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Authorship and Product Development

© 2012 National Speakers Association 1

Module 8: Authorship and Product Development

We talk a lot about creating products or writing books, but what exactly is a product, and why do you need one in addition to your speaking services? When you are a speaker, you are usually the primary product, but because you are limited by the number of hours in a day, there is a limit to your earning potential. You can build a bigger business and reach more people if you have products that allow your message to be reproduced or shared without you physically being present. What are the benefits of selling a product that are MOST IMPORTANT to YOU? (Rank them in priority order.) _____ Increased income _____ Increased credibility _____ Increased flexibility _____ Income while you sleep _____ Greater audience reach _____ Scalability of the business _____ The fun and creative process Making products and spreading your message can be fun. It is also wrought with some challenges you may not have thought of until now. What do you think will be your greatest product challenge?

(Circle those that you believe to be your biggest potential challenges.)

Invention Investment Inventory

Sales Storage When you are considering producing products in addition to your speaking, it is also important to understand what your ideal product might look like.

(Circle those items that are priorities for you.)

High Profit Margin Evergreen or Disposable

User-Friendly Easy to Produce Cheap to Produce

Is it Protected?

What is a Product?

2 © 2012 National Speakers Association


Is my information copyrighted when I write it? What do all these symbols mean?

© ® ™

Do my products need a barcode or ISBN?

Is it Protected?There are other issues to consider regarding products such as whether the time,effort and expense you’ve invested will yield something you can then protect.Copyright, trademark, patent and intellectual property laws can get complicated, soif you have more questions in this area, it is best to contact an intellectual propertyattorney.

Helpful Resources • www.USPTO.gov• www.Bowker.com

What other print products might you create that could be a precursor to a book? How do these print products differ? Do you have enough material to make one or more of these?

Booklets Manuals Reference cards Books Trade publications

As with any endeavor, there are both benefits and challenges. About which of the following will you want to ask for help?

Overcoming writers’ block

Writing articles

Writing blogs

Writing books

Turning blogs into articles and articles into a book

Collaborating with others to write books and

articles

Getting articles published

Understanding the current state of book publishing

Copyrighting books and articles

Using books and articles as marketing collateral

Taking one chapter from your book and turning it

into another book

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Book?A book is not the only printed product you can create, but it is one of the morepopular choices. That is a decision you should weigh. You might use a book as anoversized business card, to build credibility or to work toward the goal of a best-selling publication.





Article Format:

• Begin with a story opener • Blend into a series of three to five tips or points that your story characters could use • Expand briefly on each tip • Summarize • Provide your contact information

Article Recommendations:

• Consider a how-to guide or tip sheet

• Grab the reader’s attention with the headline

• Use short, punchy phrases • Remember your first sentence is

what will show up in search engine listings. Make it count

• Avoid the overuse of contractions • Avoid first person • Talk directly to your reader • Site references, statistics, facts,

figures and anecdotal data • Use pictures to add value on blog

posts • Stay between 500 and 600 words

YOUR TURN! Write three possible headlines for your own articles. 1. 2. 3.

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Articles?When writing products, articles are a good place to begin. Below you’ll find one ofmany suggested formats as well as helpful hints for writing articles. You can also useyour articles to create a book. The reuse of something you have already created isoften referred to as “repurposing.”

Types of Audio Products:

! CDs ! Podcasts ! Digital audio file downloads ! Internet “radio” show ! Teleseminars – live and in hard copy or for download

Types of Video Products:

! DVDs recorded for a specific topic ! Recordings of your event sold to the audience ! Interactive DVDs with videos and a workbook ! Videos on YouTube (subscribers vs. fees) ! Video download ! Internet “television” show ! Recorded webinars

YOUR TURN! What are three possible products you could create from work you are already doing? Or topics you’ve already prepared?

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•

•

Audio and Video?There are plenty of product options choices beyond the written word. This is thespeaking industry, after all, and much of what we do is speak. One version ofproducts could be recordings, which can take many forms.





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Examples of Event Products:

! Teleconferences ! Webinars ! Conferences ! Workshops ! Public seminars ! Mastermind groups ! Coaching

When considering a live event, remember to factor in ALL of your costs:

! Venue ! Food ! Marketing ! Printed materials (tickets, workbooks, posters, name badges, flip charts) ! Your travel and lodging if out of town ! Someone to help you and their travel and lodging ! Shipping/transport of materials

What are some ways that you could get these expenses covered? Is there a current client who would like for you to do an event or live broadcast that you could record and sell with their permission or use as a pilot?

Examples of Ev! Teleconferences! Webinars! Conferences

ent Products:Examples of EvTeleconferencesWebinarsConferences

! Workshops! Public seminars! Mastermind groups ! Coaching

When considering a liv! Venue! Food! Marketing! Printed materials (tickets, workbooks, posters, name badges, flip charts)! Your travel

WorkshopsPublic seminarsMastermind groups Coaching

ent, remember to factor in Ae evWhen considering a liv

MarketingPrinted materials (tickets, workbooks, posters, name badges, flip charts)Your travel and lodging if out of town

our costs:LL of yent, remember to factor in A

Printed materials (tickets, workbooks, posters, name badges, flip charts)

our costs:

Printed materials (tickets, workbooks, posters, name badges, flip charts)

! Your travel! Someone to help you and their travel and lodging! Shipping/transport of materials

What are some way

Is there a current client who would like for you could record and sell with their permission or use as a pilot? that y

Your travel and lodging if out of townSomeone to help you and their travel and lodgingShipping/transport of materials

ou could get these expenses covs that yWhat are some way

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Events?Instead of selling a physical product for your customer to hold in his or her hand,what if you held an event and charged a fee? There is more to coordinate whenplanning an event, and the expenses can increase exponentially — but so can the revenue. Follow market trends, and ask around before you build it thinking, they will come.

Other People’s Products: Whose products might you bundle or offer in your events? Partnering with Associations: Is there a course or presentation that you offer that you could record and have

the association package and provide to its members that you could sell as well?

Spinoffs

• Deliver a teleconference based on your article • Create an audio product of your book • Create a workbook for your material or to complement your book • Record the teleconference and sell it as a CD • Create a computer-based training system from your presentation points

YOUR TURN! What are your next three product ideas? (Keep in mind they don’t all have to happen now but maybe in the near future.)

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•

•

BEWARE!! Does your product have an expiration date? Will the material soon be dated? Did you get everyone’s permission to be videotaped?

Extras?What if you created a product that was not tangible? What if you could combineseveral elements and be a bit creative with your costs and your time? You can. Here are some of those options.





1. What do you know that your audiences need when you leave?

2. What do you give away now that audiences would pay for?

3. Add value to it. (Is there more information you would share if you had more time in your presentation?)

4. In what format do your customers prefer their material (written, audible, digital, etc.)?

5. What title would you give your primary product? Does it speak to your brand?

6. How much do you think your audience would pay for that? YOUR TURN! Research three other products comparable to what you want to create. How are they packaged? What do they cost? Do you want to do something similar or different?

Where Do I Begin? The concept of sitting down to write a book or record a product and package it canfeel overwhelming. Add to that the idea that then you will want to market it, maybecreate a landing page for it—and oh, by the way, sell it— you can have a recipe forsome serious procrastination. Let’s begin at the beginning and break the processinto small steps.

Make sure your products are:

D Differentiate your product from everyone else’s

I Invent a way to make it stand out

F Find a GREAT cover artist

F Find a GREAT proofreader or copy editor

E Engineer it according to your clients’ needs (written, audible, multiple formats)

R Record every presentation to catch the nugget you didn’t intend to say

E Examine ways to add more value or create more perceived value

N Never assume. Test and research before you create it

T Time the release of your product with a major holiday or one of your events

If you build it and they don’t come as fast as you expected, where do you put these products? Why or why not?

a. In your garage? b. In your office/indoor closet? c. In a storage facility? d. In your trunk?

our products are:Make sure y

D Differentiate your product from everyone else’s

our products are:

Differentiate your product from everyone else’s


I Invent a way to make it stand out

F Find a GREAT cover artist

F Find

E Engineer it according to your clients’ needs (written, audible, multiple formats)


Invent a way to make it stand out

Find a GREAT cover artist

Find a GREAT proofreader or copy editor

Engineer it according to your clients’ needs (written, audible, multiple formats)


Invent a way to make it stand out

a GREAT proofreader or copy editor

Engineer it according to your clients’ needs (written, audible, multiple formats)

R Record every presentation to catch the nugget you didn’t intend to say

E Examine ways to add more value or create more perceived valu

N Never assume. Test and research before you create it

T Time the release of your product with a major holiday or one of your events

Record every presentation to catch the nugget you didn’t intend to say

Examine ways to add more value or create more perceived valu

Never assume. Test and research before you create it

Time the release of your product with a major holiday or one of your events


Examine ways to add more value or create more perceived valu

Never assume. Test and research before you create it

Time the release of your product with a major holiday or one of your


Examine ways to add more value or create more perceived value

Time the release of your product with a major holiday or one of your


a. In your b. In your office/indoor closet?c. In a storage facility?d. In your trunk?


In your garage?In your office/indoor closet?In a storage facility?In your trunk?

If you build it and they don’t come as fast as you expected, where do you put these

If you build it and they don’t come as fast as you expected, where do you put these

If I Build It Will They Come?Many speakers have created a product in the hopes that it would be the next bigbest-seller or that it might “go viral.” While this may well happen and you couldexperience wild success on your first attempt, the more common outcome is aseries of learning experiences. The key is to create another revenue stream and to share your message. This acronym serves as a reminder of some things to keep in mind.





Audience-Centered Pricing: #$ Cost of their problem? _____________________________

%$ Reduction of cost or savings resulting from your product? _______________________

&$ What is the individual in your audience willing to pay? __________________________

'$ What might a company pay for this information for their employees? ______________

Margin-Centered Pricing: A. How much does it cost per item to produce? ________________________

B. What did it cost to have the cover designed or material edited? ____________________

C. What is the value of your time in producing and being the talent? __________________

$Dollars and Cents Ideas ! Experiment and track your sales ! Have low-, medium- and high-end products ! Bundling

( Put together packages of complementary products ( Throw in a bonus to increase package sales

! Cover your margins ! Items you sell to consumers are taxable in many cases and will require a sales tax

license

What will you charge for your first product? ______________________

How Much Do I Charge? Much as there is no standard fee for speaking, there is also no standard or setmargin for product pricing. To price your products, you need to factor in your cost ofproduction, storage and transportation, as well as the value you think it providesand that your audience will pay.

What do you believe your knowledge product would be worth to an audience?Considering these numbers may help you arrive at a reasonable figure:

What will you charge for your first product?

___________________________________________

! Guarantee everything you sell (to lower buying resistance)

! Remember that if you don’t get any returns, you’re not selling enough

! Offer a money-back return policy

Product SalesYour products should be of high quality (perceived and real) and high value. But even then, they won’t sell themselves. Paying attention to the way items are sold on TV, in stores and over the Internet—and becoming a student of marketingand sales—will help reduce your learning curve. Here are some additional tips tokeep in mind.

Selling your products can take place in many locations. Consider some of thefollowing guidelines when selling your items from the stage. And as with anythingyou don’t often do, practice, practice, practice.

• Have your introducer mention your products

• Incorporate the product into your presentation

• Give your product away as a prize during your presentation

• Mention what other clients have said this product did for them as part of one of your stories

• Refer to your product as a way to continue the education

• Refer to your product as a way to “take a piece of you home with them”

• Apologize for not having enough time to tell them everything … regardingproducts

• Have order forms available for each person in the audience, and hand themout ahead of time

• Have sample products to show

• Make credit card processing available with a merchant services account orelectronic device that is connected to a credit card processing system (e.g.,www.SquareUp.com)

• Pay attention to the tax rate where you are selling, and know the percentageahead of time or build it into your pricing

• Learn from the psychology of using a sale price (i.e., ends in .99 or .77)

YOUR TURN! Practice how you will mention a product in one of your stories, and share this in your session today.





___________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

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Regular Price: ___________

Special Price: ____________

How will they buy?

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Your Order FormYou may sell your products online or at the back of the room or both. Chances aregood that at some point you will need a product order form. Use the template belowas your first effort creating the order form. Be creative, while remembering the valueof keeping it simple. The less you have to explain from stage, the more likely theyare to buy.

Authorship and Product Development Homework

Congratulations on the completion of your AUTHORSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT Module. Your journey may have begun today or sometime ago. Wherever you began, chances are, you now have homework to keep up the momentum.

My homework from this session is:

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uthorship and Product DevA

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elopment Homeworkuthorship and Product Dev

elopment Homework

uthorship and Product DevACongratulations on the completion of your AUTHORSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT Module. Your journey may have begun today or sometime ago. Wherever you began, chances are, you now have homework to keep up the momentum.

rowmeohMy

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uthorship and Product DevCongratulations on the completion of your AUTHORSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT Module. Your journey may have begun today or sometime ago. Wherever you began,

s are, you now have homework to keep up the momentum.

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elopment Homeworkuthorship and Product DevCongratulations on the completion of your AUTHORSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT Module. Your journey may have begun today or sometime ago. Wherever you began,

s are, you now have homework to keep up the momentum.

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elopment HomeworkCongratulations on the completion of your AUTHORSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT Module. Your journey may have begun today or sometime ago. Wherever you began,

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