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“The Shocking Truth About E-Books!” by Joe Vitale

biomans — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 11:46:00 +0000

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 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.

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HypnoticMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale,
This ebook book shows you techniques on how to make your publicity, emails and websites hypnotic. It also includes Joe Vitale’s 3-step marketing strategy called “Guaranteed Outcome Marketing,” which can increase your business by 70% — in less than 90 days

HypnoticWriting.com
By Joe Vitale
This course, by Joe Vitale (recognized by many as the best copywriter in the U.S.), shows you how to use “hypnotic” tricks in your writing to get people to more easily agree with you. A must for anyone who wants to write persuasively.

AdvancedHypnoticWriting.com
By Joe Vitale
This ebook is the unparalleled sequel to Joe Vitale’s blockbuster “Hypnotic Writing.” It reveals how to use the phenomenon of hypnotic suggestion to turn your words into cash.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

HypnoticWritingSwipeFile.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This is a collection of over 1,550 copywriting gems that took Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson years to compile. This is their personal swipe file that they use to create world famous sales letters responsible for generating millions and millions of dollars of revenue.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

CreateAdvertisingThatSells.com
By Joe Vitale
An interactive online video advertising course featuring book, workbook, and video instruction that has been one of our bestsellers. And since we can all learn from the masters, it also features several reproductions of hugely successful ad campaigns.

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“The Only Advertising Course You Will Ever Need! ” From an article by Joe “Mister Fire!” Vitale

biomans — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:11:45 +0000

I devoured over two hundred books on advertising and marketing before I sorted out the six fundamental principles of effective advertising. Then I read one more book and found all six truths were already discovered!

The book was a privately printed course called How to Convert White Space into Advertising that Sells and the author was the late ad genius Clyde Bedell. Clyde was famous for taking retail ads that everyone else thought worked okay and rewriting them into ads that broke records. He knew — and proved — that the fastest way to increase profits was through effective advertising.

Principle One is “All good selling is serving.” People often design ads to look clever or cute or creative. The three c’s of failure. Instead, describe your product or service in terms that serve your reader. Guitar Center sent me a brochure on “How to Buy an Electric Guitar.” That ad served me by informing me. Where did I go when I went guitar shopping? Guitar Center!

Principle Two is “People buy only to get benefits.” Your prospects buy from you because of what your product or service gives them. They don’t buy cars, they buy transportation and good feelings; they don’t buy chairs or beds, they buy comfort and relaxation; they don’t buy computers, they buy speed and efficiency.

Principle Three is “Benefits must be supported by product points.” People justify their emotional urge to buy something with logic. Without the facts, your ad is fluff. Prove your product or service delivers by describing the features. A 486 computer is why I get speed; a bed made out of special springs is why I get comfort. Saying a car is safe is an empty benefit; saying it is safe because of special brakes is believable.

Principle Four is “Prospects will read any amount of copy — as long as it is interesting, helpful, service-rendering copy.” Look at it this way: If I invited you to lunch, you may come. Not many words are needed. If I said come and bring a check for five hundred dollars, you would need an explanatio — maybe even a lengthy one. Tests have proven (PROVEN!) that if everything is kept constant but the length of a sales letter, a two-page letter outpulls a one-page letter and four-page letters outpull two-page letters. Four-page letters have actually DOUBLED the response of one-page letters. Why? Just re-read Bedell’s principle four.

Principle Five is “Plan for profitable advertising.” The great ad wizard David Ogilvy said advertising should be allocated in your budget just as any other expense. Effective ads aren’t whipped up over night. They take time and planning. Most businesses cut their ad budget when things get rough. Wrong! That’s when you should increase your advertising efforts. Plan for a consistent and profitable ad campaign.

Principle Six is “Management must support these ideas.” If advertising isn’t your profession, don’t argue with these principles. Your ENTIRE team needs to focus on advertising’s war cry, “We sell — or else!” One of my clients said he was taught in college to create ads that were creative. He later learned his clients want ads that sell. Your team should want that, too and be willing to support the pros who can deliver it.

HypnoticLibrary.com

How to Run Your Own Publishing Bakery (or, Why Baking Print is Better than Baking Cake) by Joe Vitale

biomans — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 19:21:54 +0000

I’m a bookaholic. I write them, read them, buy them, review them, promote them, collect them, and cherish them. You ought to see my office. It’s lined with books. And no doubt I’ll add more books to my vast collection. What can I say? I’m addicted to books.

Still, I often wonder if anyone realizes there is a better way to make money than actually printing their information in book form.

Printing books costs a terrific amount of money. Somebody must have placed yeast in the print industry’s pants. Just look at the rising costs of paper these days.

Plus the environmentalists aren’t crazy about all the trees being chopped down to print your grandmother’s recipes or your uncle’s memoirs.

And the competition for books is fierce, with 2,000 books being printed every single week. And you want to come out with another one?

Sheesh. Hasn’t anyone considered a better approach to this business?

I run what I call a “publishing bakery.” The idea isn’t new. Several people are running the same operation, though they probably call it “printing on demand” or some other less colorful description.

Here’s how it works:

You write a specific piece of how-to information for a specific crowd of people.

You store it on your computer.

You let that specific crowd of people know about your item.

When orders come in, you print the information and send it to them.

Easy, huh? But does it work?

Let’s see…Ted Thomas sold 627 information packages for $197 each in two months, which means he made $122,265 while sitting at his desk…Last January Russ von Hoelscher sold more than 500 units of his Internet course at $149 a pop, meaning he pulled in $74,450 in less than four weeks…Mark Nolan sells a $29.95 information product to the tune of 30,000 a year…The list goes on.

The numbers are simple: If you sell just one $299 course a day, you’d make $71,760 a year…Too expensive an item to sell? Okay. If you sell just one $29.95 item a day, you would make $10,782 a year. (You can use $10,782, can’t you?) Sell three of them a day and you blast your income to $32,346 a year!

Let’s get more specific.

If you browse through my on-line catalog, you’ll find all of my books, videotape, audiotape set, etc. You’ll also find free articles and special reports. And you’ll see that I have a “Confidential Online Marketing Strategy” that I sell for a substantial amount of money. I don’t stock that item. It sits, alert but resting, in my computer. When someone orders it, I call up the file, click my mouse, and print the item. I then send off the strategy to the person who bought it. Then I take a nap.

That’s how my publishing bakery works.

Here’s another example:

I have a colossal collection of special reports, sales letters, fund raising letters, and more packed into a hefty 400-page volume that I call (for lack of a better name) “Master Writer 397.O”. I don’t stock it, either. It’s too big, too bulky, too expensive. So I keep the original for it in a special place. When someone orders it, I take the master and make a copy of it. I then put the copy in a nice three-ring binder, add whatever I think is appropriate, and then fulfill the order. Then I take another nap.

That’s publishing on demand.

Here’s another example:

I just created an astonishing new sales and marketing training program called “Project Phineas”. This consists of six original tapes and a brand new workbook. Since it took me well over twenty years to gather and integrate the material into a home study course that works, I don’t give the system away. I charge $495 for it, knowing that people will perceive it as valuable because of the price, and knowing that it IS valuable, anyway. When an order comes in, I print out the workbook, put together a tape set, and send it off. And then I take a nap.

Again, that’s how I run my publishing bakery.

I still have regular books, of course. As I’ve mentioned in several places in my writings, you want a book that looks like a book for credibility. That’s why I have books published by The American Management Association and The American Marketing Association. I can’t self-publish or bake that sort of credibility.

But now that I have that credibility, I can make other information products, make a mold for them, and then print them as needed. This means I have no printer to pay, no warehouse to pay, no inventory to manage, and nothing to lug out to the garage for storage. It’s all on my computer.

Why can’t you do this, too?

Well, you can!

First: All you need is a specific item for a specific audience. It needs to be specific because people want definite how-to information. Tell them exactly how to grow herbs in their toilet tank, or how to teach their children Portuguese over dinner, etc. (I’m joking. Be sure your item is something a specific group of people want. Food, sex, and money are consistent winners.) You can even buy reprint rights to existing information products from other people.

Second: The item needs to be for a specific market so you can reach them by phone, fax, news releases, online, etc. You simply locate the crowd of people interested in your product by looking through a good catalog of mailing lists, for example, or by conducting searches online. You aren’t appealing to “everybody,” which is a market too big to target unless you’re Coca-Cola or rich. You want a specific group.

Third: Tell these people about your information. Send them mailings, let them know by phone, fax, or email, etc. Take out ads in the publications they read. Send those publications news releases. You get the picture.

Fourth: When orders come in, accept the money.

I told you this was easy.

Actually, I would rather see you do step two before step one. In other words, pick a specific group of people and give them more of what they are already interested in. Instead of forcing people to buy what you write, find out what people are already buying and give them more of it. People who bought popcorn recipes in the past will probably buy another popcorn recipe; people who buy books on gambling will probably buy another gambling book; people who buy courses on self-improvement will probably buy another self-improvement course. Find out what they are already buying, and then create a new “cookie” to “bake” for them.

Running a cake bakery would be full of headaches and nobody likes the calories in cakes. A publishing bakery, on the other hand, is clean, easy, fast, and healthy. Try it!

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“Inside Secrets to Writing News Releases!” by Joe “Mr. Fire!” Vitale

biomans — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:16:38 +0000

How would you like to get 30,000 phone calls from prospects eager to buy from you?

When I wrote and self-published Hypnotic Writing, my manual on copywriting, (which I later incorporated into my book, CyberWriting: How to Promote Your Product or Service Online (without being flamed)) I bought the mailing list of all the writing magazines in the country. I sent a one page news release to each. One day I opened up one of the national magazines and there was a half page article about my book! It was my entire news release! Had I paid for the advertising, it would have cost me a few hundred if not thousands of dollars. As it were, the exposure cost me about thirty cents.

My best seller is Turbocharge Your Writing. I figured the readers of Target Marketing magazine would be interested in it as many marketing people rely on the formula in the book to write their sales letters. So I sent a news release to them. The editor called and said, “Are you prepared to handle about two hundreds calls?” I said sure. Then I persuaded him to list my address in the magazine, rather than my number, as a service to his readers. All they would have to do is send me a check for the book. I’m still getting orders!

One of my clients is a real estate broker. We sent a news release out about his service and his new book. Women’s Day magazine called him and wanted to buy the rights to excerpt an article from his book. We agreed as long as they gave him a resource box explaining how readers could contact the author. The editor said, “Are you prepared to handle thirty to forty thousand phone calls?” We’ll handle it, we said.

When I was promoting the autograph party for my book, The AMA Complete Guide to Small Business Advertising, I created a simple contest where the top three most unusual business ideas would receive free copies of the book. I wrote a release and sent it out. The Houston Post newspaper ran it on the front page of their business section!

The press is powerful.

When Sharon Holmlund’s business was mentioned in Home Office Computing magazine, she received over 400 inquiries.

When Sharon Olson received a plug in a newspaper column, over 900 readers wrote to her.

When Janice Guthrie’s business was mentioned in Reader’s Digest, she received over 740 calls immediately. The list goes on.

The media desperately wants news. About 80% of what you read in the papers and see on TV is planted by people like you and me sending out news releases!

But how do you write a news release that works?

The biggest secret to writing a hot news release is NEWS!

Okay. That may seem obvious to you. So what’s considered news?

In short: People are interested in themselves first, and other people next.

Focus on interesting people and you’ll grab interest.

Focus on what readers care about and you’ll grab attention.

Focus on giving information and you’ll grab free publicity.

When I was hired to write a story on a client who wanted more business for his college fund raising service, I didn’t begin by saying “Desperate client needs more work.” Though the truth, that would appeal to NO ONE. Instead, I began the article with:

COLLEGE MONEY CRISIS NOT NECESSARY
$135 Million Available To Students Who Know Where To Look
(New Jersey) Experts agree a college education is essential for the future work force. But tuitions at public colleges have climbed an average of 12% in the last eight years, according to the College Board of New York. How is anyone expected to finance an education?

Notice how much more interesting the above is? It will interest college students, parents with college bound kids, and many more. The above has NEWS in it.

When I wrote a news release on myself, I didn’t begin by saying “Houston Author Would Like To Write More Books And Make Money.” That wouldn’t interest anyone but my mother. Instead, I created a more human interest and news oriented lead and began the piece with:

BOOK HIM! THIS GHOST DOESN’T SCARE ANYBODY
(Houston) Award-winning author Joe Vitale spent 20 years developing his craft and struggling for a living as a freelance writer before he discovered the wealth in being a ghostwriter. Now he uses his talents to help speakers, therapists and top executives get in print.

For anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 Vitale will meet with clients, interview them, do research, and write their books. “I do the work, they get the fame — and all the royalties.”

Most best-sellers by sports figures, celebrities, politicians and business leaders are not written by the people on the covers. “Everyone from Lee Iacocca to local business people have hired ghostwriters to create their books,” Vitale says.

Get the idea?

In short, you must have news, invent news, or tie your story to existing news in order to get the media to pay any attention to you.

I explain all of this in my new sales and marketing home study course, Project Phineas: How to Get Rich, Famous, and Live Forever. I can’t tell you everything you need to know here, but I can give you enough information for you to edge out your competition.

Again, the secret is NEWS.

1. You must have news.
That means you are doing something that the media would consider “a good story.” When I created my new home study course, that is something new, and news worthy.

2. You might invent news.
When Evel Knievel said he would jump a canyon, he created a news story.

3. You might attach your story to existing news.
That means that if there is a holiday, you might create a holiday sale. In order words, figure out a way to ride on the skirt tails of something already happening in the news.

Here are more tips: My friend Paul Hartunian, a publicity genius, says there are three ways to get news coverage:

You have a solution to a problem. (Your product or service solves something.)

You have the latest fad. (Remember the pet rock?)

You are a nut. (Evel Knievel.)

Again, your success with the media will depend on you having NEWS. That’s all they want. One way to look at this is to remember the following quote. (I don’t recall who said it. It may have been William Hearst.)

“If you want it in the paper, it’s advertising.
If you want it kept out of the paper, it’s news.”

Think about it.

For help in writing

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“The Secrets of Joe Sugarman Revealed!” A review of three new marketing books by Joe “Mr. Fire!” Vitale

biomans — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:14:53 +0000

I don’t know Joe Sugarman. Never met him. Never spoke to him. Never bought a pair of his famous BluBlocker sunglasses. Never seen him in any of his successful infomercials, or on the home shopping channel, in one of his marketing seminars or anywhere else. I’ve never seen his JS&A mail-order catalog gadgets or any of his unusual hard-sell full-page ads. But after reading his three new books, I’ll never forget him. Partly because I now think Sugarman is a genius. And partly because I’m now mad at him.

But let me tell you the whole story…

A month or so ago I received an e-mail from David Deutsch, a brilliant copywriter and a personal friend, urging me to drop everything and order Joe Sugarman’s new book, “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs.” Since I am a copywriter and since I collect books on marketing (about 5,000 in my library so far), I immediately called 1-800-323-6400 and asked them to send me the book by Fed-X. I wanted it NOW. As it turns out, Fed-X had problems with their flights and their deliveries, and the book didn’t arrive for two l-o-n-g, dreary, frustrating, hair-pulling (and I’m bald), impatient days.

I was not happy.

But then I opened the package. I was stunned to see how beautiful the book looked: Hardcover, dust jacket, high quality paper, 312 large pages—truly an impressive (and expensive) work of production. But the best was yet to come. Inside this book were Sugarman’s hard earned secrets of persuasion. I don’t know how to convey how impressed I am with this. In my giant library of books on marketing, only two or three books stand out as true bibles on how to write copy that sells, and *they* are out of print. When I saw Sugarman’s explanation of the 24 psychological triggers that cause prospects to buy from you, I knew this was a living work of sheer genius.

In fact, I used Sugarman’s concepts to rewrite my ad for my new home-study course on sales and marketing. Where my original headline was long and wordy, I replaced it with one inspired by Sugarman’s tendency to come up with two or three word headlines that rattle the brain with curiosity invoking images. For example, one of Sugarman’s ads began “Pocket Yellow Pages,” for a 1978 calculator. Another’s headline read “Pickle Power,” for a 1982 battery charging system. I retitled my ad “Barnum’s Secret,” since the course deals with the secrets of P.T. Barnum. Will the new headline work? As Sugarman teaches, only testing will tell.

I spent a week slowly devouring every word in Sugarman’s new book. I loved the fact that he included ads by his students, such as Joe Karbo’s famous lazy man’s way to riches ad, and the Victoria’s Secret ad that began with the headline “Lingerie for Men.” Most of the ads are by the master himself. One print ad by Sugarman, titled “Pet Plane,” actually sold a plane by mail for $240,000—when it was valued at $190,000, a truly staggering feat. All of these ads, with Sugarman’s commentary, are very instructional. All in all, “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word” is worth gold and worth getting right now.

But wait: As it turns out, Sugarman has written an entire *trilogy* on marketing.

All of these new books are based on an exclusive seminar Sugarman taught for 12 years, attended by Joe Karbo, Federal Express, Victoria’ Secret, and a long list of other now successful names who paid $3,000 each to sit in Sugarman’s shadow. The first book is the one I just reviewed. After I read it, I called 1-800-323-6400 and told them to send the other two new books to me by UPS next day delivery. (Heck with Fed-X.) An hour later someone from Sugarman’s office called to say the third book was not printed yet, and would not be for maybe four months. Four months! I was disappointed (what a weak word for what I felt) but told them to send the book they had. To my surprise, on the next day *both* new books arrived. I was confused, but glad to have both books in my hands.

Let’s look at the second book next:

“Marketing Secrets of a Mail Order Maverick: Stories and Lessons on the Power of Direct Marketing to Start a Successful Business, Create a Famous Brand Name and Sell Any Product or Service” is another beautiful work of production: Hardcover, dust jacket, 396 pages. This meaty book is *packed* with stories, lessons, ads, tips and techniques. In it Sugarman reveals the story of how he cleverly wrote a retail ad that sold thousands of computers in *one* morning, causing a line of people for blocks. (!) And I nearly cried reading about the ad Sugarman ran to raffle off his services as a copywriter to help raise money for the American Cancer Society after his mother’s sad death. The bizarre twists and turns as a result of his idea—a train wreck, car wreck and a meeting with an Hawaiian healer—melted my heart while boggling my mind. Clearly, Sugarman has been around the block (often chased) in the world of marketing. He tells stories about his successes, as well as his failures, and they are *riveting.*

The success story about the software program that could accurately predict the stock market (which made many people wealthy) made me drool to get my hands on it. The failure story about the “Laser Beam Mousetrap” that went for $1,500 reveals how your ego can cripple your success. Then there are Sugarman’s thoughts on type fonts, layout, photography, pricing, publicity (it doesn’t sell much), humor (avoid it) and much more, that make this book required reading.

Now let’s look at the third book in Sugarman’s trilogy:

“Television Secrets for Marketing Success: How to Sell Your Product on Infomercials, Home Shopping Channels and Spot TV Commercials from the Entrepreneur Who Gave You BluBlocker Sunglasses” is yet another gorgeous book: Hardcover, dust jacket, 314 pages. Sugarman’s stories about the products he loved and spent a fortune on (like the pill that removes wrinkles, which really works) are entertaining as well as educational. You learn that the product is king, the public (and only the public) is the voter, and a sound way to discover what will work or not is by testing your product first in print (another reason to read his first book). That’s how Sugarman knew BluBlocker sunglasses could do well on TV. In print, he sold 100,000 sunglasses in six months. On TV, he sold that many in one month. (He’s sold twenty million total.) You also discover that an infomercial is like a Hollywood screenplay, with three distinct parts, and with keeping the viewer entertained more important than virtually anything else.

While I loved this third book, I have to admit I found it the weakest of the three. I don’t want to decry the value of this work, but I have to point out that Sugarman says he got out of the infomercial business in 1993 because of problems he foresaw (raising costs being a biggie). To write a book on how to create winning infomercials when he now believes infomercials aren’t what they used to be seems like a very mixed message. His concerns about infomercials may be why his enthusiasm isn’t in this last, and thinnest, book. He simply doesn’t believe in them as much as he used to. Still, make no mistake, this IS a terrific book.

Actually, all three books are outstanding, with the second being my favorite. Since there is very little repetition in them, and since each contains ads that aren’t in the others, you really have to have the set to feel like you’ve learned all of the secrets of Joe Sugarman. I’d say these books comprise a twenty-year education in direct response marketing, which can be the road to riches for virtually anybody. The only thing missing in this trilogy is material on marketing online. But stay tuned: Joe’s next book is “Computer Secrets of a Marketing Guru.”

I mentioned at the beginning of this review that I am mad at Joe Sugarman. Here’s why:

When I called his office to find out why the first book—which was to be delivered by Fed-X the next day—hadn’t arrived, they blew me off. They said that Fed-X had tried to deliver the book but I wasn’t home. Nonsense. I STAYED home to receive the book. I had to call Fed-X to discover the book wasn’t delivered due to flight delays. I also asked for a refund of the extra money I paid for overnight delivery, but neither Fed-X or Sugarman’s office have yet to return a cent.

When I called to order Sugarman’s other two books, someone told me the third book wasn’t in print yet. As you now know, I received the third book with the second one. Sheesh. Doesn’t anyone communicate in Sugarman’s office? I was not impressed.

Finally, when you call 1-800-323-6400 and buy all three of Sugarman’s books, as I have done, you are supposed to get a free slipcase to hold the books. Well, I never received it. I’d love to have one, too, as these wonderful books beg for a protected spot in my library.

Oh, I guess I’m not really mad at Sugarman. When I think of the three absolutely terrific new books he has given the business world, and when I delve into those books and relish the stories and learn from his tested theories, I can’t help but smile, relax and forgive.

And maybe one day I’ll even buy a pair of his sunglasses.

Joe “Mr. Fire!” Vitale Author, “There’s a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum’s Secrets to Business Success” (AMACOM, 1998)

Joe Sugarman’s new books with ordering information:

Vol. 1: “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word”
Vol. 2: “Marketing Secrets of a Mail Order Maverick”
Vol. 3: “Television Secrets for Marketing Success”

$39.95 each plus $5 shipping from 1-800-323-6400 or FAX (702) 597-2002 or write to JS&A Group, Inc., 3350 Palms Center Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89103

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“Three Lessons from the Tacoma Chief!” by Joe Vitale

biomans — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 19:17:45 +0000

NOTE: This article was written around 1996…

Tacoma Guitars makes a miniature acoustic guitar called a Papoose, and a larger model called a Chief. I’ve been seeing their ads in Acoustic Guitar magazine for maybe a year. Their most recent ad caught my attention in the strongest way: It shows a large, striking photo of their Chief, with a few words of copy suggesting that their new guitar is a breakthrough in design in the same way Da Vinci’s inventions were breakthroughs in his time.

I decided to find a Tacoma Chief and check it out. I went to a local guitar store. They didn’t have any Tacomas. Never heard of them. I went to another store. No luck. I then went to one of the giant national chains, a guitar store with two locations in Houston alone. Again, no luck.

Hmmmmm. Are Tacomas bad guitars, or badly marketed?

I went back to their ad, got an email address from it, and sent a note asking for the location of the nearest Tacoma dealer. Someone replied, telling me to visit Rockin Robin, a famous guitar store here in Houston, a friendly place where such guitar slingers as the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan used to shop.

I went to Rockin Robin. The first thing I saw was a policeman giving out parking tickets outside the store. I parked a block or so away, walked into the store, and couldn’t find anyone to wait on me. Since I had been to the store before, I knew where they kept their acoustic guitars. I went there, browsed the room, and couldn’t find a Tacoma anything. After a few sighs of frustration and some stifled anger, I went looking for a salesperson. I found some guy in the drumming department and asked him if he knew about the Tacoma guitars. He did, but said they were sold out and they didn’t plan to stock any more of them.

“Why not?” I asked.

“They didn’t move very fast,” he said.

“Are they good guitars?”

“Oh yea. Very unique. But they sat here too long for us to want to carry them again.”

He then tried to sell me a Taylor guitar, a new small acoustic model called a Baby Taylor. Very interesting, isn’t it? Tacoma’s ads sent me into a music store where I began to consider buying a guitar from one of their competitors! But I held on to my wallet. I was too curious about the Da Vinci inspired Chief to settle for a baby anything. I left Rockin Robin, thankfully without finding a parking ticket on my windshield.

I decided to call Tacoma and talk to them direct. I looked at their ad. To my surprise, they didn’t have a phone number.

I wanted to send them a FAX. Yep. No FAX number, either.

OK. I don’t give up easily. I then decided to write a letter. I did. I included information on my new Project Phineas sales and marketing course, and even offered to trade it (with all of my books) for one of their Tacoma Chiefs. I began to address the envelope when I realized their ad didn’t give their zip code!

What’s going on here? Do these people want to make a sale or not? Sometimes people in business sabotage their own best efforts. While Tacoma’s ads are intriguing, not being able to find their guitars, see them, play them, or even order them destroys the use of their advertising dollars. In short, they are blowing it. Big time.

Finally, I decided to send another email to Tacoma. I did. Within 24 hours their head of marketing wrote back. It was a nice letter, softly reinforcing the idea that their guitars are unique, and then urging me to visit the store in Houston that carries them: MARS. Well, I’ve never heard of a MARS store. So I looked in the phone book. You guessed it. There isn’t a MARS store listed!

Let’s pause while I take another deep breath and count to ten…

Okay. Let’s turn this frustrating experience into a Marketing 101 lesson.

What can we learn here?

1. You must consistently advertise to let prospects know you exist.

Tacoma has this one down. Their ads are large, attention getting, persistent, and placed where their target audience will see them. That’s smart. And note that I did not begin to search for a Tacoma guitar until I had seen their ads for more than an entire year. Repetition works. Consistency works. Tacoma gets an A+ here.

2. You must give all essential details in your ads.

Back in 1897—that’s right, eighteen-97—Nath’L Fowler wrote, “The best way to write an advertisement is to write all that one thinks the public wants to know about the article…” He added, “Brevity is always a consideration, but brevity must not be allowed to interfere with advertisement completeness.” Oops. Tacoma left out their phone, fax, and zip code. While they do include their web site and email address, they are forgetting that only a sliver of the public have computers, let alone Internet access. Tacoma is missing sales. That’s an F.

3. You must make it easy for people to buy.

If you want people to buy your guitars in guitar stores, or books in bookstores, or clothes in clothing stores, be sure that’s all set up. This should be obvious, right? There’s nothing more frustrating than a potential customer going through the trouble of getting to a store, only to find what he or she wants isn’t there. Not only is that a lost sale, but it can tarnish your image for life. Word of mouth alone could kill you. And if you want people to order from you direct, be sure to let them know HOW to reach you. Tacoma gets an F here, too. But more important than the grades, they are losing money. Isn’t that what counts?

I’m still interested in a Tacoma Chief. I’m still willing to trade my entire marketing course for one. Lord knows Tacoma could use the help. (For details on the course, go to http://www.mrfire.com/profitcenter.html and scroll down to the article on the advertorial that sells and sells.)

But I don’t think I want to buy a Chief. Not now. Not after what I’ve been through.

Listen and learn. This experience may explain why a lot of people aren’t buying your goods.

Joe “Chief-less” Vitale

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“Lost Genius Reveals How to Write Sales Materials that Sell (or Bruce Barton’s 6 Points for Writing Ads)” by Joe Vitale

biomans — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:20:02 +0000

Bruce Barton was a celebrity in the 1920s. He was a bestselling author, confidant to presidents, master copywriter, philanthropist, congressman, and co-founder of the largest advertising agency in the world, BBDO. He helped five men become US Presidents. He wrote a fund raising letter that got a 100% response. The only book ever written on Barton and his ideas is The Seven Lost Secrets of Success. I recently discovered Barton’s six points for writing ads, which he probably delivered in a speech in the early 1930s. Here they are, as Bruce Barton himself delivered them:

1. The theme.
“A lot of time and money is wasted by our failure to think through and get a theme before we start. The theme ought to be based on two principles—first, that a man is interested in himself; second, that he is interested in other people. Our formula for Every Week (magazine) was Youth, Love, Success, Money, and Health—all things in which people are vitally interested.”

2. Interesting headlines.
“I think any public notice I may have had has come from titles. Nobody was more surprised than I when The Man Nobody Knows became a best seller. The title is what sold the book.”

Barton also mentioned that when he edited magazines, he often used provocative titles to stir up controversy and interest. Examples included, “Why I never hire any woman under 30,” “How my wife has hindered me in business,” and the other side of the question, “How my wife has helped me in business.” These interesting headlines guaranteed readership.

3. The visualization.
Barton didn’t elaborate on this. But I’m sure he was referring to the layout of any sales piece. He once said, “A picture is worth two pages of type, and a headline is worth almost all the rest of the ad put together.” For Barton, the illustration, headline, and body copy made up the layout, or visualization, of any sales piece.

4. The copy.
“The introduction can be eliminated almost always. The mind starts cold when you begin to write, and you don’t get into high until the second or third paragraph. Cut out the introduction, and then you have a good hot start.

“Another elementary fundamental of advertising is to make the copy fit the space. To this day, I never write a piece of copy without counting the words. The picture, the headline, and the layout should be set before you begin the copy. To me, writing the copy before you have visualized the layout is backwards.”

5. Adjectives.
“After you finish a piece of copy, go back and cut out all the adjectives. Henry Ward Beecher’s father was once chairman of a committee to draw up resolutions on slavery. One sentence in his resolution read: ‘It is an outrage.’ Some one suggested that it should read: ‘It is a terrible outrage.’ Beecher said that was the way he had it in his first draft, but he had cut out the word ‘terrible’ for the sake of emphasis.

“Adjectives are like the leaves on a switch. They make the switch look pretty, but if you want to hit a blow that will cut, you take off the leaves. Literature that cuts has very few adjectives. The greatest things in life are expressed in one-syllable words—love, hate, fear, home, wife, child.”

6. A purpose.
“We should never write an ad without the idea that something is going to happen. What do we want the reader to do? Write with the conviction that he is going to do something when he gets through reading—go to the store and buy; clip the coupon and mail it. And remember the power of the direct command. Don’t say, ‘If you would like this beautiful booklet, we will be glad to send it.’ Say, ‘Sit down right now and fill in this coupon.’ People want things made easy; they want you to make up their minds for them.”

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“Press Releases That SELL!” From an article by Joe “Mister Fire!” Vitale

biomans — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 19:08:14 +0000

In 1902 Charles Austin Bates, one of my mentors and one of advertising’s founding fathers, wrote that good advertising “…is simply telling a plain story. It consists merely of giving information to possible buyers.”

Not many in advertising would agree with that definition today, yet it is one of the soundest explanations of how to get attention (and sales) in cyberspace. If you can write about your product or service in a low key, informative way, you will win friends and possibly make sales. One of the best ways to do just that is something called the “Net-Advertorial.”

As you might guess from the name, an “advertorial” blends an advertisement with an editorial. The added “Net” lets you know this is for the Internet, or any online service.

If you can imagine writing a news story about your product or service, including details about how to do business with you, and posting this story online, you have a clear idea of what a Net-Advertorial looks like. It offers more news, less sell.

Net-Advertorials are a way to flamelessly let the online world know about your product or service. You can post them in the appropriate Usenet groups, offer them to pertinent emailing lists, and send them to people you exchange email with.

When someone hands me a product to promote, I look for the story that it fits into. Let’s use a book as an example. I don’t want to write a press release to promote “a book” as that usually isn’t much news, but I probe to learn how the book fits into a larger picture.

For example, let’s talk about the fellow who got a call from a reporter eight minutes after he faxed out my release. His book is called Fun Projects with Wooden Pallets. If I were like most publishers, I might whip up a release saying the book was now out and say a little about it. But I don’t think that’s very powerful. I prefer a double-whammy approach, which I achieve by combining the new book release with a feature story approach. After some thought I came up with the following headline:

New Ways to Make Furniture — and More — from Scrap

Note how that headline has a more “news feel” to it? It doesn’t even mention the book. That, to me, isn’t as important as what the book helps you do. In advertising we talk about features and benefits. The book is a feature; what you can do as a result of having the book is the benefit. I focused on the benefit.

The next thing I looked for was a killer opening line. I believe that the first line in your feature news release should be a grabber. If you don’t hook the editors there, they probably won’t go on to the rest of your release. It’s worth mentioning right here that your editors will decide to read your release — or not — based on your headline. If it intrigues them, they’ll read on. But the next potential stopping point for them is your first line. In the case of the above client, my first line was this:

You know those wooden pallets stacked up in and behind many businesses?

That’s an opening line that I still love. Why? It gets the reader nodding his or her head, saying “yes” internally, and puts them in a receptive mood. It also pulls the reader into the next paragraph. It makes you ask, “What about those pallets anyway?”

From there I created a story about how to use the pallets to create furniture — the news — and I quoted from the book and the authors, thereby plugging the book within the context of the feature story. Do you see the difference? Rather than focusing on the book, I focused on the story and mentioned the book within the story.

The client I wrote this net-advertorial for said he had a reporter call him only eight minutes after he released my story! And that reporter turned the story into a five column feature article on the front page of the Sunday newspaper, complete with photographs as well as the name, address, and phone number for ordering the product.

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

How to Write a Million Dollar Sales Letter! From an article by Joe “Mister Fire!” Vitale

biomans — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 19:10:38 +0000

Bruce Barton, cofounder of the legendary BBDO ad agency, wrote letters that got staggering results. He wrote a letter for Berea College that brought in an amazing 100% response! (You can read the entire letter in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.)

When you consider that the average successful letter gets about a 0.02% response, Barton clearly leaped past anyone else in his letter writing skills. But what was his secret?

After studying Barton’s letters, books, private memos, speeches, and advertising campaigns, I’ve discovered Barton’s method. I’ve used his technique to write my own letters and I’ve been astonished at the results. One letter got a 20% response. Another nailed a 10% response. Still another is approaching a 97% response (ninety-seven per cent!)! (It, too, is in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.)

I will now reveal the technique I’ve been using: Bruce Barton’s “Secret Formula.”

Barton said that good advertising copy (and letters are advertisements) had to be three things: (1) Brief. (2) Simple. (3). Sincere. In an eye-opening essay he wrote back in 1925, Barton said the following:

About Brevity:

“About sixty years ago two men spoke at Gettysburg; one man spoke for two hours. I suppose there is not any one who could quote a single word of that oration. The other man spoke about three hundred words, and that address has become a part of the school training of almost every child.”

About Simplicity:

“I think it might be said, no advertisement is great that has anything that can’t be understood by a child of intelligence. Certainly all the great things in life are one-syllable things — child, home, wife, fear, faith, love, God.”

About Sincerity:

“I believe the public has a sixth sense for detecting insincerity, and we run a tremendous risk if we try to make other people believe in something we don’t believe in. Somehow our sin will find us out.”

Let’s look at these three steps a little more closely.

Brevity. A short letter isn’t necessarily what Barton meant. I’ve read many of his letters and memos. Most of them were so brief they were blunt. But those were not sales letters. When Barton wanted to persuade you to donate money to a good cause or buy something he was selling, his letters were longer, sometimes several pages long. (Again, see that sample letter in The Seven Lost Secrets Of Success.) Barton knew you had to give people a complete explanation before they would buy.

Simplicity. Barton’s letters were always simple and easy to read. He strove for clarity of communication. No big words, long sentences, or convoluted passages. He was clear and direct and conversational.

Sincerity. Barton was always sincere. He once dropped a million dollar advertising account because he didn’t support the client. That sincerity came through in everything he wrote. Readers could pick up on it.

Finally, Barton’s letters were “… phrased in terms of the other man’s interest.” Barton said your letters had to go straight to the reader’s selfish interest. He said the favorite song of every reader is “I Love Me.” As Barton said in 1924, “The reader is interested first of all in himself… Tie your appeal up to his own interests.”

The next time you have to write a sales letter, consider Barton’s formula. It helped him write letters that are still talked about today, and it helps me write letters that are making my clients rich. Now use it and see what the formula will do for YOU!

HypnoticLibrary.com
By Joe Vitale
This is a complete collection of Joe’s most popular products.

HowToWriteHypnoticArticles.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook tells you how to get free publicity by writing hypnotic articles for e-zines and Web sites — in 7 minutes or less.

HowToWriteHypnoticEndorsements.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
This ebook shows you how to write persuasive endorsements that can help you increase sales.

HowToWriteHypnoticJointVentureProposals.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
An ebook that tells you how to get free advertising for your business by writing hypnotic joint venture proposals.

HypnoticSellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to influence your prospects’ subconscious minds with these 1739 hypnotic words, phrases and sentences.

ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Dr. Scott Lewis
This ebook tells you how to use 49 psychological tricks Las Vegas casinos use, to make your business pay off like a slot machine.

SubconsciousInternetMarketing.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson
Learn how to bypass your prospects’ unconscious minds and get them to buy anything you sell

HypnoticTrafficTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

Hypnotic SellingTools.com
By Joe Vitale and Larry Dotson

“How to Hypnotize People into Reading Your Sales Materials! (or, The Amazing Robert Collier Technique Revealed)” by Joe Vitale

biomans — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 20:21:00 +0000

On a sunny, warm day in August, 1996 I kneeled over the grave of P.T. Barnum and had one of the most remarkable experiences of my life.

I had begun researching the famous showman in order to write my forthcoming new book, There’s a Customer Born Every Minute (to be released in October, 1997). I had visited the Barnum Museum, the Historical Library in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and met with Barnum scholars, biographers, and collectors of his writings. I wanted to visit Barnum’s grave and pay my respects. Little did I know that the incredible, magical experience would change my life forever…

Recently I went online to hunt for old books by some of my favorite authors, this time I went after anything by Robert Collier, mail order advertising genius and author of such classic books as The Secret of the Ages and The Robert Collier Letter Book.

I typed in his name at one of my favorite book search engines (which I’m going to keep a secret as long as I can), and to my amazement several new (to me) titles came up. I stared wide-eyed, my mouth open, as I saw that someone had two copies of a magazine Collier edited in the late 1920′s called “Mind, Inc.” I couldn’t believe it. I immediately grabbed the phone, called, and bought those magazines. A few days later they arrived.

I opened the brown package, my heart racing with excitement, and nearly drooled as I slid the little paperback sized magazines onto my desk. They were well worn but intact. I thumbed through them and marveled at my find. Here were new articles by one of my heroes, my mentor, a man who changed my life not once but twice with his books. I felt like a happy child on Christmas morning, getting the gifts he longed for and needed most.

As I looked over Collier’s magazines, something shifted in me. I saw an advertising technique at work that seemed hypnotic in power. I had one of those “ah-ha!” experiences great inventors write about. I held one of the issues in my hand and read the back cover. Collier had an ad there that began –

“How can I tell if I am working aright?” many people ask.

There is an easy, simple rule. With it in front of him, not even a child could go wrong. Just ask yourself one question. If your answer is “Yes.” You are on the wrong track, and you will never make much progress, until you get off it and on the right track.

If your answer is “No,” then you are working in the right direction, and you have only to keep it up to attain any goal you desire.

That question is the basis of the Lesson in the next issue of “Mind, Inc.” If you are looking for a road map to guide you through the mental realm, send for it!

Did you catch what Collier did?

Let me give you another example. This one comes from Collier’s editorial in the opening pages of the other issue I found:

Dear Reader:

Twelve years ago, the three examining physicians at the head office of the Life Extension Institute made a thorough physical examination of the writer. They had him hop and jump and do sundry things to stir his heart into action, then they listened with their stethoscopes and nodded knowingly to each other, finally gathering in a corner to whisper earnestly together, with many a meaning glance in the writer’s direction.

The upshot of their conference was a solemn warning against all forms of violent exercise. The heart was dangerously affected, in their opinion. Tennis, horseback, swimming — all these were taboo. Even running for a street car was likely to result disastrously. If the writer wanted excitement, he might walk (as long as he did it sedately) or crawl about the floor on all fours!

That was twelve years ago, remember. A few months back, he had occasion to be examined for life insurance. The examining physician knew of the Life Extension Institute findings, so he asked the Head Examiner of his company to check his report. The Head Examiner came, made the same exhaustive heart tests as the Institute and put away his instruments with a chuckle. “When you get ready to pass out,” he said, “they’ll have to take out that heart and hit it with a rock to make it stop beating. Work, play, do anything you like in reason. The heart can stand anything you can!”

What made the difference? Perhaps the following lesson may give you an indication.”

Collier did it again! Did you catch his method?

Collier told you just enough to intrigue you, to get you hooked, to get you interested — and then he stopped!

In the first example he cleverly trapped you into wanting to know the question he kept referring to. But he never told you the question. He snared you and then asked you to send for the next lesson, where the mystery of the question would be revealed. How could anyone not send for it? I sat at my desk reading Collier’s ad more than seventy years after he wrote it and I wanted to send in the coupon, too. But Collier is long dead. I’ll never know the question!

In the second example Collier cleverly told you two intriguing stories, asked the question that every reader would then have on their mind — put then didn’t answer it! Again, Collier generated interest, and then told you to read the magazine to find the answer. Talk about hypnotic writing!

And that’s how you get people to read your sales materials. You pull them into it. You grab their attention, keep them reading, get them wanting what you have and then — stop and tell them to send in a check, or call you, to get what they now so badly desire.

Did you notice how I began this article?

I used the Robert Collier technique to hypnotize you into reading more. I began saying I had an experience at Barnum’s grave. What was the experience? What happened? What’s my new book about? All of these are questions in your mind as you read the opening. It’s hypnotic. And if you’ve read this far, you know the method works.

The next time you want to write something and be sure people actually read it, remember the Robert Collier technique. Start by writing about something that will interest the people you are addressing. Tell them an interesting story. Get them wondering about something that they want to know more about. And then STOP. Change direction. Write about something else that may still be related to the opening, but don’t resolve the opening until the end of the article. And maybe not even there. Maybe you’ll want people to send in a coupon or call you for the answer.

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