Have
you ever sat on the beach (with a bathing suit
full of sand) and had a fun-filled hour
building a lopsided sand castle with your
children? My awkward creations were never
very elaborate...only featuring walkways
(shells) and rivers (the waves edging
closer, threatening to level the entire
project). Have you, like me, laughed at
your architectural skills and realized
your child's half of the "castle" looked
a whole heck of a lot better than yours?
And, do you gaze in awe when you see those
humongous sand sculptures on television? You
know the ones. CNN always features them during
the summertime when reporting about sand sculpture
competitions. Have you ever wondered how people
learn how to do that?
Well, look no further. Sand sculpture master
Lucinda Wierenga can help you out... instantly!
And if you're an author who has a really unique
niche market book to sell (or just a book
idea that you're wondering about), then Lucinda
can help you, too.
Lucinda Wierenga (a.k.a. Sandy Feet) is the
author of "How To Build a Better Sand
Castle,"
which has been one of the best selling ebooks
at Booklocker.com for longer than we can remember.
When Lucinda originally submitted her book
to them, they didn't know if a sand castle
book would sell very well. But, we were personally
intrigued by the title and were anxious to
open and read the book...and especially to
see some of those cool sand castles. We could
only assume other casual beach-goers would
be just as intrigued as we were. And, obviously,
we were right!
When asked how she conceived of her book idea,
Lucinda replied, "I am a master sand
sculptor and perform demonstrations, compete
at the world championship level and have
taught literally thousands of people how
to build a better sand castle. The book is
merely the illustrated text version of my
standard sand castle lesson."
Lucinda's first book was published by a traditional
publisher that "mucked it up" and
did a poor job of marketing (never assume
a traditional publisher will do anything
to market your book!). Consequently, Lucinda
didn't make any money on the deal.
Lucinda was thrilled when her short, self-published
sand castle book became instantly successful.
Her net profit has been $10,000 to date. For
those of you who aren't familiar with typical
mid-list books, this amount is nothing to
poke your pencil at. Here's the catch...her
book is only 23 pages long! Yes, it's a simple,
how-to book that fulfills a need while not
offering fluff (that wastes a reader's time).
Readers can read the book and hit the beach
within a couple of hours. And, readers who
buy the book while on their laptops in hotel
rooms are pleasantly surprised that they can
learn how to build cool castles quickly on
their computer screen (perhaps even before
the kiddo's naptimes are over and they're
begging to go back to the beach!).
One of Lucinda's creative marketing strategies
has been to strategically position free excerpts
from her book on other websites. Website owners
often agree to publish excerpts because they
provide valuable content for website visitors.
Authors who post books excerpts include links
to their website (or wherever their books
are being sold) in those excerpts so people
can click and buy instantly.
When asked for a hint on the single most effective
form of marketing she did to promote her book,
Lucinda replied, "I created a portal
website for all things sand sculpture, for
all levels of ability. I give away lots of
useful tips which keeps me high in the Google
search engine rankings, and that drives traffic
to my site and helps sell books. Once readers
have the book, they usually also want the
line of specialty carving tools my company
sells, as well as related products developed
by other sculptors."
Lucinda added, "I think the biggest
myth about self-publishing is that you need
a big publisher to market your book. The internet
has changed everything, leveled the playing
field and enabled a poor starving
artist such as myself to make a decent living
without having to punch a time clock.
"How To Build a Better Sand Castle"
is a basic, no frills, how-to book illustrated
with both simple line drawings and photos of
some of Lucinda's work. You won't want to miss
this. Be sure to click and buy a copy before
your next trip to the beach! http://www.booklocker.com/books/161.html
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and Book Marketing Secrets
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