How To Make Money by Selling Information

There are things to consider when selling information. There are many people already selling information out there and the competition is fierce... unless you are already known as a pro in that field. You are really going to have to work on creating the best information piece you can develop and promote yourself as more qualified than anyone else in that field to give you the edge in selling your information.

How will you know if you have a winning report? Take an example from a well known losing category. Recipes rarely sell via mail order. If you look in the tabloid magazines and see people selling recipes, you will notice they have purchased multiple insertions for a few weeks then drop away. They often spend more money on the ads than they ever get back selling a recipe. Why? Because everyone likes to think they know a thing or two about cooking. These ads never point out to why they are the best in their field or what really makes them unique. Often what happens to those who sell these reports is they end up on mailing lists of others who will try to sell them get rich quick schemes.

Does your report say something new, unique and helpful to the consumer? Is it well written? Is it easy to follow and understand? Do you have testimonial that can back up any claims you make about your report?

Now is the time to get into the specifics of selling information.

Finding Your Format

Will you sell reports for mail order or for downloading online or both?

If you are selling for mail order, you need to know what size book or booklet the finished product will be. If it is under 50 pages [front and back], you can get away with a booklet format. Anything more than that you may need to create a book.

If it is a small booklet, you can run copies from your computer or go to a local print shop and have them do it for you. Invest in a long arm stapler if you plan to do it yourself so you can hook the pages together in the middle.

To create a book does not have to be such a great expense anymore. With Print On Demand technology, you can have a publisher keep a copy of your book in a digital file in order to retrieve it when there is an order.

Lulu Press is a great place to consider. The basic service is absolutely free. Just create your book and they charge a nominal fee for each book you order to be run off their press. They even have a store where they can sell your book for you for a percent of the profit. For the deluxe service, you can get an ISBN number which will get your book listed with the big online book retail services which will give you more exposure.

Lulu also has e-book formats which will create your book in a pdf document which can easily and instantly be downloaded to any computer.

With Lulu, you can set your price for the book and determine, in the end, how much money you will get for each book that is sold. I highly recommend this option for those who want to sell information whether by mail or online.

Writing Your Report

The two step formula boils down to "what do you know" and "what sells".

What do people want? This is the question you must answer to find out what will sell. Sure, there are all kinds of niche markets out there for special experts, but I will address that later. This is for general audiences which have the higher impact for sales.

People want anything that will make them rich, feel safe, feel sexy and/or loved, have an advantage over others, or to know information that is secret.

[According to traditional marketing strategies, people do like to have their appetites teased, but in the case of selling reports a recipe book rarely sells unless you are a proven pro in that field and this goes under specialty reports. This only works if selling food directly to people.]

What do you know that others do not know? Do you know ways that will make people rich? Or safe? Or sexy? Or loved? Do you have any secret insider information that could give anyone an advantage in the fields of money, safety or love? These are the information reports that sell. If you do not know enough about these topics, research it until you can become an expert in the field. Once you have collected all your notes to create your book, you can start writing it.

Niche books are a little bit harder to sell to a general audience. These are the ones that are very specific and very topical. For instance, a book or report on all the characters of Star Trek is likely to only appeal to those who are Star Trek fans. In order to be taken seriously as an expert to write a report for Star Trek fans, you must generally be known in these circles to have a lot of expertise knowledge that people will be willing to pay for your edge. You might have a web site dedicated to Star Trek with a lot of credible information that will give you an edge in selling anything related to the topic. You might be a regular at the conventions and have a booth where you display products and dispense information which will give your credibility boost.

Recipes are hard to sell and would require a niche market where you can promote yourself as an expert in this field. Top name celebrity chefs and well known restaurants will always pull the lion's share of profits from selling recipes. As an average person, you hold little power in comparison to the top dogs. Why do you think you are more qualified than anyone else to do recipes? Everyone thinks they are a good cook to some degree. You need to define why in order to convey this to your audience.

Perhaps you have grown up in Louisiana all your life as a daughter of a cook in a fancy Cajun restaurant and you have witnessed many famous people who always come back for more. Maybe you know a few recipes used there and have tried them yourself. This would give you an edge over someone selling a Cajun recipe they found and tried. Perhaps your grandmother sold cookies during the Great Depression and you have an incredible story to sell with the recipe [everyone has a grandmother's recipe, why is your's unique?] Maybe you know a way to make things on your grocer's shelf, but cheaper such as Taco Bell's seasoning mix or Open Pit Barbeque Sauce. Maybe you have a new technique of cooking something using equipment you invented. If you are doing something this common, you need a hook to make it uniquely yours.

Start with an outline. Your book or report needs a beginning, middle and an end. Your beginning should outline the purpose of your book. Your middle should go into full detail about your purpose. Your end should sum it up.

Here is an first outline example:

Book Title - How To Attract The Opposite Sex

I. Beginning - This book will show the reader how to attract the opposite sex by using eye appeal, flirtation, conversation, and a proper dating etiquette.
II. The Middle
A. Why Does It Work - As long as the human race has been around, these techniques go to the heart of your targeted goal to secure the attention of a potential mate. These specific techniques have been proven to work in conjunction with each other to guarantee success. Anyone who applies these techniques will see it works for them as well as any Casanova.
B. Eye Appeal - The first and most important step is being noticed. Cite examples of people who do this. List ways the reader can do this.
C. Flirtation - Once you get the person to see you, make sure they know you are interested in them. Cite examples of people who do this. List ways the reader can do this.
D. Conversation - This is where you determine what type of relationship this will be. If it is a one night stand, the conversation may be short and to the point. If this is to be a long term relationship, your conversational skills must be in direct appeal to the opposite sex on the lines of topics and intellect. By determining if they like a true equal or someone smarter or not as smart before engaging in too much talk can help steer you in the right direction. Cite examples of people who do this. List ways the reader can do this.
E. Dating - Going too fast or too slow can have its advantages and disadvantages. Which track do you want to take? What rules should you follow when dating? Cite examples of people who do this. List ways the reader can do this.
III. In Conclusion - As you can see through the previous examples and step by step methods for you to accomplish each goal, anyone can attract the opposite sex.
In the above example [feel free to use it if you want, but please give credit where it is due] you see a definite direction of the report. This skeleton is the structure that keeps you on topic and prevents you from rambling on endlessly. It will help you focus on making a book that will keep the reader wanting to read more.

With a structure in place, you can write your report directly from it. At first by expanding the outline into more sub-categories and even in sub-categories of your sub-categories. Then expand on each point you want to make by creating short and easy to understand sentences. Keep up with creating sentences off of your outline until you have a book in place where you can remove the outline tags. Then go over it several times to make sure it feels like a good and comfortable read with much information.

Use a spell and grammar check. Lotus Pro or Word and most word processing software will include both spell and grammar checks. Do not let the software make all the corrections automatically. Be sure you have it point out each error to be sure it is truly is an error.

The basic rule for writing to a general audience is it must be at a third to fourth grade reading level which is the comfort level of most adults. I really hate to tell you, but from a marketing point of view this is true. It's not so much that people are stupid, but when people want to kick back and read they do not really like that much of a challenge. [I learned this lesson the hard way by creating a book that tested out at a near 9th grade level which went over most people's head.] There are many forms of software out there that can help you determine if your work is at the appropriate reading grade level called the "Flesch-Kincaid Index." If you have Lotus Pro or Word, you may already have that tool attached to your program and can have it check your document. Many word processing software has it included, but if not, you may want to go to the web to find it.

If the grammar and spelling are correct. If your book tests out at a 3rd-4th grade reading level. If your book is fun to read and full of information. You are ready for the next step.

If going to Lulu, follow the step by step process to submit your work online. If you have your own Adobe software to create a pdf document or if you are going to use a printer service, make sure your document is "print-ready" where it will look exactly like you intend the finished product to look. If using some forms of e-book creating software, you will often have to convert it to an html format for the software to produce the book.

When you have a finished product - a book, booklet, or an e-book - then you are ready to promote it.

Promoting Your Book

Tabloids are one way to promote your material. Place a short, but powerful ad in the classified ads of papers such as Weekly World News, The Star, Thrifty Nickel, and other similar papers. Use hot, powerful words and direct them to a web site and/or phone number [with a voice mail recording] which will do all of your selling for you.

Create a phone script for a voice mail sales campaign designed to further explain your product and detail instructions on how to purchase your information. You may even want them to go to your web site for further information.

On your web site, create a sales pitch to help your potential customer focus on what's in it for them. Appeal to their senses on why they will benefit from your information. Explain why they cannot do without it and how bad it would be if they passed up this limited opportunity. Carefully spell out what you want them to do so they do not miss this report - "Buy Now before midnight to get the best price on this report! It will change your life forever!" Have several links for them to click to purchase so they do not miss an opportunity to buy it. Explain in the link you want them to click it to buy it. Tell them the methods you accept for payment and how the product will be delivered. Most importantly, tell them, upfront, the price...people do get angry when the price is hidden near the end of the transaction and will often not buy because they feel it is deceit on your end.

With a web site and a phone selling your plan, all you need to do is to assure people will see both the web site or listen to the message. Use the search engines to your full advantage. Join an affiliate program and have people sell for you. Give buyers an incentive to sell on your behalf. Place a recommend a friend link on your site and a bookmark this page link so those who have not bought can come back later. Place ads in online classified ad sites and in ezines related to your topic.

By doing all these things, you will get the exposure you need. You may have to tweak your ad from time to time, but if you are getting the traffic your direction, you will eventually get the sales.