Evaluating Pricing Strategies

A pricing strategy
that has be touted
by writers as working well
is the first book free
in a series
strategy.

Simply change the price
of that first book
to zero
and watch the sales
of the following books
skyrocket.

Sounds great, right?

Except when I investigate,
these writers tell me
that
either
they promoted this free book
intensely
or
they dropped the price
to zero
when they had a new release
in the series,
promoting that new release
intensely.

You can’t go
from no promotion
to intense promotion
and then claim the increase
was due to the first book
being free.

To evaluate the impact
of a pricing strategy,
all other inputs should remain
as constant as possible.

(I say as possible
because there will always be
outside factors
you can’t control
like competitor actions
or market movements.)

When you test something,
change only one factor
at a time.

Sales And Momentum

An object in motion
tends to stay in motion.

The issue is…
sales aren’t objects.
Having huge sales today
doesn’t guarantee huge sales tomorrow.

Seth Godin
shares

“Authors fall into this trap
over and over again.
They believe that a big launch,
the huge push upfront,
the bending of the media
in their favor (at any cost)
is the way to ensure that
weeks two and three and eleven
will continue to show solid growth.”

What big sales today
DOES help with
is providing a base
for word of mouth to happen.

I know that if I have X sales
on release day
and those X readers read my story
and love my story,
they’ll talk about it.
Sales tomorrow will increase.

Sales might not drive future sales
but, if the product/service is great,
it WILL drive word of mouth,
which will, in turn,
drive future sales.

Published
Categorized as Sales

Sonya Yoncheva, Opera and Opportunities

Your big opportunity
could happen at any time
and that timing might not be ideal.

Shortly after giving birth,
opera singer
Sonya Yoncheva
was given a chance of a lifetime.

In May’s American Way,
she shares

“I was walking along Lake Geneva
with my newborn and my family
when I received the call.
The Metropolitan Opera had lost their Mimi
and wanted to know if I could step in.
I had only a few minutes to decide.

I’ve always wanted to sing Mimi
and this was one of the best productions
on one of the best stages in the world.
So I went for it.

The hardest part
was getting a passport and US visa
for my baby,
but we did it in only five days.

When you want something,
you have to go for it.”

Olivia Munn And Opportunities

When I’m presented with an opportunity,
the first thing I ask myself
is
‘What are the odds
I’ll be presented with this opportunity
again?’

If the answer to this question
is
‘Not likely’,
I try my best to take advantage
of the opportunity
right away.

In May’s American Way,
actress Olivia Munn
shares advice
her mother gave her.

“She said,
‘I can always work hard
and find the money somewhere,
but you can never relive an opportunity.’
That’s what stuck with me.
I want the opportunities
and experiences.”

Think twice about
turning down opportunities.

Making Up For All-Nighters

Pulling all-nighters
to take advantage
of opportunities
or fix disasters
is part of being an entrepreneur.

But nothing messes with creativity
and thinking
like lack of sleep.

So can we make up
for an all-nighter
by sleeping more the next day?

Dr. Lawrence Epstein
says it’s possible
but it would mean
sleeping twice as long.

In May’s American Way,
he shares

“It is possible to make up for lost sleep,
but you have to do it
within 24 hours.
So if you got
only five hours of sleep last night,
you need to sleep two extra hours tonight
or take a two-hour nap early enough today
that it doesn’t prevent you
from falling asleep at night.”

We CAN make up
for an all-nighter
but it means spending
much of the next day
sleeping.

Muhammad Ali And The Impossible

Someone thinks
something you’re planning to do
is impossible.
I can guarantee that.
It doesn’t matter
what that something is.

Three decades ago,
I thought making a living
by writing books was impossible.
Today, I’m doing exactly that.

As Muhammad Ali,
one of the most famous boxers
that ever lived,
once stated

“Impossible is just a big word
thrown around by small men
who find it easier to live in the world
they’ve been given
than to explore the power
they have to change it.

Impossible is not a fact.
It’s an opinion.

Impossible is not a declaration.
It’s a dare.

Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing.”

When someone tells you
something is impossible,
it tells you more about that someone
than it does about the task
you’re attempting to complete.

As Rodgers And Hammerstein
once wrote,
impossible things are happening
every day.

Do the impossible.

The Odds Of Success

Months ago,
I was told in a webinar
that over 4,500 books
were released on Amazon
EVERY DAY.
I suspect that number has increased.

The odds of finding success
with a book release
is almost zero.

But some writers will.
One or two or three writers
will make a million dollars
with their book release.
That’s also almost guaranteed.

Seth Godin
shares

“The numbers are so daunting
that the chances that
you will create something
that resonates, spreads
and changes the culture
are really close to zero.

But it’s also certain that
someone will.
In fact,
there’s a 100% chance
that someone will step up
with an action or a concept
so daring
that it resonates with us.

Nearly zero and certain.
At the same time.”

Success isn’t guaranteed
but neither is failure.
All we can do is try.

Threatening Customers

The unionized workers for Canada Post
are threatening customers
with service disruptions.

They’ve already taken unethical action
by returning mail due to insufficient funds
(even though this mail
DID have sufficient funds),
slowing delivery,
and outright losing mail.

Threatening customers worked
when there was no competition.
Now that bills can be paid online
and packages can be delivered
via FedEx or UPS or other companies,
all these threats do
is drive away customers.
Forever.

But-but-but you’d never threaten customers.
I suspect you have… in some way.

I don’t earn enough from one genre of fiction
to continue writing in it.
I casually mentioned that to a reader.
She viewed it as a threat,
that if she didn’t help promote my books
and increase sales,
I’d stop writing the stories she loved.
She helped promote my stories for a while,
found out how hard increasing sales was,
and now she reads a more successful writer’s stories.

Think twice
before threatening customers.
You’re not the only game in town.

Published
Categorized as Sales

The Value Of Slack

Creatives
(writers, marketers, entrepreneurs)
know that the spare time,
slack,
is often the most creative time.
It is valuable.

Slack is valuable for organizations also.

Seth Godin
shares

“The magic of slack
(a little extra time in the chain,
a few extra dollars in the bank)
is that it gives you
the resources to stop
and avoid a problem
or fix it when it’s small.

The over-optimized organization
misunderstands the value of slack,
so it always waits
until something is a screaming emergency,
because it doesn’t think
it has a moment to spare.”

Ensure there’s some slack in your organization
and in your day.

Beyoncé And Being Underestimated

One of the positions I love
is being the unknown,
the underdog.

No one expects anything from me.
No one sees me as a threat.
They’re not plotting to stop me,
to erect roadblocks.

I can take risks,
innovate,
try different things.
If I fail,
well, no one expected anything from me
anyway.
If I succeed,
I shock everyone.

In May 2016’s
Canada Elle,
Beyoncé
shared

“I’d say
I discovered my power
after the first Destiny’s Child album.
The label didn’t really believe
we were pop stars.
They underestimated us,
and because of that,
they allowed us to write our own songs
and write our own video treatments.
It ended up being the best thing
because that’s when I became an artist
and took control.”

Being underestimated
is powerful.
Embrace it.