEO of Mitchell and Company, a strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is coauthor of six books including The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook. You can find free tips for accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:

====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .

Submitting articles has become one of the most popular means of generating quality backlinks and targeted traffic to your website. Join us today - It's Free!

Article Comments

Add new Comment

Create your Dreams of Perfection
By: Donald Mitchell | 18/10/2007 | Business
Daydreaming is fun, but living those daydreams is infinitely better. This article looks at how to turn your dreams of perfection into everyday joy of having that perfection.

Change your Service Hours to Draw More Customers and Beneficiaries at Low Cost
By: Donald Mitchell | 14/12/2007 | Business
Many organizations operate nine-to-five, Monday to Friday, without considering whether different hours might be more attractive to customers and beneficiaries. This article explains the value of reconsidering the hours and scheduling of the people who provide products and services.

Let Enthusiasm Lead you Down the Most Fruitful Paths Towards Flawless Performance
By: Donald Mitchell | 19/10/2007 | Business
Achieving perfect performance is often desirable but traditional carrot-and-stick approaches aren't sufficient to achieve that result. This article proposes using enthusiasm, better communications, and a better redesign process to approach perfection.

Breakthrough Methods
By: Donald Mitchell | 23/10/2007 | Business
Teams make most improvements. This article looks at how you can go from making ordinary improvements into accomplishing breakthrough, exponential progress by selecting the right team and leader.

Prepare an Unstoppable Path to Breakthrough Success
By: Donald Mitchell | 29/10/2007 | Business
Unless you prepare a sound roadbed, the road you lay will soon become unusable. Preparation for creating breakthroughs teaches the same lesson: Getting organized in the right way determines your success. In addition, preparation builds confidence that you will succeed . . . helping create the breakthrough.

Enjoy a Bigger Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow Through the 2,000 Percent Solution Discipline
By: Donald Mitchell | 30/10/2007 | Business
This article explains the value and importance of not only creating 2,000 percent solutions (ways of accomplishing 20 times more with the same time, effort, and resources) but also repeatedly seeking to improve upon those solutions to make more exponential gains.

Keep Jumping Into the Deep End . . . Even if you Don't Swim Very Well
By: Donald Mitchell | 31/10/2007 | Business
Complacency steals most of our potential. This article looks at how you can create a more stimulating environment that will unlock that potential and give you the ability to continually make breakthrough improvements.

Get Organized to Escape Being Burned by the Hot Tin Roof of Complacency
By: Donald Mitchell | 12/11/2007 | Business
Complacency makes you satisfied with where you are and what you are doing. That's fine if you are sentenced to life imprisonment, but it's a bad mental state if you operate in a competitive business world. This article shows you how to shake off complacency and regularly deliver valuable breakthroughs that will make your organization more effective and forward looking.

Got a Question? Ask.

Ask the community a question about this article:

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do people pick up bad habits so faster than ...
By: no | 09-07-2008
why do people pick up bad habits so faster than good habits.

Does the book Forting With Forty come in hard back?
By: RobinRTrueJoy | 09-07-2008
I am searching for a copy of the book Flirting With Forty(by Jane Poerter), in a hardback edition. Did it ever come out in a hard back edition?Thanks!

The last of the mohicans
By: Jblac691 | 07-07-2008
When and how many editions were published of " The last of the mohicans "victors edition published by George Munro's sons, publishers

Finding original writings of William Sywgard
By: prita | 06-07-2008
I am looking for Awareness Techniques Book 1 by William Swygard . I have Book 2 and am interested in any of the original writings Can someone help??

The Town of Dipsy Doodle
By: msbetty | 05-07-2008
Is the Tom Thumb Book "The Town of Dipsy Doodle still under copy right? It was originally published by Rand McNally & Company in MCMXLX.

Authors putting up ads on answers.
By: Ki | 02-07-2008
Why are there authors trying to sell their books here? It doesn't help the people in the questions if all you're giving for an answer is an ad for your book. Does anyone else notice this?

Q&A Powered by:

Latest Writing Articles

How to Become a High-paid Marketing Consultant or Copywriter - Fast!
By: Dan Lok | 19/07/2008
Are you a marketing consultant or copywriter still looking for clients, and often wonder how most people really get clients to hire them? If you are, this article will prove VALUABLE to you in a moment. Here's why:

How To Choose A Topic For Your Book
By: Victor Epand | 18/07/2008
So, you have decided to be a writer. Great! Of course, the first step is to decide what to write about. And this is where most aspiring writers face their first hurdle. There is a plethora of topics to write about - what should one choose? This article will help you get over this first hurdle so that you can speedily get along on the way to writing your first book.

Learning to Write Through a RPG Game
By: Jacob Cohen-Donnelly | 17/07/2008
For a long time people have been afraid of what are known as "Role Playing Games" as there are some negative biases around those who play them. However, that is because most people are thinking of the old D&D type, or the newer World of Warcraft and similar games....

How To Write A College Term Paper
By: Daniel Millions | 17/07/2008
There are different ways to write but most professors what a specific format.

Article Marketing - is Your Article Headline Killing Your Article?
By: Barry McDonald | 17/07/2008
As you may know I wrote about this topic before in one of my other articles, but I feel it's important that I'm going to bring it up again. Headlines like "Money" are what make's the world go around. We've become so busy and limited with our time nowadays that we...

Article Marketing Tips: 6 Ways to Get the Best Results From Your Articles
By: Barry McDonald | 17/07/2008
Here are 6 ways to help you get the most results from your article writing... 1. Is Your Article Relevant? Before beginning your article for your chosen niche, have you done any research on what you're going to write about you? Could be writing an article that nobody wants? So how do you...

Handcrafted Ballpoint Pens Are A Collectors Item
By: Joshua Drew | 17/07/2008
From antler to wood, anything can be made into a pen.

The History Of Pens
By: Joshua Drew | 17/07/2008
Scratching into rocks was the first form of writing.

More from Donald Mitchell

Redirect Your Cost Cutting Gains Into the Most Productive Investments
By: Donald Mitchell | 02/07/2008 | Business
It's more important to invest the benefits of cost savings well than it is to save the costs in the first place.

Costs: Locate Outstanding Ideas for Greater Reductions in More Places
By: Donald Mitchell | 01/07/2008 | Business
This article explains that changing business models can lead to breakthrough cost improvements.

Pick Better Price Tests and Profit Greatly!
By: Donald Mitchell | 27/06/2008 | Business
Price tests can create more problems than benefits unless you evaluate potential drawbacks in advance. This article poses questions to help you check for those issues.

Set Prices to Deliver Proper Strategic Management of Emerging Technologies
By: Donald Mitchell | 24/06/2008 | Business
Price too high and you'll get too many competitors at lower prices. Price too low and you'll expand the market faster than you can serve it, and even more competitors will pummel you. So what's the right price?

Change Prices to Make Your Offerings More Appealing in Non-price Ways
By: Donald Mitchell | 21/06/2008 | Business
High prices suggest higher quality and lower prices the opposite. Where are your prices sending the wrong message?

Design Price Incentives for Customers to Help You Lower Costs
By: Donald Mitchell | 14/06/2008 | Business
Prices can raise profits by helping encourage customers to ask for things that are very expensive to deliver. This article looks at two examples of creating lower costs and higher profits by using this technique.

Use Prices to Reduce Costs and Increase Demand for Your Offerings
By: Donald Mitchell | 13/06/2008 | Business
Look for ways to lower costs rapidly with lower prices so that your profit and growth soar.

Profit Secrets of Expanding Consumption Through Innovative Pricing
By: Donald Mitchell | 10/06/2008 | Business
Sometimes lower prices can deliver higher profits. This article explains what to look for to identify such an opportunity.

Article Categories

Article Marketing

Article Notepad

Stop Duplicate Content

Term Papers

Need Help?

Sign up for our email newsletter

Receive updates, enter your email below

Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.19, 17)

Vault Past Best Seller Reading Levels by Taking the Road Less Traveled

Article Comments

Related Articles

Got a Question? Ask.

Latest Writing Articles

More from Donald Mitchell

Need Help?

Site Links

Webmasters

Business Info

Sign up for our email newsletter